Mona’s Cafe

This was my first time having a taste of Mediterranean food! I thoroughly enjoyed it. The saying is true, don’t judge a book by its cover. The place isn’t too clean & can turn you off, but if you can get pass that you will love the food. I don’t have a palette for hummus, but Mona’s are very tasty. The sautéed shrimp was delicious & filling, not too pricey at all, to say it was shrimp. Mona’s has outdoor seating and that sold me. Mona’s has a new customer.

After 4 years I’d say its time for me to update this review. Mona’s is still serving the same quality Mediterranean fare. Their hummus is still one of my favorites because of its silky texture and the green chilies add great flavor. The pita bread always comes out hot and fresh. On a day when I feel like I could eat an entire city, Mona’s comes to mind. The platters are simply HUGE. The platters comes with side of hummus, pita, your choice of meat, and salad. This could be split between 2 people, but fighting over the hummus could break up a marriage. The gyro, steak schwarma and chicken schwarma all offer tons of flavor so you really can’t go wrong. If you have a hard time choosing and like more variety, go for the half & half and pick 2 meats. That’s just plain common sense.
As for atmosphere, its bleak. However, they do have a covered patio so sitting outside is always nice on a pretty day. The service is always friendly and prompt. I’ve been coming here for years and still my go to spot to fill up. Gotta love consistency!

I love Mona’s. It’s a fun quirky little café with good food and awesome staff. Sure they don’t have the «vibe» that Lebanon’s down the street does or whatever authenticity nonsense others complain about but let me tell you — they are down to earth, pack a ton in their portions and that is good enough for me!
They are byob and also have some good hookah flavors. Outdoor seating is nice but you may want to ask for bug spray in the evenings. My go to is the chicken or beef shawarma and a bottle of $ 10 red from Rite Aid across the street. You can also call ahead for take away.

I have good memories of Mona’s in Mid City from years ago. So when Phở Bistro was closed (it was a Monday), we walked to Mona’s for lunch. What a huge mistake! I had heard it was not good anymore and I should have listened.
This negative review is based on four factors: poor service, food that just tasted «off», dirty dining area, and the appearance of not one, but two roaches in the dining area (gross!)
First, the service was very slow– the servers were forgetful and seemed disorganized (we watched a lot of orders just sitting on a shelf waiting to be brought out to tables.) They weren’t that busy while we were there. While friendly enough, it was just bad service — no water brought out after asking a couple times, no silverware/​napkins when apps came, slow refills on tea. As mentioned the food was just not tasty. Most items seemed fresh enough, it just tasted that it was not prepared well– from the spinach pies, to the falafel plate to the chicken swarma (spelling?) which didn’t look or taste like it should (according to my mom).
The whole dining area is in need of a major clean up– around the windows, the tables, the floors– everything! And finally– the last straw –the two roaches we saw. One large one was crawling on the booth near my mom and a second smaller one was on my baby’s high chair! They appeared just as we were discussing leavinf (in spite of our nearly still full plates) because we weren’t liking our food. After seeing them, our decision to leave was quite an easy decision. I (obviously) won’t be coming back to this, or any of the other Mona’s locations.

I used to work at this location years ago. I quit because the manager on duty took a stuffed grape leaf off a dirty plate to re sale!!! So gross!

So excited for a shawarma since moving here. It’s been a while. Such a disappointment!!! How does chicken Caesar thrown in a pita count as shawarma?! Plus, I can tell they get a lot of their store goods from Phoenecia in Houston. We both purchased nuts that ended up having LIVE worms inside the bag!!! We threw everything away and the sandwich. Not sure if it Mona’s fault or the supplier, but they looked extremely fresh! Yikes! Two stars since I didn’t notify them but definitely no quality checks happening here!

horrible service, food was horrible! never again! ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Got there, sat outside for a while (it said seat yourself), went inside in search of menus, got them ourselves despite the unfriendly young worker standing around. Sat outside for a little while longer until an older guy came out to take or order. He was very query but nice. We both got the Lebanese tea which was kind of strange at first, but I acquired quite the taste of it. As an appetizer we got Mashaba (no idea how to spell that). It was good. After that i got the lamb kebab. It was amazing. The lamb had an amazing flavor and was super juicy. We didn’t get a desert because the settings were huge and we were stuffed. One thing to be aware of: food here is not as cheap as you would think. For lunch, $ 50 was too expensive for me. Especially when I thought I’d be leaving feeling like i got the best bang for my buck.
Overall, I would recommend this place, but only if you’re planning on sitting outside.

DO NOT GO HERE!!! The Food was just okay, the atmosphere inside is downright creepy, the place is a dump. And to make matters worse, I got my food to go, left it on the table for all of 10 seconds, turned around to get it and the waitress had already thrown it away. Shocked, I asked for a replacement and was told «it’s your fault, you left it,» and was denied any food or my money back. I even tipped like 25%!!! The «manager» said he «just worked there» and again reiterated that it was my fault. Unbelievable. I will never go to this place ever again!!! Go to Lebanon Café just a couple blocks down. Better food and atmosphere and certainly better service. I hope that waitress chokes on my tip. AND the Internet was down so I had to go next door to the ATM to pay for my food that was thrown away. Don’t believe the hype! This place is a dump!!!

