The Flying Falafel

Freshly baked pita with equally fresh and juicy vegetables hug perfectly fried falafel balls and make Flying Falafel the best falafel I’ve ever had in my life. The banana milkshake tastes like Christmas, THIS PLACE ROCKS!!! Also really friendly and cute workers.

I live close by this place and my fiancé frequently goes there. The guys who work there are cool and know him by name. The menu is small but everything is fresh. They have a nifty frequent buyer card and you can order online!

Was at first turned off to the outside appearance, but after trying it I’m hooked. I always get the «Plate Me» that includes hummus, falafel and veggies. It is absolutely delicious! They are vegan and have gluten free options. Portions are generous and the staff friendly.

This former Weinerschnitzel stand, complete with walk-​up ordering window and outdoor seating, has some of the best damn falafel. I realize you can throw a rock and hit a falafel stand in San Jose, but the pita wraps here are great and inexpensive.
Available spicy or regular (organic!), I opt for the former and add a little extra spicy sauce, the snacker size ($ 5) if I’m solo and the regular (whole pita, $ 7) if I’m sharing or want leftovers. Wraps are packed with cabbage, hummus, tahini, pickles, and a couple fries, can’t beat that deal. Add on a banana shake (contains pecans!) if you’re feeling extra indulgent.

The food and staff are great. Organic, gluten free and vegan. They are fairly new and trying to keep up so cut them some slack; if you’re hungry and in a rush I’d call ahead. I recommend any sauces on side especially to go because food can get soggy.
I love their banana shake so much I started making them at home.
I think flying falafel is superior to falafel drive in, food is more clean tasting and not greasy spoon like falafel drive in.

Don’t think about having food here.
We are regular visitors to falafel drive in and falafel stop. The taste is not even comparable.

Delicious so far! And the owner and staff are very friendly. The banana shake is such a great addition to a meal, and I love that it has cinnamon in it. I’ve only had the pocket sandwich and snacker sandwich (variation of the same thing), but both are excellent. Go for spicy (if you can)!
For people with gluten allergies and sensitivities, they are hoping to start offering gluten-​free pita! They have gluten-​free meals on the menu, otherwise.

I recently stopped by, beyond my expectations.
Those sweets was really great and best falafel I ever had!

I wanted to like this place. It’s all vegan, close to me and filled with fried food. Hell they even have a vegan banana milkshake (as a vegan, I have longed for the Falafel Drive In’s banana shake for years!). But sadly this place didn’t deliver. First of all, it is more expensive than Falafel Drive In and it’s not nearly as good as the drive in. The balls lack flavor and the hummus was too oily. And as for that banana shake, it was ok. Nothing to write home about. It was watery and very average. I’ll stick to Falafel Drive In in the future.

I really like the Flying Falafel. The food is great and service is super friendly. Try the fries!
It’s all vegan and it’s all delicious.

I was so happy when this place opened at the Weinershnitzel location on Meridian Avenue. Finally, somewhere fast and tasty for vegetarians to eat! My first two experiences there were positive. I love the «plate me» platter. The staff are super nice and I love the hip vibe.
The bad part: On my third try recently, I became ill after eating there. The same thing happened to my staff person who recently ate there. Not sure if the veggies need more washing? I had to throw away the second part of my food as I was afraid to eat it today. Falafel guys-​if you could go through your procedures and check the stuff coming from your distributor, perhaps a revamping of cleaning procedures or veggie washing. Let me know when that happens so we can come back.
Thanks,

So happy that to have falafels in WG! I loved my falafel plate. Felt the hummus was under seasoned but I was able to fix it with extra hot sauce. Love having this walk up location so I can bring my dog to dinner. The guy working the front was WORKING hard. With the growing crowd, extra staff would be nice. Gonna be a regular now!

Pretty good but took FOREVERRRRR this past Saturday. There were only two parties ahead of me thank god– but legit took like 30 minutes for me to finally get my order.
Good pita/​falafel and very fresh ingredients and banana shake was delicious but the fries were soggy and meh.
They definitely need to staff this place up because it has potential!

How I long to give them 4+ stars !! However, for me, my falafel was so flavorless that the disappointment I felt was the taste in my mouth, and not the food I ate.
If the falafel had flavor, meaning — more spices, more salt, more anything to elevate those flavors I would never need sauces and pickles and hot sauces and anything else. However, because the falafel itself is so extraordinarily bland (even the spicy ones) I was heavily relying on the extras to make up for the falafel. But… those extras were also without any kick whatsoever.
For my taste buds, I really love a combo of a tart, garlicky, spicy and garbanzo with strong tahini flavor kick when I eat a falafel that has all the stuffs in it. This place just doesn’t offer that. They do have very nice pita breads though.
I have grown up with falafel drive in, so I am used to their style of doing it. However, when I was working up in Redwood City, I fell in love with Mediterranean Delites sauces. Even the falafels at DishDash are pretty amazing. Gotta Eatta Pita is also quite nice, except I don’t like their pita bread.
So…I want to love The Flying Falafel, especially because they are the closest to me now — and I will definitely eat there occasionally, but I just can’t see myself ever loving them. Not unless they start offering more sauces to dress up the falafels, like something tart with cilantro and garlic etc.

