Yaffa’s Savory

Great food! I will happily increase my rating to 5 stars when the following improvements are made:
–one star for better pita bread (the pita served is not house made and is like a yoga mat. Basically inedible store bread. Bad store bread at that.)
–one star for better service (we waited ten minutes for water and then were rushed out by the server who set the bussing bin directly on our table while we were still sitting there and talking. Disgraceful customer service. At least use a tray to bus a table while customers are still sitting there.)
Let me know when we should come by for some house made pita and better service. Would love an excuse to eat that hummus again.

This is a fabulous little gem. The service was wonderful. Harper was so gracious and checked on us while we caught up with friends. She did not lead us astray with her recommendations either. Yaffa spoke with us and spent time visiting and explaining some of the foods and their traditional meanings her culture. We’ll be back!

The customer service at this place is horrible. I ordered delivery and my food was ready for over an hour and just sat there. I got chicken hummus but there was only a few pieces of chicken in it. The restaurant was supposed to remake my order before they sent it out but clearly did not. My food arrived cold, the drink I ordered has been sitting so long the ice was melted. When I called, the guy on the phone was incredibly rude. I will not be giving this place any more business. There are other places with better service.

Food — The best Mediterranean restaurant in Denver. Hole in the wall diamond. High quality food with excellent flavor. Very authentic. The ambiance is very relaxing. A must.
Service — Could improve
Server — Not once did she refill my water. I had to get up and ask for more water. She wasn’t very friendly either. I would have given Yaffa’s 5 stars, but this lack of basic attention drops it down one star.
Owners — Extremely friendly and cared about the quality of the food. Came and talked to me a couple of times, showing that they really care about their customers.

We decided to try this place because we are new to the neighborhood. The service was good but the food was just ok. We had the vegetarian platter and the chicken shawarma. The babaganoush and the hummus were very bland. The falafel was a bit dry and the whole thing only came with 1 pita. The shawarma was OK but was leaking oil and liquid out the bottom. It came with a lemonade but it wasn’t actually lemonade it tasted like watered down gatorade or something. Overall, the food was on the bland side and nothing tasted fresh.

Ever since I ate at Yaffa’s, I am more grateful for the things I have eaten since then.
My boyfriend and I ate here last week. I am honestly still upset that Yaffa’s has such great reviews. Do people have no taste? Do people enjoy food that is entirely not seasoned? Do people have no interest in texture or more than one pita bread for two people?
I really wanted to like it here. It’s right next to our apartment, we could literally walk here if we were somehow forced to go back.
I feel bad about what happened there, because the employees seemed like earnest people. And just judging from the photos, it seems like they used to give people more than one piece of pita bread per table. Maybe the quality here has dropped since then. But our food tasted like nothing.
The hummus was completely bland. The pita was probably the best thing we ate there and it was average. The falafel was dry as hell, the Israeli salad was completely bland. I got the Chicken Couscous and it was just a mixture of different mushy ingredients. I have made better couscous from a box. The chicken itself was completely dry and I actually wasn’t able to finish the dish.
My main complaint was the salt, or lack thereof. I usually don’t complain about salt, because I generally don’t need to. Most places use enough salt. Overall, Yaffa’s would benefit greatly by using salt, period. I thinks if you want some good Mediterranean food, just go to Jerusalem Restaurant, bc literally everything is good there.
I think the service was generally fine, if not over confident and awkward. The only truly redemption of Yaffa’s was their baklava. That was actually delicious.

I don’t know if something has changed recently, but all of the glowing reviews for this place certainly did not reflect our truly bad experience.
Service: Was awkward. Waiter was awkward. Every person got their dish at a different time, with at least 5 minutes between when people were served. Two of us were finished before the other two got their meals. Waiter accidentally jammed his thumb into one bowl of rice and still proceeded to serve it. It was also freezing in the restaurant which didn’t help the atmosphere
Food: Not a single plus among 4 diners here. The falafel was really bad — hockey puck like. Completely under-​seasoned with the exception of garlic which they were a tad overzealous with. Hummus was hands down the worst I’ve ever had. Almost no flavor, and runny, which is not a word I’ve ever had to use to describe hummus. Olives on the greek salad were soggy. The portobello mushroom dish was inedible. The Harira soup was under-​seasoned like many of the other dishes, noodles were soggy and there was no beef. I will say that the gyro was the highlight, though it was mediocre at best.
I’m sorry to say if you’re looking for Mediterranean, skip this place and go to Garbanzo or something. It’s way better and also cheaper.

A wonderful surprise. Don’t let the location or the exterior fool you. If you’re a fan — or think you might be a fan — of Israeli/​Middle Eastern food, go visit Yaffa’s. Now. Go. Don’t ask why.

