Shish Mediterranean Grill & Café

Decent Mediterranean spot in an odd part of town. My first experience would have left Shish at 4 stars, but my 2^nd visit was lacking. Its an order at the counter place, which is ideal for lunch. The staff is friendly and helpful, and the place itself is clean, but not very cool inside. The schwarma dinner was nice — a good portion for the cost. I had the Greek salad the second time, and it was just huge pieces of lettuce and blocks of feta. I will give Shish another try because of the good first visit though!

We have been there a few times now and have not been disappointed, everything has been very good. Start with the Maza Mix, the Babaganoush is great (and I don’t like Eggplant usually), so are their wraps and sandwiches, and don’t forget to order some of their tea.

Shish has great food, and a great atmosphere. I love that it is fast casual, but that there are often people doing work for long periods of time on their laptops. They have a good number of seats, including a large back room, and a few outdoor tables in the warmer months. I have yet to order something bad off the menu. My go to is the avocado wrap (SO GOOD,) or the chicken gyro pita (also really good.) If you’re here for dinner, their curry is fantastic, and is a great value due to the amount of food that comes on the plate! Even though their cake is expensive (around $ 7,) it is totally worth it, especially if you’re lucky enough to get a gigantic slice. The staff is usually pretty friendly, but the kitchen area always seems pretty chaotic. Overall, this is a great neighborhood joint that is perfect for all meals of the day!

I used to live going to Shish in college, but going back there recently was one of the worst experiences I’ve had. The server at the counter was so rude to my friends and me, and had the worst attitude ive ever encountered. He laughed at or faces when we asked about a coupon that the restaurant was offering. My friend ordered the lentil soup which was so bland and inedible that she sent it back. The server didn’t do anything about it and preceded to ignore her. Honestly the food was mediocre at best; I had the falafel burger which was dry. But the even if the food had been great, the male server was so rude he should probably just be fired.

I came here really excited to have some good Mediterranean… very mediocre. Certainly too bland. Salad was nothing… just lettuce cucumbers and tomatoes. Here is a idea… throw a bit of feta on it. Service was bad at best… they kind of threw the food on the table… sorry can’t recommend this place…

We were looking for someplace to eat that had some semi-​healthy, yummy options. We didn’t want a full meal so split a chicken shawarma plate. Between the salad that came with it and the generously sized portion, two of us were completely filled up. Nice atmosphere. Clean tables. Good food. What more could we ask for.

This review is mostly for their burnt butter cookie and chocolate cake. I had a cappuccino but was underwhelmed. Also, their staff was clueless. It seems like the kitchen staff really know what they are doing though, which is the most important thing. I would definitely come back and try some food items, and I suspect this little place is a hidden gem. I hope they make it long term.

Had the beef tenderloin kebob dish. It was good. I may have to try something else on the menu the next time, I’m in the area. Good service and ambience too.

I ate here twice last week. It was so good the first time I just had to go back. Both times I got the same thing and both times it was delicious! I got the prime beef kabobs. Only advice I have is don’t be so stingy with that delicious garlic sauce!

Great location, but today the service was bad, the mild red curry way too salty and kinda too spicy. The bottle of Izze I got was warm, and was offered no ice. No water either.
I’m sure it was an accident or the good reviews are written by students, who usually are less pretentious.
I’m not going back.

My girlfriend and I were going to check this place out tonight, BUT we witnessed a verbal assault on 2 women in front of the restaurant next door. We inquired what was going on by another patron, and they informed us that it was the owner of Shish accosting the women. I wrote the owners behavior off as being very demeaning to women (typical Middle Eastern Man syndrome) and we decided NOT to give this restaurant OUR business. That said, we had an AWESOME meal at French Meadow Bakery!

Love this place. Something different than I would usually eat but it was amazing. Service was great.

I had to write a review while I was still in the restaurant. I’m not sure what’s up with all the fantastic reviews because this place was just ok. Definitely a more mainstream/​Americanized mediterranean place and certainly not authentic at all. I travel to the Twin Cities on business and was starving for lunch after a meeting in Saint Paul so I stopped here. I heavily rely on Unilocal reviews when I travel from city to city, and this had a lot of great reviews. I started with the spinach pies. They were nice and crispy, which is a definite plus. The outside of the filo dough had a consistency more like a wonton texture – you know the little cheese puff or the crab ragoon you get at Chinese restaurants? I thought I remember filo dough having a different consistentency, but ok. I also found it a little strange that it says its «stuffed with feta, spinach and spices», but when they brought it to me, there was a chunk of feta cheese on the plate instead of in the pies. No worries, I’ll put it together myself. Not a big deal.
Then, I got the Shish feast kabob which comes with chicken & beef tenderloins, saffron rice, sauteed veggies and «garlic sauce», and a house salad. The salad is basically tomato, red onion, cucumber, romaine lettuce and Italian dressing. Nothing really mediterranean flavor. The chicken was nice and juicy which I appreciate. Sad part is that they missed it on the Mediterranean spices, the beef didnt really have any seasoning on it at all, but the chicken was flavored. I did, however, LOVED the sauteed veggies.
I’m not hatin’ and saying the food was disgusting. It was edible. The food was fine, it just wasn‘t really mediterranean. Just be aware of that fact. I didn’t get any dessert, but they do look delicious, so that’s a plus?

