Heart of Jerusalem Cafe

If I could give this place zero stars I would. The service was so awful that It completely negates any positive feelings I have about their food. I don’t expect anything extraordinary when I go out to eat, I just expect some sort of service. When we walked in it was clearly busy, but we took this as a good sign. One of the servers asked us how many we were, and she pointed to a table that would be cleaned off for us. When it was obvious that it was ready, we sat ourselves.
1.) After waiting about 5 minutes it was apparent no one was going to acknowledge we were seated, so my boyfriend went up the server and asked for menus. The server then asked us where we were, and said she would be with us.
2.) 15 minutes later a new server came up to us and asked us if we wanted any drinks. Since we knew what we wanted, we placed our order with her right away. She wasn’t writing anything down, so when she repeated back our order it was wrong. We ordered 2 appetizers, and an entrée to share. Our server then went back and did whatever she needed to do.
3.) I waited until it was apparent there was zero signs that she remembered our waters, before going up to her and asking for them.
4.) 30 minutes of some more waiting, and still no appetizers. Again I had to go back and ask if the appetizers were coming out soon. The response I got was, «it’s coming out, I promise you all the appetizers are coming out.»
5.)The server never bothered to check our ticket to even see if our appetizers were coming out. The owner (I think) heard I was waiting for my appetizer, so he went in the back to check our ticket. Surprise surprise, there was no ticket for our table.
6.) our server apologized for her mess up, said we would be compensated… but that didn’t happen. I don’t care for free things, but after a big mistake and a long wait with nothing, I would think there would have been something.anything.
7.) bottom line, it took close to an hour to get tabbouleh, baba ghanoush, and a kabob sampler.

Great for a casual meal. The server was very personable and the portion sizes are huge. The veggie platter had a great assortment of foods, all of which were cooked perfectly and well-​seasoned. The sage tea is unusual, tasty, and free (along with some baklava) if you pay for your meal in cash!

I wish I could give it 6 stars! After a horrible experience at another restaurant we came upon Heart of Jerusalem. I was blown away by this little place.
The staff was friendly and couldn’t have been more helpful. We were a large group (8 adults and 5 children) and they let us have the run of the patio. The orders were varied but the server was spot on and got everything right AND ran to make sure everyone always had drinks/​etc.
The extra star should be for the food. They have amazing (and I rarely use that word) food. Everyone loved their dishes (including the kids). The hummus and falafel was enough to make everyone mention that it was the best they’d ever had.
The shwarma (spelling?) sandwiches (like gyros) were nothing short of perfect, and I’ve had them from hundreds of places in my life.
Honestly, this place sets the new standard for excellence in Middle Eastern cuisine.

Fantastic falafel sandwich. Everything about it was close to perfect. Service was nice, too. While I was waiting for my food I watched a variety of plates and kebabs come out of the kitchen that all looked fantastic too.

We first discovered this gem 2 years ago and have been talking about going back ever since. We recently had the opportunity to be in the area and made sure to eat 2 meals there. It was as amazing as we remembered. Our family tried many dishes from the beef and lamb, to the falafel plate to the chicken kabob. All was amazing! The hummus and greek salad that come with the plate are refreshing and the pita is super yummy too. The kids also loved the ice cream — completely raving about it and choosing it over other ice cream in Manitou Springs. The sage tea is also something I will definitely try again next time we’re in the area.

Absolutely too long for everything, from placing your order to waiting on it to paying for it! Items I ordered were not given to me and after all this their food made me sick. Tasted amazing but the end result is not something you want to experience.

I really loved the food here. Good restaurant in the small town of Manitou. We had a chicken plate, well cooked chicken, tasty hummus.
It is clean and in the middle of the market place
Would totally recommend this place.

Great food! I can’t say that for the service. But, really bad customer service. Their waitress needs to find another job. On working hours going out and chat with a friend, and make you wait for your food, dessert, etc. First time here & last one!!!

This place is fantastic. It totally blew our expectations out of the water. Delicious middle eastern food, very authentic tasting. High-​quality ingredients. The service here was also phenomenal. I would highly recommend getting the falafel sandwich. Also try the sage tea for a really interesting spicy tasting tea. Owners name is Mohammed, and you could tell he’s been cooking this food for a long time.

