Al Reef Mediterranean Restaurant

I rememeber when this place was a hookah lounge. This version is so much better. Large portions for reasonable rates. They prepare the food in front of you too. Very nice staff too. Place is a little huge inside. Has a bar in back. The chicken shwarma is excellent as is the veggie wrap. Everything was fresh and its clean. I ordered a coffee and they mixed it for me perfect!

We came here to try out this new place in North Park since we love Mediterranean food. It has a prime location right at the corner of Utah and University Ave in the heart of North Park. It was a Sunday and the place only had one other customer. A few more trickled in after we ordered. We didn’t wait long to order and get our food.
I had the chicken shawerma plate which included a salad, humus and yellow rice. My partner had the combo mix plate which had beef tikka, chicken tikka and beed kabobs with the salad, rice and humus. Not a bad deal for $ 12.99 each. It was a lot of food and it came with a lot of pita bread that we ended up taking home with half our lunch.
Overall we loved the place. I just wish more people knew about it and I fear it won’t survive given the intense restaurant competition in North Park. They are the only pure Middle Eastern place though in the main drag of North Park.
After reading the other reviews we didn’t get offered a complimentary soup. Maybe they did that when they first opened? When this space first opened up last year, I recall it not being a full restaurant. Now, there is so much space with lots of TVs. I did find it odd that there was traditional Middle Eastern music playing and also you could hear the football games. It kind of confused my brain.

Hopefully this place is new and so the service is just experiencing growing pains. Still here waiting for my food.

I was so excited to like this place but my experience was so bad, I’ll probably never come back. The service was relatively friendly, but the waiters would disappear into the kitchen for 20+ minutes at a time. I think they are just understaffed… waaay understaffed. Everyone in the restaurant had the same look of despair after 15 minutes of waiting to order/​get food/​get their check
Food wise… meh. It’s hard because there are a lot of options for Mediterranean food, and it just didn’t compare to other restaurants. My falafels were dry without much taste. And the free soup (lentil) was bland and watery. I ordered a drink 3 times and never received it. I hope they can fix the issues they have been having, because this place has some potential.

Why aren’t more people talking about this place? I feel like it’s the best kept secret in North Park. My father and I went for the first time last night for dinner. We both love what we ordered (my father is really picky too). I had the Gyro Plate, and he had the Beef Tikka. We recommend both dishes along with the soup.
When we walked up, the place seemed empty, but that’s because the space in the restaurant is so large. Don’t let that deter you from trying this spot out. You’ll love it just like we did!

Just walked in after dining here and want to write a review right away so I don’t forget. We have driven past this place MANY times on University and didn’t give it a second glance from the outside (it kind of blends in with the few store fronts in that part of North Park, I think).
However, tonight while exploring for a place to eat, we quickly looked up Unilocal reviews and saw this place is on point… so thanks to Unilocal,we tried it and LOVED IT! Jon the server was great. The food amazing (and big portions). It’s very spacious and nice inside — so don’t let the outside deceive you! We will be back often!
Be sure to check it out because we want this place to stay in business for a long time in North Park! :)

This was my first time here and I am always open to try something new. This is a large restaurant. They do not offer alcoholic drinks yet. The waiter was super nice. We order a collage of different food items. The food was not extraordinaire but rather ordinaire. For a middle eastern eatery, I was looking for spices, something to engage the senses, but simply, my expectations were not met. Anyway, I will try it again in the future to see if they will improve. For now, my preference is the Mediterranean Grill on Washington Street over this one.

The food is excellent. I had the lentil soup and a veggie combo plate (pita, hummus, tabbouleh, falafel, and dolmas). Everything was outstanding. The pita came warm out of the oven and all other components tasted fresh, authentic, and flavorful. I especially recommend the dolmas, which were the best I’ve ever had.
That said, this place is WEIRD. It’s a huge area (how do they pay the rent?). There were strange programs playing on the numerous TVs, and it seemed like they selected the play list with the most melancholy music possible. Like, «eat here, then go home and cry alone in your room.» Service was bizarre — our waitress held out her tray and we awkwardly took everything from water glasses to entrees off of it. She never mentioned why this was happening. She also would ask us if we wanted more of things (pita, water) and then would never bring them.
The lack of any liquor license also surprised me for such a big space. There’s actually a large built-​in bar, but no alcohol. I didn’t notice any license application posted.
I will absolutely eat here again — but it’s takeout only for me from here on out.

