Kabab Grill

Wow! I cannot believe I have lived around this area for my whole life and have never found this gem. They bake their own pita in a big burning oven, along with their Syrian and Lebanese savory pastries, like fatayer. I tried the beef sfeeha, which is the Arabic version of the Armenian/​Turkish Lachmajoun. It is spicy beef spread on a pizza like dough and then baked. It was really good, although I would have liked them to cook the crust a bit more. The staff is super friendly and I had a great conversation with one of the chefs. When I went they were not serving their kababs and mezze or appetizers, which I would have liked to try. I will be back for some kofta kabob and shwarma. They also make homemade baklava, which is awesome. it is really something special when you see an Arabic restaurant making their own pita, baklava, and savory pastries. Everything is homemade, which is saying something. It may not look like much, but give it a try. Yum.

So dissapointed in the quality of habibi food in Culver City area until I was introduced to Kabab Grill. The friendly staff here laughed as I blurted out every curse word I knew in Arabic. Next time I will tell them some Abu Abed jokes.
Definitely they have the best shawarma and falafel around Culver City.

Great go-​to place for my shawarma craving! Came with a side of French fries or green salad… I went with the French fries and they were hot, crispy, and sprinkled with seasoned salt (nice touch). The staff is very nice and even checked to make sure we were doing fine… Really nice service!
Can’t wait to go back. :)

One of the best falafel wraps I’ve ever had. They make their own pita. And it shows. As good as it gets.

Best shawarma in Los Angeles period! Excellent quality meat, and very authentic tasting. I tried both beef and chicken, and both were outstanding…
Also, customer service was excellent (a bit uncommon for a Mediterranean joint)!!!
Highly recommend

Larger sized portions than I’ve had at other places. Great hummus and pita bread. You could tell it was made to order. Pretty basic otherwise, but better than a corporate chain.

The food is decent at this place, but they are pretty slow and don’t really offer any charm. I’ve been there about 3 times in the past few years and every time I ask myself «why did I come here again?» We walked in and there was nobody at the front, but we could hear someone in the kitchen. After a few minutes someone can to the front but just walked by, so we started calling for someone to ask if they were open, the guy answered yes we are and went back to the kitchen. Finally smother guy came out of the bathroom and took our order… the point here is that the service is not fast or pleasant…
We had to go back and reorder, after a few minutes, because the first guy only put in half of the order.
They only offer fountain drinks and they charge $ 3.50 for that shit. Since it was the only choice we all got one, but they were out of Coke.
From the three times I’ve been there, I don’t quite feel like they have a sense of customer service and identity. Like I said, the food is decent, but they need to start caring a little more. Or maybe it’s just a hobby for the owner. Who knows… can’t say I’ll be back, can’t say I won’t either, I’m still not sure what this place is, wants to be or not be…

Maybe they were having an off night, but we were disappointed with our take-​out order. I picked up several items to bring to a gathering, and of everything, their fresh pita was the best. The chicken was very dry, and the steak had a lot of fat in it – so much so, that if it had been easy to return there that evening, I would have brought it back to show them. It’s too bad, because based on the reviews, I was really expecting to like this place.

My friend (a regular here) brought me to Kabab Grill and we enjoyed it.
A simple, but delicious lunch of pita wraps. I am told they bake their own bread in house (the oven is in plain sight), which is super fresh.
Great service, good food, reasonably priced — yup, go for the quality here!

Had a very delicious lunch there. The staff was super friendly and helpful. We had the lamb kabob which was a little over cooked but very tasty. Definitely get extra garlic sauce with this. My wife had the salmon which was tasty and cooked just right.
The décor however could use an upgrade. But I could picture Anthony Bordain hangin here

I like this place’s food. It is a small barebones clean neighborhood place serving halal meat, with a geographic mix of middle eastern foods. My cousin ordered a salad and added a lamb Kebob. The price was reasonable and the lamb was very tasty, not overcooked, and moist even late that day as a take home leftover.
My ground beef kebob was a bit dry, but still edible. I suggest that you ask for it medium rare unless you like well done meat. The plate as a whole was generous and filling, nice hummus, nice salad, yellow rice and a stuffed grape leaf.
I previously tried their made there baked appetizers. Definitely also worth a try. Next time I will get the fish.

