Yassin’s Falafel House

Spicy falafel sandwich is top notch, and filled me up nicely. Pickles are exceptional. Lettuce was cool & crunchy. Falafel had a great texture — not dry at all. Next time I’ll probably ask for extra pickles. Pita wasn’t too thin or too thick. Sandwich cost $ 7 even. I parked in the lot across the street since it was raining. 15 min for a just a dollar gave me plenty of time to get my well-​wrapped sandwich & hit the road. My lunchtime total was $ 8, which I consider a bargain downtown. My only regret is skipping the baklava. I’ll be back.

The Falafel is outstanding and service is always fast and friendly. The Specials are amazing too! A limited menu, to me, is not a problem if the food they choose to create is consistently good– especially if it’s a newish business. I’m a happy customer at Yassins!

Yummy! The road construction downtown makes it a little more challenging to get to, but the hummus with big green olive is worth it.

The falafel is excellent. I highly suggest the falafel wrap. Everything is very fresh and well seasoned. The overall menu is very good for a restaurant of its genre in Knoxville. The simple menu lends itself to more of a fast food style eatery, and the price point is great for that. I’ve had slightly better shawarma in larger cities, but overall this is a great addition to Knoxville.

The staff is very nice but the food is not so good. They make the falafel swim in a bunch of creamy sauces and even mustard. Falafel and mustard? The pita is very dry and very thin. Completely flavorless. The hummus is very runny and they add a lot of olive oil. Again not much flavor. My chicken schwarma was meh. Not very good. Skip this spot.

Had a great lunch today with my daughter. The falafel sandwich and humus w pita was so amazing! Just found my favorite new restaurant !!
Price was fair also!

Yassin’s is one of those glorious places where not only can you have a filling and affordable meal, you have the added bonus of it being healthy and relatively low in calories. I cannot suggest the falafel wrap more! It is spicy and the vegetables crunchy. Delicious!
Next time you are looking for a good lunch, check this place out!

I dont know how this place is rated so high. Maybe it’s because the people who give it such a high star rating are white folk who’ve never had anything else.
I’m from LA, so there’s zankou chicken, skafs grill, etc. I’m visiting Knoxville and wanted something to eat.
I got the chicken shawarma plate + 3 falafels. The falafels were delicious.
The chicken on the shawarma plate was not real shawarma chicken. It was like 6 long thin cut strips seasoned heavily and pan cooked in oil. It was not the type where they cut it off a rotating shawarma meat rack. The babaganoush was way to smokey. The spicy «tahini» sauce while tastes good was very heavy and thick, very Americanized.
On top of it all, I paid $ 12 for the shawarma plate (prob worth $ 8 max, such little amounts of chicken) with $ 2 for 3 falafels and $ 1 tip.
Best option is probably a falafel sandwich, or falafel salad. Chicken «shawarma» is not real shawarma and doesn’t taste all that great. They get 2 stars because food isn’t real/​authentic, doesn’t taste great (except the falafel), but the server and staff are very nice.

Sometimes I wait to try a place for no good reason and then I go there and absolutely kick myself for not going there sooner — Yassin’s is that place for me now! I’ve had the spicy falafel in both sandwich and salad forms, and to my surprise actually slightly prefer the salad version due to the magical dressing. I first looked at the salad and wondered if it would be big enough to satisfy me as a full meal, but it absolutely did to my pleasant surprise. Once discovering this I made it a priority to try the Friday-​only dinner menu, and every last thing was flavorful and cooked to perfection. That tzatziki sauce is out of this world!
If I could offer any suggestion, it would be to mix up the greenery in the salad a bit, all of the other elements are so amazing, the iceberg lettuce literally pales in comparison. If I could put this on arugula, I’d be thrilled, or even spring mix would help it shine even more.
Don’t be a fool like me and wait another day to try Yassin’s, it rocks!

My friend picked me up the to-​go veggie platter. While I have not yet stepped into the store, I can say, without a doubt, this is the best Mediterranean food I’ve had in knoxville. Hummus, babaganouj, falafel! It’s all soooooo delicious! I can’t wait to go check this place out in person. I wish they offered more hours though.

Simple menu, excellent food! I’ve always loved restaurants that offer a smaller menu so they can focus on the quality of a few versus large quantities of various offerings that fall flat. Plus it always helps with the ‘what will I eat’ decision making process…
The first time we tried Yassin’s was for dinner on a Friday night (dinner is only served on Friday’s) they ran out of falafel, which was sad. But we were told that they only make a certain number of falafel for the day so it is fresh everyday. We were disappointed that not everyone in our group got their falafel but also happy to know that having fresh falafel each day for their customers was important to them!
That being said I’ve been back several times and love their falafel sandwich. My husband loves their chicken shawarma. You get to choose the spiciness of their menu items, which I’m very appreciative of as I don’t like spicy!
Service had also been friendly and fast too,
The restaurant is just a short walk away from Market Square. You gotta try it!

