Anita’s Kitchen

A great go to for lunch if you’re in the area. I recommend their shish kafta or chicken shwarma. Reasonable lunch plate prices for good portions, and you can get a delicious pita sandwich for the price of a subway sub. The service can be inconsistent at times, and it can get a little pricey during dinner, but overall this is a great place to eat (and drink).

I’ve had a good half dozen dining experiences at Anita’s now – all of inside, at the bar and on the patio – and they’ve been consistently great. I can personally recommend the Super Falafel ‘pita sandwich’; the Lentils, Spinach and Goat Cheese mezza; the Mujadra mezza; the hummus; and the baba ganoush. Great stuff. A friend raves about the kale salad with chicken shawarma and gets it every time.

I had a wonderful dinner of stuffed grape leaves Greek salad red wine and Turkish coffee.

Lebanese food made from grandma’s recipes. Hands down, the most savory crushed lentil soup I’ve ever had. Anita’s Kitchen is consistently fresh and delicious.

We’ve been loyal customers to Anita’s for many years, and I keep on coming back here and each time, the food portions have been so inconsistent. Within the last two years though, the portions have been not only pathetic but the flavors have not been as good. I paid $ 14 for a beef shawarma dinner and got a really disappointing amount. What happened to the days when two people couldn’t even finish one dinner entrée? We used to pay $ 12 for this meal and get MORE protein.
Unfortunately, the current amount wouldn’t even be enough for one person, and looks like somebody’s leftover. I haven’t been back regularly because of this, but each time I come back after a long hiatus, I am hopeful that it has changed. Well, time’s up — after tonight’s take out meal, I will no longer support this local business. We all work too hard for our money to waste it on subpar meals and portions.

Definitely recommend this place! The food is delicious and the ambience/​service is great, casual environment. Had their lamb chops with rice and hummus, lamb chops cooked nice and tender ordered medium. Also recommend their appetizer of rice with lentils and caramelized onions.

I asked my girl to stop and pick-​up carryout from Anita’s since we were both craving shawarma sandwiches. Truth be told this isn’t her favorite spot for Mediterranean, but I’ve never been, even though I’ve been living here since well before they opened. I’ve been needing to try this place for a long time.
She picked up three chicken shawarma sandwiches, a side of garlic sauce with pita, a bowl of their lemon lentil soup and a bowl of their soup of the day, chicken frica (sp?). Everything together was around $ 25.
First the soups… the lemon lentil was deliciously heavy on the lemon but thick with lentils and really hearty. I’d definitely order that again. The chicken frica had so much potential. Tons of carrots with some lentils and diced onions in a thinner broth but they left the Bay leaves in the soup way too long. As in, there were Bay leaves in my soup… you gotta pull those out after they flavor the broth, otherwise they over-​flavor the broth. I tasted and smelled some nutmeg or cinnamon which was to my liking and the chicken and carrots were tender but the pronounced flavor was Bay. It was a little overwhelming.
The sandwiches are on the smaller side and their spice mixture is different from most others I’ve tasted. It was good but it didn’t taste as grilled as some of the craveworthy shawarma I’ve had. The spices were interesting and the marinade held to the chunks of meat but the cut on the meat was a larger chunk rather than medium slices. Again, I have my shawarmas that I crave for one reason or another and these were good but I’m not going to wake up thinking about them. I’d like to try some more of their menu though.

Pleasantly surprised! Hubby and I were actually looking for breakfast, passed by and decided to take a chance. Not knowing this was a Lebanese restaurant. The waiter was extremely friendly and service was prompt. We ordered the Mixed Mezza which gave us a little (to put that lightly) everything. We got super full really quick. The lamb skewer was so super tender… The beef and chicken was really flavorful! We’re definitely coming back really soon!

