Little Lebanon Bistro & Bakery

My fiancé (Lebanese) and I rarely feel the need to post comments, especially in regards to Lebanese food, but this a travesty. Overpriced and bland. Maybe there has been a change in ownership since the previous post were made, but if you are looking to satisfy the Mediterranean side of your pallet, go to Lavash. No… really. Put Lavash in Google Maps, back out of the parking lot and leave. Now.

I am writing this coming from the perspective of first eating Lebanese food at Cham’s in Parkersburg, WV (of all places). This place doesn’t hold a candle to her restaurant, but overall the food was OK. Nothing to write home to your Lebanese mother about. What was good was the hot flat bread taken right out of the stone oven and serve at your table with pretty tasty hummus. I had the schwarma and it was OK. The falafel was very plain with not much taste. My wife gagged eating the kibhee. The fatouche salad was pretty good. Don’t understand how this place is rated so high.

My favorite stuff is humus. tabouli and pita bread… And at Little Lebanon the humus and the tabouli is very good and the pita bread is the best in Columbus… They make it right in front of your eyes from scratch. I usually get everything to go but I always see people eating other interesting stuff… I will be back

Excellent! The lamb shwarma, hummus and pistachio baklava were amazing! They make their own pita bread in a stone oven man!!!

Loved their veggie wrap. So flavorful!
Also everything that I sampled– baba Ghanoush, lamb chops and the pita, was amazing. Their pita is fresh off the oven so it tastes even better. Apparently they also have different varieties of baklava, which is also very good.

Went here last Friday for a dinner with a friend. I was expecting a pretty bare bones restaurant, but actually, it is quite cute and homey inside. I ordered the shawarma platter with mujadara, chicken shawarma, and kefta. As a side I got the fattoush salad. Salad was just ok; I personally thought it had way too much seasoning. However, loved my dinner. While I would’ve preferred a little bit more char on my kefta and more seasoning on my chicken, the plate overall was delicious, especially considering the cost. I gobbled everything up with a generous slathering of Lebanese garlic sauce (toum). We also saved room for dessert. As other Unilocalers have pointed out, the cream baklava was deelish. Please go get some!

My boyfriend brought me here the other night. He said he loved this place and I needed to give it a try so I agreed. (I mean, I’ll eat anything)
We entered the place and the lady that was serving everyone welcomed us. She was so nice and helpful. I ordered the lentil soup and baked kibosh both delicious!
At the end of the dinner the server asked us about the baklava. Of course my sister wanted some because she is a baking and pastry major. We got two kinda the cashew and the walnut. Both were perfection. I would not say I am a baklava person but there was so delicious. My mouth is salivating just thinking about it.

I was drawn here by the Unilocal 2015 community top 100 list and I couldn’t believe there was such a highly rated place (#1!) in the area where I work (Polaris can be a hell hole of chain/​uninspired fare). BUT NOT LITTLE LEBANON!
I went alone, but ended up dining among other Unilocalers and chatting with the owner and chef. They are an awesome couple that are clearly passionate about sharing Lebanese food with their customers.
The highlight is definitely the made to order breads, so make sure you order something that would involve that (hummus, baba ghanouj, pies, etc) because the bread does not get baked until you order it… Seriously. Amazing.
I had the baba ghanouj and lamb shawarma and a pistachio baklava and it was all wonderful. Quite delighted to have learned about this place.

Food and service are really good. A nice selection of meat and vegetarian options.
The fresh bread is really good!
Only suggestion would be to offer cocktails and make more like a restaurant vs deli seating.

The best kept secret in Columbus. Authentic Lebanese food impeccably flavored and served by the friendliest husband and wife owners. My favorite is the Mojadara with chicken and the baba ghanouj. They make everything from scratch including delish pita in the brick oven. The desserts are amazing too. Highly recommend this restaurant!