My friends and I decided to try Yassin’s Falafel House, as we had seen positive reviews on this site and because despite my friends having lived in Knoxville for years they themselves had yet to go.
We went about 1 hour before closing on a Friday night, which was great for us as it appeared any dinner crowd had subsided. Not knowing what to get myself, as all the menu items screamed out ‘try me’, I went for the sampler. I love getting these sorts of platters at similar restaurants in part as it lets you try a little of everything pita bread, hummus, falafel, and baba ghanoush in this case, and also because they tend to be vegetarian friendly.
After a minute or so of putting in my order a man whom I presume to be the owner came out and explained that they’d run out of falafel, as they like to only use fresh ingredients food so they only had so much and my friend before me got the last of it. He was really apologetic though and willing to replace the falafel, so I opted for vegetables to keep it vegetarian but he also himself offered a meat side instead if it were my preference. This whole part did not bother me at all, as I completely understand wanting to keep items fresh and more then that I appreciate it.
Which is in part why I was not surprised that my plate took a little longer than my friends, but when it came out I was really ready for it. Thankfully my expectations were met as the hummus and baba ghanoush were especially delicious, but the veggies that were put together for me, with some spicy sauce by request, were quite tasty. I felt like I had so much food before me, yet I knew at least with my meal that it was far healthier than any comparable amount of food at most American restaurants.
Overall with great customer service, and delightful food, I think I can speak for our group and say that we were quite pleased with Yassin’s. I’ll definitely be hitting up this restaurant upon future visits to Knoxville.

Best falafel in Knoxville, bar none. The baklava is to die for and the hummus is very solid. Plus, Yassin is just a really nice guy. Always joyful!

Very spacious seating. I called a while back because I’ve had this on my bookmark for the longest time ever and when I called the owner, I assume, was so nice! He told me he was closed and went on saying he was at NY for x amount of time and the conversation when on. He seemed like a nice, outgoing dude.
So I finally tried it. I ordered 4 pieces of falafel and was charged $ 5. I’m guessing it’s rare to order just falafel because I was given odd confusing looks. They asked me how many I wanted, so I guess it’s charged per piece; I was hoping if I ordered more it would be cheaper. I went with 4 because that seemed average.
To get to the point, I enjoyed the falafel a lot. It was a decent size for the price (see pics), it was crispy on the outside, soft, warm, and moist on the inside. 2 thumbs up!

This place is special! Despite a limited menu the food is very good, customer service is outstanding and for a downtown Knoxville lunch you cannot beat the prices!
The falafels are the best of any around here and though it always gets a laugh when I ask them to leave out the pickles they always do. And just so there is no confusion, yes, I hate pickles!
Give it a try, and tell them I said you can have my pickles if you want extra…

You must love falafel.

Yassins already had the best falafel around… the country. Now, he’s got the chicken shawarma sandwich. It’s unreal.
Warm, fresh, fries on the inside where they belong. It’s so good. Best shawarma I’ve had outside of the Gulf area. Maybe even the best ever.
Must try!

Flew in from Utah for a day, got on Unilocal,and found the highest rated restaurant in town. Asked for virtually everything on the menu. Chicken shawarma, hummus with white sauce, falafel, baba ganoush, baklava, crème soda, and ginger ale. All great, fantastic service, and good atmosphere. I didn’t come to Knoxville for Middle Eastern cuisine, but I’m glad I stopped here.

Falafel sandwiches for the win! Yassin’s has one of the best lunches in Knoxville. I order mine «spicy,» which means that some sort of tangy dried chili spice is shaken on top of the tzatziki sauce. It really amps up the flavor. This falafel sandwich is a bit different because it’s served with dill pickles on it, which ended up making it even more delicious.
Have lunch here tomorrow. It’s memorable.

I love southern food as much as the next Knoxvillian, but it is so nice to have another downtown place where you won’t find fried okra on the menu. Knoxville doesn’t have too many ethnic restaurants that stand out. Yassin’s is the first downtown that really changes that.
I think I would eat here even if the food was mediocre based on Yassin. I defy you to find a kinder local business owner. Yassin has made a successful business sharing with Knoxville what he grew up eating. He hasn’t tried to make a fancy restaurant, he’s just focused on serving delicious food. He doesn’t serve anything with high fructose syrup. And while he does have a nice variety of bottled drinks, including mexican coke, he will still recommend the water off to the side that is flavored with oranges and mint. Not only free, but also YUM!
My boyfriend and I both ordered a falafel sandwich ($ 7 each) and shared an order of hummus ($ 5). The hummus is served with the same warm pita used to make the sandwiches. The hummus itself was tasty! It’s definitely some of the best in town and it was served in a healthy portion. For the size of hummus that was served, it could have used a tiny bit more pita. As suggested by Yassin, we ordered our sandwiches with light spice (He says if it’s too spicy, it overpowers the flavors). HOLY PERFECT FALAFEL, BATMAN! Crisp on the outside. Moist and full of flavor on the inside! Served with lettuce, tomato, pickle, and white sauce. While I gave it everything that I had, I was only able to eat half of it. (Read: the portions are quite generous)
Objective next time: Find someone to share a sandwich with so that I can indulge in the house made baklava!