I’m actually glad I hadn’t read the reviews before checking out Anita’s, because reading some of the reviews right now, I would say could not be more different than the excellent experience I had this past Saturday with my guy for our one year wedding anniversary. We spent most of the day in Windsor, trying new places and things and wanted something low key for dinner. We have both adopted a vegetarian diet recently, so many of our old «go-​to» places don’t have a ton of options for us anymore. We were thinking about going to Green Space or OM Café, or even load up on veggie tacos from Imperial, but then I remembered this spot has a TON of veg options. He was in.
I work in Dearborn and live in Hamtramck and grew up just outside of Dearborn Heights, so I’ve been eating Lebanese and other middle-​eastern foods for what seems my entire life. And I love it. It rarely gets old, I could eat tabouli every day of my life and be happy. BUT, most of these spots can make you a good salad or good falafel, and most of these spots have menus almost identical to each other in their offerings which means there isn’t often a creative take on the menus (although I’ve noticed in some newer spots, that is changing!). What made me want to go to Anita’s is the wide variety of difference dishes they offer. And allllllll of the meatless dishes.
My dude and I ordered jalapeño hummus which was good, a little thicker than most places, and had a good jalapeño flavor without a ton of heat. We also ordered a side of falafel which kind of blew me away. Like I said, most spots can fry you up a pretty decent falafel, but these were like *really good*. They looked like little pucks as opposed to balls and was served with some rice and tabouli (score!). We also ordered the Zataar pizza which was also good, although next time we come I want to try one of the other ones. This had labneh as the «sauce» which is a thicker yogurt. I wasn’t sure how I would feel with it cooked, but it was great. We then ordered some vegetarian grape leaves because my guy is Greek and can’t go anywhere without ordering them if they are available and then also the artichoke pie (similar to spanakopita but with artichokes instead of spinach!) which came with some more rice and tabouli.
I was happy that we ordered a bunch of small places and then one entrée. It allowed us to get a taste of a lot more that way. Plus, sharing is so much more fun. We were stuffffffffed by the end of our meal, but we left few crumbs on our plates.
Aside from the food being way good, we also had exceelent service, and didn’t even have to wait for a table, which, on a Saturday night can be a bad sign (like, why is no one tryna eat here in super trendy Ferndale?), but it wasn’t in this case. I also didn’t realize they served alcohol, but we both ordered a really refreshing grapefruit-​thyme cocktail that was a delight.
We have both talked about going back soon. I can’t wait to try other things on the menu.

The food is inconsistent and has greatly declined from its heyday.
Servers are often inattentive and generally not very good at their job.
Carry-​out orders are often missing items, and online ordering doesn’t always work. Oh, you get an email confirmation — the restaurant just doesn’t receive the order. And that is apparently the customer’s fault. No, it’s your website’s fault.
You’d think they would apologize and maybe offer a drink while you wait, but instead you’re lucky if you can talk them into «giving» you an apology. The rudeness for their mistakes and lack of customer service is too much. After dining here or getting take-​out weekly for several years, today was my last.
Until management can act better than their employees and start to actually manage, I’ll be going elsewhere.

Had lunch there today. Showed up at little past noon. 7 seated tables, 4 of which already had food. Lots of staff all over the place. Waited 5 minutes for our server. Took long time to get him to take our order.
About another ⁵⁄₆ tables came in after us. Few got served before we did. Food took 40 minutes to arrive. When it came, the chicken was burnt dry. Like black and rock hard. Food came out sporadically. Did not have opportunity to say anything about the burnt chicken because waiter never asked. Hummus had good flavor but was thin and almost runny. Grilled veg was just that; needed seasoning. Spinach, goat cheese and lentil dish was good. Soups just average.
I regularly eat authentic middle eastern food. This place would go out of business if they had a decent competitor nearby. Just not very good.

I came in on a hungry afternoon and ordered a sandwich, asking it to be pressed. The guy I ordered from asked me if I was Sarah, as by order he recognized me from my review. He apologized and assured me my sandwich would be prepared correctly and that it was on the house.
The sandwich was done correctly.
I have since returned and have had a better experience.

