International Delights

International Delights is a place in Durham that has been here as long as I can remember. They have the best philly cheese steaks and gyros around. The cool part is they also serve and sell hookah if you want and have made to order food for every entrée. They are a family run restaurant which has been passed down through the family to the son now so you know the recipes are very traditional, authentic and delicious. The service is friendly and quick as it is a casual spot to eat. Great location too so you can go walk around 9^th street after a delicious meal. They do not serve ketchup as it tarnishes the taste they are going for so don’t ask if you order fries!

I happen to be on 9-​th street, what a weird place in the middle of Durham. A bunch of little shops and restaurants positioned on the same side of the road, kinda big city style; but a Harris Teeter plaza right across the street.
The inside of the restaurant is moderately clean, a typical fast food joint. The service is super friendly and they take credit. I had a nice large platter with chicken shwarma, lebanese salad, hummus and rice. The chicken was tender and well seasoned, definitely fresh. There was a lot of food in my take out box, I didn’t even get to pita bread. They provide a cup of tahini sauce (for the chicken, I assume), but it doesn’t really add to the meal.
Overall, this is a pretty average Mediterranean joint. I won’t go out of my way to eat here, but I won’t oppose going again either.

I frequently stop in to International Delights when I am on 9^th Street. The staff is super friendly and always entertaining. I like getting the philly chicken with fries, but beware there is NO ketchup allowed. The desserts always satisfy my sweet tooth! I also occasionally share a hookah with friends over their authentic Turkish or mint tea!

First off, the owner is so sweet and friendly! He definitely made the whole experience even better! So a group of us went there; all 6 of us ordered and the food came out super quick! He even made one of my friends something off the menu!
I had the lamb shawarma and the chicken shawarma. both were very good! his baba ghannouj, hummus, baklava (dessert) etc were all lovely! Everyone at my table thought the food here was much better than the other middle eastern style restaurants around the area.
Hookah was also great and best of all I thought was the tea! Loved everything about this place, from the food to the customer service. :-) I will definitely be coming back here again, bringing all my friends and even getting some catering done!
ps: on a side note: what I love about this place is that when I was speaking to Emad, the owner, he told me how this is a family run business and they have been running this establishment for so many years now. I love supporting small local businesses :-) Also, head next door to his brother’s shop for some great Philly cheese steaks and wings– watch out for the review!

Tried their kabob wrap yesterday for dinner. It was too dry and the meat was chewy. Service was good but i guess i will not go back to this place in future.

The philly chicken is incredible. Cheesy well seasoned, and the bread is delicious. I have been a fan of this place since I day I moved to Durham. I study here and I bring my friends and the staff is always accommodating. Love this charming family run restaurants. My go restaurant. The food and dessert is amazing, and try the mint tea too.

For living literally across the street from this place, I am disappointed at myself for never having come here until now. I bought a Lamb Gyros and was neatly pleased by the flavorful meat.
If you are looking to escape the ceaseless choices of American food then try out this place. I shall certainly make it a more regular stop.
As a side note, the service was extremely courteous and pleasant.

I’d give it 2.5 stars if I could. It’s cheap and it’s pretty decent food. The pitas are warm, soft and fresh, so that elevates everything. The hummus is just so-​so. My big problem is with the gyros. I’m not an expert so I may be wrong about this, but I highly doubt that the gyro meat comes off a vertical rotisserie like it’s supposed to and like the menu claims.
First of all, if they have one, they do a great job hiding it. That’s a big departure from other places I’ve been that have the rotisserie in plain sight so you can watch them shave your meat off the sides. Second of all, the meat itself (lamb in my case) is thick and evenly shaped, suggesting heavily to something baked in a pan at best and heated frozen out of a box at worst. Either way it’s still decently tasty, just maybe update the menu to reflect reality.

This is an old family Durham establishment been coming for years. The
the best the son is running the place now he learned from the best his dad who didnt allow ketchup. He said the
good already no need. Luv it

Ordered the beef/​lamb gyro with fries and the bottled guava drink along with a falafel side and baklawa for about $ 18 total. Let me tell you what else we got… about 5 facial hairs or what I hope were facial hairs that adhered to the inside of the styrofoam container which housed our gyro and fries. Unfortunately, not noticed until well into the meal.
The food itself wasn’t bad. The fries were well seasoned but not so spectacular they didn’t need sauce. I liked that there were no onions are on the gyro cause I always order my food without. The falafels were fresh, hot, crispy in the outside. Nice texture but a bit salty for me.
Dessert was the best part. Flaky layers of phyllo that wasn’t over saturated with honey and the right amount of nuts. just wish the piece was bigger!
I’d return again and hope hair is not included in our next meal.

Love everything I eat here. Its not the best I ever had but I always leave satisfied.
I usually get either a steak sub with fries, a beef and lamb gyros with fries or the falafel with hummus. You can also partake in a little Hookah puffn if you wish. I think they even sell hookahs there.

