Ranoush

Treat your tastebuds with the authentic food this place serves … I bet you won’t regret

Got the buffet on Sunday. Pretty good and reasonably priced. They were understaffed for how busy they were.

We went to Ranoush to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
The place is decidedly on one of the best streets in STL, if you want to have a good night out, you cannot go wrong in the loop.
The place had an excellent ambiance, the food was absolutely delicious, the service was really quick.
We will look forward to coming back here

A great middle eastern restaurant with a fun, lively, comfortable atmosphere. They have hookah, if you’re into that. The Moroccan mint tea is delicious. The chicken shawarma is tasty and surprisingly quite healthy. It is served with a light, fresh side salad. Belly dancer on Saturday nights (and maybe other nights). Sometimes belly dancers can be awkward but the woman who dances here knows how to read a room and leaves tables alone if they seem disinterested. The owner or manager is outgoing and generous. He even brought us some baklava on the house! They seem to make a big deal out of birthdays, bringing a dessert with a Roman candle in it. It is a good place to celebrate your b-​day, for sure!

I love, love, love Ranoush for gorgeous Mediterranean cuisine. Vegetarian Mezza for 2 is always a winner for us. So fresh, so wonderful. The best Tabbouleh in town. I seriously crave the food for days after eating there. My only complaint is that the Kirkwood location was sold and is no longer Ranoush. Quality went way down. The Loop is a tad more committal and parking is a total pain, but still worth it.

Wonderful little place. pleasant sociable staff, good food, good hookah, good times.

This is good old authentic Arabic food. It’s not fancy but that’s fine because it reminds me of my mother’s home cooking. The service is good and the prices are reasonable. I definitely recommend this place.

Everything is indescribably flavorful and fresh! Just a treat for those who enjoy spicy and authentic middle eastern faire; the Syrian coffee is potent!

I love Ranoush! Ifirst came here for book club and we sat under the tent. Our server was unbelievably engaging and hospitable. He was one of the most attentive servers I have ever had.
My husband and I came back here last night because I was craving the traditional mezze platter for 2. It has all my favorites on there — hummus, baba ganoush, kibbi, falafel, tabbouleh and grape leaves. It’s around $ 30 but it will fill you up if you are hungry or provide a nice variety for sharing before the meal.
I love the vibe in here and all staff I’ve encountered have been very friendly and helpful.

Excellent restaurant! Finally a clean authentic Middle Eastern restaurant.
Must underline Clean here! I don’t why but all Arabic restaurants are dirty but Ranoush is clean including restrooms!
Keep it up Ranoush guys don’t become dirty like other Middle Eastern restaurants!

Group of friends and I decided to try out Ranoush after a day trip to the STL Zoo. It’s located right in the heart of the Delmar Loop so it’s within walking distance to several unique boutiques and shops. If the weather is beautiful, I’d definitely recommend dining al fresco. Great for people watching and getting your tan on.
On to the food… I tried the lunch buffet on my first trip so I could try out more items, but mostly because I was famished and HANGRY. Unfortunately, the dishes on the buffet were disappointing. Overall, the food was bland and luke warm. Additionally, it took the staff a while to replenish the dishes on the buffet. I’d be willing to give the lunch buffet another shot, but would probably order off the menu if it came down to it.
Although the lunch buffet was a bust, the standout dishes at Ranoush are on the menu namely the chicken and steak schwarma. Flavorful, juicy and succulent. I’ve ordered these on numerous occasions and have always gone home happy and full. The entrees come served with pita and a side (rice, salad, fries). They also come with a tahini and a garlicky mayo sauce. The garlicky mayo is LIFE CHANGING. Get extra! I would bathe in it. I would eat it on cardboard. SO GOOD. Ask for extra to go. You will thank me later. YOU’RE WELCOME. :) Hummus and falafel apps were lovely too. My friends have tried the lamb kabobs which were a hit or miss. Some pieces were perfectly cooked while others were over.
Parking can get tricky because it’s such a high traffic area, but there’s usually street parking. Oh, they have hookah too!

