King of Falafel & Shawarma

I don’t normally love falafels but I LOVE THE FALAFELS HERE! My friend raved about it so we had to try it. Boy was it good. We will definitely be back

This was my first time eating at their restaurant after been a patron to their food cart for years.
Lunch special is a great deal. You get a big portion of halal food for $ 7.

I was born and bred in Manhattan. I mention this only because it has only been in the past couple of years that I’ve seriously entertained the notion that one could find meaning in the other boroughs of NYC — well, in Brooklyn anyway.
So it was a brave move for me to venture into the wilds of Astoria to hunt for the King of Falafel’s restaurant, but the NYT said I wouldn’t regret it, so I took the N train out to Queens. And I’m here to tell you: It is 1000% worth the trip. For under $ 10 I got a ginormous falafel sandwich on pita and a beverage. The falafel was the best I’ve had (except maybe in Paris, but this was so different it was hard to compare the two.) Tasting deliciously of a clean chickpea flavor unsullied by fava beans, the falafel is crisp on the outside and both flakey and fabulously moist on the inside. Not greasy, no smell or taste of old cooking oil, just uninterrupted deliciousness. It came with a great tahini sauce that made me realize how often rancid tahini is served, and a housemade hot sauce that was fantastically flavorful and slowly built in intensity in my mouth. The usual lettuce and tomato are tucked into a perfect, large, fresh pita along with the falafel, as well as fantastic pickles — cucumber and turnip.
I ate about ²⁄₃ of my sandwich and bemoaned the fact that I couldn’t finish it, it was so good. I’ll be back as soon as possible — and I’m bringing everyone I can!

Was great great the waitress are so friendly it is clean again Freddy u out did urself ty

I just found this place and it is awesome! The lady who takes the orders is super nice and the food is great. Careful though because it’s a BIG portion so don’t get too excited when you’re ordering and prepare for leftovers. Really don’t listen to the reviews from people who rate this place less than four stars, they really seem like they’re probably shitty people who think they’re food critics because they made a Unilocal review… if you like good food, big portions and patient service this place is for you… if you go out to restaurants and think about how you’re going to rate the food on Unilocal,Go f yourself.

I love their food! Falafel is delicious its crispy & seasoned well. The hummus, babaganou & toubleh salad are healthy yummy. I like that their are vegetarian options & non vegetarian options. And I enjoy the lamb kebab.

Ambiance:
Pros: Clean, well-​lit, nice cultural decorations
Cons: Limited amount of seats, cold inside
Service:
Pros: Our waitress noticed that our food was taking longer relative to other patrons. She immediately took it upon herself to get our food.
Cons: Wait staff did not check up on us during the meal
Food:
We ordered the Big Daddy and the lamb platter.
Pros: Huge portions, white/​red sauce available at every table. Chicken was delicious and tender.
Cons: Lamb and beef were over-​cooked. Disproportionate amount of chicken relative to beef and rice.
Bottom line: Good fix if you are craving halal middle-​eastern food
Samir says: Pretty good. Next time I’ll try the truck, as reviews seem to be more positive for it.
Noor says: I would come back and try the shawarma!

This place is life.
They have amazing shawarma. I used to love then truck, it was my fav cart food in Queens. Now in so glad they have a store. Their meat is real and not processed or squishy.
I ordered a mixed shawarma platter which was $ 13. It came with beef, chicken, and lamb, with rice under the meat and a side of babaganush. The options for side was babaganush, hummus, tabbouleh or salad. The hummus was alright, the baba-​eggplant was really good. They also gave a pita on the side with a crispy, yummy falafel on top. Pita was soft while it was fresh. What I liked was that they gave so much meat. In most kebab places, they’ll give you a plate full of rice and a little meat. They went inn. It was well worth it.
The service was quick. They gave our food right away and our server was really sweet.

I dont recall the last time i a good falafel. However, i stumble into this store front purely out of looking for something healthy to eat. The store it self has a very clean look, the staff is friendly and service is quick. I order the falafel sandwhich with the pickled onion, tomato, pickles, tahini, and xtra white sauce. The pita sandwhich is a big sandwhich, very filling, well packed. There is no doubt in my mind when i saw it that i was going to have a lot of food in my tummy. At $ 7 for the sandwich is a good value. i will have to come back and check the rest of the menu out.

It was my first experience trying their falafel after years of speculating and I must say, I wasn’t impressed. I finally decided to try their food. I didn’t think it was bad at all, it’s just I had better in Manhattan. I’ll stick to my spots here in the city. I just won’t come back unless I was really in the mood for it on the weekends. Prices are decent. I couldn’t compare to the food truck so I never went. The place itself looked clean but like I said, I have had better falafel in the city so no need to switch it up.