«Oh sweet holy… omg mother of omg» were my EXACT whispers upon biting into the Falafel Bomb pita. It’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten from a restaurant and I’m not exaggerating. Granted, as a vegan it’s not like I’m eating at thousands of restaurants, but still. The flatbread is to die for, it tastes the way bread smells when it’s baking. So basically I guess I’m saying it tastes like bread, but that’s wild to me because most bread just tastes like crap. The name of the flatbread is something along the lines of Maanash ‘Azar (that’s not what it’s called, but it’s something like that). It’s coated in a thick layer of herbs that fall into every crevice of your teeth and make you look like you were munching on sand, but it tastes like heaven. I don’t even like heavily spiced things, or pickles, of which there were 2 in the pita and I still ate them with relish (no pun intended).
I usually don’t write reviews after only trying one thing on the menu, but I seriously can’t stop thinking about that pita. It’s invaded my dreams at night. I can still feel the crisp edges of the bread in my mouth. I’m resisting going back too soon, I don’t want to appear desperate. This is the beginning of a long relationship so I have to play my cards right. I can’t wait to try the rest of the menu! The service was great as well, super attentive, warm, and fast. I have a feeling this will be a weekly stop for me, so glad I hunted this place down (it’s behind the City Barbecue, btw).

Definitely a solid choice for a quick meal!
We stopped in here near the start of a night out in Polaris, pulled in by the fantastic Unilocal reviews. I was very impressed by the exterior, as they seemed to have put a lot of work into the design out front, but that wasn’t really reflected on the inside of the restaurant. It seemed hastily decorated, with lots of big photos of random European cities on the walls.
Our server was very friendly, and helped explain some of the menu items. The manaish jibneh was good, but somewhat bland, but the fatayers were much better. I really liked my mojadara, and we were both absolutely stuffed by the end of our meal. That didn’t stop the manager from giving us a free sample of dessert! Everyone was very friendly, and all the food tasted very fresh and delicious. I’m not up at Polaris very often, but I wouldn’t hesitate to return!

The food here is nothing short of delicious, but the restaurant itself is… not really even a restaurant. I understand that they have a very small space to work with, but the pressed wood tables and Office Max stackable chairs are not the most welcoming. I work at the JPMC building right behind this place, so I love stopping by for a quick lunch when I have a craving for hummus, but I would not recommend it if you’re not already in the Polaris area. With so many other restaurants around to try, I would suggest choosing one with real furniture.
One positive note though, they can have takeout orders ready very quickly, so if you need a super fast takeout option, this is your place!

This could possibly be one of the best restaurants I have ever been to.
I found this little gem via TripAdvisor while looking up places to eat in Columbus. It was ranked very high among all the restaurants in Columbus, which I thought was interesting, so we had to try it. I definitely found out why it was one of the top restaurants in the city after eating there.
The restaurant wasn’t exactly what I expected. It was in a small strip mall in a pretty nice part of town and it was very clean and everything. I just didn’t expect it to be in a strip mall, but that didn’t detract from the experience all.
Let’s just start out with the service – OUTSTANDING. The people here were so nice! They carried on conversation with us throughout the meal. Granted, we were the only people in there since it was a Thursday night, but still, these people rocked it out of the park!
The food was WONDERFUL. We ordered four grape leaves filled with meat and rice, which had excellent flavor, as well as a small pastry filled with feta and cream cheese. (We only ordered one, but the server thought they were too small for all of us, so he gave us two.) Those things, along with the fresh pita, were a great start. I also got lentil soup, which was awesome. I love lentil soups, and this one was pretty stellar. It had a lot of different spices in it than ones I have had before.
The actual entrées were just as excellent. I had shawarma with kefta and chicken (the rice had beef and nuts – almonds? – in it). It was pretty awesome. The kefta was well seasoned (I’ve had it with sauces elsewhere so it was a little dry, but still good). The chicken was juicy as all get out, and really good. The rice was also pretty good, but I enjoyed the rice that my dad (who also got shawarma but with lamb) and mom (who got mojadara) had much better. It was filled with lentils and had carmelized onions on top – sooooo yummy. That was actually one of the best things about the meal.
We were stuffed by the end of dinner. They brought out even more fresh pita at the middle of it, which we hadn’t expected. When they asked if we wanted any dessert and we replied «too full» one of the ladies brought us out a plate of four baklava because «first timers always get to try her baklava.» Holy crap am I glad she did. That thing was straight out of heaven! Best baklava I’ve ever had for sure. She had pistachio and regular, I just went for the regular since I don’t really like pistachios.
In conclusion, we will definitely make sure to return here on trips to Columbus, whenever those may be. I am tempted to say this was the best food I’ve had in Columbus to date, and if you’re traveling here, you HAVE to go here. You HAVE TO. DON’T MISS OUT. (Sorry for this super long review… I just had to get all the glory of this place out of my system!!)
UPDATE: We came back to Columbus on fall break, and needless to say this was one of our must-​dos. We weren’t disappointed… it was still great. Our waitress from the first visit actually remembered us after all these months! It was super cool… the food was still to die for. We ordered some different stuff this time, including a delectable meat pie and the appetizer sampler. As before, the baklava was out of this world… this is a wonderful establishment. I really wish they were closer to home. I’m going to be craving mojadara within a week.