Worst place ever for hookah. Had double apple flavored hookah. It was like there was no flavor at all. There was only smoke and the service was horrible. It took forever for everything. Don’t visit the place ever. Not recommended at all.

This place is basically ok. The atmosphere is just average the food is above average and the hookah is terrible and i know good hookah. It starts to burn out quickly so you can taste the molasses of the tobacco wet
On your tongue. Also the hookah pipe was rusted and grimy. It was probably the worst hookah i have had.

Tried this place several times, both this location and the one in mid city. The chicken shawarma at the Carrollton location was definitely NOT shawarma, more like grilled chicken that was sautéed in a pan. The beef and lamb kafta or lula kebab was overcooked and mediocre. The stuffed grape leaves were not fresh and definitely something that were thawed out and reheated
Seems like this location prepares these dishes in advance and just reheats them when they are ordered, to save time. This place and Lebanon café are both definite disappointments as far as quality middle eastern food is concerned. Will not be returning. Babylon café on maple st is so much better.

I’m giving this place a 5 based on the hookahs which are the best in the city right now. They are afforable (like $ 12) and the flavors are just that… flavors! This is one of the first times that I didn’t have to have wine in my hookah to truly taste all of the flavor. I tried the orange and it was really good. I will definitely be back. For the food, I’d give it a 4 solely because of the lamb. I had the lamb schwama and the spinach pie. The spinach pie was delicious. I kept coming across pieces of fat with the lamb that I couldn’t really enjoy it. Will definitely be back for more hookah nights! I went around 8 pm on a Saturday and it was pretty quiet until a group of young loud students came. :(BYOB also! Definitely courteous waitstaff also.

How they try to pass off this food as Middle Eastern is a disrespect to the culture.
However, it is cheap.
It is free BYOB.
…and they have hookah, at a decent price…
so despite the fact that the food is deplorable, their Iced-​tea is good and they have shisha, so it’s still a decent time.
Maybe other people are reviewing the wrong Mona’s, because the place isn’t remodeled or is the food any good.

They have renovated the inside and it looks fantastic!!!
All of the food is fresh, not from a can and they make pizza to order! I wouldn’t normally order pizza from a Middle Eastern Restaurant, but believe me, it is f-​ing amazing here. The smell alone will get you. Love the food, hookah, lebanese iced tea and the service!
Plus they are SO FAST. My food has never taken more than 10 minutes to come, usually less than 5. It is BYOB and make sure you are 18+ if you’re smoking hookah because they can be kind of strict. Writing this review is making me hungry to go back already!

Picked up lunch for the office here last week and boy were we disappointed. Beef Schwarma was chewy and boney — is that even possible? Tasted old, stale. We also ordered the chicken Schwarma — very average. Everything was just blah — average — boring. Too many other good choices near Oak Street.

They’re OK. The prices are quite reasonable, a falafel gyro or beef shawarma will set you back around five bucks. The décor is pretty sparse, metal chairs and patio tables.
My problems stemmed from the fact they were really understaffed. Tables weren’t being bussed and half empty drinks were being blown off of tables, splashing everywhere. We actually picked up a bunch of credit card receipts that hadn’t been collected and were blowing all over the place.
Service was also very slow, we had a pretty long wait for a sandwich and a salad and they missed our appetizer order entirely.
They also lose a star right off for allowing smoking. Hookahs are available and brought out to the restaurant patio and there is no escaping their haze.

I’m not on the Mona’s bandwagon.
The gyro plate was good and less expensive, but I thought the hummus, salad, and the gyro meat at Bablyon was better.
Babylon’s hummus is tangier while Mona’s had a bit of spice. I like the usual lemon juice «dressing» on middleastern salads versus the green dressing on Mona’s. The texture of the gyro was more chunky/​meaty.
I’ll have to try some other items on the menu and update my review!

Hummus = yummus here! I definitely prefer Mona’s to Lebanon’s hummus BUT… if you’re looking for atmosphere, you’re better off with Lebanon’s as Mona’s is definitely no-​frills in that department. But sometimes, you just gotta eat.
If you’re really hungry, as in haven’t eaten in a day, order a platter. I had a falafel platter and it’s enormous. I think the waitresses must get a workout just lugging the heavy plates from the kitchen to the tables. Falafel is good here, and hummus and salad is also a part of the whole shebang. I appreciate that they serve it with tahini rather than yogurt sauce. I drown my falafel in it!

This is the first place I ever ate at in NO (Oh wait. I totally had Rally’s the night before. Well, that doesn’t count…). I arrived in this city at midnight on a Wednesday night in August and already on Thursday I was out and about, looking for a place to live. I think I walked around for about 4 hours that day. Yes. In the middle of August. I think I deserve trooper status for that.
Anyway, I was hungry and needed a bite. I had just been unemployed for nearly two months so I wasn’t trying to spend a lot of money. I didn’t know anything about any of the restaurants down here, and I found myself on Carollton, so I walked up and down the street looking at the menus posted outside the restaurants. By the time I got to Mona’s, I was too hungry to keep walking, so I just walked in and was happy to be in air conditioning.
I ended up ordering a chicken shawarma, which was definitely affordable. It’s all kind of a blur now, but I remember really enjoying the meal. I’ll have to go back for the memories and to see if the food really was that good. Lol.
Oh, and they have free wifi.