I am thinking I am the first person to visit BOTH locations.
I had noticed that my fav falafel place in the city opened another local in the south bay (willow glen) where I happen to spend most weekends visiting my ailing mother-​in-​law.
I had put this on my radar for this past weekend, and to file under «the world works in mysterious ways», My Unilocal review of the original location on Market street in SF was « Unilocal’s Review of the day» on the very Saturday I was to visit the alternate South Bay location. I did not get there as planned in Saturday, but did get there on Sunday.
The same smiling face of the owner is working this location trying to get it going. I told him about my «Yelp ROTD» — he thanked me and said that he doesn’t really pay much attention to that stuff, he is super focused on the business… He is a cool dude and I was talking to him — he took 9 years to get this business going from inception — he used to be a neuroscientist. He lives in SF but chose this location b/​c his Dad lives nearby. (good boy!). I was a little confused by the iPad ordering system, but undoubtedly he does this to free up his time to concentrate on the FOOD!
The menu at this location is slightly more expanded than SF (due to more space) I LOVED the banana milkshake, hints of cinnamon and nutmeg included. He also serves French fries here (Which I do not remember at the original location) — The fries were fine — but to me — not worth the calories, save those for that damn-​delicious banana shake!
Love this guy, love that his dream is coming true, love that he is hyper-​focused on making it a success, and working so hard (and smart) at it. I wish him all the success.
This is a cool location too– an old Wienerschnitzel… so tables outside and a bathroom around back, loads of parking. Not «fast food» since everything is made to order, so expect to wait a bit for our food.

Seriously tasty, simple menu, mostly gluten free and fully vegetarian.
Kinda like Falafel drive in but closer to Cambrian /​Willow Glen.

Wow… The best falafel between the 5 – 6 places in the valley…
Cool guys and grate attitude,
Very clean and testy falafel.
It’s a crime not to give’m a shot
God bless, Enjoy.
Said:
Falafohilic

Disclaimer: I’m not a Vegan
TL;DR version — Flying Falafel ranks a 3.5 and would easily get a 4 from me if they had someone take your order instead of relying on you to enter it into a tablet yourself.
When I first arrived I stood around like a bit of an idiot waiting for someone to take my order… a minute later, another guy pushed past me and turned the tablet around and just started punching in his order… at that point I figured out the ordering system. I am happy to say that I’m not the only idiot out there, 3 guys after me ran into the same issue of standing around until someone said, ‘uh hey, you need to punch in your order yourself or you’re gonna be standing there for quite a while’. From a business perspective I get this, it saves on headcount and frees up resources to do things like make amazing food… but I really dislike this trend. IMHO restaurants (including ones like this) are businesses where the face to face contact and even the ordering experience makes a difference… to see that being replaced by a kludgy ipad interface kinda sucks.
On to the food… the important part right? After I screwed up my order a couple times and figured out how to correct it, I ordered the Spicy Full Pita — and for the first time ever, saying that it was ‘amaze-​balls’ is totally appropriate. I also ordered a side of fries… while not bad, they had a flavor that was a bit different most fries I’ve had over the years. I’m not sure if this is due to oil shared with the Falafel, or just fresh oil that needs a bit more awesomeness fried in it… again… not bad, just different.
Other thoughts:
— The menu is pretty small, but this isn’t a bad thing… I wish more places would trend in this direction, do a few things really well rather than a bunch of things ‘ok’. So if you’re not in the mood for Falafel today, go on to the next place and come back tomorrow (its worth it).
— The pitas are AWESOME
— Looking forward to trying the hummus next

The only thing that could make this place better is if the food were free!
It’s the Big One! The Bomb! The queen mother of all Falafel! The F-​blank, blank, blank as they say on A Christmas Story! Mrs. Schwartz needs to be called immediately and told about this place!
I took pictures, but they are on my phone! Can I add them? The pocket was just yummy as can be. The hummus, sesame butter oil and garbanzo was awesome! Did get those ingredients right guys?
fresh, the veggies… The meatless plate my friend had is up next for me! I am not usually much of a fan for veggie only places so this adds to the rating for me! The owner was super friendly and cautious to make the food and service at this now defunct Der Wiener the best it could be given the place he took over. He has another in Sunnyvale i am told! Goin there to check it out soon as well! Super recommendation! Glad i was willing today to try something new! Great place!

Warm Fresh Falafel and Pita bread are thrown towards you in a friendly way as treats just before you rapidly get your own personal Whole Pita pocket filled with spicy and regular falafel balls hot from the fryer with crispy fries salads of your choice topped with heavenly Tahini sauce, The taste & texture are out of this world!!!
Also you can make a meal out of it & get a drink and a side of your choice, I had the refreshingly yummy organic banana shake and fries that are better than McDonald’s.
My big belly wanted more and so I got a Hummus plate with tasty veggies and falafel, I was in heaven!
Highly recommended
Thank You The Flying Falafel