Oh my God! So this is my first review for this place. It’s actually the first time I have eaten food from this guy! He had a truck in front of C-​Town for years. I always walked by smelling the food and thought– damn that smells good! I never wanted to wait on the line though so I never made a stop at the truck lol I kinda wish I did now that I have finally gotten a plate from him! So I love the front of the store! It’s cute and very clever. Since he had that truck forever, he designed the front of the store to look like the front of his truck with working headlights and everything haha! Inside– it is a fairly decent size. There are a few tables to sit at in the back, but it seems to look like many people still enjoy grabbing their food «to go» from here. I actually would like to just sit down here and eat next time. It’s a very cozy looking place.
The man who owns and runs the place is awesome! Even without me being a normal customer at his truck, whenever I’d walk by he’d always smile and say hello. Just a very pleasant man and a damn good cook now that I have eaten here! Lol I ordered the chicken with falafel over rice, and the vegetable curry chicken with vegetables. I brought it home to split it and I could not stop eating! The chicken with the falafel was delicious! I also enjoyed the other dish but seriously– the chicken with falafel was amazing! Even now thinking about it I want it again haha! The prices are very reasonable and you get a ton of food per plate! You could eat definitely two dinners out of it lol Also, do not be discouraged by a line if you see one because they move it along super fast!
I must say though– I give credit where credit is due and this guy started from the bottom with his little truck and now runs his own business on one of the busiest blocks in Astoria. That’s a good story! I love hearing things like that. Good old fashioned– if you work hard, have a positive attitude, and love what you do– you will succeed! Also– he still has the truck as well. I spotted it on Ditmars and 31 street not too long ago!
I highly recommend this place!

Best falafels, homemade pita bread so soft and thin. Get the chicken pita or platter. When you see Freddy, tell him, «yeahhhhh baby»

This place is really consistent and good, no question about it.
The problem is that every week I buy food from here, the size of the container (and the food) changes even if i get the same item-​Chicken platter.
PLEASE. Make up your minds.

Excellent Food! Love all the additional things on the menu. Loved the truck and now love the restaurant. Homemade pita! I’d come just for that. Forget about the hummus, baba ganoush, red cabbage spinach pies — all delish! You walk in and your mouth starts watering.
Talked to Freddy and he said that it was a bit of a rough start at the beginning trying to get the operations behind the counter organized. But back today and they’ve got it down. As far as price? We can’t seriously expect the cost to be the same to run a truck as a restaurant? I eat lunch all the time in the neighborhood and consistently pay $ 12 – 15.
You cannot miss King of Falafel. One of the best restaurants in Astoria!

I can’t believe the following:
1– I’m writing a review about a falafel joint
2– I can’t believe I’m giving a 5 star rating about said falafel joint
3– I can’t believe I loved this food as much as I did.
My fiancé always begs to get shawarma, or gyro or any food in that realm. I finally agreed, and I couldn’t be happier.
The service was great– speedy and efficient. The price was nothing to complain about. The food spoke for itself. So delicious, tender and juicy. I had the lamb gyro with a side of falafel, and my fiancé had the lamb/​beef over rice. SO GOOD. The sides of sauce are on the table and really complimented our meals.
I would 100% recommend you try this place. You wont regret it!

After learning about their food truck going brick and mortar and not being about to visit their stand in midtown (during lunch) I made it a point to visit as soon as I was able to head that direction. KoFS is nothing short of great in the realm of halal, and deserving of their 4.8÷5.0.
Let’s be clear about one thing, first. Trekking to Astoria is out of the way, so I happen to have carefully chained my visit with a host of other places I enjoy visiting, including nearby Tea & Milk. For those uninitiated, King of Falafel & Shawarma are purveyors of it’s namesake foods of either the chickpea (falafel) or the meats variety, in this case lamb or chicken. While many will draw comparisons to competitors in this space, one name comes to mind and neither have any fear of being displaced. They’re pretty damn good at what they both do. This is why KoFS is worth your while. Their menu stretches to offer different variations of platters, including kabobs, and off-​menu specials that they otherwise couldn’t offer as a food truck. The restaurant is spacious, with seating and multiple booths to accommodate groups of 2 – 6 to dine casually and comfortably.
I ventured in on a late evening in Astoria and promptly ordered a steaming hot platter of shawarma (lamb & chicken). It comes with a falafel piece, salad, hummus, and yellow rice. They give you a choice of rice. The salad doesn’t excite, but the meat and rice does. With white sauce liberally covering the plate, squeeze bottles adorn the tables for you to add more. (I added only a little bit more… see videos for details) That being said, the plate was flavorful. The chicken was on the drier side than the shawarma, but that went over fine with added white sauce.
I would venture to return again to try the other plates on their menu. Beloved, charming owner and food cart legend, Freddy Zeideia, can be seen working there night in and night out. Be sure to say hi to this very cool guy. I’m a fan of the food, quick service, and the casual sit down eatery.

