Really love this gem! Portion is large (especially the sides!). It feels warm and welcoming. The space has a rustic vibe--lots of wood, stones, and a big mural on the wall. Fresh pita & dips (free) - 5/5 As soon as we sat down the waiter brought out pita and a special dip that I never tried in other restaurants, and the pita was still warm like it had just come out of the oven. Soft, fluffy, and really fresh. I used it to dip into the sides we ordered later--the Baba Ghanouj and Hummus. The baba ghanouj had that roasted eggplant smokiness, while the hummus was thick, creamy, and very sesame-forward. Both were solid. Flatbread Trio ($15) - 5/5 This comes with three pieces but you can order a plate of three in the same kinds: meat, za'atar spice, and cheese. The za'atar one had that unique flavor--thyme, sumac, sesame seeds. The cheese flatbread came out hot and stretchy with three cheeses melted together. The meat one had minced beef and vegetables on a thin crust with slightly crispy edges. This one really impressed me. Lamb Kabob Platter ($19) - 4/5 Ground lamb mixed with onion and spices and grilled. The texture was fairly firm and the seasoning was pretty strong--you mostly taste the spices rather than the lamb itself. It comes with grilled tomato and onion, which adds a nice bit of sweetness and balances things out. It also comes with 2 sides--we chose baba ghanouj and hummus. The sides portion is really generous. Mixed Grill Combination ($23) - 4.5/5 It includes beef tenderloin, kafta skewers, and chicken shish tawook. The beef had a nice smoky grill flavor and was quite tender. The kafta had the strongest seasoning, and the chicken ended up being the lightest and juiciest of the three. It also comes with 2 sides--we chose baba ghanouj and salad. House dessert (pistachio pastry, $6) - 4/5 Looks pretty simple, but inside there's pistachio filling that gives it a really nice nutty sweetness. Not overly sugary, which I liked. I hope it could improve its appearance a bit. The food felt comforting and homey rather than fancy, and the portions were generous for the price. read more

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Such a good find! I was in town with family trying to find a place for 11 of us to get something to eat and as soon as we walked in we knew we had found the spot. Staff were super welcoming and happy to quickly seat us. No waiting right away we had glasses of ice water and full baskets of their fresh warm pita while we made looked over their light up menus with helpful explanations from our server to help guide us. So many delicious things came out just as fast. Meats were all juicy and seasoned to perfection the chicken, steak, and kafta Delicious! Baba ghanoush and hummus to top all of it yummy! You can really taste all the work they put into making all their food great! read more

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Had high expectations based on recent reviews. It fell short for us. We had the gyro wrap and kafta platter. We also tried the cashew baklava. The gyro wrap was good, but too much feta for my liking AND I've had better. The kafta platter was ok. Not as much flavor as we've had at other places. The fresh bread they bring out before your meal was one of our favorites. The cashew baklava was super dry and just wasn't good. Our service was good. Ambiance was ok. It's no smoking but towards the end of our meal we could both smell smoke. Guessing it was an employee on break and it was coming through their not so good ventilation system. Unfortunately, we won't be back. read more

Phoenician Resto Cafe - Fresh bread - Lebanese Near Me - Austin, Texas

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Since I am new to the Austin area, I am always looking for the best Arabi/Mediterranean foods to try. Called in an order and was ready within 15 minutes. Got the beef shawarma sandwich, hummus and fattoush. I am a sucker for a good salad and I will say that the amount of mint in the salad was to die for! Fresh mint lovers must try it! Will definitely return for dine in and update review :) read more

Phoenician Resto Cafe - Fattoush Salad - Lebanese Near Me - Austin, Texas

I've been twice within a week now because the first time was that good. First off, they bring freshly baked pitas to your table while you wait, and I've never had a pita that good before. Theirs are very light, soft, and chewy, and they have that fresh from the oven smell. The restaurant is beautiful with lots of seating (including tables for large groups) and the service was very friendly and helpful both times. I got the gyro and chicken rice bowl. The chicken was good but not super memorable compared to the gyro meat, which was well spiced and tender. The rice was delicious too--it had some spices mixed in that made it very flavorful, and the salad was a good compliment to the bowl. My favorite thing I ordered though was the flatbread trio, which comes with cheese bread, zaa'tar bread, and lahm bi ajeen, which has meat and mixed vegetables. They were all so good, but my favorite was the lahm bi ajeen. I could eat that pretty much any time and be happy! read more