It hurts me to write bad reviews. I always want to like every place I go and disappointment pains me. There are just too many problems with this restaurant to not review it, however, given the amount of glowing reviews from everyone else.
I’ll start with the pros.
*The pine/​evergreen/​spruce/​whatever term you fancy flavor was great. I absolutely adore that spice and it’s used so rarely in America, I can’t speak for its usage in the Mediterranean. (Though there are quite a few dishes this may have been in where it did not fit, more on that later)
*The baklava was very delicious. If I were to go back it would be exclusively for that.
*The chef seemed very sweet and was kind to the guests.
*The décor of the place made it feel cozy, and I’m sure the bottled things they sold were tasty, though we didn’t try them.
So if you’re just stopping by for some baklava, this is a fine place, but unfortunately, I personally had a lot more issues.
We started with hummus and Moroccan cigars. Both, it seemed, had absolutely no seasoning. I’ve come to love the slight sesame, bright lemon, and the hard to place taste of chickpeas in hummus. I like it with just those ingredients and a bit of olive oil, or with a variety of different toppings, ranging from pine nuts to pickles. My point is I like a lot of different hummus varieties. This didn’t deliver. There wasn’t an acidic kick from the lemon juice, no faint sesame taste from tahini, no rich olive oil, and there seemed to be absolutely no salt in the hummus at all. I have yet to have any hummus so underseasoned ranging from recipes from Ottolenghi all the way down to store bought. This was, by far, the worst hummus I’ve had. Another thing is how bizarrely stingy they are with pita. They bring out one at a time cut in half for two of us. This was fine here due to the small portion, but later on it gets strange.
For the Moroccan cigars, I realize that it’s difficult getting filo dough to work properly, I’ve used it myself and it is angering. That said much of the oil leaked inside the cigars and onto the meat filling, which was also underseasoned. A bite of these was dull and oily with meat only adding texture, due to the lack of seasoning. It came with an evergreen sauce, which was delightful due to the spruce motif. But, and you can probably see where I’m headed, it wasn’t seasoned and made the cigars taste of dull pine rather than dull nothing.
For dinner my SO got couscous with chicken and I got a combination platter, being that I wanted to try as much as I could. First, the picture on the menu of the couscous chicken was different than the dish itself. The couscous in the picture was pearl couscous, while the dish itself was the more rice-​esque couscous. This is just strange. I knew they got their pictures of food from the Internet, as I saw the picture for shakshuka some 300 times before, but I would imagine the chef would want the right dish on their menu.
I’ll start with the couscous chicken since my dish has a lot more to get through. I’m used to slightly fluffy couscous, but the couscous in this dish was mashed together nearly homogenously as if it had been cooked the day before and microwaved too long that day. It was not very appetizing. The chicken was chalky and also underseasoned but there were definitely some strange choices in herbs and spices in it. Perhaps more pine? Whatever it was it did not work at all for this dish. The vegetables seemed fine but also mashed together. The dish had no structure to it and its only texture was mash and chalkiness.
Now for my dish. I had to read off the website to remember it all and I’ll take on one at a time. It’s listed as having a pita (which I had to ask for), kebab, chef seared mix (?), falafel, dolmades, hummus, babaganush, Israeli salad, and saffron rice.
First the kebab and chef seared mix. These were really bad. I’m not sure what spices and herbs the chef uses but they were not good at all on the meat. The meat was dry, dull, and off flavored to the point I really thought it was leftovers from multiple days gone past thrown into the microwave. There was nothing redeeming about the meat. Do not get this if you come.
The dolmades were good, but I really doubt anyone could screw these up.
The falafel was really bad. Dry throughout, bizarrely spiced, and underseasoned. Falafel is a dish that I believe everyone should love, but definitely not this rendition.
If you like the average Israeli salad that exists out here, you’ll like this version. Though a little salt wouldn’t hurt.
The hummus I’ve talked about, but the babaganush suffers the same issues. No acidity, no apparent sesame, and no seasoning.
The saffron rice was decent, perhaps more seasoning?
And the service. It was awkward. He used the phrase, «You didn’t like that at all» multiple times. Ironically, we didn’t.
I hope the best for the workers here, but I hope this review will inspire them to cook better food. Good luck to everyone there.

Love love this restaurant. We just found it today. The fact that they served all natural and home made food. Chef Yaffa and the Wife are really generous and kind to us. It’s pretty new that the Chef comes out from the kitchen to ask us how was the food that they had served. Really good. If I can give more stars because of food and kindness. I would. The hummus is so goooooood too! Everything is good. If you are Vegetarian or Vegan. This is also a good place for you. My husband and I was pretty grateful for finding this place.

