Mediterranean Cuisine

I really liked this place. My sister found it through Google. Very friendly and welcoming staff. The appetizers were good, the entrees were delicious and then we had baklava and coffee to end the meal on a delicious note! Extremely satisfied with this place and will definitely return as well as recommend to anyone and everyone!

Okay, if you want fancy, high tech, and modern, this is not the place. Plastic tablecloths, old chairs… old building. However, if you want some pretty good food from a guy that loves his restaurant that has been around for ages in the same location on Mesa Street, you need to try this place out. Yes, there are probably better Middle Eastern places in town, but there are not places that make you feel like you walked into your Libyan Uncle’s house for an evening dinner. And that is what makes this place special, and I don’t even have a Libyan uncle!
The owner, Sulaiman Abushagur, is a man that will gladly sit down next to you and tell you all about his experiences in becoming an American Citizen after fleeing form the brutal Libyan régime of Muammar al-​Gaddafi in the 1970’s. He waxes about how proud he is to be an American citizen, and what a great country this is. In the next breath, he will tell you that you need to eat all of your food or you won’t be getting any desert. Then you get a conversation about kids, about geology, about the hours at the local mosque. It is a funny atmosphere, but about as eclectic as it can be. On the shelves there are books about geology, right next to bottles of Henna and spices for sale.
Start off with the tzatziki, yogurt, cucumbers and dill drizzled with olive oil. Use the sliced pita to dip in. Lentil soup is a good bet next, a little peppery and the consistency of a split pea soup, but tastier. We like to take some of the left over pita slices and drop them into the soup. The soup, as we were told is «very healthy for you.» We will take his word for it. Follow that up with the Gyro platter, a healthy portion of pita meat, some more yogurt, a simple salad, and warm pita. Simple, easy, and like I said, like you were at your Uncle’s house. You half expect a relative to pop out of the back and ask you to help do the dishes. My companions had a chicken pita and both pronounced it very good.
At the end of the dinner, Sulaiman comes around with a large tin box filled with all kinds of simple nuts pastries. Cashew, pistachio, almond baklavas… all deceptively small. He asks which ones want, you point it out and he plops it on your plate. You don’t have choice. It is that kind of place.
Yeah, it isn’t fancy. The place is in an old motel from when Mesa street was US20 before I-​10 was built. But I have never seen a lot of people there, it is a very quiet place to go eat a nice simple dinner (something that is getting harder and harder to find in El Paso). Quiet and simple.
Take your kids and have them learn from the owner why being an American is something people from all over the world strive to become. You get a social studies lesson and a lesson in middle eastern food all at the same time.
Cant get that at fast food!

This place was a great lil hole in the wall. While the décor is probably outdated and it has not seen a professional decorator in years… I don’t care! The food was great, I had the Gyro plate and I can honestly say this was the best I’ve had yet. Everything is cooked on site and you can definitely taste it.
While, the utensils are old and don’t have a shine on them or that their serving plates are mismatched, the food was good. As for the owner, he doesn’t have to be nice and he does care about what he serves to his customers from his interactions and attention he provided us.
Overall, I’m going back!

I got dragged in here by my friend and oh wow, I wish I could give this place 0 stars, God this is the worst food I have ever seen in my life, went home straight after and ate, because I couldn’t eat anything at this dirty restaurant. Everything was so cold, I started off with some obviously Packaged Falafel which was the worst I have had in my life.
My gyro sandwich was of a horrible quality. For instance my pita bread had black spots (mold) and my meat was ice cold, obviously pulled out of storage and microwaved.
The owner proceeded to ask how the sandwich was and I told him it was horrible and Inedible. Instead of apologizing he said «Well the sauce is cold, so next time order no sauce». I have eaten plenty of gyros mate, and the sauce never makes the meat ice cold to the core. I’m not an idiot, don’t blame cold low quality food on your sorry excuse for a sauce. Also was it the sauces fault your falafel was cold and tasted as if it was microwaved?
Overall avoid this place like a plague. Please do your self a favor. You have been warned!

Today I had lunch with family and it was excellent. I always enjoyed the hummus here and the dolmades are my fave. We sat outside because of the beautiful 70+ degree weather and it was a delight. The owner is the most friendliest I’ve met in town. I recommend the combination plate for lunch if you’re in the mood for some great Mediterranean food. You judge a restaurant by its food and service, not by «outdated décor» as the other ignorant reviewers did. Will be back soon !

Food was delicious. We had the Kabob platter, and the gyro platter; both were fantastic and hot/​fresh. The chicken was perfectly done. The service was pretty good, and we ended the meal with some pistachio baklava and Turkish coffee, very satisfied!

Yummy food is great. Ambiance sucks yes, but I go places for the food ! Great device and friendly staff check it out.

I ate dinner here. Eating area was cluttered but sanitary. Did not see the restroom. I ordered beef kabob with rice, pita bread and an order of falafel. The falafel was good. Came with a yogurt sauce. It was crispy on the outside and tender in the center. The dinner was very sub par. The meat seemed it was reheated. Very dry. The service was adequate but nothing special. Only one person working so I think everything was just reheated. No chefs on duty. The décor was like eating in someone’s living room. Bookshelves with accounting work and a tape player for music.
Would not recommend.