Phoenician Resto Cafe - Gyro and chicken bowl - Lebanese Near Me - Austin, Texas

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The freshest and most flavorful food infused with oils and spices - we loved everything we had and would have returned if we had more time in Austin! Large restaurant with plenty of seating, it was busy the entire time we were there for lunch with dine in customers and to go orders. Friendly service and clean, highly recommend!! read more

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Best Lebanese/Syrian food I have had in Austin! Everything I tried was wonderful. I especially enjoyed the vegan dishes. The tabouli, hummus, baba ghanouj, falafel, fried cauliflower, potatoes, zaatar pie, and fresh pita took me back to summers in Damascus with their freshness, authenticity, & flavor. The service was excellent as well. read more

I've eaten at the Phoenician many times during my trip to Austin, and always enjoyed a delicious, fresh meal and friendly service. The prices are very reasonable, and the restaurant is spotlessly clean. Their chicken shawarma is some of the best I've ever had, featuring all breast meat thinly shaved off the rotating pit. I've gotten the hummus and rice as sides, which are both fantastic. I also recommend their falafel, which is crispy and flavorful! If you're in the UT area and craving great Lebanese food, look no further! read more

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Great place for our group to meet for lunch! The dining area is beautiful. Everything was delicious, and the service was excellent. We had some vegetarians and other dietary restrictions, and they really liked it here. The servingvsizes were very generous. It's at a close walk to UT and has free parking. Thank you for taking our reservation and for such a great lunch! We absolutely recommend this place! read more

Phoenician Resto Cafe - Flatbread gyro - Lebanese Near Me - Austin, Texas

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We ordered the mixed grill ($57), which was a combination of kofta kebab, chicken shish tawook, and grilled beef tenderloin. It came with four sides, and we chose the rice, baba ghanoush, hummus, and salad. It also came with bread (which was super warm and fluffy) and an olive oil/herb dressing. The kebabs were very flavorful and tender. My favorite was definitely the grilled beef tenderloin. The service was wonderful and friendly. Would definitely come again! read more

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Best Mediterranean restaurant in Austin. Highly recommend their falafel. Family run. Service is great. read more

Omar said this restaurant reminded him of his home country of Syria, except the building was still intact. He also told me that the loud Middle Eastern music and decor would be just like Morocco when I visit. Even though this restaurant is near campus, I did not see any students here. I saw only older people. I had the chicken shawarma over rice bowl, while Omar had the kafta kabob platter. We both remarked how the food was very dry. It tasted better when I added a significant amount of sauce. The pita bread tasted stale. For the good service and authentic Middle Eastern vibes minus the war, I think my visit to Phoenician Resto Cafe was a worthwhile cultural experience. read more

Phoenician Resto Cafe - Chicken Shawarma RS, Kafta Kabob Platter - Lebanese Near Me - Austin, Texas

The food and service was amazing. The prices and variety offered are great options for a dinner with friends or family.

The food here is incredible. I ordered the falafel and my son ordered a wrap. We both took home left overs. The atmosphere is pretty casual. read more

The food was delicious the service was outstanding and I cannot wait to go there again. We got the vegetarian platter, the chicken and rice and the mixed grill. I cannot recommend this place highly enough! read more

We ordered the combination bowl chicken shawarma & gyro, beef shawarma wrap, falafel and cheese roll. Not only did the chicken shawarma and gyro LOOK dry, it also TASTED dry! The beef shawarma wrap and cheese roll tasted better compared to the combination bowl, but they were just "okay."Unfortunately, the falafel was also dry. read more

