El-Basha

Had a luncheon sample platter with my son, very good variety, food was hot and cooked to order. Service was attentive. Plenty of food in the sampler, pleasantly surprised with all the flavors and variety served. Would not hesitate to return.

Stopped in for lunch and to escape the sun during stART on the Street. We thought the menu they posted on the street was just takeout specials for the festival, but it appears to be their normal lunch menu, which turned out to be a steal. The falafel sandwich is $ 5 and big enough to share with someone. It’s not the best falafel ever and could use a little more sauce, but for $ 5 I can’t find much to complain about. My suggestion is to order an Israeli salad (chopped vegetables in very vibrant, herby dressing) and eat some with the huge pile of pita on the table and the rest inside your falafel sandwich. This is probably only feasible with a dining partner unless you want a ton of leftovers.

Great food, I tried the lamb port saiid and the raw kebaa and both were done to perfection.
Highly recommend the place :-)

I took my 100% Armenian mom to lunch recently. The best is the loads of fresh Syrian bread served with each meal. Our server was really friendly and patient as my elderly mom navigated the menu.
I ordered the Fatoush salad without onions. Mom had the chicken Port Said. My salad came laden with onions which I did not notice until the server departed. She did not come back for 20 minutes and I didn’t feel like getting up so sorted through the other ingredients picking through the salad. Mom’s chicken was tasty. Things are spotty here but the owner (or manager) seeks interested in his guests and the menu is fantastic.
When the server saw I did not eat much of my salad and learned why, she comped my tea and mom’s juice. Just a mention but still, not heeding the request of a diner does concern and frustrate me, even if it’s the chef’s fault.

Take out reviews only…
Twice in the past month I have been treated to some of the best ethnic food I have ever had. My wife decided to start a new tradition for NYE an I LIKE IT!!!
We just recently got the same order of Kibie, Stuffed Grape Leaves, Hummus, Tzatziki, and Falafel. The quality of the food is awesome, and the quantity is a great value.
If you are looking for something with rich flavors and a definite ethnic angle this is a great dining option!

Dissapointing. My mom has always told me to choose restaurants based on the number of customers there are, especially on a weekend. She’s kinda always right.
Skeptical: Went here with a bunch of friends on a Friday night for dinner and there were only two other tables with people.
Secondly, when our food came out, our steaks tips were sooo burnt, dry and pretty tasteless. My friend returned his. When they brought him a new plate, it was way too undercooked. They gave us free ice cream but no refund for the meal.
I had ordered a spicy bloody mary and stressed the spicy. It was not spicy. I added a ton of pepper to mask the weird taste of the drink.
The bill topped off this not-​so-​awesome experience as it ended up being around $ 35/​person for 6 people! So not worth it.
Would not come back again or recommend this.

Took my wife there for dinner this evening we both ordered the rack of lamb. Terribly disappointing ! The lamb was tasteless and very tough. The tomato and onions were over done,. The meal took forever to come out despite there only being only one other party in the restaurant The bill came to $ 82.00 for two meals without appetizers one wine and a diet coke. I wouldn’t mind the cost it the food was at least mediocre. I won’t go back even with a gift certificate !

I think if I could I would go with 2 ½ stars as it was a real middle of the road experience. First, the parking lot is super tiny. I squeezed in next to someone in what was really not a parking spot. Since there was only one other couple in the restaurant when I walked in, I’m assuming all the spaces were taken by the staff. Our waitress was very nice, but didn’t hover over us, which I like. On the other hand I would have liked to order another drink, but never saw her to do so. At one point the hostess did come around to refill water. We ordered the half and half appetizer (Hummus and Baba Ganoush) which arrived quickly and was delicious! Our dinners also arrived promptly! I ordered the seafood combo ant was only so-​so. Shrimp was perfectly cooked, but not seasoned. The salmon was tasty, but had two bones in it. The swordfish was way overcooked and I actually had to use my knife to cut it. The rice served with the dish was very tasty! I would try this restaurant again and go with a more traditional dish. Both of my friends had the Kibbee and really liked it!

This is my second time here at this Resturant. The first time was for business, today I was here for dinner with a friend. I opend the door only to find women at the front eating their dinner with their mouth open. She told me to seat myself. She continued to eat as I waited for the waitress. She is fifteen feet from me and the sound of her eating is drowning up the taps from my keyboard. I have now been here for 7 minutes and no one has come to see me. I am now listening to them argue that the door should not have been opend if there was no wait staff present.
I wold leave except I am waiting for my friend to get here. Let’s hope that the food is better than the service

Well let me start by saying it was not our plan to end up here. We were going to Haiku for sushi– but apparently they are closed. So we walked a half a block in the cold and figured we’d eat here. The restaurant is very dark, black ceiling, dark wood walls, dim lighting. It felt like a formal stuffy kind of place. It was 6:00 on a Friday and there were only 2 other parties. The waitress brought us some plain flat bread. (the bread got stale towards the bottom of the basket). We ordered hummus, which was coarse and almost lumpy. The menu offered a lot of meat. I ordered Chicken Swarama– which is basically grilled chicken on a garden salad with a creamy tahini dressing. It was ok– chicken was a little dry and kind of boring. hubby ordered a beef tenderloin saiid– which was tender beef with mushrooms on rice pilaf. His meal was flavorful. Portions were very large. The whole experience was just weird. The waitstaff was friendly-​but seemed like they didn’t know what to do. There was a weird vibe that just made the whole experience feel kind of surreal. If I were to offer advice to the owners, I’d say lighten up the whole place-​figuratively and literally, from the walls and lighting to the menu and the waitstaff. I think the ultimate comment a reviewer can give is whether or not they would return. Unfortunately, I can not think of any circumstance that I would go back.

