Open space with relaxing music, favorite meal was the Msakhan Chicken Plate--highly recommend!
Robert Gadon
The entrees were flavorful and portions were generous. Baba ganoush was slightly oversalted. It was OK, but missing the roasted charcoal flavor that takes the dish to the next level. Kitchen seemed a little slow during our visit. I'd come back for a sandwich if I was in the neighborhood again.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Shawarma, Beef Shawarma
Elizabeth Gade
Meat was so overcooked and dry. Charcoal on the edges, very unappealing both the gyro and schwarma $28 for 2 sandwiches, no fries or drinks. Very over priced. I got it to go, but if I had seen the food first I would have refused it or sent it back. Don’t recommend and definitely won’t be back. Felt like a waste of money.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 2
Mo P
Very cute deli and restaurant! Server was nice and food was delicious ?.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Baba Ganoush, Shawarma, Pita
Azzam Alnahed
Great place good shawerma nice staff
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Kris C
Very friendly, very yummy food! Great prices!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Shawarma Fries
Rasikanand Harvind
A bit underwhelming. Service was unbeliveably slow. Took them 20 minutes just to take our order and mine in particular took another 30 to arrive. They also brought out the food at different times so my friends had already finished eating and there I was scarfing down my meal at the end.Dinner portions were quite substantial, but dessert portions were miniscule. Everything tasted good though. They even had Egyptian street food like kushari and za'atar fries. The menu was a little confusing. Seemed to have both north Indian and middle eastern dishes (although no fusion items).There is a reservation option on Google maps but you really don't need one. Deserted when we went. Ambiance wasn't the greatest.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 3
Emma Nelson
I cannot believe I spent $12 on this.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 4
Luke G.
I came here very unfamiliar with the cuisine (Middle Eastern). I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed the food we ordered. The Samosa looks like a potato filled won ton. It's crispy on the outside with a slightly spiced center. The sauce that accompanies the dish is very spicy, which I loved. The Chicken Shawarma plate was very good. It's apparant that the chicken is of good quality. It's seared and seasoned perfectly. My kids liked the "green rice" that the chicken sits on top of. The best dish we ordered was the Butter Chicken & White Rice. WOW, this dish is delicious. It's packed with flavor and has a little heat. Staff was nice and helpful; we'll be back soon!
Divya K.
Was excited to try Zait & Za'atar, but overall the experience was disappointing. Considering the number of great Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food restaurants in the Twin Cities that provide better value/experience and more delicious food, I don't think I'll be returning. I ordered a large baba ghanoush appetizer with pita and a samosa appetizer. The baba ghanoush was alright, I've had better and have had worse. The samosas were delicious. I found it interesting that the menu has a lot of Indian food items, must be why they call it a "Dhaba" (meaning roadside Indian restaurant). My boyfriend ordered a desi coffee and a "specialty" dish called lamb shami kebab with paratha. He liked the desi coffee but found several issues with the lamb paratha dish. It's a bit sad that it's on their menu as a "specialty" dish. First, it was very small (see picture) and only came with one paratha even though the menu stated it would come with 2 pieces. My boyfriend asked our server about this and she agreed to bring a second piece, but it shouldn't have been necessary to ask. My boyfriend said that the lamb was very bland and he had a hard time telling whether the kebab had any meat or if it was only chickpeas. Additionally, the dish was the most expensive thing we ordered at $16.49. All of these concerns were brought directly to our server and the cook. We were also the only people in the restaurant. We're the type of people who try to give restaurants polite and direct feedback if we receive a bad dish or something doesn't meet our expectations so that they have the opportunity to correct the problem. While they apologized for our experience, no effort was made to improve our experience by taking a couple dollars off the bill or providing something like a free drink or dessert as compensation. While this certainly wasn't our expectation, doing this would have made the experience feel better and may have encouraged us to return and spend more money there.