WOW. I won’t ever be coming here again. I’ve eaten here over 10 times but after tonight I’m done. Called tonight and ordered a chicken kabob plate and beef kabob plate. We got the food and went home. The rice was literally 100% yellow. Umm never has looked like that before and it tasted like rice a roni with spices. Then we cut into the kabob and it was soooo raw. I called and the man was extremely nice on the phone and said he would give me a refund. I went back and he said, «oh it’s you.» Then I showed him the food and he literally laughed in my face and called the cook over to see. He tried to not give me a refund but I wasn’t going to let that happen. I got my refund and will NOT be recommending this place.
By the way: I would have went back after the food problem tonight. But the guy at the front was unacceptably rude and condescending.

*The high rating is for TAKE-​OUT ONLY! When you first walk in you’re hit with an overwhelming unpleasant sink-​water like smell. Seriously don’t let that deter you. The food is delicious and the value amazing. Just make sure you’re taking it to go!
Ordered the chicken kabob plate. Comes with salad, a generous serving of pita bread, hummus, rice, and two sauces (spicy & garlic). Tons of food for just over $ 10. Score. Chicken is marinated well and super flavorful. Love that it’s real white meat and not greasy or poor imitation quality. Salad is fresh and a nice light side next to the heavy carbs and hummus. Quality of hummus is super important to me and the hummus here is bomb. Rich and flavorful, perfect texture, and not overly salty. Pita bread is super fluffy, almost too soft to be pita bread but delicious with the hummus. Great place for reasonably priced tasty take-​out.
Pro tip: food takes a while (15 minutes) so order ahead if picking up!

This is the only restaurant in the Westside that offers Ramadan Iftar buffet, a «morning» meal that is eaten after sunset when Muslims gathering to break their fast together. You don’t have to observe Ramadan to attend the open buffet (I myself am not Muslim), but you have to wait until roughly 8:05pm before the feast officially begins. From what I’ve been told, the most traditional taste of ethnic food is found at special occasions/​ceremonies or from a homecooked meal. In order to satisfy my curiosity about Middle-​Eastern food and without asking for an invitation to a stranger’s home, I decided to try out as many Ramadan buffets as I had time for during the Muslim holy month. Kabab Grill was my third stop.
Muslims usually break their fast with a date and a bowl of lentil soup. Both of these items were very good at Kabab Grill. Fresh plump dates were served on a toothpick. The wholesome red lentil soup whet my appetite and it tasted very natural, not overly creamy, although it might have been slightly too salty for my taste.
Moving on to the appetizers, that’s an area where Kabab Grill paled in comparison to the other Ramadan buffets I’ve had before. The buffet spread at restaurants in Anaheim typically included dozens of unfamiliar but delicious cold mezze, laid out on several tables, many of them homemade and time consuming to prepare, such as mujadara, mosahaba, fattoush, stuffed eggplants, etc. They tasted like homely dishes prepared from scratch which I would only find at a Middle Eastern potluck. On the other hand, the starters selection at Kabab Grill was limited to pita bread, hummus, and chopped cucumber/​tomato salad, which were extremely generic and uninspiring to me. Although these dishes were reasonably fresh and well-​executed, anyone could have walked into a Middle Eastern fast-​food restaurant and walked out with them.
Fortunately, there were more main courses than appetizers in the open buffet. However, out of the five main courses, three of them included chicken as the main ingredient. Roasted chicken with potatoes, grilled boneless chicken garnished with nuts in a garlicky red sauce, shredded chicken (which reminded me of street-​food chicken shawarma) piled on top of moist and lightly spiced sticky rice. The recurring theme? Dreadful overcooked white meat chicken which was too dry, tough, and bland to enjoy. If I had to pick a favorite part out of this bunch, it would be the sticky rice which reminded me of the type that is stuffed into pigeons at Egyptian restaurants.
Aside from the chicken entrees, kufta with tomatoes and a casserole with vegetables and beef cubes were served. The kufta had the chalky bitter taste that was expected from lean meat, but it wasn’t as succulent as the freshly grilled ones I’ve had at Turkish restaurants. The vegetable casserole added much needed greens to a meat-​dominant menu, it had a similar tomato base to the okra stew I had eaten before at Middle-​Eastern restaurants, but I was very disappointed to discover frozen vegetables had been used.
Kabab Grill didn’t impress me with their hot dishes but made up for it with two spectacular Middle-​Eastern pastries served at the counter, baklava and knafeh. The baklava had an extraordinary flaky top layer, topped with bitter pistachio crumbs which neutralized the sweetness of the sugar and cream that in the enclosed by the crispy dough. Then, I had knafeh for the first time; it reminded me of a cheesecake minus the crust. Like the baklava, pulverzed pistachio was sprinkled on top. This exquisite dessert was laced with shredded phyllo, which looks like dried noodle sticks and is crispy, so you get buttery sweetness paired with crispy and nutty texture in the same bite.
After attending two outstanding iftar buffets in Orange County, my expectations were high, and I thought that the buffet at Kabab Grill was not executed to the same standards. There wasn’t a single hot dish in the buffet that was particularly appealing or memorable to me, but I refilled in order to get my money’s worth at $ 19.99/person, which is several dollars more expensive than the other Ramadan buffets I’ve had. Even at that price, plastic utentils and styrofoam plates were given. I didn’t feel like I was dining in a restaurant.
I know that most restaurants change their Ramadan menu on a daily basis, so I might have visited on a day when the menu was limited to chicken variations. I wish they had lamb and more homemade appetizers. Service was mainly self-​serve, because Kabab Grill staff was busy after allowing people not participating in the buffet to dine in and order take out, which would typically not be allowed at Arabic restaurants in Anaheim during Ramadan. The experience didn’t feel like eating at someone’s home as I had hoped for.