I’m giving this place a three for the guy that runs this place who was super nice and the hummus which was very good. The place was clean, but not very nice. Maybe at one point it was. The servings were very small. My wife got the lamb chunks an I got the beef kebabs. Both plates had less than four ounces of meat for over $ 10 a plate. We both order the meat medium, but both plates came out almost comically over done. The pita was store bought and ok. The guy who runs this place was very nice, funny, and welcoming.

Had lunch with a friend and we were the only patrons at 1:00 PM. The food was excellent with lots of spice. We ordered two cabbage rolls, a falafel pita, and a tabbouleh salad. The gentleman owner gave us complimentary baklava which was yummy. Our bill with a tip was $ 22 and we felt satisfied by our lunch. This place is old. I remember coming here 7 years ago and the place is the same. They need to update the décor and maybe have some music playing because we ate in a silent restaurant. They also need to give the dining room a thorough cleaning because there was a significant amount of dirt on the window sill where we sat which raises concern for the cleanliness of the kitchen. Not sure I would come back since there are so many other Mediterranean restaurants in the area that offer what this place lacks.

Horrible! Just ordered the Gyro, basically dry meat in a store bought tortilla with some shredded lettuce… sorry guys, I really wanted to support this local restaurant…

This place was among the first Mediterranean places in town (apart from Selma’s Kitchen which was a catering/​take out only) and used to be quite good. Lets face it, when it was the only game in town you had no choice. But now with Sinbad (which rocks) Al Zaituna (killer pitas), Farrah’s (just good everything. home cooked) etc. this place has faced competition. Even before it faced competition it had become very complacent with the food service.
A few years ago is when the decline started. The food prices went up by about $ 2.00 and the quality dropped to roach coach level. The pitas which were never fresh turned into not being warmed at all. The warning was when I ordered a Chicken Shawarma and got a super cold (translate to needing sensodyne on teeth cold!) pita. Complaining got me a «fresh» pita but it was obvious that the meat was just pulled out and put into the new one. The place used to have a really good lentil soup and a Tunisian Salata which was outstanding. Alas no longer. The lentil soup is better out of the WestWay cans from Sun Harvest and the Tunisian Salata now resembles El Patio salsa… oh with a drizzle of olive oil to make it Mediterranean!
its a pity that this place which used to be good is just dumpy and terrible. Calling this Mediterranean/​Arabic food is like calling Taco Bell gourmet Mexican.
Avoid I say go across the street to Farrah’s or Al Zaituna or Sinbad if you are craving Arabic food. Else go to Nuevo Ciro’s…no harm in calling that Mediterranean… its about as Mediterranean as this place!

The food is heated up with a microwave and nothing is ever fresh. The service lacks and the atmosphere has potential but lacks. Everything about this place is just awful.

excellent location close to everything, food was pretty good and the rest itself was a little beat down. I usually judge a place by its food and the food here is pretty authentic with many options to choose from.

OMG this place was Horrible it is in a rundown building which is cooled by an Ac window unit. It is small only seating about 20 people in tight quarters. I did not look in the kitchen but I will tell you this the food that came out of that kitchen wasnt worth the $ 12.00 per entrée I paid. The Hummus and babagonush were a gritty liguid with oil addded. the Labneh tasted more like sour cream mixed with a bit of oil. We ordered the Grape Leaves platter. all the food was bland no taste at all. I believe dog food might of tasted better than this crap that we were served. The best thing I had the entire meal was the soda I drank which was served in the can. The mens room stunk as well. I will not ever recommend this place to anyone. I cannot believe the El Paso Tourist Center recommends this place as the best Mediterranean food in town by publishing it on their free map for tourism. I will be really surprised If I do not get food Poisoning from this. You know usually the little hole in the wall mom and pop places are the best, this one surely wasn’t. I would love to see the health department check this place out I wonder how many code violations it would receive. It is a wonder it even remains open. Next time I read a bad review of a place and decide well that was over a year ago things could of changed I will slap myself and walk out before ordering.

I had the lovely opportunity of walking into the kitchen here.OMG. WTF?
This is not what you want to get your food from. it’s unsanitary and foul. how it’s open is beyond me. do i hear a payoff song playing in the back round of this review?
The ladies room was apparently used by men and smelled of urine, seat was up and all stained with signatures of men who don’t have aiming skills, or perhaps could not reach, i assume? EWW!
I was alittle shocked to say the least.
So I stuck to the pastries which are not made on the premises and gracefully exited. never to return again!
SCARY!

great number of yummy options here.
I always get some combination dishes and love everything on it.
there are like 5 different types of baclava for dessert. All are awesome!
I like the family-​run atmosphere.

This happy little restaurant was suffice to cure my craving for Mediterranean food. There was a high schoolish boy who served us and I remember that he kept saying, «enjoy!» every time he left our table — to the point that it became humorous because he didn’t seem too sincere. Half of the room was the dining area and the other half looked like the dining room of a house, complete with gramps sitting in the corner reading the paper. The food was great. My guest had the kebab and I had the Arabic plate. The food was full of flavor, but the most spectacular part of the meal was the baklavas. I would visit this place again. It’s not the best that I’ve been to, but in a small town like this, you really can’t be too picky. This restaurant is the blue-​ribbon epitomy of OK.