This is the best food I’ve had in Colorado. They really know what theyre doing and the place is so well decorated, tidy, and welcoming. I love Yaffas Savory!

We used Yaffa’s to cater a work party. She was great to work with and the food was fantastic. The prices were reasonable considering the very high quality and health of the food. It’s very much home-​cooked while still being innovative and fun. We had a huge number of options so I can see the company accommodating all kinds of events.
I’m looking forward to checking out her restaurant. I highly recommend the catering service!

Stopped in while I was driving through. It was ok. The food was ok. The pita bread was the store variety heated up. I got the tri plate for the appetizer. It was all hummus with a topping. I’m uses to big globs of hummus, baba ganoush, etc. I thought I was getting sort of a sampler for appetizer. I was tired/​lazu so I didn’t really read the men. Just skimmed through it.
The gyro was ok. I don’t know. I’m not sure Colorado has a food scene.

I was a little disappointed at first because the location seemed well… A little sketchy. Then Unilocal had gotten their menu incorrect. BUT they were very friendly. Upon walking into the restaurant the smells and atmosphere erased any concerns I had about the location and the food was really good. The baklava was omg good.

Not living close to Yaffa’s, I’ve only eaten there a single time. Since it was my first time, at the recommendation of the super-​friendly proprietress, I got the Veggie Platter Combo. I received a wide range of tastes on a plate, each excellent in its own way.
Surprising though it may be, I must say that there is a top-​notch Middle Eastern place in Denver. As a recent Northeast transplant, finding a nice little gem like this makes me feel even better about living in Colorado. If you like this type of food, then you needn’t hesitate — eat at Yaffa’s if you can!

The simple sign off S. Monaco for this place could be easy to miss as it sits at the edge of a giant darkened parking lot for a long closed Sears/​Kmart, and the actual location sits in a separate little strip mall cluster of buildings off the side of that big empty lot, so it would be very easy to miss out on this spot & the only reason I knew it was there was from sitting in traffic and being stopped right by the sign several times.
Finally got around to stopping in and the food was VERY Very good! Had the Lamb Chop special and it was fantastic, as well as tried their Moroccan Cigars since I had never heard of anything like it, and that too was great! I’m not a big Cucumber and tomato salad person, which is their «Israeli Salad» that came as the side to my lamb chops, so I think next time I will see if there is an option to get a different salad as a side, BUT I did try it, and for someone who doesn’t care for cucumbers, I thought the salad was good. The food, service, and inside of the store aren’t done justice by the shopping center it is in. It really a great find. I sampled some of the sauces and plan on collecting a few more.
Quick Tips: There’s a young guy that works the front and he is super super super chatty (apparently not the same guy in the other reviews as this guys seemed to be overly attentive), but really nice and has a lot of helpful information about the food, their store items, classes they offer, etc.
The food is all freshly prepared so it takes a bit. This place has delivery options with various companies, but from placing a few orders to pick up on my own, the food took at least 30 mins to be ready for a small order, so any food delivery services will probably take even longer than other restaurants where the food doesn’t take as long to make with delivery.
All of the sauces are crazy good!
The hummus is sooooo smooth & tasty.
**As of 3÷2÷15 — If you are interested in checking it out, there is a living social special available but it is very specifically for dine in only so it doesn’t apply to any of the store items or if you want to pick it up to go for yourself.**

Liked: gyros, Israeli salad, hard working owner turning out good food, tasting display
Disliked: need more help (one waiter for 50 customers doesn’t work well!), display of sauces and foods was interesting but each bottle that we picked up was stuck to another bottle or to the shelf. Serious clean up needed!
Could easily go to 4 stars if issues are addressed.