One of the best Middle eastern restaurant and hookah place I have been so far.
The Hookah flavors are amazing. try the double apple.
Food — Falafal and Garlic pita bites are pretty darn good.

This was one of the first places that I went to on the Loop with a friend years ago. We thought we would try it out and I’ve been wanting to come back ever since. Which, I have come back another two or three times since then. But since I can’t remember all the food, I’ll just give details about the most recent dishes that I’ve had.
This place offers some good and I mean really good food. I went with the chicken shawarma and was very impressed. The chicken came with a Syrian side salad that was huge. I ended up filling up on the salad and taking most, if not all, of the chicken home for later. The salad itself was very flavorful. It was very refreshing with the dressing used for the salad. Plus the fresh vegetables on the salad made it that much better. The chicken had really good flavor as well and was delicious both in restaurant and reheated for food the next day.
My friend and I also split an appetizer. We got the spicy potatoes, I don’t remember the name of the actual dish. Those were good too. The potatoes had really good flavor on them and an after-​kick for that spicy effect that I don’t mind. The potatoes came out with a flat pita bread that I just put the potatoes on to eat because I don’t know if you are suppose to do that or not. It tasted good either way that you should do it.
Service is always friendly and attentive. The servers are always helping customers and are able to explain when you don’t understand what something is. They have hookah here and I always saw two people carrying everything or one person making two trips. They were trying to be careful with the coals, which is a huge burn risk, so kudos to them for knowing that. I went with a large group once and the servers that we had were really kind and got everything out in a timely manner.
Clearly I have a lot of positives to say and I would tell people to give this place a chance. The food is very good and not to tourist-​like for a change. I enjoy coming here and hope to be back soon for another delicious experience.

Tried this place out alone on a Saturday night. There was an option to sit outside on the patio or inside the restaurant. I was seated immediately and put my order in fairly quickly. I sat inside and enjoyed the ethnic décor. The restaurant appears very clean, well-​managed, and well-​staffed. They had both a food and drink menu available. The waiter was very helpful in explaining the menu items and helping me decide on a dish. I ordered the chicken shawarma. It came with a side salad, but I asked to switch the basic side salad to the Fattoush salad. After a reasonable wait time, my food arrived. Great presentation! I was surprised at how large the portion size was. The chicken was juicy and flavorful and the salad was extremely fresh and tasty. My server was quite attentive and my drink was never left empty.
I think that this place does it right. They know good food and good customer service. I will certainly be back to try more items on their menu!
On a side note, I actually accidentally left my phone at the restaurant when leaving. My waiter had it ready for me as soon as I realized what I had done and walked back in (40 min later)

Fantastic service and amazing food!!! Their outside eating is a fun experience, especially on the weekends. The owner is really attentive to the needs of the customer and is really fun to talk to. I will return to enjoy hookah and some amazing falafel.

Ohmygoodness this place is one of the best.
I’m a huge fan of spicy, flavorful food, and Ranoush satisfies those cravings every time. The main courses can be a little on the pricey side, but for the most part they’re worth every dollar spent. The best part, though, is the appetizers. The last time I came here with friends, we ordered just off the appetizers and tried almost every single one. The hummus and falafel are good, as expected, but the Batata harra and fatayer are even better and shouldn’t be passed over. Just writing this review is kind of making me salivate all over again…

Good service, good food. A little pricey, but that’s a given with the location. ($ 6.25 for three pieces of kibbeh??)
I got to try the beef kafta, shish tawuk, and grilled shrimp. All were good, but the first two were kind of dry. The garlicky sauce my order came with was awesome, and I got to try some of my friend’s chicken shawarma, which was very flavorful and moist – I’m getting that next time.
I don’t really see how a restaurant can get away with charging $ 15 for a plate of mujaddara though. Will shy away from that dish, given that it’s really just rice, lentils, and onions.