I’ve been here now a couple times.
It’s been clean inside and the décor is very nice!
The speed of the service is good & customer service was good.
The food is delish!
Not dry at all and flavorful.
THEIR PITA BREAD IS AWESOME
I love the lentil soup (currently free with dine in). This definitely makes me want to come back again and again!
Did I mention the food is priced appropriately ! Always a plus

We had high hopes for this restaurant but were left sorely disappointed.
As others have noted, the service is horrendously slow and inefficient. We waited 20+ minutes (yes, we timed it) between the three times that we got any attention from a waiter. Looking around the restaurant, the other patrons were equally frustrated. We ordered tea, they never brought it, but put it on our bill anyway. We ordered soup and they forgot to bring it until we reminded them after our main dish was served. It was almost like this was their first time running a restaurant? We joked that it would be a good candidate for Gordon Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares.
The complimentary soup is free for a reason. The chicken noodle soup had zero chicken (literally not a single piece of meat) and was very bland. The lentil soup was flat out disgusting — thin, watery, with a funky, almost sour flavor.
The portion sizes of their main dishes are generous, which I like. But my chicken kabob was dry and stale, and it was served on a bed of undercooked rice.
We did like the restaurant’s interior. It’s spacious, clean, decorated nicely, and there are TVs all over the walls. The staff members themselves were all friendly and polite during the few times that we were able to speak with them.
After reading all these positive reviews on Unilocal we were excited to try a nice mediterranean restaurant in the neighborhood. But our experience was bad enough that we won’t be returning.

Ohhh man, I wish I knew about this place sooner. What a treat to have this beautiful food as an option right around the corner. The interior is much nicer than you’d expect from the outside. The menu is a fairly standard Mediterranean one. I usually try a mixed combo trying a new place and did it again.
The plate consisted of a ground beef kabob, chicken tikka, beef tikka, rice, salad, hummus, pita bread and they threw in a nice sized bowl of lentil soup. Don’t need to go in to details, because everything was delicious. This is a heavy meal for one person and they throw the soup in as well. I was full, but couldn’t stop eating the soup. Get a couple pounds of quality food cooked right for $ 12 is amazing.
I’m coming back soon to try a lot more. I live in this area and Al Reef is one of the better options. Can’t loose here. The staff is super sweet and very charismatic.

Food, service and restaurant were all in top shape.
Friendly staff, a nice clean dining area, and its late hours make Al Reef a favorite in the area.

If the service were better it would get 1 more star. We were a group of 7 people and had a 6 pm reservation (although we didn’t need it; the huge space was nearly empty on a Saturday night). We ordered dinner, all of which came with a free mushroom/​chicken soup or lentil soup. We also ordered appetizers of grape leaves and baba ganoush.
After about 25 minutes of waiting, and nothing yet served, I went up to the cash counter to see what the deal was, since the place was still not very crowded. How long does it take to ladle out bowls of soup? The woman at the counter just looked at me blankly and said, «Sorry».
Soup finally arrives, the lentil was the tastier of the two. Then the waiter delivered 1 person’s entrée. Yet still no appetizers came. Finally the appetizers arrived and we had to ask for pita for the baba ganoush, which was delicious. Meanwhile still only 1 of us had gotten their entrée. The other entrees slowly trickled out here and there. Ridiculous.
The beef Kafka kabob on the mixed grill plate was definitely the winner. The chicken and the beef skewers were a bit dry. The chicken shawarma was also very dry. The combo plates have a nice variety with hummus and a tasty salad included. My husband had the chicken cream chop sandwich and said it was dry.
I will go back and see how the service is another time, but for a 3 month old restaurant, they really should have handled the small Saturday night crowd more easily. The prices are very good and the portions are large.

Upon entering the restaurant the waitress was super welcoming! We sat, but were indecisive about lunch. She was patient and waited for us to finally decide. The restaurant was really clean and pleasant.
We all ordered different kabobs on pita. Each was really good! The lamb was by far our favorite! Even my 8 year old asked to switch me his beef for my lamb. Not happening! Lol
We WOULD return here again!

I thought this place was going to be a little hole in the wall judging from the outside. It’s very big inside with tons of seating, great place for large parties. I sat by the window and ordered the gyro/​chicken shawarma plate that came with a free lentil soup that was delicious.
My total was $ 13.99 and the portions and presentation of the food were good for the price.
I enjoyed all the pictures on the menu and on the to go board up front.
The presentation and décor of the restaurant is very nice and clean. Not what i was expecting from the outside.
Cons:
I wasn’t a fan of all the sliced black olives they put in my hummus or in my salad.
The food was ⁷⁄₁₀. I really love Mediterranean and it was a quick fix since it’s by my house but it’ll probably stay just as that when I don’t want to venture to some of my other favorite spots
The taziki sauce was odd, it was something I wasn’t use to. Usually I dive head first into it with my pita bread but it was super chunky instead of creamy. My meal also came with this other side of some type of thick sauce, I didn’t try it or catch what the waitress said it was.
I take one star off for the service. The woman who served me was nice but the way she did certain things and just came across throughout my stay here rubbed me the wrong way.

My husband and I ordered from this place using Grubhub and it was a nightmare. One of the sandwiches we ordered didn’t arrive when we got the delivery and when we called the place back they said d they’d send it. Half an hour later we got a phone call from them asking if we are going there to pick our food or what. Apparently we were supposed to contact to Grubhub, not to the restaurant. Also we ordered 2 orders of kunafa and recieved an order of something that looks nothing like kunafa. On the phone they said they don’t have kunafa anymore so they sent us these instead. Charged 9 dollars for 2 little squares of desert that we didn’t even order. Food wasn’t good and the service is just unprofessional. Won’t ever order from here again.