First, the only reason why I’m giving this place 4 stars is because it does not have any booze.
Otherwise, this place is pretty bomb. They give you a lot of food. We got kefta, chicken and beef shawarma, hummus, tabbouleh, baba ganoush, grape leaves, lebneh and plenty of pita.
Everything was pretty delicious (beef and chicken kinda dry but not horrible, and baba ganoush not my favorite) for a great price. I even loved the front of the house guy who let use try the buffet items and the dates at the counter.
We got our food to go and picked up a bottle of wine to enjoy it at home.
Definitely coming back for pick-​up again.

I have to upgrade this to a 5– their fresh pita and garlic sauce deserve no less.
This is my main place to call when I’m looking for quick and delicious takeout. And their staff is really friendly, which I always appreciate.
Yes, I still wish the kebab plates had a little more meat, but I admit it’s somewhat because they’re so delicious… And everything is really high quality (full chunks of white mean that’s tasty but not drowning in grease), so I’ll take this over mountains of mediocre kebabs any day.
Love this place and will keep coming back.

Food was great!!! Ehab is a nice guy that took time to check with all the gusts are enjoying the food and atmosphere. They bake fresh pita bread as well.
I recommend if you are around and up for a middle eastern food.

When it comes to falafel, there are three factors that I look for: crispy on the outside, moist and tender on the inside, and it tastes good. The falafel at Kabab Grill easily met those three factors but it caught my attention just a little bit more.
Their falafel is seasoned with these magical delicious spices. Unlike any falafel I’ve ever tasted before and I’ve had my share of falafels. I’m not a falafel expert or anything, I just know that I was wowed by Kabab Grill’s falafel. It had this green tint on the inside, probably from all the spices. I really can’t explain the flavor. I just know that I liked it… a lot!
The Fattoush salad is fresh. The flavor was lemony and I gotta give props to the presentation:

Better than Gaby’s Express if you want some quick Mediterranean food. This is more of a week night, take out order type place.
For my first visit, we ate there. Got the Shawarma Plate with fries and hummus. The fries came out hot and crisp. The hummus was creamy. Also got the Tabouleh and I thought the size of it was really small compared to the price. Not a good deal.

The food here is really good! The guy who seems to run it is really nice and there is a Unilocal check in reward of a free baklava! If you like this type of food and live in the area this is someplace I would recommend! Its not to pricey and you get a decent amount… and the garlic sauce is delicious!
Why I don’t give it a higher score is the parking lot and the wait time. It shares a one way small parking lot with other businesses including a coffee bean so– getting in and out a rush hour can be tricky.
Since the food is pretty much made to order and is more involved to make, it seems to take a little longer than other places– seems like around 15 minutes give or take or so which I guess is not too bad. but when your hungry and cant wait to dig in it seems longer!