Petra Cafe

It was grimy and slow and they didn’t have lamb. What kind of gyro/​falafel house doesn’t have lamb! The second star comes from the size of the mediocre chicken gyro, which was enough for two.

The best shawarma I’ve ever had
I strongly recommend it for anyone who wants to try a fine shawarma ‚
Keep going.

I wish this place was a little more organized. I work in the area and they never seem to be open for lunch and there aren’t any hours posted anywhere. It’s not listed on the menu that there’s an option to get your meat /​falafel on rice, the phone number doesn’t seem to work or maybe I’m just calling at the wrong hours?
I thought the falafel wrap was just okay, but a pretty decent size. I didn’t like the lamb too much and was told the chicken was the more popular item (I’ve found the chicken to be the best as well). If you get rice instead of a wrap, you get a massive portion.
Really, my rating should be closer to a 3-​star but there aren’t many falafel spots around and the fries are really good. Plus, they do seem like they are open late night.

This place hit the spot. They let me and my friends try samples of all the meats, explained all the menu options and then proceeded to make the biggest shawarma wraps I’ve ever seen! All the ingredients were fresh and the sauces were delicious. Thank you Petra Café I truly felt I was being done a service and will be back.

Had both falafel and shawarma … The did not have any lamb shawarma left … Had to go with the chicken shawarma :(
The wrap is not authentic by any means, it was more of a Mexican, American and middle eastern fusion,
Overall it was good just not what I wanted
Price was a bit high for a wrap, fries and a drink to go, ended up paying around $ 11.

The best shawarma I have had since I had them as a kid living in the sub continent. The shop at first appears to be small but if you go further into it leads to a bigger dining area and an outside patio, although the furniture on the inside and outside was worn down. I don’t care about the looks of the place as long as the food is on point. The kitchen area looked clean and the food is always prepared in front of you. The staff was friendly and prompt. Overall a great experience and an amazing shawarma take out place

Not terrible, especially for the price, but probably better as drunk food. Similarly priced to Chipotle, but smaller portions. I had the falafel wrap, which was at least better than my husband’s chicken gyro. Meals come with a soda included.

Definitely the best schwarma I’ve had in America and very close to the schwarma I had in Damascus. Plus the fries are really great and the service is good.

I really loved this place– it’s like Chipotle for a cheap falafel and it’s awesome. You order at the front and when they prepare the wrap and meat/​falafel, you can tell them what you want in your wrap. They have lettuce, onions, feta etc etc anything you could want. Also they gave me free fries so that was pretty cool. Before coming here I would have never thought to have fries with a falafel wrap, but I’m never going back. The service was very fast and they seemed to have a clean workplace too. I will 100% be going back, because you cannot beat a made to order falafel you can take out in under 5 minutes.

Holy crap I think there are no more legit reviews anymore on the internet, anywhere.
Let me start by saying I wanted to love Café Petra. They have nice outdoor seating, the menu is reasonably priced, and the guy behind the counter was friendly. Also, I love me some gyro.
I picked one up on the way to an O’s game. Which is awesome about Camden, by the way. Anyway, one of the beer guys saw it and said he was jealous. It did look good. The problem is the meat. It was chopped, not shaved as I would expect, and smothered in some kind of gyro sauce, which I also would not expect. It was so overseasoned I wonder if I went to the same place as Drew, who described it as «dry with no flavor». It was inedible. After removing all the meat, I found the pita to be pretty good and the tzaziki to be fair.
Maybe I got a bad batch. Maybe. I’m not going back and I am sad, since I like gyros.

Food was great, weird hours though.

I can’t say enough wonderful things about this place– even though the place itself is nothing fancy, the food speaks for itself. However, I’ve never had anything else but the falafel wrap… it’s too delicious. The owner recently tweaked his falafel recipe, and they are the most juicy and flavorful falafel I have ever had. The wrap is huge, and there is a wide array of toppings to put on it, including hummus, yogurt, tahini, peppers, pickles, cucumbers, tomato, etc. Often, the owner gives me an additional falafel to munch on while I wait for the wrap to be assembled.
I find myself craving this place anytime falafel or middle eastern food is mentioned. Seriously, you are missing out if you haven’t been here yet. To top it off, the owner is so friendly and happy to suggest toppings or answer questions if you aren’t sure what you want.

Meh. I’ve experienced better.
Lamb gyro meat was already cut in tinny strips and sitting in a bin at 1230pm on a weekday. On top of that really dry with no flavor. No one was in the place.
Only good thing about it was the price and portion. You can get a better Gyro elsewhere in Fed Hill.

Not sure what the fuss was about. Just meh. Shawerma was dry and frankly a lot of the condiments looked like health code violations. Wouldn’t bother with it again

Walked in on a lark while walking around Light Street. It’s been a while since I’ve had shawarma and even longer since I’ve been impressed by it, so by the time I was halfway through mine, I was praising the proprietor wildly enough to make the regulars give me dirty looks.
The food was amazing, and since it’s my first time here I was asked «how» I wanted my shawarma. I said, «the best way you make it.» And he did. Tzatsiki and hummus and one more spread I wasn’t familiar with. I upgraded my order from a simple wrap to a meal and asked for falafel. The flatter shape (versus the typical balls) makes for a more consistent cook throughout the thickness of the patty. No cold, or mushy or unset centers in these.
No pretense about the ambiance, either. It’s a late night bite stop and they play top 40 music instead of trying to play ethnically appropriate music that even the owners hate.
Servings are big enough to have half or a light supper and the other half for lunch tomorrow, but really, it’s hard to put down once you get going.