Great food! The food comes out quick and hot! The hummus is the best I’ve had in the Twin Cities! Highly recommend this restaurant!

Not Authentic Mediterranean. The food is pricy and not tasty. I ordered a Gyro wrap and salad, it’s mediocre, salad is not fresh. I would totally skip this place.
Maybe most of the positive reviews are for well displayed desserts in front.
$ 0.81 cents for a small side of garlic sauce. Good luck with that.

As an area resident, I’ve been to Shish a number of times. A Mediterranean café, the fare would be most widely recognizable as Greek. It’s a «fast casual» setup where you order at a register and take a number to your table.
The food is excellent. Their standard varieties of gyros and falafels and hummus are superlative, but two things often get undersold here.
They have an excellent breakfast, which can be a welcome departure from normal breakfast food and as light or heavy as you’re feeling. This includes amazing coffee.
They also have great bakery items and desserts. I’ve found myself bringing them places to friends and home to enjoy as well. Give their dessert case a try.
All in all, a must try if you’re in the Mac-​Groveland area. You won’t be disappointed!

A constant now in our workplace lunchtime rotation, Shish is pretty much as good as it gets. Everything on the menu for a vegetarian option is just amazing. It’s phenomenal Mediterranean food that has no equal in the Twin Cities (not that I have found yet).
To start… order the Dolma. Trust me. One of the only places where I have ordered it and it comes warm, just made. Absolutely amazing and a staple order every time I visit.
I have had each of the vegetarian options for burgers/​sandwiches by this point and they are all delectable, but nothing beats the Falafel Burger. A well balanced falafel patty on a toasted bun with avocado, hummus, hot sauce, and your normal burger toppings. There are no words to describe this amazing burger. In my very first visit to Shish with coworkers we were honored by one of the chefs with a Leo Burger version of the Falafel Burger… it was so amazing and filling!
Always quick and friendly service, Shish is definitely a great spot for Mediterranean food in Saint Paul.

Everything is so good! Gyros are bomb. Definitely get the masa plate. Burgers are surprisingly amazing. And desserts galore. Breakfast dishes too! Yum! Would love to eat there every day.

If I could only give ten stars !
Mediterranean food from heaven, the afterlife or another galaxy far far away — whichever way you swing
Get there before 1100 and have the crab cake Benedict with an infinite array of flavors and perfectly layered textures followed by the best Turkish coffee I have had outside of the Middle East
After 1100 you will have to settle for — well ANYTHING ON THE MENU — especially if you can have the babaganouch ladled over it
If man could only live on baba alone…
From the humus to the kabobs to the desert you really can’t order anything bad here — and if you don’t like what you ordered — go down the street to McDonalds with your aluminum taste pallet
Walk in the door and order from the board on the left — don’t worry if you don’t see seats in the front as there are more in the back
Fantastically friendly, phenomenal food and freaky feel
Why are you still reading this ???
Go get experienced !!!
Now !
Go !!!

The best Greek food in the twin cities, maybe it’s because they fry their gyro meat. Anyways, if you’ve been to french meadow, you need to stop because they suck… and start going here. They serve breakfast and lunch in a casual, order at the counter environment. Everything I’ve had has been great, including the desserts. All around great place!

Mediterranean done well! This place is awesome and has fast, great service. It’s an order at the counter/​pay at counter and take a number & seat kind of deal. They have a great variety on the menu and a pastry bar that has an awesome, wide array of sweets. I never tried the cakes, but each time I go I’m so tempted because they’re the biggest slices I see for a great price.
Seating is pretty good, they have a cute little cozy area in back if you don’t want to sit in the main area. They have booth seating for groups and regular tables as well if you’re one-​on-​one. Food is great, service good, and yeah get the BREAKFAST before noonish. so gooood.