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The service was very friendly. There was 1 girl working the front, and she was keeping up pretty good. The place is casual and spacious with simple decor. The food was just ok. I had the dolmas (grape leaves) and the chicken schwarma platter with the Greek salad and hummus. The chicken and hummus were bland. My husband said the pita tasted store bought and that he's even had better store bought. It definitely looked store bought, but I didn't taste it. Sadly the best things that I had was the salad with Greek vinaigrette and the garlic sauce. The dolmas were just ok. I had already eaten 2 when I remembered to take the picture. read more

Phoenician Resto Cafe - Grape leaves - Lebanese Near Me - Austin, Texas

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Love coming here for lunch the day after a concert. Food and the service are great, one of the few things I love about Austin

Nice eatery place for your favorite Arabic dishes in a nicely furnished place! First visit will be many future ones when wife & I in the area. Maher& Amal read more

Great service. Ordered Turkish coffee and grilled meats for two. We are pleasantly surprised by the food which tasted fresh. We like how the skewers of meats come on a rack with little cube of charcoals. Salad was fresh. Rice was tasteful. We ate everything on our plates. read more

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The food was okay, but the ambiance was good. It was a nice chill place for a tasty filling lunch. I think the chicken had too much of a lemon flavor for me, but the portions were good. The service was inattentive, but the food came out quick. There are several parking spots but the restaurant is generally empty. I liked that it had plenty of seating indoors and outdoors, I know that this place would be good for larger groups. Would I come here again? Maybe, it's not bad. read more

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I came here with a friend who was in town for work and staying in the area. We were extremely happy with how good the food was here. The wait staff was so attentive and made sure we were taken good care of! My friend and I split the sampler and enjoyed being able to try a little of everything! read more

My bf and I stopped in for dinner. It was great! I will be back in the future. We got the hummus, I got the falafel bowl, and my bf got the chicken swarmah bowl. We waited 5 minutes (the server felt bad that she "made us wait") and comped our hummus. read more

Phoenician Resto Cafe - Hummus - Lebanese Near Me - Austin, Texas

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The short version: an AMAZING restaurant with great service and wonderful food!! Can't wait to come here again when we're near UT! We had not visited this location since it was Milto's and wanted to give it a try. There were a lot of wonderful reviews which were not recommended and only a few reviews which were, so we decided to use our visit to make a very studied and complete review of Kabobzi. We visited on a Saturday just before noon and the restaurant was empty except for the workers. When this location was Milto's, the food was wonderful, but the decor and fittings were somewhat drab and industrial. The space has had a makeover and is now bright and welcoming and seems much more inviting. My husband ordered the Gyro wrap on the fluffy pita bread while I ordered the chicken Shawarma platter with a Greek salad and french fries. We were a little disappointed that they had no iced tea, but we got a fountain drink to share and went to the lovely shady patio to wait for our food. It took a little while, I think because the fluffy pita bread took longer to prepare, but Jordan brought our food and it looked and smelled wonderful. My husband's Gyro wrap was stuffed with meat and fresh veggies and was accompanied by tzatziki sauce. My chicken Shawarma platter was huge (see pictures) and soooo good. The Greek salad had green olives instead of black, but was perfectly seasoned and dressed. The chicken Shawarma was incredibly tasty and there were so many fries I shared them with my husband. Mine also came with a side of garlic sauce which was the perfect addition to the chicken. Shortly after we started eating, Jordan brought out a complementary serving of hummus and pita bread. The hummus was very delicious! Overall it was too much food but we finished it anyway :-). I really look forward to eating here again, and will definitely be trying the cauliflower appetizer as that is one of my favorite Mediterranean dishes. I have no idea why one reviewer posted such a negative and nasty one star review, but I hope people will overlook that and try this place. We thought it was great! read more

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The food here is top tier. Excellent quality and meat cooked to perfection. The Phoenician mixed grill is so filling. The rice pudding is amazing. On top of that, the service is excellent and ambiance is sweet. read more

I am such a fan of Mediterranean Food, I couldn't wait to try Phoenician. The restaurant is stunning- it looks like a huge pillared building. Like something you would see in Greece. Inside, the decor is a bit simplistic, but in a good way. I love that their menu gets straight to the point, with many great options. I ordered dolmas for the appetizer. They were as tasty as dolmas normally are, and I loved that these did not disappoint. I ordered the Shish tawook and my boyfriend ordered the lamb kabob. Both of the entrees were absolutely delicious. I loved the amount of meat and the salad. I will say, I wasn't a huge fan of the pita that came with the entrees. I normally love pita, but the one I received was super thin. It didn't take away from the food, though, and I was incredibly satisfied with what I received. All in all, really excited to come back and try something else. read more

