Pita Cafe

They can have staffing problems on occasion (and what restaurant wouldn’t?) but seriously — this is the best in the Detroit area, imo. LOVE their food.
My staple is the shish tawook — either the entrée or the wrap. And I usually get the rice and lentil soup as well.
Their crushed lentil soup is phenomenal — a great flavor with a good amount of lemon but not overpoweringly so. The fattoush is FANTASTIC. I absolutely love their fattoush salad — you can taste the sumac in the dressing but it’s not too much or too oily, the pita chips on top are perfectly cooked, and I’ve never had a bad one out of here, ever.
Their shish tawook, falafel, kibbee, grape leaves, hummus — all of it — so, so good. And their rice is absolutely my favorite in the area!
The staff that I’ve encountered has always been friendly and it’s one of my favorite places.
Been going here for 15 or so years and don’t plan to stop any time soon! :)

I go to Pita Café often for lunch and the food is always delicious, hot, and fresh! The staff is always friendly and welcoming as well. Being of Middle Eastern descent I’m always looking for a good Middle Eastern restaurant and Pita Café is definitely an awesome one!

Terrible, slow service. I waited 25+ minutes for a to-​go order and they will forgot my order. Do not come here if you’re in a hurry.

good food and service. Love their oven bread and hummus.

I have been a loyal customer of this restaurant for as long as it has been in Birmingham, which is a long time. It is close to home and convenient, and it has always been adequate at providing decent Middle Eastern food for family gatherings. However, our most recent experience there has prompted me to write a long overdue smack down. The straw that broke the camel’s back was a ridiculously overdone Shish Kafta. Shish happens? Maybe. But how long can you put up with just OK food from a team that could not care less about the cleanliness of its establishment. It is disgusting, and it has been disgusting for too long. There is room in downtown Birmingham for a much better, high-​volume, reasonably priced Middle Eastern carry out place. Samir? Elie? La Marsa? Until something better comes along, we’re heading south to Shish Kabob Express and Falafel King.

Went on a Sunday afternoon and it was empty. The man at the register greeted me right away and handed me a menu. The bread and garlic sauce were delicious as was my chicken shawarma. I will definitely be back to try more food and a smoothie.

They always get it right here.
Best greek salad in the area. They use romaine instead of iceberg, add onions and lots of beets feta and peppers. Too many olives but I always give them to friends. I hate olives.
Their dressing is better too, a good lemony vinaigrette. Plus they never overcook the chicken. Overcooked chicken is the worst common mistake in restaurants that I see.
The smoothies are amazing also. Mango papaya dominates. Their lemonade is so so satisfying.
The hummus with chicken is another favorite. Get some veggies on the side for sure. The shwarma sandwich is bomb and cheap as is the tawook and falafel sandwich. $ 3.99 sandwiches that are big. The garlic sauce is so fresh. Often nice and spicy too.
The grape leaves are awesome. Shish kabobs too. You really can’t go wrong
The hot pita bread they serve when you dine in is also unreal alas I can no longer eat it as I was diagnosed with Celiac’s disease.
The service is quality, its a family owned place and most of the guys have been working there a long time. They don’t even write orders down because they all have the menu memorized.
The carry out is super fast too.
Overall this is my favorite restaurant in Birmingham and I worked at several Birmingham spots over the years.
Great food. Solid service. Nice price. Healthy.
What else are you looking for???

First off, the people saying how great the Arabic food is here must have never been to Dearborn. It is average at best and after a few visits have not had one dish that came close to anything you would get at even a C+ place in Dearborn.
Second, the staff is not the most polite and the wait is a joke even when the place is half full.
Pretty much if you are in this area and need an Arabic fix, it is doable. Outside of that, of all the places I have had Arabic food at I can’t think of one it is better than.

Very rude. Wow. I wouldn’t go here unless you’re dying of starvation and nothing else is open.

This was the best Lebanese food I have ever had. The bread was warm, soft with a slight hint of sweetness. The hummus was smooth and creamy and delicious. The portions are huge! I split the combination platter with my boyfriend who is a big eater and we took over half of it home. The price couldn’t have been better! I will definitely return for more.

I think this place is good, but not anything exceptional by any means. The venue is small, but more of a quick lunch spot. The menu is standard middle eastern cuisine. The workers are super friendly, but speak in Arabic when they aren’t speaking directly to the customers, which is one of my pet peeves! My biggest negative is the obnoxiously loud fruit blender they have located directly in front of the restaurant. If you’re sitting towards the front you hear it going off randomly as you’re eating and wow is it annoying!

The tawook Caesar is what keeps me coming back every once in a while, there is just no other sandwich w it’s light and not cheese filled wrap
I’d truly prefer it to be grilled… I forgot they do not do this with out request
The crushed lentil soup was in edible vile spit it out … Could barely handle the smell of whosever gym socks were soaking in it
The whole lentil soup was okay, very salty… Had a bunch of lentils and some celery and carrot. Not much flavor or spice
The staff makes you feel a bit uncomfortable, I called for carry out and they said no we can’t dothat… The man proceeds to crack up laughing … And then says of course ill be happy to
The negatives of this place keep me from being a regular but a few timesi year I have to scratch my itch for the tawook Caesar, I think the move is having someone else pick it up and order it for me
Fair price

