Shish Kebab Mediterranean Grill

I am a regular here. Everyone I have ever introduced to this place says they really like it and would return. I am embarrassed to say, I have had few dishes here other than the lamb shish kebab. It is absolutely the best. The lamb is not on a skewer, but instead, served on the plate with rice and a vegetable medley of carrots zucchini and onions. The plate contains several chunks of lamb and just enough of everything else. The lamb is cooked delicately and lacks the usual overly marinated taste. I would recommend the lamb stew, musaka and vegetable stew. All good choices, but not like the lamb kebab. Yes, for you vegetarians, they have several options to choose from. The appetizers including calamari and baba ganoush are excellent. Another reviewer mentioned the high quality of humus and I agree. It is by far, the best I have had in town. If you have any left on the table, take it home!! You will be glad you did the next day. The bread is awesome. warm and dense. None of that flat pita stuff. The dipping sauce includes olive oil, pepper and rosemary. Yum. If you save room for dessert, they will bring around a tray displaying what they have and explaining each. Personally, I would prefer to fill up on the bread. They do not cut corners. I have never been here when I couldn't get a table, even on the weekends. I appreciate the warm inviting atmosphere and the ability to have a conversation. (I always mention noise level as I do like to talk during dinner. I would recommend if you are coming with a large party, you make reservations, only so the staff can be prepared and ensure proper seating. The staff is friendly and efficient, not intrusive. I do like the twins! : If you want really good Mediterranean food, come here.Lastly, the price is right!

I really like the inside decor upon entering! It's the woody feeling that caught my eye. The restaurant wasn't overpacked when I visited. Just about the right amount of people. Their bread was so yummy. It was a little crunchy on the edges and soft on the inside. Dipped that with their bread sauce (I am not sure what it was but has tomato flavor in it for sure , it was just wonderful! I definitely had too much bread and can't eat much for the main dishes. We also had babaganoush. It's smoked eggplant puree, seasonal with tahini olive oil and garlic. It was good, but not great to me though I can tell that it was freshly made. Main entrees we had Adana Kebab (ground lamb with crushed red peppers; chargrilled and Chicken Kebab with yogurt (chicken was marinated and chargrilled; served with garlic toasted bread and yogurt at the bottom of the dish . They were both really spicy to me. When I first ate it, I thought it wasn't too bad but the spice kicked in in a few short seconds. Adana Kebab tasted really delicious. Lamb could sometimes be a challenging dish to cook, but they did a great job. The sides of rice and vegetables were rather mediocre. Chicken Kebab with yogurt was great as well. However, meat wise, I preferred Adana Kebab. Portions were definitely more than needed and we had leftovers (it could also be because we consumed too much bread . I probably shouldn't be because I was overly stuffed but I got a dessert anyway really just wanted to try it. I chose the rice pudding. It was decent. A little sweet. The portion was huge (I am glad that I wasn't the only one eating it... ... To me, this rice pudding tasted like it was pre made and made it frozen though. Service was fine some are more friendly than others. However, they charged my final bill wrong so I wasn't too happy about it. This place is pretty comparable to Cafe Istanbul, but somehow less known.

I have been to Shish Kebab many times, but until our most recent visit it had been a couple of years. I was worried that, even though it had been uniformly delicious previously, the passage of time may have changed things. Such fears were entirely misplaced. It was just as good as I remembered, with one member of our party describing it as the best Mediterranean food she had had in a long time. Often, the bread service at a restaurant is OK but hardly noteworthy. Not here. Here the bread was soft with a nice crisp outer texture. It is served with a flavorful oil dipping mixture. We shared a large appetizer platter and a mixed grill entree, and were pleased with each of the many different items we tried. All of the dips and salads were excellent. The baba ganoush was nice and smokey among other things. That's just one example that I can remember! The fried zucchini pancake appetizer was also great. It was nice and light and not in the least bit oily. The grilled meats were also delicious. Definitely plenty share on the mixed grill entree, though you may wish for additional vegetables. It really contains only enough of those for one person. The service was a little slow, but we didn't mind; we wanted to spend the time talking. In that respect it was what we were looking for and we didn't feel rushed at all. If your needs are different, it seems like you're better off asserting yourself rather than waiting for them to come to you.

This was a first visit and the bottom line is the food was very good, but the service not so much. I would like to go again and hopefully be able to add stars. My husband and I made reservations for Sat night for 4; we were meeting another couple for dinner. We were seated right away and we were brought water and menus. We were not given a drink menu and were not offered drinks. Our friends were late so perhaps the server was waiting to approach until they arrived, but we would have liked to at least have drinks while we waited. Once they arrived, we were brought bread and dipping oil (all really good). Our server was nice, but we believed he was overwhelmed that night, and there was perhaps a language barrier. I ordered a mixed drink and he advised they could not make it, so I instead ordered a glass of wine. He brought the liquor, straight, as well as the wine, so I politely corrected him. My husband ordered a salad in addition to his entree and it never arrived, but later had to be removed from the bill. Everyone enjoyed their food except my husband said his Spicy Beef Saute was not spicy at all. I had the Shrimp Casserole and it came out bubbly hot. It is served in an individual casserole dish that evidently was in the oven, so it took awhile to cool enough for me to eat. I would get this again because it was really good. The restaurant itself is nice, classy, and comfortable. They have good vegetarian and seafood options. I would definitely give them another try.

In my opinion this is one of the best middle eastern restaurant in town. One star has been knocked down only because the ambience isn't great, but the food and service are first rate. Their bread is complementary and comes with a delicious tomato and olive oil based dip. So good : . For appetizers, we have tried and liked their hummus and their grape leaves. The babaganoush is a bit of a disappointment, so I would avoid it here. I like most of the kebabs here. My favorite is their kofta kebab, but I also like their doner kebab (gyro like , their shish kebab, and their chicken kebab. The lamb dishes here are quite good as well. I've tried the grilled branzini here recently, not my favorite. But there are several other great options to choose from. The food is always made fresh and with quality ingredients. They also have a pretty extensive cocktail menu. I tried the mojito recently, it wasn't terrific, but not bad. All in all a very nice restaurant with friendly service and great food.