I had a fun time at Little Lebanon last week meeting up with a few fellow Unilocalers. The lady running the place and doing all the cooking was incredibly nice, and she was really funny when pointing out the different dishes to me. The food, however, didn’t really blow my mind. I’m leaning more toward a 3 star as far as what I had is concerned, but the service was definitely a 5.
I ended up getting an order of falafel and the kebab platter. The falafel wasn’t my favorite I’ve ever had, but it wasn’t the worse. The tahini sauce that came with it was actually pretty tasty. My kebab platter came with 3 kebabs, and I ended up trying the chicken, lamb, and keftha. The rice had almonds in it, and I really enjoyed that. As far as the meat goes, the chicken and vegetables that came with the meal were very good, but the lamb was incredibly tough. I actually almost choked on one piece because it was so gristly and fatty that I couldn’t break it down. I thought maybe it was just a one off, but I found another piece on that kebab to have the same issue. The keftha, which is just ground beef and lamb, was just average for me.
The standout at this place for me was the baklava. I ended up trying the cream, walnut, and chocolate baklava. I’d never had a baklava with a cream filling, and it was awesome, but I think it could have been even better if the cream was sweeter. I’d eat those all day. The chocolate and walnut ones were the standouts for me. The desserts were made perfectly.
I think if I were to return to this place, it’d more than likely be to pick up some treats to go. The entrees didn’t WOW me, but the desserts were fantastic.

I’ve had this sucker bookmarked for several years, so I decided to do a UYE here! The restaurant is decent size, but not as many Unilocalers showed up, do to the heavy fog and rain.
I got here a bit early, so I had a chance to chat with the lady behind the counter. I didn’t ask, but I’m pretty sure she owns the place: she tended to all the customers; helped in the back to cook food; answered the phone and ran the register. All, meanwhile, having an outstanding, friendly demeanor. She answered all our questions about the menu items, and gave suggestions based on our comments. Wonderful gal!
I was having trouble narrowing down my choices, but finally decided on the Baked Kibbeh. Wow! It was scrumptious! It’s a mix of ground lamb and beef — savory. Consistency equal to, say, meatloaf. A yogurt sauce is ladled on top, which had a tad tart taste. It mixed well with the meat. I wasn’t able to eat the fattoush salad that came with the dish; the lemon zing and sumac was too much for my tastebuds.
Dessert? Oh yeah, YUMMMY! One baklava cream and one pistachio baklava. Holy guacamole, the cream one was sooo good (I’ve never had one before)!! Just enough cream, so it didn’t overpower the full dough. The pistachio square was also succulent: light, dripping honey, soft to bite, it passed for my likings :)
There are a few other items that looked good on the menu, so I definitely plan on coming back.