I visited Ranoush on a Sunday evening with two close friends. Our original plan was to go to dinner at a BBQ place we’ve been dying to try… but they were closed on Sundays. So I entered Ranoush with really low expectations and disappointed about missing out on a delicious BBQ meal.
We started off the meal with the appetizer, Kalaj, and two glasses of red wine. Kalaj is kind of like a Middle Eastern grilled cheese with crispy pita bread. It was delicious. The wine menu was pretty extensive and moderately priced. I was impressed. I drank several glasses of the 14 hands cabernet and loved it.
I ordered the Chicken Shawarma as my meal. The chicken was seasoned really well, but was a bit dry. Although I have to admit, every time order chicken from a Mediterranean/​Middle Eastern place, I always think the chicken is dry. Maybe it’s the way they prepare it?
We also order a pot of the mint tea. It was so satisfying that we ended up ordering a second pot. I highly recommend the mint tea (especially when it’s only $ 2.50 a pot)!
For dessert we order their specialty, an Arabic Cheesecake /​Baklava dish and a piece of their regular Baklava. Both were delicious. Also, the Arabic Cheesecake /​Baklava we ordered happened to be their last piece, so because it wasn’t presented like it normally is, the Owner didn’t charge us for it!
Throughout our entire meal (we were there for almost 4 hours!), the staff was great and constantly checked in on us. Our waiter was new, but the Owner jumped in on several occasions to make sure we were happy. At the end of our meal, the new waiter brought us our check and it was incorrect. The waiter realized his mistakes on our check but it took two tries for the final check to be corrected. And the Owner apologized for the mix up and ended up pouring us another glass of wine. Even with the check mix up, I am really impressed by this restaurant’s service.
I plan to visit Ranoush again in the future and possibly try their hookahs. There aren’t a lot of Middle Eastern restaurants to choose from in St. Louis, but Ranoush does a great job of filling that void!

Thanks to the ISC, I finally had a chance to try this place. They have been on my list for a while but I just hadn’t made it there yet. That all changed thanks to Sarah S. deciding it would be a great place for dinner. Good call…
Wife and I split their vegetarian mezza platter. For some reason, I decided we needed an appetizer as well and went for the cheese stuffed dough. It was very good and shared quite well.
Dinner arrived and the first thing that struck me was the amount of food they presented us. The second thing that I noticed was that their vegetarian platter was served with an aluminum foil construction on either end of the platter that made it into a goose. It was almost as though we were eating the dishes out of the body of a goose. Note: we are NOT vegetarians and had no issue with this but it might have been an issue for a staunch PETA type. For us it was merely amusing…
About those mezze… hummus, baba ganoush, mutabal, tabbouleh, falfel, batata harra, and labneh. The first call-​out goes to the baba. It was damn fine. Big, smoky flavor and a finely ground consistency without being a paste like some places. Next up would be the Harra — spicy potatoes cooked slightly al dente but not so much as to be considered undercooked. They were amazing but potent. Cool them off a little by dipping them in the labneh and they are perfect. Falafel were good but not outstanding. Neither of us loves tabbouleh and there were enough other things that occupied our attention that it went untouched. Moutabel was good but it really tasted like it belonged on top of a Chicago-​style hot dog. Weird, huh?
The thing I will crave from this experience is the batata with labneh. Damn fine spicy food!

Ranoush definitely deserves a star bump.
Any service problems seem to have disappeared, and my most recent visit here was pretty great. We had a pretty big group, and the servers handled us so well.
I ordered the beef shawarma this time, and it was so, so good. My only recommendation is that if you order this dish, get a side of hummus (which you should probably do anyway) because it’s ten times more delicious together.
Also, I am not mad at their ridiculously good house cabernet.
I look forward to visiting Ranoush again very soon!