No offense, Luna Grill. I’m afraid I have found a more satisfying, more authentic, and (dare I say) more delicious alternative when I crave something Mediterranean. And it’s much closer to me. Fear not, Luna Grill, I will see you again, but only on occasion, if I happen to be close to you at that given moment in time.
So I know this place used to mainly be a hookah place, but I’m glad they transformed into a place that serves food. Man, what a good move, in my opinion.
The place is big, clean, inviting, open-​air, very affordable, very filling. Not super filling to where you get stuffed off one dish, but fairly close.
I got the fatoosh salad (which you can only find on the back of the menu with the pictures) and salmon plate. I’m very glad I got all that. The salad itself can be a good meal depending on the appetite because it feels light but looks massive, and that’s exactly how I like that. It contains lettuce, cucumbers, olives, tomatoes, strawberries, croutons, and a delicious dressing I can’t quite figure out. I was hungry, so of course I wanted more than just that.
The salmon was good. Nothing bad to say about it. I’d get it again. It was only $ 1 more than most of the other dishes in that same section on the menu, so I figured it could be worth it, and it was. I’m not sure if this cuisine commonly has salmon or not, but I took a chance and never looked back.
The only thing I noticed was that they didn’t give us free soup, as mentioned from other recent reviews. Not a big deal since it didn’t have any effect on my experience here. Even without the soup, I had a very satisfying meal.
RANDOM TIDBIT:
Ever pay attention to the music that gets played at certain restaurants? Some people (not me) subliminally react and feel a certain way depending on the music they hear. Depending on the type of cuisine, we potentially hear the music from that culture. This place sorta mixes it up to where it’s inviting to those not accustomed to things Mediterranean, and at the same time they play enough to maintain the feel of the restaurant. So, for those of you who don’t feel comfortable with hearing «unfamiliar» music while you dine, that’s something to keep in mind, if it at all matters.

So far I have been here twice. The first time I had the mixed plate and the second the gyro sandwich.
The mixed plate was very good. It came with chicken tikka, beef tikka, beef kabob and grilled veggies. The chicken was a little overdone. It had lots of black and was very dry. The beef tikka was very good and was full of flavor. The beef kabob was excellent, definitely my favorite part. The vegetables complimented the plate well and we’re very good (this coming from a non veggie liver). The salad was pretty standard but flavorful and the pickles they served were very tasty. The rice was pretty good but it is rice, kind of hard to mess up too much.
The gyro sandwich is absolutely awesome. The price is great and the portion of gyro is amazing. I ordered mine without tomato as I am not a fan and they happily obliged. The garlic sauce they put on the sandwich was full of flavor, I wanted to soak up every bit of it and the pickles added a great crunch and lots of flavor. I think the gyro sandwich is my favorite item so far.
I am excited to come back. Next I have to try the shawarma or gyro fries. They are pricy but they look to die for.

Al Reef is nice addition to North Park’s already diverse amount of eateries, but what I notice the moment I walked was the amount of space this place offers inside. It’s a little misleading from the outside, but if you have a large party, this place will accommodate. I stopped in for lunch and order the chicken tikka on pita which came with a side of fries and a small bowl soup for $ 5.95.
The lentil soup came first. You can also have the chicken soup. The lentil soup was very good. It viscosity was lighter than I expected, but it was delicious. It was very well seasoned, had a mild lentil flavor, and provided small bits of lentils. It was a nice warm start to the meal.
The chicken tikka was very well prepared. As you know, it takes a steady hand and keen eye to keep chicken breast tender and juicy that is being cooked on a grill. These guys were on point with the chicken tikka. It was very tender and juicy with all the flavor you would want. The chicken also had some nice exterior charring which only provided more flavor and texture. It was served on a warm thick pita bread, a bead of lettuce, and pickles.
On the side, the house made Tzatziki sauce was good. I liked that it had bits of fresh cucumber and that the yogurt was light and fresh. It did however, need a little seasoning. The fries had very good flavor, but needed to be a little more crispy. Some of them were a little limp for some reason, but their flavor was great. I received a small side of hummus, which does not normally come with the meal: a taster what have you. It was great and would order it upon my next visit.
The food was quite good and the price was even better. Service was great too, provide by a gentleman and a wonderful young lady that were well verse in the Al Reef’s daily workings.

If you’re interested in Mediterranean, definitely a good option. Huge portions for cheap. Friendly service. The menu isn’t too extensive, which is fine. I had the kebobs. The steak was a little tough. Chicken was excellent.
Presentation was excellent. Very nice salad.
I’d like to come back and try the other menu items. It’s the kind of place where it’s a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ that it will still be open in a year. We’ll see.