I only write reviews when I strongly feel necessary to. Either really great reviews or really bad, never average reviews. This place was from the impressive Just walking through the door on a Saturday night around 7:30ish– to the décor– to the people in there — to the service– to the food. I always critique places due to having restaurants in my family, and know how powerful word of mouth is. So, getting into why my experience was above and beyond… I was there for a Christmas party and was in the back room (perfect space for functions) and they brought out salads with hummus and pita (amazing hummus) and followed by steak and chicken kabob platters (also perfectly cooked) I was amazed by how everything was so well done for our party of 100 – 150 people. To top it off. To really top off why I am writing this review — is because I had one glass of Malbec (my first drink and personal favorite) to find out it was a little sour and might have possibly been bad (never had the kind so I can’t really say if it was) but the gentlemen behind the bar said not to worry, let me go out back and grab you my personal favorite (the fact that he was open to doing this blew me away– customer service at it’s finest) so to wrap up this… He insisted I take the whole bottle… And it was on him. I was blown away by this and quite honestly hate complaining about wine or anything but for him to go above and beyond was quite amazing. Come to find out later in the night it was the owner of the place. But for him to 1 be behind the bar… 2 be serving people… To bringing out food from the kitchen… Really makes me appreciate him not only as a person but as a business owner. And as a person coming from this business, it’s always so nice to see that pure love for being in this business and really taking customer service to another level. With this being said. I would have just been happy with another glass of wine… And I’ll be back for more.

I have constantly walked past this place, but never went in. I am not sure why. When I took my girlfriend here for lunch this past week, the food was great!
We started off with some baba ghanoush (my first time) and it was not my thing, but my girlfriend really enjoyed it and said it was some of the best she ever had!
I asked the waitress for her favorite lamb dish, and she recommended the lamb said… so I got it as my entrée — and it was a mouthgasm — no joke. This beats out any other restaurant lamb dish I have ever tried. I loved it, My girlfriend almost stole my plate from me once she tried it.
Portion size was HUGE, this can easily feed 2 people!
I took the Lamb dish home and it was almost as good reheated and my girlfriend’s daughter loved it as well… and she can be quite picky! After having a minute to think about if she liked it, she kept asking for more and more.
Although this is my first venture into Lebanese food, and this restaurant I will be coming back. So Good!!!
Not a top 5 restaurant in worcester. but for great tasting food at a GREAT price– I recommend it HIGHLY!

Unilocal wins again… we use it constantly when traveling to find places we wouldn’t otherwise discover. El-​Basha was one of those great finds. Small frontage on a busy road, not enough to catch our eye had we just been driving. Turned out to be well worth the stop. My wife is Middle Eastern and often cooks Lebanese food so we were quite happy with the choices on the menu. Nothing boring about the way the food is produced here either — some things quite traditional, others quite innovative, all of it excellent. Service was excellent, interior was clean and enticing, food will definitely bring us back. Combinations we tried included the lebneh, hummous, baba, falafel, fatouch, mixed grill and grape leaves.

As a middle eastern, I know what a good Shawarma and Hummus are. This place looks ok but the food quality is average. I ordered a chicken Shawarma which suppose to taste like a SHAWARMA but it was more like a regular grilled chicken placed on top of a bread. No garlic sauce, no pickles, bread was hard to bite on because that’s how pitta bread is when it gets old, and also the put lettuce, tomatoes, and Taheene with the chicken. I’m fine with those but they called it shawarma and it tasted like a grilled chicken that we get on top of a caesar salad.
I’m totally disappointed because their food is expensive compared to other middle eastern restaurants in the area with better food quality and taste.
I also ordered grape leaves, which were dry and didn’t have a taste. The Falafel was ok. The french fries is really bad because it was frozen fries. If I want to eat frozen fries, I would’ve done that at home. doesn’t cost that much and it would taste better. They are suppose to make fresh french fries or at least if they are going to use frozen ones, they should at least make their own.
One last thing to end this review with was the drink I ordered. I had a regular coke which was disgusting. Their glasses are gross, tasted funny with no bubbles, and also not cold!
Before I go to a place I read about it and see what other people are saying about it. This place has a lot of good reviews but apparently who wrote them doesn’t really know what a good middle eastern restaurant is. I hope when other people write a review, they say if it was their first time at a middle eastern place or not. Try to compare to other places in Worcester.
If you have any doubts, try all the middle eastern restaurants in Worcester and compare them to Albasha.