I really love this place. It’s been a while since I’ve gone now that I live in Minneapolis but I make the drive every now and again.
The food is delicious. I’ve had the chicken shawarma and falafel as well as salads and deserts. The portions are hefty and there have been times I took some of the food home with me. Because it’s on grand avenue the place can get crowded with Mac students and such evening a and weekends. I haven’t waited more than 20 minutes though and they get through orders pretty fast.
They also offer some solid vegetarian food which I appreciate and its flavorful and filling. The chai tea is amazing and delicious if you’re a non-​coffee drinker like myself. If you’re in the area, stop here. You won’t regret it.

Try the shish curry with chicken (the green kind). It is one of the few dishes I’ve had that I crave, I talk about it, dream about it even. It. Is. Amazing. The mushroom soup is made fresh per the order and such a treat! Also, the Arabic tea is fresh and good to the last drop!

Superb food. Tried the shish kebab and it was lamb meat (halal) cooked to perfection with side of saffron rice.
Note to the management. Think about a double door so that cold air doesnt rush in everytime anyone enters

Pleasant place with good food. Lots of items on the menu should please everyone. A handful of tables outside are a nice place to sit in warm weather. Order at the counter and your food is brought to you. Not quite as good as the middle eastern restaurants in Dearborn, MI, but few are. I would eat here again.

I have enjoyed Shish for dinner a couple of times, and I found the pictures of their breakfast platters mouth watering which made me decide to stop by and give it a try! I was hugely disappointed! The falafel was okay, the cheese was good, however the meat they topped the hummus with tasted awful! Whether it was bad meat, old oil, not sure but it was absolutely disgusting. The potatoes were fried in what tasted like the same oil the meat was cooked in, and they were undercooked. The only reason they get 4 stars is because of their dinner menu.
I highly recommend Shish for dinner, their lamb shank special is delicious, and so is their shish tawooq.

I have been going to Shish forever! Super yummy food and gluten free dessert options.
You always get your food fast and we can, usually, find a table.

I’ve been wanting to come here for breakfast for ages but their breakfast ends early at 11 am, so I haven’t had a chance! Finally I had my opportunity and I was not disappointed!
Counter service place. I was torn between the crab cake benedict and the shakshouka but ended up selecting the shakshouka because it’s more unique. I asked the girl behind the counter and she said they were both two of her favorites. I was definitely not disappointed! It came out in a little skillet and came with a variety of veggies and fruit and pita and olives and feta. The flavors were amazing.
It’s a cute little joint too. They have a huge variety of cakes behind the counter that looked delicious. Evidently they are from Buttercream. Definitely drool worthy.
I can’t wait to come back and try everything on the menu.

Had lunch with friends on Tues. And was terribly disappointed! The HUGE chalkboard style menu boards are right next to the order counter and so people ordering and people trying to read the menu are in each other’s way!
The shawarma was very thin, tough and dried on the edges! I’ve never had tough shawarma before in my life!
The pita was also very thin and tough?!? Tough? Yes!
With all hard surfaces, including chair seats, the noise level was almost jackhammer level! We really couldn’t talk.
Save your money and head to The Barbary Fig for exceptional Mediterranean food!

If I could lie in bed all day slathered in babaganoush, I would do it. If I could get the chunks of eggplant to squeeze through a syringe, I would inject it into my veins and live out the rest of my days on a crazy ‘ganoush high… Or it would instantly stop my heart and I would die. But, I would die happy.
Are you kidding me with this place? The crab cake benedict on pita was ridiculous. Thick cake, perfectly poached egg and covered in rich hollandaise sauce. This had the opportunity to send me over the edge, but the rosemary potatoes were a slight disappointment so I stopped short. Don’t let that stop you from ordering this monster of a meal. One cake down and I was delirious. I saved the other half, Sam W. masterfully heated it up for me and I indulged in it again in the comfort of my own home.
The gyro is massive. It’s sloppy. It’s the best gyro I have had since moving to Minnesota 21 and ¾ years ago. To spare Sam the embarrassment of having to cover me from hulking out with a food boner, I ate this thing with a fork and didn’t get all weird with it in my face. It was close, though. Really close. With a tag of $ 6 for a gyro that can probably feed you at least once and a half, you can’t go wrong here. The side of sweet potato fries is cheap, delicious and go unbelievably well with the garlic sauce. If I didn’t offend anyone while I was here, I definitely did when I left.
I’ve tried plenty of Mediterranean restaurants, but Shish is the only one that’s ever made me want to get ‘ganoushed pretty much daily. They’re going to need a helpline for people like me.

Tasty, not real Med food but a hipsterfied take. Tasty overall.
I got the lamb burger, juicy and well cooked! My girlfriend got the shawarma and enjoyed it greatly. Would’ve been nice to see a better selection besides Americanized sandwiches but if that’s what this place is going for, it does it well.
The place was super inexpensive to boot. Worth popping in for lunch, if you’re in the area!

