Laurel Kabob Cafe

So long Laurel Kabob Café. I’ll miss your friendly staff and fresh homemade Turkish bread the most. Bair Island Tap & Eatery is opening in its place.

Best of luck to you.

I’m sorry I hate to give bad reviews but this place is awful! Instead of give you all the hairy details, save your money and go down to Positano or some other place. There are plenty of great other eats, I am sorry I step in this place. Argh!

Liked it when it first opened, but it went downhill fast. Now I go to Santorini
Update: This place went out of business. No surprise!

good solid mediterranean food. Good prices. Very tasty. You want a quick gyro, stop in here. You wont be disappointed. I’ve had friends thank me for the recommendation actually.

I’ve been a regular here 4 times and love the food. Also, I dropped some tax papers on the floor here and they wrote a note and mailed it to my place and it was a surprise when I received them.
Thanks you guys. That was very nice of you. I’ll be back soon.

2 visits and everything was quite nice. :)
The falafel wrap was not dry and the tahini was delicious. A good dinner on the go for i think it was 6.40, better than a le bou sammich.
I ordered the gyro plate and at 9 $ it comes with a large portion of meat, salad, and rice with tahini. Juicy meat, not too sweet or salty.
The hot sauce is very red peppery and not bad.
We also got the hummus which has a hint more of pepper which was nice and a bit different than the usual.
Oh yeah, and it looks like someone read the reviews there because the staff were really nice and the food was pretty quick, AND he gave us a small sampler of tabbouleh, eggplant salady thing and some pepper grain thing which was nice and tasty.
All in all for a tiny little place they have a solid menu, nice staff and convenient location down town.
I put the under 10 $ because if you just grab a wrap or gyro and a coke its under 10, but if you get a sit down dinner with a beer its obviously going to be over 10.
ps. They have a few types of beer in bottles if you like a 2 drink lunch.

Fiiiinally! I am so stoked there is a decently priced TASTY mediterranean place in the area! I’ve been looking for one for a while, surprise it took me so long to get to this one.
Ordered the Gyro wrap and got one of their boxed side-​salads, a mix of roasted potatoes, bell peppers, and eggplant. This was totally delicious, especially after generous application of their house hot sauce — soooso good.
The wrap itself came with a little container of yogurt sauce that had some interesting seasoning in it, not what you usually get. quite good. The meat was not fatty at all, well seasoned and cooked. The veggies were fresh, and the pita bread soft. I am totally, totally happy and full, all for 11 bucks.

Meh, I have definitely had better!
Want a outstanding Gyro? Head to «Wrap This» in Santa Clara across from the college, they Kill it! They make this place seem like old dry meat, without any flavor. WHICH THEY ARE!!!
Not to forget to mention my gyro came on some sort of Sandwich Bun that was HUGE… instead of a pita. The lettuce & cabbage that they threw on the Bun was horrible and the whole thing was DRY!
Don’t even try this place…
I’m serious!

Since my dad is on a low sodium diet, this place actually was good to take him. The staff was extremely courteous and friendly. Hence the four stars. I would go back again for another quick meal.
We ordered:
Gyros Lamb pita — thick pitas that were baked fresh in the café, stuffed with veggies and sliced lamb with the sauce on the side (I’ve had better gyros, but this was ok 3 stars)
Lamb Kabob-​tasty cubes of lamb-​cooked perfectly-​moist (3.5 stars, side salad with sauce on the side and unsalted fries (perfect for dad)

Summary: Gross! Poor customer service. Disappointing food.
I arrived and the cashier was restocking. She saw me arrive and look at the menu, but instead kept shelving away. 2 minutes later, without a word, she points to the cook and then me (almost how you point to your dog to get away from a couch.
I ordered a falafel wrap without sauce (told them twice I had dairy/​egg allergies). I get the order with sauce on the side! I asked if they had tahini sauce and it turns out that this sauce was their version… NOTE: tahini sauce is almost never made with mayo/​dairy… The falafel was mushy, overly fried and full of salt as flavor.
THE KICKER: Luckily, I tried to wash my hands after the first 2 bites… the bathroom was filthy! Then as I walk past the bathroom, I saw the Health Dept’s report…2 pages of citations… no suprise.

Went with husby for a quick lunch today at Laurel Kabob. It’s a nice, clean place, and there are tables on the sidewalk to enjoy a warm summer day. I wanted to try the chicken doner/​gyro (as I guess they are interchangeable phrases?) wrap, but one of the guys working there said they didn’t have any chicken that day, but that they do have lamb. So I kindly asked if I could taste it first– I am sorta sensitive to the gamey aspect of lamb. But the spices and the thorough cooking on the spit must have been perfect because the sample we got was just right.
As you can tell, we ordered at the counter and we both ordered the lamb wrap, and we got some fries too. We got some drinks from their fridge– unfortunately it was broken so the drinks were room temp, but they offered to bring glasses with ice. It came out to a little over $ 20, which I think is reasonable.
We grabbed a table outside, and the food was delivered quickly. The doner kebab was a little on the small side, as I’m used to a super-​burrito-​sized doner like I’ve had in Zurich (Switzerland) and The Kebab Shop in San Diego. The kebab was about the size of a baby burrito. Inside the wrap was lamb (yum!), lettuce, carrot, red cabbage, tomato, and a yogurt-​curry-​dill sauce. It was a good portion, actually, for me, but husby totally killed it in probably 6 minutes! :)
The food is okay here– I would like to try the other items on the menu and give it a more even evaluation. But if the lamb impressed me, I’m sure that the chicken is probably as tasty. Something to definitely look forward to.

