Sepal

I always loved going to Sepal — it was such a refreshing alternative in the mall. While sometimes the service wasn’t great (hey, it *was* in a mall food court), I never had anything to complain about the food. Whenever I wanted extra veggies, they were added on.
So imagine my dismay when I went after work — only 3 days after last getting Sepal … to find out that it has been closed. Does anyone know if it’s re-​opening another location? Are there other Sepal locations? I can’t think of what my visits to the CambridgeSide Galleria are going to be like without this little gem.

I’ll give you two more reasons to try Sepal: free samples and kid-​friendly food.
I’ve eaten (and prepared) a fair amount of Middle Eastern food, but not sumac chicken. Sampled a sample here, loved it, ordered it, devoured it — tangy and piney and a little sour. They’ve often got a few different variations of their grilled meats there for the tasting, so why not try something new? The meats are juicy and flavorful, everything is heavily herbed and spiced, a little on the oily side (in a good way, I swear!) and, best of all, I think, the portions are generous and well-​balanced in that way that only cuisine served in a 3-​part styrofoam container can be. And must be. The vinegary tang of the little green salad is perfect and necessary.
I have more than once received the grudging, mumbling service that others have mentioned. But most of what you need to know is written up on the menu and this isn’t fine dining. Take a moment to read the menu carefully and the whole process works fine.
And all the sides you could possibly wind up with are delish, anyway. I’ve had the okra: sweet and mildly funky, the beans: creamy goodness, and both kinds of rice: the white is salty and fluffy, and the brown rice is chewy and nutty in that way that it should be. And they’ll put the hot sauce in a little container on the side for you, which is where the kid-​friendly comes in. My toddler ate those beans and rice hand over fist. Granted, this is his favorite food to begin with, but he attacked this meal with gusto and that’s good to see, when you’re in a mall food court and trying to keep yourself and your toddler happy and healthy for under $ 10.
Yeah, it’s the best food in the food court of the Cambridgeside Mall. But it’s also a bit of a destination in its own small way: some of the best food cart cuisine I’ve had in Boston, a good option in the overpriced and/​or generic Kendall wasteland, and worth the quick walk over from the Museum of Science.

I hate going into the food court at the Galleria and seeing all these chuckleheads lined up for bourbon chicken and Doritos Locos tacos instead of getting a tasty meal from Sepal.
All the menu offerings are available in a wrap with salad, hummus, tahini, turnips, banana peppers, and hot sauce, or as a platter with rice and the aforementioned accoutrements. The beef kafta is spiced nicely, and the chicken shwarma is good when fresh, though it can be dried out occasionally. The standout is the excellent falafel, bright green from the herbs and are crunchy on the outside, tender on the inside. I recommend asking for a less tahini to keep things from getting soggy.
Please, step away from the boring fast food and get over to Sepal for a fresh, tasty lunch to sustain your marathon shopping expedition. Otherwise you may find me dragging you by your hair away from Sbarro to try this Middle Eastern gem.

For a food court this place provides a nice option. I ordered the falafel sandwich which was decent but seemed a bit dry. Their hummus is really runny and so it ran to the bottom of my pita. It will set one back about $ 6. I like that can order the falafel baked or fried along with whole wheat pita bread. High praise for healthy options. I would of liked more sauce and a thicker hummus along with tomatoes on my pita.

Don’t let the fact that it’s in a food court put you off; this is quality grub!
Large portions, complex flavours, and pretty darn affordable. I was in Boston for just two and a half days and, for the sake of variety, talked myself out of going to Sepal twice in that time. I still regret having bought a salad on the other side of town instead. Sepal was sooo satisfying. I’m gluten-​free and had no adverse reactions.

I recently ate there and the experience was much better then before.
Had Falafel wrap and fell in love with it. Service was good. The middle aged guy who helped me was friendly and had good sense of humor.
So I VOID my previous experience :)

For lack of decent food options near my office, I frequent this place at least once a week. You’d think the ladies working there could at least crack a smile of recognition. Beyond that the food is very decent (although by FAR the best falafel or «schwarma» around… this isn’t even truly schwarma). But the one thing that fails to aggravate me every time is how unbelieveably cheap they are with their ingredients. I often ask for hummus instead of rice on the platters or for hummus to be added to a wrap and they will «oblige» by adding the tiniest teaspoon… and I’ve offered several times upfront to pay extra. And even with the tahini sauce — they never offer tahini, only hot sauce. I always ask for some tahini and again, it’s as if I’m asking to use up a non-​replenishable natural resource! I eat a lot of Middle Eastern food and tahini sauce is never something I’ve been denied elsewhere.
Will I go back? Yes, but only because of the extremely limited options in this area. Would I recommend as a must have? No way! Many better, tastier and friendler options in the city. Try Boston Kebab or Café du Boston!