Anita’s is usually one of my favorite restaurants. I rarely dine in, but get carry out from here all the time, and have for at least the past 6 years. I’ve been able to depend on them to be fast and delicious. I recommend it to everyone who’s never been there.
I’m pretty standard with what I get. Some of my favorites are the Chicken Feta Fattoush, Arabian Pizza, Phoenician Pizza. I love the fresh juices. The baba ghanoush is some of the best I’ve ever had, lacking the heavy handed liquid smoke flavor and pureed consistency that show up at other restaurant’s. On the other hand, I don’t bother with the shawarma/​sandwiches because compared to large number of Middle Eastern restaurants in the area, they’re pretty lacking. But the freshness, creativity and quality of the other dishes on the menu always made up for it.
My experience getting carryout tonight, however, was a different story. The creativity is still there, but the quality disappoints. To preface this, I am generally easy to please. I worked in food service for years so I understand mistakes happen. Tonight went a little too far though.
I placed a carry out order online and was quoted 20 minutes. With that said, I was a little irritated when my boyfriend ended up having to wait another 20 minutes at the bar after arriving. It was easy to forgive, though. I know it’s a Saturday night and it’s insanely busy. I also ordered something I had never ordered before too (Joe’s Not So Buffalo Chicken Wings) which apparently were holding up the order. I guess that’s what I get for ordering chicken wings?
Once we finally got the order home, there were more weird problems. I was eating the Greek salad when felt something weird in my mouth. I’m pretty sure it was a thin, falling apart chicken bone with a bunch of stewed tomatoes stuck to it. Next, my boyfriend and I proceeded to find around 16 – 17 pepperoncini STEMS in the salad. We just kept pulling them out! The salad only had one actual pepperoncini in it. Again, I understand mistakes happen. Maybe there are some new people in the kitchen? Maybe it was so busy no one noticed they were putting a chicken part and a handful of pepper stems in a salad? All possible… doesn’t make it not unappetizing, though. I’m just glad I’m not vegetarian, because it would go beyond odd and into unacceptable territory, because it is a meatless salad.
Also, one of the chicken wings was entirely bone/​gristle. And though we ate them, the others didn’t exactly seem like the freshest, and were pretty dry. Again, that’s what I get for ordering chicken wings. At least the baba ghanoush was good.
Thinking back, though, there are a few other times the past year that Anita’s has not been up to par. It’s really disappointing. Last spring I remember ordering a side of garlic sauce for a sandwich that, upon opening, was completely liquid. Super gross. About two months ago when I ordered the Chicken Feta Fattoush, my usual favorite, it mysteriously came with lettuce, which it usually doesn’t. I mean, I guess that’s fine, just not right. Salads generally come with lettuce, just not this one. I figured either they decided to start making it with lettuce or someone new screwed up. That’s why I didn’t complain. If they did in fact change that, it hasn’t been reflected on the menu. Other times in the past year I’ve ordered have reflected a similar decline in quality– little to no feta on a salad, varying portion sizes depending on the day, dry sandwiches.
I wish I wasn’t, but I’m taking a break from Anita’s. Hopefully in the time being, they’ll get their act together and be as excellent as they once were.

Mei brought me here when I visited Detroit. It was an excellent choice. The food was authentic and very fresh.
I had the Kibbeh Nyeh for the 1^st time. It’s a raw ground lamb, crack wheat, onions, and spices. I was apprehensive initially but loved my 1^st bite. I definitely want to try the different types of Kibbehs out there.
The falafels were also very good. The spices are a lot more distinct than the ones I’ve had elsewhere.
Mei had the lamb shank which looks magnificent. I had a little order envy.
Will RTE next time in Detroit.

The hostess was as flat and disinterested– the waitress was very nice and fast service– if there were any specials for a Saturday night we didn’t hear about hem–
The good– waitress, hummus, tabouli, garlic sauce
The good but not my fave and too $$$ pricey– deboned chicken– not very flavorful (as I’m used too from ollies), somewhat dry, and there was skin on it– I didn’t read the menu closely enough and missed that the skin was on it– good chargrilled flavor but my first bite was the fatty skin and I gagged– it wasn’t my favorite deboned chicken– dressing was too tart or salty (salad)
I would return to try other items