On second thought…
I returned to try different menu items. My husband ordered the moussaka (eggplant-​meat-​potato casserole) and I got a lamburger with fries. Both lacked flavor. Fortunately I also got a side of falafel and the coriander sauce that came with it livened up the moussaka. The burger was helped when I liberally added salt and pepper.
Another irritation was that we ate our meal in four stages. Falafil showed up first. We finished that, and the moussaka arrived. My husband tried to eat slowly while we waited for my burger, but that took 20 minutes and came with salad instead of the fries I’d ordered. The waiter said he’d be back with an order of fries, but those didn’t arrive for another 15 minutes. Really, how long does it take to make an order of fries? They were good, though, and we dragged them through the garlic sauce that had come on the plate with my burger. Great combo, although we are still smelling like garlic this morning.
Here’s my takeaway: I will come here again, but I’ll get it to go. I just don’t think this place can pull it together to put two entrees on the table at the same time. And order carefully. Their falafel is the best in town, and the hummus and baba ganoush are delicious.

Everyone! I need your attention… I am missing some gyro meat that should have been on my plate Saturday morning. If you’re in the Grand/​Snelling area and catch it strolling around aimlessly, please message me. There is no reward, but I may buy you breakfast. Thank you.
With that out of the way, I stopped in at Shish on Saturday morning after putting it off a week and going off the recommendation of a friend of mine. It’s a Grand in StP, expect street parking unless you can get into one of the local lots. For those unaware, it’s an order at the counter, menu is on a chalk board on a wall, get a number, sit and wait place.
I stood there gazing at the menu and had to ask myself, WWPEJD? What would pancake eating Jesus do? Order pancakes with breakfast or just get a breakfast specialty? Well he said to order pancakes. And I did… along with the Greek omelet which sounded amazing, gyro, feta cheese, kalamata olives, spinach, red bell peppers, mushrooms, sun-​dried tomatoes & red onion; served with rosemary potatoes, toast and fruit.
Pop a squat with a coffee, and wait 5 – 7 minutes or so when the chow arrives. Everything looks great, omelet is pretty, taters look solid, cakes are a double short stack of small cakes — hell yeah, lets dig in.
Then I notice… I’ve got a lot of tzatziki… Like a lot a lot. No worries. I love that stuff. Then I notice under the pillow of tzatziki, my gyro meat has only left me faint clues he was there. To tune of 3 miniscule slices. I shit you not, I had 3 tiny shavings of meat. To do some recon, I pull up Unilocal,search Shish and look at pics of this breakfast from other users. Wow, they must have got all the gyro meat previously! Bastards not leaving me any! You can see the couple of pieces sticking out of the tzatziki in my pic. That was it folks.
Whatever, I now start eating my nearly vegetarian omelet in disappointment. Flavor is solid, the tomatoes give it a real acidic flavor and the tzatziki provides a nice cool cuce flavor. Decent hint of dill. But, the feta cheese on top, was ice cold and added nothing at all. Do yourself a favor and stick this brick inside hte omelet so it melts a bit and the flavor rolls into the dish. Rosemary spuds were a total miss. Some were cold, the edges were barely crisp and they literally fell apart. Just a total let down. Fruit… well, it was fruit and not fucked up. Congrats.
Pancakes… the only thing that keeps this from being a 1 star. The cakes were a solid buttermilk and the cream with them was really nice. You can debate whether syrup is needed on your own time, I rolled with syrup although a preserve wouldn’t have been bad either (especially something tarty to go with the salty butter flavor).
Low and behold I’m done eating and get out. It was too early to be an asshole to the people that worked there. I simply wasn’t happy and figured swearing at my steering wheel on my drive back to the NW burbs was more worth it.
My final thought, the breakfast was great in theory, very poorly executed. Put the gyro meat and cheese in the damn omelet. Cold hard cheese on top and gyro meat outside of an omelet that is full of big chunked veggies which then makes it REALLY tough to get a bite of everything is just asinine to me.

My man-​panion and I visited this gem for the first time tonight and we left full and happy for $ 35!
We started with the baked spinach cakes thingys and they were good, pretty classic.
I had the Falafel as a wrap. It’s definitely big and filling but didn’t come with a side. I was cool with that though since I stole some fries from his gyro. I didn’t try the gyro but there were lots of yummmm sounds happening and promises to return.
Finally we finished with the turtle cheese cake which was totally amazing! In their case they had lots of other giant and beautiful cakes as well.
Only complaints were that is is really cold by the doors and there’s no wine but the food is tasty and quick. Recommend!