After three days of hotel meeting food I was ready for something fresh and tasty, not to mention fast as I was exhausted. I remembered reading a review about Laurel Kabob from one of my favorite Unilocal!ers. If it was good enough for Jennifer L it was far too good for me.
I almost didn’t go in because of the strong smell of frying outside but I was glad I did even if it was only for the super friendly smile and welcome that greeted me.
The falafel wrap was light, fresh and tasty. Even though it was a little light on falafel, good flavors came through. Having now read about the fresh-​baked bread I almost wish I had ordered the falafel pitta but that’s a perfect excuse to go back.
Yes, I did smell of frying when I left and maybe that’s something they should look at, but it was a small price to pay for good, fresh food in a clean place with delightful, attentive service that made me feel very welcome. A great addition to Laurel Street and I wish them every success.

I remember the first time I had a doener kabob in Berlin… i was pleasantly surprised with how amazing it was.
When i found this place on Unilocal and with all the raving reviews I thought it would be like or very close to the kabobs that i had in Germany.
Unfortunately it was nothing like what i had in berlin.
Here the bread was like hamburger bun, the sauce had a curry like taste/​smell. the mixture did not go well
On a positive note this place seems to be clean and the food is VERY fresh. something that’s not easy to find now days.

The food here is phenomenal!!!
A German friend of mine told me about this place having the German/​Turkish style Doener. And she was not lying! Best I have had it since leaving Germany!
The owner lived in Munich for 33 years and it was fun chatting in German with him. He is a very kind and fun person.
The other employees need some training for sure and the food took a long time to get to us (despite the place being empty). But again, it was so well worth waiting. We will definitely be back SOON!
SIMPLY DELICIOUS!

I thought San Carlos already had every type of food imaginable. Laurel St Kabab opened and proved me wrong.
The best way of describing their menu is German influenced Turkish kebab. Their gyros meat is tasty, but if you’re in the mood for something a bit more German they also have schnitzel, Their pita pizzas rock too.

Falafel = fried mushy balls of oil
No sauce
Bad flavor, actually the only flavor is oil
Cheap white rice
My husband noticed they didn’t wash the salad and served it.
Avoid and go to santorini or Mediterranean delite instead.

This is hidden immediately to the left of Siamese kitchen. But it is a real deal, spinning-​meat-​gyro-​joint. They have only been open five weeks, and they have not yet been discovered. But the service is VERY good. And the food was excellent.
One note, they offer lamb, but they only have one rotisserie with chicken. Lamb has to be grilled (call ahead or allow a little extra time). I overheard Laure (the manager) telling a customer that the second rotisseries is on its way.
For San Carlos it is five stars. For the real world it deserves four healthy stars!

Ate lunch here with a few co-​workers on a Friday. Nothing offensive, but nothing great either. We all had different items, but they all tasted the same.
Strike 1: they neglected to give someone their Pepsi.
Strike 2: they wanted to trade my diet coke for the Pepsi. we had to show them proof that we paid for both drinks.
Strike 3: the one who placed their order first — a salad, which is the easiest thing to make — took the longest to make. I was almost finished with my meal by the time the salad came out.
I’d rather go to Santorini or Mediterranean Delite nearby.

WTF? Yet another Turkish restaurant in San Carlos?!
Its actually a little doener kebob joint reminiscent of the shops on virtually every street corner in Berlin (1,500+) and just about every other city in Germany.
So what’s a doener kebab you ask? Its Turkish style gyro served up with a distinctive yogurt sauce on a thick Turkish pita.
While it was spot on for me, I worry if will hit the mark for others thinking they are getting a gyro (and by extension, Greek fare) as the menu suggests.
They still have some kinks to work out in the service being so new to Laurel St. They basically just took over from the Laurel Street Deli with all the tables and chairs and even the Peet’s coffee service. Just about the only change is the big menu over the deli counter and a few new photos on the wall.
The longer I lingered over lunch, the more I suspect a German connection: (1) photo on the wall of Prime Minister Merkel visiting a doener kebob shop; (2) a photo of German beer wenches engaged in synchronized beer quaffing, and (3) chicken schnitzel is on the menu.

not to be confused with the former Laurel St Café which was owned by a Parisian lady who made crepes, this Laurel St Café takes over what was once New York, New York deli. They have all of your basic Turkish foods, gyros, doner, kebabs, and even my favorite the Iskender kebab though they call it Alexander. Got a pretty good Doner box to go as I was going to make my own fusion Turkish tacos at home. Will have to get the Iskender next time now that I know what they call it here. They serve Peets coffee and I think they might do breakfast also.