I’m visiting Manitou from Tennessee and rarely get a chance to eat Middle Eastern food so when this place was highly recommended by the locals I decided to go give it a whirl. It was sooo tasty ! We started with seasoned fries for an app and it just got better from there. I was too full for dessert but I bet the Baklava is scrumptious !

Really great gem! All of the items were flavorful and food was fresh and vibrant. I can’t wait to head back to manitou to eat here again.

Horrible Mediterranean food, and I have eaten lots of good. Tabouleh was mixed with head lettuce and warm and bland. Needed lots of salt and lemon. Fountain pop was flat and awful. Hummus and babaganoush mediocre and warm also.

Fucking fabulous.
The falafel is amazing. I got the ultimate shwarma. Has to be our best experience eating out in the springs area in a year of trying things. It was a Tuesday lunch we went there and there happened to be a large party of middle eastern descent people. That’s always good. It was busy for a Tuesday. Our server was very good and took great care to service our every need.
Ordered a chicken kabob which was nicely seasoned and quite lemony. The humus was very thick. Still very good as well.
Finished off with a Chai tea and baklava. I asked and they serve mystic Chai which is good. Love this place we will be back.

There’s a few really great places to eat in Manitou, but lately, we just can’t say no to Heart of Jerusalem. The place is small and often crowded and the service is slow, but very friendly. In my book, crowded and slow generally mean one thing: The food is WORTH IT! And that’s certainly true in this case.
You just can’t find this wide array of powerful flavors anywhere else. The lamb is fantastic. The dolmas perfectly tart. The falafels have just the right balance of spice. The hummus is smooth and not too spicy. And you absolutely MUST have a pot of sage tea!

The best gyros I have EVER had! Friendly service, reasonable price and fun locale.
If you are expecting Bubbie’s Shabbos food you are in the wrong place, however; it is very good Middle eastern.

We were here yesterday after the manitou incline, we were hungry and it wasn’t busy since we got there around 2 ish, the place looks ok and simple, but the food was good and big enough portions to fill our hungry bellies. I think it was cute that they had heart shaped falafel, but it was a tad too salty for my taste. I had the Ultimate plate with the beef/​lamb and chicken and it was good. I do wanted more hummus and pita tho, but I couldn’t finish my meat (a little too salty for my palate). Overall good food!

Simple place, nothing fancy but the food is delectable. Friendly staff and good service. The place really sticks to it theme, with heart shaped falafels. Even the restroom symbols were painted in hearts.

I wasn’t expecting much since I am not too crazy about this type of food. I was very surprised however, food was amazing. We got kabobs and gyro… Everything was absolutely delicious. The service was slow but there was only one server. It felt like the family owns and works in the restaurant. So food came out slow and service was slow and not the friendliest, but it was so worth it. Absolutely delicious food.
I would suggest Sahara Restaurant over this one.

We have stopped in here several times in the past few months and the food has always been really good. I love the vegetarian platter with hummus, baba, dolmas, falafel and more. The kabob and grilled veggie platters are good, too.
I just wish they had more on their menu. So many of my favorites are not even offered. Like fouel (fava beans), lentil soup, kibbeh, lamb shank. I know they are a small restaurant, in a small town… but maybe as a special?
The atmosphere is like a simple diner and there is a small patio by the creek. Service is usually great, once the waitress was slow and flakey…
Definitely worth checking out for solid Middle Eastern food. Oh — and try the sage tea, so yummy!

I went to this place with a co worker and everything was amazing. The waitress was friendly and attentive, the food was delivered to our table within a few minutes after our order was taken and the food was presented like an abstract painting, full of all kinds of colors, shapes, sizes and textures. I had the sampler platter which had lamb, beef, chicken and kofta, (a meatball of different ground up meats mixed with spices) served on a bed of saffron rice, sauteed vegetables, greek salad and triangles of seasoned pita bread. The taste of the food was like an explosion of flavors, one right after another. All the spices were mild enough that one did not overpower the other which made for a symphony of flavors that made your tastebuds dance with joy.