Pasha Mediterranean and Turkish Cuisine

This food was TO DIE FOR!!! Chef Ekram prepares thee most delish Mediterranean/​Turkish cuisine I have ever had. Every dish I had was superb. They all far exceeded any other restaurant in flavor, quality and portions. Sadly I was a new customer and did not have the chance to try everything on the menu before he closed up shop, but I will definitely be on the look out for Chef Ekram to pop up somewhere else, because I will surely make the trek to wherever he is. Stopped in the market today and the food that was there was not presented well, the taboulli was dry and not nearly as good as his was and looked different. I ended up purchasing Dolmathes (stuffed grape leaves) from the Deli. COME BACK EKRAM!!!

********CLOSED********** They have vacated their spot in the market.

The set up of this place was pretty weird. You pick from a buffet which is fine their food was okay it wasn’t bad but I definitely would not go to this place again the inconvenience was not worth it. It was just a pain because the cash register was all the way in the other side to where you actually get your food from the restaurant so not only had you had to get your food but then had to walk all the way to The other side to pay for it with your food in hand which is pretty inconvenient if you have a family with you. The straw that broke the camels back was the fact that they didn’t have utensils or plates that you can just go get yourself you had a go to the counter where they serve the food and personally asked him for paper plates and utensils which was really awkward the last time I asked for utensils and paper plate I must’ve been five years old.

Food had no taste or flavor. Sorry, I would not recommend this place at all or go there again.

Food: ⁸⁄₁₀ I had the beef schwarma plate with spicy hummus and some type of salad. The beef was great, tender, well seasoned, not too fatty. Some pieces were a bit salty but that’s to be expected. The hummus was good — no complaints. The salad smoothed out the saltiness of the beef well.
Ambiance: ⁶⁄₁₀ pasha is in the wholesome choices supermarket food court. There are some tables to eat at, but its just a plain grocery store. On the positive side, you can get booze just about 20 feet down and drink in the food court. Maybe that deserves another point itself.
Service: NA you simply order and go or sit at a table. Its not a sit down restaurant
Expense: ⁹⁄₁₀ the beef schwarma plate is $ 10 and they give you a ton of food. I couldn’t finish. The gyro is even cheaper.
Repeat: yes. The food is good with large portions at a reasonable price. Booze is easily purchased at grocery store prices making an excellent overall value.

Completely unorganized, waited 35 minutes for our food, ended up leaving. So did the guy in line ahead of us.

Yum! Huge portions and it was a nice experience, trying Persian food for the first time. Convenient location and casual, yet nice dining experience!

The gyro (lamb and beef) is good. I liked it a lot.
I’d give four stars and would return for the gyro if the owner weren’t so off-​putting. Good luck if you have to have a conversation with him.
For anyone who is hoping this will be like doner kebab you get in Germany, let me save your time. I just got back two weeks ago from kebab heaven in Berlin. This is not at all like what you would get in Germany. This is just something that you can’t find in America.
Three of us go here. We order one chicken shawarma, one beef shawarma, and one gyro from the young employee. We each take some bites of each.
The unanimous winner is the gyro. The lamb and beef shaved strips are really good.
But then we wanted to get more gyros. Be warned that there is some confusion on ordering. If you order from one guy, there is beef shawarma and there is a lamb and beef gyro. You want the former? Say beef shawarma. You want the latter? Say gyro. Simple. This is how everything appears on the menu and sign board for ordering. Beef shawarma is one thing. Gyro is another thing. The pictures are different. Simple.
IF however you order from the owner, a stout older guy, and you say «gyro,» he will say, «turkish or greek?» When you say…“uhh what?” he will say «turkish is beef only and greek is lamb and beef. They are both gyros but different styles.»
When my mom ended up with a beef shawarma instead of a gyro, i went to clarify with him.
He was surprisingly rude and combative and seemed unable to understand how his lack of terminology consistency was making the process error prone. An excerpt from the convo:
«What should we say to get the gyro?»
«Just order by number off the menu.»
«So if i say i want the 21, the gyro (the picture shows the lamb and beef), what will you give me?»
«I ask you if you want turkish or greek style.»
«If i ask for turkish?»
«You get the beef.»
«If i order beef shawarma?»
«You get the turkish style.»
«Which is the beef.»
So all roads lead to beef shawarma, apparently.
So to summarize: if you want beef shawarma, you can say you want «beef shawarma» or «gyro in turkish style.» but to get the gyro (lamb and beef), you need to make sure you ask for lamb and beef gyro or else you still end up with beef shawarma… And the owner will act like a petulant child when he over dramatically tosses the sandwich into trash before making you the wrap you want.
:
Update: after the posting of this review, the owner responded in a direct message over Unilocal to reiterate that he was right and we were wrong and implied that we are cheap… Which is just to reconfirm that he still doesn’t get the point: making the menu clear would be a benefit to your business by reducing the waste of food, time, and money. Arguing when a customer is baffled by your system and tries to explain it to you wastes more time, money, and food. Again, would be 4 stars for the gyro but losing a star for a very combative owner.