Chalk Little Lebanon up as a place to escape from suburban chains in the Polaris area. A delicious slice of all things eastern Mediterranean, they bill themselves as a bistro and bakery, heavy on the bakery.
The air at LL is filled with the scent of baking bread, spices and yeast. It is almost literally mouth-​watering. Their entrée menu and sandwiches offer plenty of variety (kebabs, falafel, gyros, fish) — but their bread and baked goods menu is half of their menu. On our last trip, we came in for dinner and it was great. We ordered a little fatayer dumpling with spinach and feta, then got a zaatar (crispy flatbread brushed with olive oil and thickly layered with spices and sesame seeds). Those were definitely highlights. The spouse had a trio of kebabs with yellow rice, hummus and their incredible garlic sauce — it is so garlicky that it stings your tongue (and eyes the first bite). Dinner entrees come with fresh house bread, which is somewhere between pita and lavash as far as consistency, and two sides (we get the fatoush salad, which comes with little garlicky fried bread pieces).
I ended up ordering a combo plate of chicken and lamb with mujadara. I’d not had mujadara with green lentils before, but it was all gently spiced and tasty. While you’re waiting, you can peruse the dessert offerings, or watch as bread moves around from the kitchen to the proofing shelves and back again.
The husband and wife team who work here are very friendly as well, and greeted several people personally as they came in. It’s great to see a family-​run business among the corporate chains doing so well, with food that beats those heat-​and-​serve places by a mile.

I try not to write a review based on a one time visit, unless I don’t plan on returning. We had driven out of our way, with high hopes, arriving at Little Lebanon Bistro & Bakery about 2:00 p.m. for lunch. There were several individual customers dining at that time.
The bistro advertises «food made when you order it». Sounds good, but… If ordering rice and lamb chops and it’s ready within a few minutes, it makes you wonder?!
Both my dining partner & I thought the food was just OK. I will say, my dining partner is Lebanese and probably was more critical than the normal patron. Overall, we thought the dishes were bland and lacked the right balance of seasonings.
Agreeably, the tabbouleh was fresh and the generous portion looked appetizing. However, the balance of ingredients were off, with lemon flavor dominating. The mojadara, was bland and boring, but not distasteful. As for the lunch lamb entrée, it was just… disappointing. There were two silver dollar size chips, I mean chops, over what was described as «special rice» and «seasoned beef». In my opinion, there was nothing «special» about the rice, unless using cinnamon qualifies, and hardly any beef. On the flip side, the little Lebanese breads were really good. They tasted homemade and the dough was a highlight.
Lastly, one can not argue the very reasonable menu prices. Sometimes, when the price is right, the food tastes a whole lot better.

I have had all kinds of Middle Eastern food from all kinds of regions in all kinds of metropolitan cities, but I have never had this food.
First of all the meat is moist with notes upon layers of flavor. We had the chicken and lamb shawarma. They let us substitute the rice for salad. Which (by the way) no Middle Eastern restaurant in Ohio has let us do.
Secondly the hummus was creamy with just enough garlic and lemon and this amazing nutty flavor. I’m going to go out on a limb and say they make their own tahini.
Thirdly that tzatziki sauce was on point not too thick not too runny just the right consistency!
Fourthly the salad had mint in it. I repeat MINT and radishes like it’s supposed to.
Fifthly… Fifthly? The bread is made to order. I mean they cook it and then they put it on the table and then you put it in your mouth.
AND LASTLY THAT BAKLAVA CRUSHES ALL OTHER BAKLAVA. I guess Lebanese baklava isn’t overpoweringly sweet like Greek baklava. Instead of honey they use a simple syrup with lemon and the pistachios are so flavorful and the filo dough has got to be homemade it doesn’t stick to the roof of your mouth and it’s soooo moist.
We ordered mint tea with our meal, and I’d say everything was perfect except the salad dressing was a little too vinegary. I think if they used a better quality balsamic that would be an issue.
I think my favorite part was meeting the husband and wife team that own the restaurant they came up to our table we had a great conversation. they’re so charming.

Working in Ohio over the summer, I wasn’t particularly impressed with the food choices until my coworkers suggested Little Lebanon. As a newer little café-​type establishment, I was eager to see what it was like. From the delicious authentic food to the lively and friendly staff, this was definitely one of my favorite eating experiences.
They might have only one $ sign on Unilocal,but almost every time I’ve gone I’ve ended up paying over $ 10 because I end up craving their desserts. The appetizers I’ve tried, the hummus and baba ganoush, were both very creamy and rich and flavor. The hummus was pretty standard, but the baba ganoush had a wonderful smoky flavor to it that expanded my world of pita dips.
Their pastries are also wonderful. They have little pies and baklava that are fresh, crispy and full of nutty flavors that make your mouth water the second you bite into it.
If you’re even in the Polaris area, this is hands down a must try!