It feels borderline icky to be reviewing a mall food court place… until I saw that almost 50 others thought this place was worthy of the same treatment.
My pedometer read almost 10,000 steps and we were famished after spending a day at the MoS with a little shopping thrown in. I walked the entire perimeter of the mall food court and thought better of abusing my arteries more than they already get. No Taco Bell or nasty BK today, ooohhh what’s this gem in the back corner?
Sepal in one word is… incredible. My fiancée and I split a chicken shawarma plate. A generous helping of brown rice, beans, chicken and a minty/​olive oily side salad for $ 8. The operation gets a 4.5 but I rounded up because the service was pleasant and warm, they added extra, creamy sauce without hesitation when I asked for it. The chicken was the only disappointment, overcooked and dried out. The brown rice and beans mixture though easily made up for it as we overlooked the mistake and chopped the chicken up into tiny bits so it was more palpable in the dish.
We also had a fresh lemonade and ended up making an Arnold Palmer out of it since it is self service, the iced tea was just there and a great idea at the time, try it. I feel badly they are stuck in the back corner where there is likely the least amount of foot traffic in the entire food court. They didn’t look busy which is sad and I hope they survive. Why the line for Burger King is 10 people deep and Sepal only sells a handful of items in the half hour I watch them as I’m eating is baffling. If you want a healthy alternative to all the other crap in the Galleria, this is the place to be.

Gourmet food court mall food?! YES! Finally!
We usually get the baked felafel plate. Don’t get me wrong, I love fried felafel, but this baked felafel tastes just as good as the fried one. It comes with salad, okra/​beans, and bread. It’s a huge amount of food for 8.35 with tip. Husband and I usually split it and it’s enough. We like it with hot sauce, but be warned, the hot sauce is pretty hot!
She’ll even give you samples of whatever you want to try first before making a decision.
There’s one lady who works there who’s a grouch, just ignore her, the food is worth putting up with her pout face.
Love love love stopping at this place before shopping our hearts out :) I feel full, but not sleepy full like I normally would when I eat at the mall food court :)

Casual, quick, fresh, healthy and most of all, DELICIOUS! Wonderful service, great prices, will definitely be coming back more often since I live in the area!
Too bad the food court doesn’t give a nicer vibe to match that of Sepal’s!

This establishment is a welcomed addition to a somewhat lacking Cambridgeside Galleria food court.
I’ve always stuck with the falafel sandwich, in part because you can choose either to go baked or fried. In addition, depending on how hungry you are, you can order a regular or large. I think the pita is a little bit bigger, so you end up getting an extra falafel from that. Similar to Chipotle, the lovely women behind the counter will ask which accompaniments you would like. They usually add banana peppers, pickled beets, hummus, and a spicy sauce. Once you’ve completed that exercise it will be wrapped up to go or for consumption in the food court. I’ve also found these falafel sandwiches to be quite tasty, quite filling, and a great deal. In addition to the sandwiches, there are also some meat and vegetarian platters. I’ve yet to venture past the falafel, but I am sure at some point I will do so.
If I need to grab something while at this mall, this is my go-​to place!

I was very pleasantly surprised with this food court restaurant. I wanted to try somewhere new and I cannot resist moussaka so my friend and I simply had to try the food at Sepal. I don’t usually eat at food courts but I have to say this was so good you would never have known it was food court offerings and not from a restaurant. The moussaka was delicious. It came with a little side salad and I chose the brown rice. The spices were perfect. My friend got the falafel plate and he enjoyed it too. We were actually tempted to go back and get some take out for dinner! Prices were great for what you got and they had a really nice selection. I also got their mango lassi but that wasn’t very tasty. We’re definitely returning when we’re at the mall again.

Sepal is a reference to flower anatomy, not an obscure middle eastern spice or a city. I know cuz I asked the girl behind the counter.
Yes, counter. Sepal is located in a mall food court. Which is awesome. Seriously, this is like the best food court food ever and some pretty amazing Middle Eastern (Palestinian– thank you girl behind the counter for all my fun facts) food. For 8 or 9 dollars you get a large portion of flavorful rice, well-​seasoned salad you don’t throw away, meat, and a side. The plate easily feeds 1.5 hungry people. I particularly love their makhlooba (think Arab biryani with spiced rice, chicken, and eggplant), ginger chicken, and slimeless okra. And I hate okra! They’re great for catering too. I love you Sepal. A flower part by any other name would not taste as yummy, but your flower parts got it going on, Sepal. Sorry, William.