You can never go wrong with the philly cheese steak sandwich. It’s the best sandwich ever. The seasoning is amazing. Baklava is very good, and i can safely say that i have never eaten something not good there. One of my favorites!

The new generation is carrying on the tradition of excellent food. For Middle Eastern foods, this is the only serious option in the Triangle.
The ketchup issue. In the past, ketchup was carefully allowed just for the fries (since ketchup + fries is a combination accepted worldwide). But, now, all ketchup has been removed from the premises, thanks to the knuckleheads who would put it on gyros and sandwiches. Any sort of replacement sauce made available only for the fries would really be great and much appreciated.
But still the best, of course.

Hole-​in-​the-​wall place in Durham next to Duke! I came here for a quick bite for lunch with my mom and brother, and we all ordered pita wraps. I got a lamb gyro one, my brother had a falafel one and my mom got a beef gyro one. They were pretty good, and the service was fast enough (although the interior could use a little spicing up), but I think I still prefer Med Deli in Chapel Hill.

This place might also be known as «that no-​ketchup place». One of the first things you’re likely to see when you walk in, either on the poster under the register or on the back of an employee’s shirt, is the restaurant’s infamous condemnation of ketchup. Of course, having seen this, you must get the fries to see if they are really all that awesome without ketchup. At least, you must if you’re me.
I ordered a baba ghannouj wrap with a side of fries. The wrap was huge. Calling it a «wrap» is a bit of a stretch, since the pita really couldn’t be wrapped around all of the fillings. It was more like a pita with the sides rolled up slightly. The baba/​pita/​veggie ratio was definitely way off. There was a huge amount of baba ghannouj in it, a generous drizzle of tahini, and not very many vegetables. The baba ghannouj and tahini mixture was too rich, especially with so little bread and so few vegetables to balance it out. The baba here also doesn’t have the smoky roasted eggplant flavor that I really like.
The fries were actually pretty good. They had salt and pepper on them, and the crispiness was almost perfect. But I did miss the ketchup.

I heard about International Delights from a friend. So my friends & I decided to head down and check it out. We loved the food. It was so authentic. I got the shawarma and a Greek salad. It was so delicious. My friend got the falafel with pita bread and hummus he said it was amazing. Everything taste so fresh. We also had the baklava it was perfect. The last time we went the owner recommended we try this imported Mango juice drink… It tasted so pure & so sweet. We both loved it. Now we are hooked on international delights! I would recommend this restaurant to everyone looking for great food and a friendly staff!

I first came to International Delights because I heard that it had fantastic hoagies. Upon walking in, the first thing to catch my eye was the colorful array of Hookahs. I had to try one. The hoagie was awesome, nothing short of what I had heard. I got some fries which were really good, but seemed like they warranted ketchup, which for some reason is literally prohibited within the store. The hookah took a while to arrive (I was almost done eating at this point) but was packed well and didn’t burn too much. The owner actually gave me another coal and was fairly nice about it, but seemed irritated. If I had to recommend anything here, it would be a hoagie or some authentic falafel with a side of fries and a peach hookah. Fantastic little gem of a business, well worth visiting.
I come here all the time, you might see me because I come so often now.

Okay, I’m a Mediterranean enthusiast and a bit of a falafel snob. That being said, I wanted to like International Delights and have nearby falafel supplier.
Between the two of us we ordered a falafel sandwich combo and a grape leaves platter which came with hummus. The hummus was pretty good as was the tzatziki sauce (yogurt dip), but I was really unimpressed with the falafel and grape leaves– which I believe came from a can. The fries most likely frozen, but I liked the seasoning on them.
I was really disappointed with our meals, but who knows, maybe they do a great cheesestake or lamb gyro? I don’t think I’ll be back, I’m chasing my falafel dragon!

Interesting to see that this place tends to be fairly polarizing, not surprising I guess.
I like it a lot. Yes it is fairly drab and the no ketchup rule I can understand can be annoying but I actually find it amusing.
But most importantly a lot of dishes are some of the best in the area. Their baba ghanoush is so freakin delicious and has a little spicy kick. I’ve gotten just that and pita before and the baba ghanoush sandwich many times. My go to order is the international sampler with baba ghanoush instead of hummus (though their hummus is quite good also, just not as good as the baba). Their stuffed grape leaves are also the best in the area IMO. The falafel is good, definitely not as wonderful as advertised but better than say mediterra or other rivals in the area.
Overall I definitely am a sucker for good Mediterrean foods and I think this place offers the best dishes at a fair price in Durham (if only Med Deli wasn’t in Chapel Hill…).
As others have said they also have Durham’s best Philly which is worth trying. But stay away from the salads, they are pretty uninspired.

I was very disappointed in the chicken shawarma pita I had here. The chicken didn’t taste like anything, other than a little burnt. The fries were good, although swimming in black pepper.
I don’t understand their diatribe against ketchup. Is there an Israeli ketchup conspiracy that I don’t know about? I can go without it, but I want to feel welcome when I enter an establishment, and all their rules and regulations didn’t make me feel welcome.