Was fan of king of falafel when it was truck. I was expecting a better environment when moved to store, but the price is about 2.5−3times higher now.
Huge price jump… but still same food. People expect halal to be around $ 6 – 7, but its $ 15 – 17 in here.

One of my guiltiest pleasures and always consistently good. The falafel is perfectly seasoned and crispy, the portions are very generous, and the moist chicken is always on point. I smother everything in white sauce and get hot sauce on the side. I can’t tell you how happy this place makes me. The only problem is that I want to eat it all the time but also don’t want to be obese.

I came in with high hopes since I’ve been to their food cart. Maybe because they just opened, but the food quality was bad tonight. The sauce/​food had a sour taste. My 2 stars are purely to rate the food.
The service has horrible! There were I cleaned tables preventing my party and I to sit and have to wait 10min before somebody attended to the plates.
I didn’t enjoy my experience and I won’t be coming back. Prices are insanely high. Ambiance was poor. I probably won’t go back to their food cart after this experience either.

Congrats, King, your success and expansion are well deserved.
I’ve been a friend of King for a long time, like they only had one cart that closed early, long time. I’ve loved them since. I was excited, but worried, when I found out they were opening a brick and mortar place just steps away from the original spot I knew.
The store itself is nice. Headlights in front pay homage to their humble beginnings. A reverse production flow inside (orders from inside, production down toward the entrance/​exit.
The food seemed to be intact. Still yummy and still comes with *free falafel*. It wasn’t the same though. It used to be a way to entertain waiting for food while showing them other things on the menu. Now, it’s part of the meal, quietly fulfilling an expectation.
What got to me was the service here. Maybe it was a one off but it was enough to bother me. It was disorganized; like taking people who were used to working in close confines and putting them into a mansion. The mise was all out of wack. Detailed orders being taken but not appropriately transferred or retained. I had to tell my order to everyone who was behind the counter at least once. Then, instead of my order flowing in one direction, it regurgitated back to the register.
I kind of miss the guys in the truck. It was like talking to old friends then, now it’s different. But, they are in a new space with plenty of time to evolve. I’m hopeful.

Slow serviceee, went here on a first day and the food at the store and not different from the truck. If I’m paying more it should be different. Was very chaotic when I went in.

I went to the green truck at 30^th, but since they are getting ready to open a brick and mortar location, I was only able to review under this location.
I love chicken kabob, so I got the platter that comes with rice (I chose yellow), salad, a falafel, and sauce (I got tahini and white mayo based sauce). I wish that I could get the sauces on the side instead of all mixed together over everything. Like the many other reviews of their truck, the food portions are huge, prices are low, and service is quick. I even caught it on a day where there was no line! I can see why people love King of Falafel & Shawarma… the food is delicious!