Some of the best Arab food in Boston!
The coolest thing about this place is that it has unique dishes and not just the standard fare you find at every other Arab place (e.g., chicken tawook, shawarma). The dishes here have much more of a homemade touch– chicken maklouba is great (really soft rice and chicken stewed together in allspicey harmony, sorta like biryani). Chicken zanzabeel is also excellent– very gingery and juicy dark meat smothered in a ginger-​herb paste. Both dishes I have never seen anywhere else, including Dearborn MI.
It still blows my mind that this is a mall take out place; if Michelin gave stars to mall joints, this would be the first. Very well done; clean and nice modern décor (I mean the storefront, and not the mall food court tables, the tackiness of which is not this place’s fault).
Great value too. You’d easily pay $ 15+ for a plate of this at a sit down place, but you get it for half as much here.
I’d avoid the sandwiches. The pita bread is a little too thick and they don’t toast the sandwiches as they should (see, e.g., Shawarma King).

Sepal is amazing! Still the best falafel I have ever had, hands down. Chicken Tawook is also phenomenal. Walid is an amazing owner, please say hi to him if he is there when you stop by.
Cannot recommend Sepal enough!!!

Shared a moussaka and it was interesting. Reminded me of typical middle eastern food. The flavors of the meat pie also reminded me of a Jamaican beef patty. The salad was great and the pita was soft and yummy. I wouldn’t get it again because it was a tad too greasy for me, reminded me of elementary food, and was barely warm.
However, the lady at the counter was a real charmer, encouraging us to try the sauces and beans for the add ons.

As someone who has recently gone for a ‘wheat-​free’ diet, Sepal really hits a special mark in my heart. Not only is the food delicious, but there are enough gluten-​free options to make anyone happy.
The things I’d like to note are their fried felafel balls, amazing salads, and tasty meats. I’ve tried everything at this point and I must say that service is also very good. The mint tea doesn’t need sweetening unless you need it sweet.
I’ll be coming back again and again with out getting tired of this healthy delicious food!

I was so excited to see a new addition to the Cambridgeside food court and Sepal did not disappoint. The choices there are fresh and delicious– I especially love the fact that most items are baked instead of the usual fried food court fare. Sepal relies on spices for flavor instead of fat.
I had the Chicken Zanzabeel which had a fresh ginger flavor along with brown rice and some seriously delicious okra. This also came with a fresh side salad and of course I added a homemade baklava. The best thing about lunching here was that I was satisfied without feeling like there was a brick in my stomach. All this was only about $ 10 and well worth it.
The only drawback is the service. While the employees are very nice and attentive there seemed to be a lot of confusion in order taking. A little work on the assembly line is needed.
I look forward to coming back to Sepal for lunch again!

Thank god this restaurant exists!!!
I’ve been eating at Sepal for a few years now (they have another restaurant at the MIT student center), and it’s always been my ‘home-​base’ for fresh, family-​style food.
The chicken maklouba and chicken zanzabeel are fighting for first place on my ranking, followed by the beef kafta kebab, and the awesome falafel (where else can you get it fresh and warm from the kitchen?). I love the fact that you can mix and match the sides too, and eat completely vegan.
Sepal @ the Galleria also has moussaka which is simply delicious (crispy and soft at the same time, I couldn’t believe it).
So it’s a big YEAH, GO SEPAL! and definitely my only destination when shopping at the Galleria. And the people are so nice. 5 stars all the way through.

Distinct differences between this foodcourt eatery and every other eatery in the mall foodcourt:
+ Brown rice available (more so a selection of brown rice, lentils, barley, and other grains)
+ Chicken in some other form than chopped-​to-​bits (including whole boneless chicken thighs and chicken tenders)
+ Offers BAKED food (i.e. falafel, which also comes deep fried)
+ Offers half sandwiches! which are plenty large enough!
Sepal really is a breath of fresh air in this stale, dry, mall food court, and offers Middle Eastern food at a much more affordable price than Kendall’s Aceituna. I welcome the new venue and encourage mall-​goers and local businesspeople alike to try it out.
My favorites: the okra sauce and the hot sauce (which is reminiscient to the super duper hot red pastey spice found hidden under side salads and rice in almost every dish at none other than … The Middle East in Central Square … just much more watered down).