Food was great, lovely staff. Would definitely eat here again.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Joe Cossetta
The first impression of walking in was subpar. The floors and bathroom was dirty, which makes me concerned. If a bathroom was dirty, how dirty is the kitchen. The service was very poor. After being sat, which was an awkward experience because the two servers were talking about non work related items before acknowledging us, we sat for 5 minutes before getting offered anything to drink, even water. The server stood at the front desk doing non-work related items such as on their phone. The water glasses that were given were dirty and had an odd taste of water. Server never came back to refill water glasses. My girlfriend's very simple tea took 10 minutes to come out and was overpriced. The meal was even more disappointing. The beef shawarma plate w/salad was sad. The salad was simple iceberg lettuce with wishbone Italian dressing. There was very little beef and the rice was not fresh. My girlfriend's wrap did not come fries, which it stated it was supposed to. The server told the people behind us to leave a Google review and stood there while doing this.Overall, I am surprised this place is still open or hasn't had any health violations. Poor service and poor food. The service and food was so poor we walked up and said we wanted to pay. The server had finally asked how was the meal and I said "it was just okay." She took offense from this and didn't apologize or say anything. I honestly will never come back and will not recommend to anyone.Also paid $40 for 2 people... crazy expensive...
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Shawarma
Erica Warffuel
Hands down the best shawarmas in the twin cities! The staff is very efficient and friendly as well!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
TJ. V
Small and a cozy place but furniture looks old with cranking booths,Food is good with variety of cold and hot appetizer options we ordered samosa with tea and Dahi Vada, which are a must try. We ordered chicken fries which could use some seasoning but it’s might be a personal preferenceStaff and service are excellent, the girl that served us was very patient through out the dinner
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 3
Service: 5
ian duerr
this place is close to being great. the food is good. unfortunately the table service is unsatisfactory. there is a solution though! all they have to do is copy numerous other successful restaurants' dining-in formats. the naughty greek (spicy feta) for instance... at that restaurant you order at the counter and take a number to your table. the food is then brought to the number. easy. they also have a self serve drink station and cutlery at the tables. if ZZ would copy this format my family would be regulars. but, in its current state, we can not go back. the service is slow unorganized and unprofessional. i hope the management reads this and considers my idea. this is a low cost solution that could be implemented practically over night! the other option is to hire professionals or properly train the staff.
Open space with relaxing music, favorite meal was the Msakhan Chicken Plate--highly recommend!
The entrees were flavorful and portions were generous. Baba ganoush was slightly oversalted. It was OK, but missing the roasted charcoal flavor that takes the dish to the next level. Kitchen seemed a little slow during our visit. I'd come back for a sandwich if I was in the neighborhood again.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Shawarma, Beef Shawarma
Meat was so overcooked and dry. Charcoal on the edges, very unappealing both the gyro and schwarma $28 for 2 sandwiches, no fries or drinks. Very over priced. I got it to go, but if I had seen the food first I would have refused it or sent it back. Don’t recommend and definitely won’t be back. Felt like a waste of money.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 2
Very cute deli and restaurant! Server was nice and food was delicious ?.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Baba Ganoush, Shawarma, Pita
Great place good shawerma nice staff
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Very friendly, very yummy food! Great prices!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Shawarma Fries
A bit underwhelming. Service was unbeliveably slow. Took them 20 minutes just to take our order and mine in particular took another 30 to arrive. They also brought out the food at different times so my friends had already finished eating and there I was scarfing down my meal at the end.Dinner portions were quite substantial, but dessert portions were miniscule. Everything tasted good though. They even had Egyptian street food like kushari and za'atar fries. The menu was a little confusing. Seemed to have both north Indian and middle eastern dishes (although no fusion items).There is a reservation option on Google maps but you really don't need one. Deserted when we went. Ambiance wasn't the greatest.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 3
I cannot believe I spent $12 on this.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 4
I came here very unfamiliar with the cuisine (Middle Eastern). I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed the food we ordered. The Samosa looks like a potato filled won ton. It's crispy on the outside with a slightly spiced center. The sauce that accompanies the dish is very spicy, which I loved. The Chicken Shawarma plate was very good. It's apparant that the chicken is of good quality. It's seared and seasoned perfectly. My kids liked the "green rice" that the chicken sits on top of. The best dish we ordered was the Butter Chicken & White Rice. WOW, this dish is delicious. It's packed with flavor and has a little heat. Staff was nice and helpful; we'll be back soon!