Tried it for the first time tonight with a carryout chicken shawarma sandwich, to which I added onion and tomato. It was okay/​fine, but quite strange: the presence of garlic was hardly there *at all*, and I’d asked them to be heavy-​handed with it. Portion size was okay for my $ 5.57 out the door, and it was fine, but very different/​weirder than any chicken shawarma sandwich I’ve eaten. I could eat it again without complaint… but I’d know more about what I was getting into, now. So, chicken shawarma without much garlic. That seems very strange to me.
Other than that, no real complaints. Service was quick and friendly, the location itself seems rather nice, and I was able to get what I needed without any real hassle.
Not dying to return, but wouldn’t resist if others wanted to go, either. If it was between this place and, say, Como’s, Anita’s Kitchen would get my vote every day of the week and twice on Sunday. If it was between this and Imperial, well… I do like the al pastor tacos at Imperial, so I’d probably prefer that place.
I’ve certainly had far worse than Anita’s Kitchen, that’s for certain.

I really need to hang out in Ferndale and Royal Oak more. The boss took us out for lunch today and we decided to come here. I’m so glad we did! I’ve heard such wonderful things about this place, and it really lives up to the hype.
When I walked in, I was pleasantly surprised at how nicely it was decorated. It reminds me of a few places I used to dine at in Phoenix when I lived there, so that was a good start. The menu has lots of selections, and the portions are just right. Prices are fair as well. Staff here is super friendly along with great service.
We started with a hummus plate and got drinks right away. Our server was really nice and very attentive. I went with the Gyro lunch platter, which came with Tabulah, hummus along with Gyro meat on rice. It was very good! My boss went with the beef shish kabob plate, and my coworkers went with chicken salads.
Overall I would come here again. They are very on pointe with thier business, and I was very impressed with my overall experience. Great place to come for dates, dinner with mom and dad or just a quick bite with friends. I can’t say enough good things about Anita’s Kitchen. I love you!

Holy cow! I mean chicken. Just had the deboned chicken at Anita’s kitchen and it is fan… Wait for it. tastic!!!
It’s not on their lunch menu but they made it since I asked for it. It was well worth it as you can tell by my excitement.
It is a big plate so either be really hungry (like I was) or just have a big appetite.
The staff is friendly and the service was great.
The fact place is really clean with a very mellow environment.
For the alcohol enthusiasts, they have a good wine and beer selection too.
If you are still thinking about it then don’t be stupid. Put the address in your GPS and drive. GO GO GO!!!

I came here last night with a couple friends and wasn’t sure what to expect after reading the divided reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised. We were seated promptly and the waiter was not only engaging, but was also very attentive and had a sense of humor.
We ordered the roasted red pepper hummus and lentil, spinach, and goat cheese dish for starters. The red pepper hummus was tasty and had good texture. The lentil dish was simple but flavorful and the lentils were cooked perfectly.
For entrees we got the spinach pie, lamb grape leaves, and a fattoush salad. The spinach pie was rich, but not overwhelmingly so, and it came with rice, tabbouli, and a cup of lentil soup. All of those were good as well. The lamb grape leaves were flavorful and came with hummus, tabbouli, rice, and a salad. My only complaint was the dressing for the fattoush salad didn’t taste right. It was overly salty and lacked the typical fattoush dressing taste I’m accustomed to.
My only complaint is that the prices on the entrees are a little high, but I’ll be back. :)

Anita’s Kitchen, oh how I wish I could bring you home with me!
If there’s one thing from Anita’s that I will include in my list of things to eat before I die, it’s their Kibbeh Nyeh. Its lamb tartare (aka raw, uncooked meat) served with onions, pita bread, and olive oil on the side. But man, the flavors of this dish were amazing and I still have dreams of eating this.
Another stand out dish was their lamb chops. These were perfectly cooked and seasoned. The tabbouIeh salad was an amazing side to this dish. I almost wanted to steal the lamb and tabbouleh from my bf but that would have been mean.
The mixed grill is a good option for those who want to try a little bit of everything. It comes with a shish, kafta and tawook kebabs. My favorites were the shish and kafta kebabs. I thought the tawook (which was chicken) was a little dry and alright but definitely go with either beef or lamb.
I’m looking foward to coming back to Anita’s Kitchen during my next visit to get my Kibbeh Nyeh fix!