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Shawarma is lame. Certainly not like the shawarma you get in Beirut. Meat is cooked on a griddle, not a rotisserie. Spices are weak.Certainly not worth $15, compared with $2.50 in Beirut. This place is cutting corners on shawarma. Best to pass. read more

Food: Oh my god love it here! The food is soooo delicious! By far the best Taboule salad ever so please try it. The fried kibba is also amazing. I always go for a mixed grill to try everything as I don't want to miss anything! Service: Nice team and lovely staff! Love them they are so helpful and flexible. They definitely make me feel very good and valued every time I go there. Ambiance: It is just a quiet place to eat which is what I look for I don't like noise . read more

Delicious food, great service! The humus and the baba ghanouj was the best I've ever had! The chef even brought us a plate of things he wanted us to try for free. Very generous portions you really get a bang for your buck! We we will definitely be back! read more

Phoenician Resto Cafe - Rice, Chicken Shawarma Platter, Baba Ghanouj all was delicious! - Lebanese Near Me - Austin, Texas

A very delish place to eat with kind people ! Great location with plenty of parking ! The food was authentic and very good ! read more

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Today I had the honor of visiting this restaurant for the first time with my wife for some dinner. We were greeted with such joy and comfort by gabby. Food was so fresh , greatly portioned and tasteful. Thank you read more

Phoenician Resto Cafe - Shish tawookn; Fresh , greatly portioned and tasty. Thank you Gabby - Lebanese Near Me - Austin, Texas

Solid Mediterranean restaurant. The veg sampler comes with a lot of food- tasty grape leaves, smoky baba ghanouj, hummus, fried cauliflower, greek salad, and falafal. I don't usually love grape leaves, but these were really great with just the right amount of briney-taste. And though I wouldn't have picked the fried cauliflower, it was actually really good. Unfortunately, the pita bread that comes with the order was not so good- definitely on the hard side with not much flavor. And though the online menu says you can pick the 5 items in your veg sampler, but that's not actually the case. I really wanted the labneh, so ordered it as a side. It was rich and creamy, but didn't have any of the promised olive or mint topping (boo!) Sadly, nothing I could do about it since I had ordered through Uber Eats. Despite a few issues, the food was good, so solid 4 stars from me. read more

Phoenician Resto Cafe - Veg sampler - Lebanese Near Me - Austin, Texas

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I tried out this place yesterday with a couple friends and family members for dinner and I must say I was impressed. Mediterranean restaurants generally aren't this nice, but the interior was very pleasing and designed well. We called ahead about 15 minutes and were seated with no problems on a Saturday night. The restaurant was big and located pretty conveniently. The waitress was nice and had our waters ready ahead of time from when we called in. I ordered some fish, but didn't read well enough and had my meal covered in tahini which I didn't enjoy all too much. The portion of the fish was also pretty small, but after the side dishes and free pita I was stuffed. The staff was kind and fixed billing mistakes as well as consistently filled up glasses and went above and beyond. My meal here was more so a 3, but the service and atmosphere was really good so I believe it was worthy of a 4 star review. read more

Phoenician Resto Cafe - Lebanese Near Me - Austin, Texas

Excellent food. Excellent Service. Drinks are a bit on the pricey side. 9$ for a draft.