Was excited to try Zait & Za'atar, but overall the experience was disappointing. Considering the number of great Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food restaurants in the Twin Cities that provide better value/experience and more delicious food, I don't think I'll be returning. I ordered a large baba ghanoush appetizer with pita and a samosa appetizer. The baba ghanoush was alright, I've had better and have had worse. The samosas were delicious. I found it interesting that the menu has a lot of Indian food items, must be why they call it a "Dhaba" (meaning roadside Indian restaurant). My boyfriend ordered a desi coffee and a "specialty" dish called lamb shami kebab with paratha. He liked the desi coffee but found several issues with the lamb paratha dish. It's a bit sad that it's on their menu as a "specialty" dish. First, it was very small (see picture) and only came with one paratha even though the menu stated it would come with 2 pieces. My boyfriend asked our server about this and she agreed to bring a second piece, but it shouldn't have been necessary to ask. My boyfriend said that the lamb was very bland and he had a hard time telling whether the kebab had any meat or if it was only chickpeas. Additionally, the dish was the most expensive thing we ordered at $16.49. All of these concerns were brought directly to our server and the cook. We were also the only people in the restaurant. We're the type of people who try to give restaurants polite and direct feedback if we receive a bad dish or something doesn't meet our expectations so that they have the opportunity to correct the problem. While they apologized for our experience, no effort was made to improve our experience by taking a couple dollars off the bill or providing something like a free drink or dessert as compensation. While this certainly wasn't our expectation, doing this would have made the experience feel better and may have encouraged us to return and spend more money there.
Restaurantji Recommends
Food was great, lovely staff. Would definitely eat here again.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
The first impression of walking in was subpar. The floors and bathroom was dirty, which makes me concerned. If a bathroom was dirty, how dirty is the kitchen. The service was very poor. After being sat, which was an awkward experience because the two servers were talking about non work related items before acknowledging us, we sat for 5 minutes before getting offered anything to drink, even water. The server stood at the front desk doing non-work related items such as on their phone. The water glasses that were given were dirty and had an odd taste of water. Server never came back to refill water glasses. My girlfriend's very simple tea took 10 minutes to come out and was overpriced. The meal was even more disappointing. The beef shawarma plate w/salad was sad. The salad was simple iceberg lettuce with wishbone Italian dressing. There was very little beef and the rice was not fresh. My girlfriend's wrap did not come fries, which it stated it was supposed to. The server told the people behind us to leave a Google review and stood there while doing this.Overall, I am surprised this place is still open or hasn't had any health violations. Poor service and poor food. The service and food was so poor we walked up and said we wanted to pay. The server had finally asked how was the meal and I said "it was just okay." She took offense from this and didn't apologize or say anything. I honestly will never come back and will not recommend to anyone.Also paid $40 for 2 people... crazy expensive...
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Shawarma
Hands down the best shawarmas in the twin cities! The staff is very efficient and friendly as well!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Small and a cozy place but furniture looks old with cranking booths,Food is good with variety of cold and hot appetizer options we ordered samosa with tea and Dahi Vada, which are a must try. We ordered chicken fries which could use some seasoning but it’s might be a personal preferenceStaff and service are excellent, the girl that served us was very patient through out the dinner
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 3
Service: 5
this place is close to being great. the food is good. unfortunately the table service is unsatisfactory. there is a solution though! all they have to do is copy numerous other successful restaurants' dining-in formats. the naughty greek (spicy feta) for instance... at that restaurant you order at the counter and take a number to your table. the food is then brought to the number. easy. they also have a self serve drink station and cutlery at the tables. if ZZ would copy this format my family would be regulars. but, in its current state, we can not go back. the service is slow unorganized and unprofessional. i hope the management reads this and considers my idea. this is a low cost solution that could be implemented practically over night! the other option is to hire professionals or properly train the staff.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 2
Recommended dishes: Hummus, Chicken Shawarma Sandwich