Finding an establishment which offer «Unique Offerings» is a little difficult on a Sunday evening. Since we are in the Neighborhood, Hubs and I decide to go here for Dinner. That faithful day was on Sunday, October 26^th 2014. Time was about 19:30hrs ish.
This establishment is middle of «no where»… Meaning, its location… err. with ample of parking. There used to be «Sears”/“KMART» abandoned building a couple steps away from this establishment.
But boy am I glad we went with the flow. Once we enter this establishment we are greeted promptly by our main Server. If I am NOT mistaken, his name is Marc.
Marc, said we can choose any available seats. We opt to seat ourselves at the Left Corner of this establishment. This establishment is quaint with lots of trinkets with «LOTS OF Rooster trinkets» as part of the Décor and antiques. On the Right Wing of this establishment are shelves of Condiments, Jams, Dressings, Vinegars, and other Food related products that Yaffa’s Savory has to offer.
From the Menu we opt to have the following items :
* Moroccan Cigars ($ 4.99)
* Quiche Of The Day ($ 8.50)
* Chef Mix ($ 12.95)
* Combination Platter ($ 14.95)
* Side of Pita ($ 1.00)
For our beverages we opt to have the following :
* Turkish Coffee ($ 2.00)
* Spiced Tea ($ 2.00)
* Large Cappucino ($ 3.50)
Our food and beverages comes out periodically. The Moroccan Cigars came out piping hot from the Fryer. Those are SO ADDICTIVE whispered Hubs to me. Hubs wish he could order more of those Moroccan Cigars. Its Ground Meat in Phyllo DEEP FRIED to perfection! The Moroccan Cigars, are crunchy on the outside, and the seasoning of meat is so flavorful. Why Oh Why it comes only in 2 pieces, err in this case «2 Cigars»?? I chuckled to myself…
Hubs like his order of Quiche Of The Day. I forgot to ask Marc (our Main Server) what was the actual ingredients in those Quiche Of The Day. All the food was indeed flavorful, doable and portions are reasonable. Hubs enjoyed his Dinner and so as I. By the end of our dinner we are indeed stuffed.
All in all, the service was impeccable and even the Chef, Yaffa Hanouna came out from the kitchen to talk to us and other patrons that evening. We don’t mind returning soon.
TABLE 8
Yaffa’s Savory LLC
2200 S Monaco Pkwy
Unit B,
Denver, CO 80 222
Tel: (303)-758−0083
@205/2014

This was my first time coming to Yaffa’s. When I first entered there was a young guy manning the front counter who seemed to be too occupied to say hello, so I decided to peruse the retail section, which had some very interesting homemade sauces and spreads (they were also available to sample but I didn’t want to fill up right before dinner). After a couple minutes the owner came out from the kitchen and greeted and seated me. She was a very, very friendly woman and as other reviewers have said, made me feel like a guest in her home.
I ordered a trio of hummus and the gyros special. For my trio I had green olive tapenade, baba ganouj, and Harissa. All were good, but I especially liked the baba ganouj, which had a nice smokey flavor to it. The hummus was very good, though a bit more tart than I prefer and I was wishing there was some cumin on top. The gyros were not as heavily spiced as I’m used to but what they lacked in spice they made up for in being cooked perfectly. It’s honestly the first time in a long time I’ve ordered gyros and not had half a plate of dried up char! About the only thing I was served that I didn’t like was the cucumber tomato salad, but that was a personal preference because I dislike bell peppers and that part of the salad. I will say however that the tomatoes were very ripe and flavorful.
My server ended up being the blonde kid that had ignored me when is walked in which made me nervous, but he ended up doing a pretty good job. He clearly wasn’t super enthusiastic about his job but he let me know about the specials, got my order right, and even upsild me on a dessert. He was prompt with taking care of my payment as well. He also impressed me by giving me a side of the evergreen sauce to try that if asked about when choose my hummus toppings, so I poured onto one of my remaining hummus bowls and tried it out. It was like a really fresh, herby pesto and well named as the smell reminded me a lot of pine trees.
I took my leftovers to my partner at work and he sent me an impassioned text a few hours later about how much he loved the evergreen sauce, so I will definitely be back to help support this charming little café and try some new things, probably with partner in tow so that he can buy a jar of evergreen.

HORRIBLE.
Yes, all caps was intended because our experience here was THAT bad. We went here a few months ago and I think I’ve been repressing the memory or something because I didn’t want to think about it. But then again, when I have such a miserable experience somewhere, I have to let others know so here we go…
We came here on a week night around dinner tie and there was about two other tables sat. There was one server working (blond surfer looking guy) and the owner, Yaffa. The only reason I know she was the owner is because I saw her picture plastered on the website. No hello or anything from her the whole time we were there, even though she visited every other table plus no apologies that they were short staffed. Our server ignored us as well and even though apologetic, didn’t offer anything while we were waiting. I got the hummus and chicken shwarma without pita bread so once he dropped off our food, I waited a good 15 minutes before he would even look our way to get pita bread. He even mentioned that he forget the pita bread when he dropped off our food so waiting 15 minutes for him to acknowledge us was just awesome! He was yapping away with a seven top, not minding the other tables that we waiting.
At that point I just wanted to get out of the place and get my food to go. He gave us a business card telling us to come in again and that we can call in our order ahead of time so we wouldn’t have to wait like we did this time. Fool, are you kidding me? Never coming back here again, this is such a shoddy establishment and the owner obviously has no clue how to keep a staff running or assist when one server is in the weeds or see how everyone in the restaurant is doing. NEVER AGAIN. Off to go do some yoga now since writing this spiked my blood pressure.