Mediterranean Bakery & Cuisine

Tasty, quick, & Healthy! I'm very impressed with little place. I strongly encourage checking this place out.

Food: this place is just okay. It has that authentic vibe where you think the food is going to be low key bomb. If you need a Mediterranean fix and you're in the area, sure. I got the tikka combo which involves skewered lamb and chicken over rice. There's some hummus, a big piece of bread, and a salad involved. Overall, I thought everything could have been more flavorful. While I'm a sauce man, if a place doesn't beg me to ask for sauce or add more, I'm pretty impressed. Further, the lamb was kind of tough. Perhaps, some of the other items could be better. They seem to have some nice baked good options. I guess the $ is competitive, but for $20+ for an entree and soda...Service: order at the register. Not too much conversation involved. Maybe about 4 tables available to dine in.

So we have been coming to this location when the previous owner, Basam, was the original owner. Anyhow, the food there has always been fantastic. Not until recently has the service gone so far downhill. I'll explain: we went today not too long ago to order our beef and lamb shawarmas, and the cafe side of the location was empty. So we waited and waited and waited for someone at the ordering counter to help us but no one came! Meanwhile 3 employees just sat there arguing and never once asked if me seemed help or to order our food?!? We finally left due to their lack of service! Not sure I want to return here ever again the service has been horrible recently!

My Sacramento coworker took us here for lunch. He mentioned something about them winning some award for one of the best sandwiches in the Sacramento area. They are located inside a Mediterranean market. We ordered from the bakery, but, paid over in the market. I got their beef shawarma sandwich, while my coworkers went with the chicken. It took a few minutes before our sandwiches were done. The sandwich was big and a very good value for the price they charge. The problem I had was with the meat as it was very gristly. The beef was marinated well, and came with tomatoes and onions. They were okay. I can't complain much as the price was very reasonable.

The service is friendly. I stop by for cheese Manakeesh, but they are always out or don't have any when I arrive. It is good when they have it available . The place is clean and also has limited desserts available.

Freshly baked SAMOON BREAD. Hameed, one of the store managers, thoughtfully baked it fresh for my sandwich and for a 5-piece bag of Samoon bread to go. Samoon is an Iraqi white yeast bread shaped like a diamond or a canoe. The origin is likely from Georgia then brought to Iraq by Armenians immigrants. The first baker to make this bread in Iraq was named Simon, which translates to Samoon in Arabic.My CHICKEN KABOB SANDWICH on Samoon bread with house garlic sauce was so delicious! You have your choice of garlic sauce or tahini sauce, but Hameed told me that the garlic sauce culturally pairs with the Samoon and the tahini sauce with the Pita. You also have your choice of toppings: lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion, and pickles. I think the yummy default is to order everything, but I said all but the onion. Wow, who knew that dicing cucumber elevates it to a new level of taste and texture! I mistook it for zucchini. I am all eager to order or make Jerusalem Salad or Israeli Salad now, a salad prepped with those same toppings, except the lettuce.Restaurant is uncomfortably warm with the bread oven, but nothing beats eating food freshly baked and prepared, so I decided to eat my sandwich there. There are just a few tables inside. No outdoor dining. Most people order to go.The savory PIES come in two shapes: a large round and a smaller diamond or canoe shape. Given I have been dreaming of Georgian cheese bread, Adjaruli Khachapuri, for years, I opted for the boat shape and got one MEAT PIE and one CHEESE PIE. The meat was spiced. I heated each in the toaster oven for a few minutes. Fun to eat! Very reasonably priced. I googled the Middle Eastern word for hand pies: Fatayer.The dolmas were also fun and convenient to eat. 10 in a box. Dolmas are marinated grape leaves stuffed with a seasoned rice and rolled into little cigars.Restaurant offers 2 juices made in house:1. Freshly squeezed OJ that was bright orange in color2. Fruit punch made with grape juice and black carrot juiceRestaurant offers 3 kinds of baklava for dessert!1. Walnut Baklava2. Pistachio Baklava3. Bird Nest Baklava (Arabic: Osh El Bulbul)At home, I enjoyed my Samoon with BABA GHANOUSH and hummus from Mediterranean Bakery. Baba Ghanoush seemed more special to me than the hummus. I did appreciate that the hummus came garnished with a few chickpeas.I also ordered a 1/2 pound of beef shawarma to go. It needed 20 minutes to finish grilling on the rotisserie, so I explored Alibaba International Foods market and the Kind Bean Cafe & Ethiopian Cuisine restaurant in the same plaza. Beef shawarma is marinated in a spiced paste. Lacking all the fresh vegetable toppings, I couldn't assemble as delectable a sandwich at home.If I can tear myself away from the chicken kabob sandwich (kabab, kebab, kebob), I'd be interested in trying the other meat sandwiches: beef kabob, chicken tikka, lamb tikka, chicken shawarma, and beef shawarma. I'd also try salads: Mediterranean Salad, Greek Salad, or Beyrotiya Salad (chickpeas, tomatoes, and cucumbers in olive oil, garlic, cumin, and lemon juice).I procrastinated too long writing this review, so my memory may be failing me. The co-owners of the restaurant are all from the Mediterranean area: Sudan, Lebanon, and Iraq, I believe.Thanks to Hameed for your kind hospitality and food preparation. I'll be back for the Samoon and sandwiches!

I am so disappointed in our visit today. I did not even end up getting food. This review is based solely on the treatment upon entering the restaurant.My friend and I went to order food at around 5 PM on Saturday. There were two people sitting at a table and two other people standing around like they were waiting for orders. The person behind the counter saw us come in, turned his back without a word, and proceeded doing some thing on the back counter.I don't know if he was super busy. All I know is that we waited for a while, and this man did not turn around. The two meat spics were shaved down to nothing, the counters that normally have salad in them were empty except for some desserts, the panel with the menu on it was off, and the whole place was kind of dark and a bit dingy.Since no one took her order, and everything looked empty, we ended up leaving.The parking lot here is also pretty tight, so on top of everything else I had to try to maneuver my car back out of there. Maybe it was just a busy Saturday evening? But honestly, this is the second time I have come where the staff has just been rude. It's too bad, you can see from my past reviews that I actually really enjoyed the food in the past. But I don't think I will be going back. There are other alternatives opening up all over the neighborhood. We ended up going to café Europa, which is Greek.

terrible. cold. raw. white sauce smells like vomitLow quality ingredients. Cheap ingredients and as a result you get cheap bad food.

Was in the area and decided to give this spot a try. It wasn't busy at all but it took 15 mins for someone to take my order. I stood there waiting awkwardly lol. I felt bad for the cashier, she was super sweet but needed assistance as she was also making orders!The food was just okay. I ordered the tikka combo with chicken skewers. Presentation it looked really good, but flavors were lacking! The salad was in need of seasoning. Rice and chicken were okay but nothing special. I wish that this dish was served with tzatziki sauce or something! I did enjoy the bread and hummus that was included. I ended with the pistachio rolls! They weren't very sweet so I drizzled some honey on I had at home. Probably won't be back any time soon.

The ground chicken has so many spices you cannot taste the chicken.One person in the entire restaurant that handles cooking. no other services.The place looks old and has limited seating, not for a big group