Fantastic Iskender kabob– I would highly recommend it. There is a nice place to sit and enjoy your lunch or dinner. Food quality is excellent.

Chef Ekrem has the creativity of bringing the best of flavors from exotic Istanbul to the OC! I tried the beyti kebab and beef doner, and it was the best I have had! Amazing flavor, fresh quality ingredients, a definite must try! I cant wait to go again!!!

This place is great! Delicious food at a great price. Eric was real helpful and provided excellent customer service. We arrived right when they were closing and he even though most of their items were packed away, he still offered what was posted on their menu. Would definitely come back again and recommend to others!

I’ve been waiting to try the food here since they recently opened. I eat Mediterranean/​Persian food weekly so it’s good to have another option, although Panini Café is hard to beat.
There are a lot of good options and a wide variety of meat and vegetarian choices. I tried the beef shawarma and the koobideh since they are good Persian staples.
The portions are huge and all of the kebabs are cooked to order. Each plate comes with two sides and they have a lot to chose from. I got rice and babaganoosh. It was all very tasty and I will be back to try the other items.

Fresh and delicious! Since discovering this place we would rather pick up and take home than go out to most local restaurants. It is located in a grocery store. They do have seating but I suggest you enjoy this great food in a better setting. Salads are huge (4 – 6 people as a side), their meat is fresh and well seasoned!

Food was great for a take out place and the chef/​staff were very nice. Taste compares to that of 4 star rated Turkish restaurants, however no presentation whatsoever as it boxed.

I have no clue where to start. My taste buds were tingled the moment I took a bite out of the Ali Nazik Kebab. This chef knows exactly what he’s is doing. Feeling welcomed like no other, with delicious food served, I must say this place, Pasha Mediterranean and Turkish Cuisine is the MOST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK. There are soo many choices, I didn’t know where to start. My mouth was watery the moment I glanced at the menu. It took me a while to come up with a decision. I wish I had whole menu as a part of my meal. Anyway, what I am really trying to say is, do not go out to another Mediterranean eat out and pay a ridiculous amount for a kebab, When you can come to this place, conveniently located inside Wholesome Choice, and pay a fraction of the price. The chef will talk to you and for some reason, it was a warm feeling. From that moment on, I knew what I was getting was well worth it. I could taste the kebab as it steamed into my face. Even if you’re not a fan of the Mediterranean Cuisine, I suggest you come to Pasha’s, and I will almost Guarantee that you will surely come back for more. The zest, taste, uhhhhhhh. I think you get the point.
Overall, This is as good as it gets. Go and try there kebab’s. Everything is fresh and you can taste the quality equivalent of an upscale restaurant. Trust me.
Ohh, Also, I am not a fan of Hummus, but this Chef put some hummus on my plate just so I can give it a try. I told him I didn’t like Hummus, but he was confident enough to tell me that I will like it. So I dive into the Hummus, OMG… I freakin’ love the Hummus. You can taste the all the flavors in it. I really can not explain my experience here. GO SEE IT FOR YOURSELF. I’m telling you, you will not regret one bit.
Thank me later. Hahaha

Really enjoyed this little gem. The food is very good and the cook was friendly and had great suggestions. We have already been back craving more !

I went here with my Turkish friend, and the food was amazingly good for the price. Chef Ekrem is a very interesting character and made us feel at home. Kabob’s are delicious and their sides are authentic.

Nice little surprise.
Being from Turkey, I like to try Turkish restaurants and see if I could find that magical taste. I tried many places in the past and most of them I did not go back. I discovered this little gem a month ago and I have been there four times already.
Ekrem, the owner, is really nice guy. And he is a talented cook. I consider myself a doner kebap connoisseur and I could say his doner kebap is excellent. It is as good as what you would find at a high class kebap house back in Turkey.
Excellent taste, very reasonable prices and good size portions. I definitely recommend Ekrem’s place to anyone who likes Turkish food or wants to try Turkish food.
And thanks Ekrem, I don’t have to drive long distances to get my doner fix.

Pasha’s doner (shavarma or gyro in greek food) turned out to be the best in OC and I mean it! I haven’t tried the other kebaps yet but looking forward to it. Hope there will be a new location closer to Irvine/​Tustin area soon :)

Thank god finally I found great Doner same like Turkish style. There is couple of Doner styles in Turkey this one called Ankara style same as in Turkey. I recommend you eat with salad and humus.