KOFS as its known to its friends, is a wonderful street meat spot in Astoria that just moved locations. However KOFS actually stands for something else. I’m not sure what. We’ll go over the possibilities in this review.
Also, an additional warning. He will stick his balls in your food. I guarantee it, even if you don’t like his balls (or balls in general), he will stick them in there. More on that later.
What to get: Combo with everything
What else: Ask them for no salad, and watch out because closing times do vary depending on business
Anything else: What more could you want?
How about a short person in a Gimp outfit?: Er… Can I have my usual back-​and-​forth-​question-​asker back please?
No: Well OK then.
KOFS stands for: Kids Of Frank Sinatra. It’s a group that meets in NY, NY on a monthly basis and discusses how they all originate from the Spermies of Ol’ Big Ears or Ol’ Blue Balls or whatever his name was.
This is not your typical NYC street meat spot. On the contrary, this place is The King! It recently relocated which is why it only has about 2 reviews. Here is the original location with almost 500 reviews:
KOFS stands for: Karate? Or Freaky Sh*t? This is aimed at Daniel Larusso using «The Crane» to woo curvy Elizabeth «Shoo, Pigeon» Shue.
While Sammy’s Halal and Biryani Cart may be the best of the very best when it comes to street meat, King Of Falafel is firmly among the «best of the rest» along with Tony Dragonas, Rafiqi’s, Uncle Gussy’s and the like. I’ve visited KOFS about 5 times now. The first few times were at the old location. One time, the food fell out of my hand and completely covered the floor of the passenger seat of my rental car. It took 15 mins to clean (sort of clean) and was a sad moment. But worse things have happened. For example did you know the Bills lost 4 Superbowls in a row? Now that is pure human tragedy right there. Unthinkable. Unfathomable. Robert Kraft style.
KOFS stands for Kenyans Only F**k Spaniards. Which is why there are so damn freaking many Kenyan-​Spanish babies roaming around the Saharan South Sudanese Savannah and such (say that seven times speedily).
One thing you’ll realize quickly about K of F & S is that he does it his way (I sound like a Burger King ad). He fills a metal tin with all kinds of delights and deliciousness, including boatloads of yellow rice, gooey sauce of several kinds, some salad (which I recommend skipping, because it goes bad quickly if you try to have leftovers, and gets all warm next to the hot food), and the wonderful blend of shawarma meat which is delicious and extremely well marinaded and spiced and excellent, if a little greasy, grizzly and unhealthy.
KOFS stands for Kittens Orificies Feel Soaked. This is not for the reason you’re thinking. This is because my cats keep on licking their damn genitals. I dunno why, but it’s just «what they do» as Geico would say. So be it.
The most notable element is that «The King Of Falafel», as I said earlier, shoves his balls in your food, every single time. Even if you don’t ask him to. Even if you don’t want to eat his balls. Even if you don’t like his balls at all and think they taste awful. He will still shove his balls in your food and there is nothing you can do about it.
Of course I’m referring to Falafel Balls. And me, personally, I would never shove my balls in your *food*. I’m not saying I wouldn’t shove them elsewhere, but in your food? Not really. I just don’t think snacks and sex mix. Unlike Chex Mix which mix with everything. Sort of. If you like Chex. Which I don’t. But where was I. Yeah. Sex + food. Nah. Sex yes. Food yes. Sex & Food nah. I’d rather just stick to the King Of Falafel’s big hard crunchy balls being shoved in my food without me even asking for them. I’m used to it now. I’ve resigned myself to it. And I’m learning to like it.

There’s a lot of hype around this place, but it’s nothing too special. And there’s almost always a line at least 6 or 7 people deep. I like the chicken shawarma over the lamb shawarma or plain old chicken because I find it to be more flavorful. The falafel is better than anything else on the menu.
But: ordering from here is not a fun experience… it’s very Soup Nazi-​esque. If you don’t order the right way or as quickly as he’d like, the guy is going to give you crap for it. If the food was amazing, this would be worth it, but the food is just… good.
Do yourself a favor and visit one of the many other shawarma/​gyro joints in the area. You will be just as satisfied and you won’t have to wait in a long line or get ridiculed for no good reason.

They gonna keep truck at corner of bway n 30street… will also open location at old chirping chicken on bway n 31street next to parisi’s…gonna be awhile before they open because they have to clear violations that chirping chicken left behind… mobile location still has the best eats.

Best falafel I ever had. Friendly guys serving and wanted to make sure my order was exactly correct.

My family & I have been avid fans of their chicken and rice as well as their lamb on pita for many many years. It’s unfortunate that we have to end our patronage to their food truck. Last night my husband suffered massive food poisoning. We stopped by here around 10pm and he ordered the Shawarma Platter with light white sauce (he was the only one who bought food). He said that after couple of minutes of eating the food, his head started pounding. He didn’t pay much attention because he thought he was just hungry. He kept eating and almost finished his plate. 30 mins to an hour later, he started getting very nauseous. He was sweating and his head was pounding more and more. His stomach was also hurting a lot. He went to the bathroom and started throwing up all the food. He was feeling very sick all night, had chills (needed 3 blankets) and I had to stay alert in case I had to call 911. I had him drink lots of water and also Advil for his headache. As of this morning, he is still feeling very sick. No more King of Falafel and Shawarma for us! Eat at your own risk!!!

I think they are about to relocate to a brick & mortar near 31^st & Broadway. Thank God for that. I would sit down and enjoy their food any day. Cheap, flavorful, (colorful) and great service.
P.S: their location as of 7÷6÷15 is on the corner of 30^th St and Broadway. NOT where the Unilocal map shows them to be at.