Pita Café, you are always there for me. I have been a fan since I discovered Middle Eastern food in the early 90s. Having lived in Seattle for 13 years now, I have to say that it is still one of my top 3 «Foods of Detroit» that I still miss… but when I’m in town, as I just was, I always have to treat myself.
Dishes that I try to order whenever I’m in town– clearly this would require several trips!
Fattoush Salad– perfect amount of sumac and seasonings!
Chicken Shawarma sandwich– always a great balance of ingredients
Mujadra– Seriously, why can’t I find any in Seattle where I live?!? This is such a hearty and delicious vegetarian dish, and Pita Café always gets it right
Ghallaba– Pita Café is always more consistent than La Marsa for this dish, saucy, vegetables cooked just right, generous portion size.
Hummus and of course garlic whip– what else would we snack on before our main meals arrive?!
Fresh-​juiced lemonade, frozen– YUM
I see you have since added softer bread for dipping, it’s great if a little bit on the sweet side for me.
Your servers are always attentive and courteous. I find a little bit of eye-​contact and a friendly demeanor with my service goes a LONG way– it’s my standard operational procedure no matter where I eat.
Thanks for always being consistently done, Pita Café!

Awesome experience. Ordered the lamb shish kabobs on our waiter’s (Zuhair) recommendation. Couldn’t have been happier! The garlic spread is a show stopper.

I wish I could give a better review, but everytime I have gone to this location my order is screwed up. Not to come across like a jack-​ass, but how hard it is to make a chicken shawarma sandwich without garlic sauce!!!
When I place an order at the location on greenfield and 10 mile, it’s correct everytime and seems to be slightly cheaper too.
I will never patronize the Birmingham location again.

My wife and I were looking for a place to eat on a Sunday in downtown Birmingham. Though Pita Café wasn’t scheduled to open for an hour, they seated and served us anyway (big plus!).
I got some nice foule (fava beans, garlic, lemon and olive oil). It was just the right mushy texture (better than I’ve had in some time). This came with nice, warm pita pillows (perfect for dipping into the foule). The dinner salad was fine, though it could have used a little more romaine.
Our waiter was attentive and nice. I also liked the relaxed vibe that the room had. This, and the food, make Pita Café a nice alternative to some of the more upscale options nearby.

In Metro Detroit you cant throw a rock without hitting a schwarma place and then having the rock skip and hit another two to three schwarma places. As such, your basic chicken pita must stand out from the pack and that’s why I love Pita café.
Their chicken schwarmas and lamb schwarmas are juicy and cooked to absolute perfection. The prices are generally lower as well. You can get two of them and some hummus and pita for less than $ 10 bucks. And that’s exactly what my fiancé and I always do.
We’ve eaten there a number of times and never been disappointed.
Best Bet: Lamb schwarma, plus a side of hummus and extra pita. Get a smoothie too if you are feeling healthy. Many people are always drinking smoothies there.

I don’t see what the fuss is all about with this place?
I hear that the lentil soup is amazing (not just from reviews, but people there were raving about it as well), but everything I had was just mediocre.
The beef shiskabob was overcooked, small in portion size, and not very flavorful. The chicken shawarma wasn’t much better. The pieces of meat in both instances were too small, and not marinated enough/​seasoned enough.
The pita bread was good, as was the garlic sauce, hummus, and tabouli. The babba was wretched, but maybe I just don’t like babba… It came as a combination. I’ve never had it before, and I hated it.
The service pretty much sucked. We had a waiter, but he was too busy doing something else. So, he took our order then the cook/​busboy brought our food, checked up on us, and did the things the waiter kept neglecting to do. I ordered a coke through the waiter, 20 minutes later I had to re-​order it through the busboy who brought it fairly quickly. It was easy to tell that the cook/​busboy was frustrated with the person that was supposed to be our waiter. We ordered a guava juice, which was good, but the waiter served it to us warm, with no ice. It was for my date, or I would have sent it back or asked for a chilled mug or something. She doesn’t like ice in her drinks, but the juice would have been better if it was cold.
All in all, I would much rather eat Middle Eastern food at Ikes in Sterling Heights, and Bucharest Grill still has the best shawarma around. The prices of their sandwiches here at Pita Café were good, but probably a little too good. I would have rather paid an extra buck or two and had a better tasting, more filling sandwich.

Chicken shawarma sandwich is my litmus test for any Mediterranean spot like this. Sadly it was a little bit of a let down… the flavors and the grilled chicken was wonderful but compared to Mr. Kabob, or certainly Bucharest, the size just didn’t compare. My girl ordered a salad which was fairly large with a nice piece of grilled chicken on top for around $ 13 and the quart of split lentil soup was around $ 10 but worth it. I loved the profile of the lemony flavors going on… it was warm and really delicious. I’ve decided I’m going to figure this recipe out and make it at home.
Service was very friendly and since we picked-​up it was super quick. I think I’d like to dine-​in sometime and order a little differently… but the food was pretty solid while the prices just a little high.

I like Pita Café. They are a fair priced little restaurant with pretty good food. It’s in the heart of downtown Birmingham.
The service is really good every time I’ve gone in. Our drinks on consistently refilled (which is basically how I judge service) and the food orders are done and delivered timely.
The new bread is awesome… Here’s what I didn’t like. I’ve been to a lot of middle eastern restaurants. The garlic paste has a funky taste, and the chicken shawarma is dry.
Here’s the biggest problem… The bathroom is a freakin’ icicle. I mean, for gods sake, it’s winter time! The bathroom is as cold as it is outside… If I were a guy, there would be some serious shrinkage. Put a darn space heater in the bathrooms… I’m most certainly going to be a patron only in the warm weather… just in case I need to use the restrooms.