Thank you for the owners and staff of Phoenicians Resto Cafe!! We had food catered this past weekend. The food (Kibbeh, stuffed grape leaves, hummus, baba Ghannouj) was delicious and authentic!! The service was excellent and over and beyond expectation!! I would highly recommend eating at Phoenician Resto Cafe! Thank you for the great food and service!! NK read more

Wanted to love it based on the reviews. I ordered via UberEats; the bag came full of oil (from subpar hummus packaging, I'd imagine), the baklava that I paid $5 for was literally the size of my index finger, the hummus came without any pita, chips, or crudite to dip, the gyro bowl portion size isn't great, and no utensils or napkins were included in the bag. A lackluster experience overall. read more

Phoenician Resto Cafe - Baklava - Lebanese Near Me - Austin, Texas

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The experience I had here was incredible, and I'm looking forward to returning! You can order at the counter or be served at a table. There are ample outdoor seating options as well. The prices are very reasonable for the quality and quantity of food. And UT students get 15% off, yay! It's hard being a student and finding deals on food. The service here was amazing, the waitress we had (didn't catch a name, but she had brown hair and was outgoing!) was one of the best servers I've had. She thoroughly explained all of the menu items that she recommended because it was me and my friend's first time coming. She was friendly, funny, and chatted just the right amounts to make our experience personable and enjoyable. She also was more than willing to customize our meals to our liking (add spice, sub some items, etc). The server told us that everything on the menu is made in-house except for the Grape Leaves and Rice Pudding (she didn't recommend the Grape Leaves, and said she can replace the Grape Leaves, with, say Falafels on a dish with them). She highly recommended the Vegetarian Platter because of the Fried Cauliflower, Falafel, Hummus and Baba Ghanouj. She also recommended any of the meat platters. She had a lot to say on the tastiness of the Baba Ghanouj, meat, Fatoush and Tabouli salads, and Chicken Sish especially. I ordered the Falafel Wrap with Baba Ghanouj (yes, the photo has a pic of the side Greek Salad. That was a mistake that was promptly fixed and with apologies). It was delicious. The Falafels are probably one of the healthiest I've tasted if I'm eating out - they weren't as crispy due to less oil fry, but I really liked it. I tasted more of the crunchy chickpeas and seasoning, rather than oil. Every part of the wrap had falafel, so the cooks didn't skimp! I ordered it to be extra spicy, and the waitress kindly provided a little cup of chili sauce for me, which was an amazing touch (it might have been a homemade hot sauce?). The Baba Ghanouj was sooo yummy! It had a smoky flavor, which was a really nice complement to the oil they put on it and with the pita bread. The Greek Salad was nothing special, so I would probably order a different side for one of your choices. I was really filled from this meal! My friend ordered the Mixed Grill Platter. It comes with a skewer of each meat: lamb, chicken, and beef, on top of a salad and with two dipping sauces (a Greek yogurt tasting one, and a sour cream tasting one. Both were delicious and nice to dip anything in). It comes with Pita and two sides of your choice. She got the Baba Ghanouj and the Fatoush salad as recommended. The meat was very juicy (as described on the menu haha), flavorful, and tender. They definitely cook their meat perfectly here because it was not dry at all. The Fatoush salad has a citrusy taste to it due to the pomegranate vinaigrette. I liked it a lot because it had a lot of light, high notes, and it comes with tasty fried pita chips, but it was a bit too much for her after a few bites (she says she usually doesn't go for veggies at restaurants, if that says anything). This plate is for hungry people for sure, and it gives you a good taste of a lot of the menu items. read more

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I love the food! So delicious and great portion too. It's definitely worth it! I had the fatouch salad, hummus and Kabob. read more

Phoenician Resto Cafe - Mix grill kabob with hummus, fatouch salad and Arabic bread. - Lebanese Near Me - Austin, Texas

I'm updating my review to 2 stars because the hookah place next door has nothing to do with this restaurant. Fair enough. Still not a fan of the food and overall experience. Sorry. read more

Phoenician Resto Cafe - Hummus - Lebanese Near Me - Austin, Texas

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I am so happy we tried Phoenician for our Sunday family meal. We have grown tired of Chinese and Mexican. Mediterranean hit the spot. The owner was lovely and helped me with choosing the right order amount for four persons. The salad, spicy humus, various kabobs with accompanying sauces were all excellent. When picking up my order I took great joy in watching this Lebanese family with the kids coloring at one of the tables making their dreams come true in Austin TX. They were hard at work and bringing their own mark on the Austin food scene. I cant wait until my next visit which will be more often, and I suggest my readers do the same. Pay Phoenician a visit. They deserve your business. read more