It took me a while to find a shawarma place that knew what they were doing. But I’ve found it. This place definitely has my monthly/​some times weekly check-​in.
Make sure that when you are getting food here that you have time… if there’s a line the wait can take a good amount of time. It’s so worth it though…

So, I don’t really give out many 5 stars, and honestly, this would probably get a 5 star if they had more options on their menu.
That being said, I LOVE this place. I think about ordering from here all the time, and, since I work in the area, I’m trying to limit myself to grabbing lunch here to once a week. I have tried both the chicken and lamb gyros, but the lamb is my jam. Seriously. It’s SO good.
The owner (I think) is super helpful and friendly. I have to stop him early on it dressing my gyro because I prefer regular lettuce to the mixture with tomatoes and mint/​cilantro (I can’t tell what’s in this, but the first time I got it it was too strong for my liking. I can’t stand Cilantro.)
The fries were decent. My friend got the onion rings, which looked good. I had the mozzarella sticks one time, which were good, but they don’t come with any dipping sauce, so it was a bit bland or dry. I’ll probably get them again but make sure I have some ranch on hand.
Other than that, I haven’t really ventured out in their menu. I’m excited to have this place around though. It’s one of my faves!
**Update 6÷13÷13: Received Marinara for my mozz sticks today :) Nice service!

Frankly, I’ve been here too many times in the last month to comfortably admit. And, I’d love to write a really long-​winded review that summarizes all of my positive feelings about this place in a truly poetic manner; however, I just ate there and due to the enormous serving size, I’m ready for my food-​coma nap.
Alas, here are the quick hits: This place is cheap enough to be called cheap in the Middle East… yea, that cheap; this place is open late night, though the prices jump a bit to capitalize on the post-​bar crowd that avoids Maria D’s because they, well. they have taste buds; I’ve run the gauntlet on the menu and the schawarma and falafel are fantastic while the gyro is pretty good; and, the service is top-​notch.
My biggest concern about this place is that the word doesn’t get out fast enough and it closes… so, please go. Don’t make me go back to eating Subway or those $ 11.50 grilled cheese sandwiches from the place next door!

LOVE this place! I only hope they stay so friendly — and cheap!
I am super picky about my falafel (and I have been to Jordan, so I’ve sampled a lot of it to know that Petra Café’s is indeed authentic!) and this place knocks it out of the park. We got the falafel platter and the chicken shawarma, and the falafel was definitely the highlight.
The chicken was also really good, but something in it had a kind of lime or lemon-​y taste (I can’t recall which now, I’m a fan of neither) to it, but I am not sure what the source was. It could very well have been one of the sauces (my dining partner made the call on those, though I believe he asked them to prepare it the way they would it for themselves). By the end of my half, the flavor had become a bit off-​putting for me.
Also, the food is very, very generous. We couldn’t even finish it all. The shawarma was HUGE. Each half was like a full sandwich. Which is incredible considering how affordable the prices are.
Since I moved here, I’ve felt kind of disappointed by the (at least affordable) food options in downtown Fed Hill. So far Byblos has been the only real winner in that area, and I find that to be more suitable for a nice sit-​down dinner-​date kind fo scenario. Petra hits it out of the park, and once they open up the little dining area out back (perhaps they already have) it will be even better. (Or perhaps go the take-​out route and take to Fed Hill Park, which we had considered but it was that one record-​breaking 96 degree day in April and we decided against it)
Also, the staff is very friendly. I chatted quite a bit with the father of the owner, who is from Jordan, and he was a wonderful guy.
Highly recommend this place! (Oh, and from the sample I tried, the gelato is pretty good, too!)

An adventurous friend/​coworker asked me if I would like to try out a new restaurant in Federal Hill. Trusting his judgement on food, being that he is a downtown savant, I took him up on the offer. As you can already tell by the stars above, we made the right call.
We arrived, parked nearby (paid meter parking, but you can find free spots if you’re savvy), and entered the lovely storefront of Petra Café. The atmosphere was great. Very clean and well configured, given the small area they had to work with. We were immediately greeted by the proprietor and given a run down of what they had on the menu.
While limited in options, the menu had items that most could try. Iopted for the shawerma’s, a chicken wrap. The presentation was excellent, and it was apparent that this place takes pride in their product. They had plenty of fixings and I let the proprietor make my meal they way he would suggest. The taste was just as lovely as the presentation, and I thoroughly enjoyed my selection. And even better was the serving size. They do not skimp on the food and I found myself with a leftover container by the end of our meal.
I would definitely eat here again, and plan to try some additional items next time.
Pay this place a visit, it won’t disappoint.
Quick summary:
— very cheap prices
— free soft drinks with lunch promotion
— free wifi
— excellent quality food
— great atmosphere
— fast and efficient service