Contrary to other reviews, I have had a party/​catering event thrown at El Basha. I don’t remember the price I paid for it but I ended up literally with a weeks worth of port said, chicken saiid, and hummus which is a personal heaven of mine. There was maybe 25 people there and everyone ate to satisfaction.
I was always a fan of the port saiid or chicken saiid. It’s the best deal they have at the restaurant in terms of how much food you get. A giant serving of delicious rice with lightly seasoned and lemon steak or chicken for 15 dollars.
Other dishes like the kabobs were also a nice refreshment. Great grilled vegetables and meat on a skewer with rice as well.
What really stands out the most to me is the hummus. In my personal opinion I have never, ever found another place that has hummus as good as el basha’s. I’m sure it would have to literally be homemade to match it’s quality and taste. I would buy it by the bucket if I could.
They also have the best babaghanouj I’ve ever had as well. It’s actually the only baba I can stand to eat.
I’m not sure if their tiramissou is made in house but it’s a very nice balance between the coffee and cream.
I guess people complain about the prices. Yea for Worcester the prices are a bit high. But how many places serve food on the same level as El Basha in Worcester? Not many. No, TGIF does not count. And Ribs from Chuck’s Steak does not count either. For the cultural variety that El Basha is able to bring to a largely Caucasian Worcester, the price is fine. Especially compared to other cities where a meal is going to cost 30 – 50 dollars for the sane quality. I don’t think other people remember/​realize that. I only wish there were an El Basha for the same price in NYC, Hawaii, Chicago, and California.

I dined here with my husband and sister before a show at the nearby Hanover Theater. First of all, we really appreciated how quickly our server got our order in, food out, and check done when we let her know about our show. There were several large parties in at the same time, and there was no delay or hang up with our meal.
The food is solid, traditional middle eastern fare. On the whole, I think the appetizers were a little stronger than the entrees, more on that below.
For appetizers we shared:
Greek salad, (very nice dressing, with a touch of mint)
taboleh (could have used a little more bulgar, but still, very fresh and nicely tart)
spinach pies (weakest of the course, we didn’t care for the pastry dough case, prefer filo)
baba gahnoush (sp)(this is very good, though on the roasty side).
We had kabobs and seafood combo for entrees. The meat on the kabobs was flavorful (1 lamb, 1 steak). If you like your meat medium, order it well-​done, they seem to cook on the rare side. The seafood sampler consisted of swordfish, salmon and shrimp. The salmon was a little overdone, swordfish on the edge, though still tasty. It must be a challenge to get those three types of seafood cooked just right; I’d say it’s a bit of a risky item to order. No special seasonings or treatment on the kabobs, just very straight-​forward good choices.
On the kabobs, about half of the vegetables were scorched and inedible, which is a shame, because the veg that was spared incineration was great. The rice served with the meals is quite ordinary pilaf, very buttery.
I would go back to El-​Basha — there is a reasonably priced dinner special (min of 2 orders at the table) served family-​style — but I would opt for a range of meze next time!

My fiancé and I tried El Basha tonight in hopes of finding a local place that has a killer shawarma. I’ve only had one sharwarma and it was from a place in Boston and it was delicious! The one I had from El Basha was just eh… so so.
There was nothing wrong with the food, it just wasn’t stellar and we’ve already decided we won’t be going back. Just not flavorful enough I guess.
It was more like an overpriced chicken salad without the spicy garlic sauce and not rolled in a pita.
The place is conveniently located right off rt 9 in the UMASS hospital area. There is a parking lot with dedicated spots for the restaurant but the lot is quite small.
The décor was warm and inviting… or maybe it just seemed that way because it was cold and rainy outside. It appeared to be clean and there was a faint smell of spices in the air.

Tried El-​Basha the other night. Keep in mind I come from a Lebanese family so I might be tough to please in this category.
Ambiance and service were great. Nice interior with a fireplace, tasteful decorations — somewhat modern and dark. I liked it.
Menu was extensive with a long list of appetizers, main dishes and even a listing of non-​Lebanese dishes for those less adventurous. Prices were very fair.
We had the artichoke hearts and grape leaves for apps. Both were excellent. For the main dish, we both had kabobs. Only reason I am not giving this place higher than 3 stars is that my dinner was only so-​so. I found it dry and not very flavorful. Others might find this appealing, but I tend to like more flavor in my ethnic food. Again, I might be a bit harsh here due to my ethnicity, but its how I feel! Still, I would recommend it to others to try and would go back myself — I am just not in a hurry to try it again. I might try Sahara Café next time.

Overall El-​Basha was very good and I would have given them 4 stars except for one thing — the baba ganoush was pretty bad.
The kabob combo on the other hand was excellent. The chicken was very moist, the kafta spiced just right and the sirlon was cooked just right.
If I find myself back in Worcester, I will definitely pay another visit to El-​Basha.

I came here with a big party, and we had a pretty good time. They were able to accommodate our party, but they rushed us with the menus (they said they didn’t have enough for the rest of the restaurant if we took to long with them) weird.
anyway, onto the food. we ordered a cold platter and a hot platter of appetizers. they were both pretty good! the hot platter in particular was excellent. the entrée i ordered was the chicken kabob and it was so so. nothing spectacular. so it was just ok. i wouldn’t come back.