Heard about this place and finally came here on the afternoon of Sat 3/21…read more It's located on the main street so you have to park nearby and walk to King of Kabab. There's a corner liquor store next door so if you want to try your luck and buy a scratcher while dining or picking up food to go, here's a perfect location to kill two birds with one stone. First time visiting this joint and I was impressed! The protein (chicken) was not overcooked and had the right amount of flavor. They wrap their delicious chicken shawarma's tighter than a burrito! Next to the cashier on the left is a little window of Turkish delight (sweets). I ordered the red-velvet + orange + lemon flavored treats. Looked appealing, but after I took a bit of the red velvet, everything stuck to my teeth and had to do extra work with the dental scalpel. It's like layers of hardened fruit roll up with molasses of the flavor. The cahier did warn me that this was sweet with a small side eye that I shoulda caught right away bc I did go in for quite the surprise. Ambience and customer service was on point. They offered for us to sit in the outdoor dining, but we ended up taking our order to go. Stop by this joint when you're in town, you won't be disappointed!

My husband came here today to pick up a meal. It's our first time trying this restaurant. They…read moreopened 10 minutes late for lunch. We tried their stuff falafel plate that comes with rice, hummus, salad and one pita. We never had a stuffed falafel before so this was pretty good. Lots of flavor from the onions inside and super crunchy. Reminded me of fried chicken. The rice was very fluffy but a little bland. The hummus was good and not too salty. What I like about this place is that none of the food is too salty which tends to be the case in a lot of places with Mediterranean food like Troy and Zaytoon where I frequent. It is very unusual that the food is low sodium. The salad was the worst part because it was limp and tasted cheap. I really enjoyed their pita here because it was chewy and crunchy at the same time. Maybe the pita was whole wheat because it was darker than most. We did toast it before we ate it. You can add a dollar and get extra rice or hummus and we added both extra rice and hummus. The portion size is relatively generous although you only get three falafels. I added some olives to make the rice less bland. That's the nice thing about taking food home to eat because you can doctor it. Overall, we enjoyed the food. I wouldn't go out of my way to come back but will definitely visit when in the area. This is a busy area and can be difficult to find parking.

I stepped in to grab food before realizing there was a separate cafe next door…read more Decided to come back after dinner next door to pick up some dessert and I'm so glad I did! I got an assortment of Turkish delight and some pistachio baklava ($2.99). The Turkish delight is sold by weight across all the varieties and goes for $16.99/lb. The guy behind the counter was super friendly and offered us a sample of one of the flavors to try which I thought was a nice gesture. Everything looked so good, so we picked a couple different pieces of Turkish delight to try. To my surprise, my favorite ended up being the saffron, though rose petal with pomegranate and sour cherry with pastachio were close seconds. I didn't like the coconut or the chocolate one that much, so reminder to myself to skip those next time. After picking up the dessert, I did a quick circle around the store to see what they had. It's not a big store but they manage to cram a lot of stuff into the limited space!

I usually stop by either the Middle East Market or its sister spot, the Middle East Café, during my…read moreweekly laundromat run down the block. The café bartenders are always kind -- once they even let me use the bathroom before I realized the laundromat had one. I've ordered a beer while waiting for my clothes to dry and was welcomed to sit with my dog on the back patio. The atmosphere is warm and accommodating. The market itself is a treasure trove: shelves filled with Middle Eastern dry goods, nuts, dried fruits, spices, blends, and condiments you can't find anywhere else. Kofta, shish kebab, falafel, sumac, garam masala -- it's all here. They also carry pita, lavash, labna, and other breads and yogurts that make cooking from scratch feel like heaven. Bonus points for the large assortments of delicious house made baklavas! Even without a full kitchen, the prepared foods are excellent. I ordered falafel, eggplant dip, hummus, and cucumber salad from the to‑go counter -- a mini feast for $26 that didn't disappoint. **Verdict:** Courteous service, respectful staff, and a fantastic selection. Whether you're cooking at home or grabbing a bite, this place is a gem. Highly recommended.

We came back here and had wraps for dinner last night. My husband loves their kefta wrap. There's…read moretons of meat in it and a side salad or fries. I tried their falafel wrap for the first time and I was delighted. It was so tasty with tons of sauce and veggies. I couldn't stop eating it. The salad is healthy but kind of bland. Definitely returning to have more falafel wraps. Our waitress was nice and this restaurant is always a relaxing place to eat.

My family and I came here for dinner on Saturday night. We've been to Zaytoon a few times. It's…read morealways been okay. Not the best, but pretty good. Service was fine in the beginning. Nothing crazy. But then my daughter noticed that the chicken in her Fattoush salad was a bit raw in the middle. She cut open all the pieces she still had on her plate, and a couple were the same. We called the server over and informed her that the chicken was undercooked. She took the salad to the kitchen to fix the problem. A couple of minutes later, she came back with her salad and said her chicken would be done in a bit. I think we were in shock. Never in my 57 years of life/30 years in the food industry have I ever seen a restaurant take the food off a plate that had bites taken out of it, salad that had been halfway consumed, PUT THE CHICKEN BACK ON THE GRILL, AND RE-SERVED THE SALAD TO THE CUSTOMER. We didn't quite know what to do. When she came back with the recooked chicken, we knew it was the same pieces because they were all cut in half as before. In hindsight, should we have called over the manager? Probably. He probably would have had the salad redone, which would have taken more time than we had. Did it take away the fact that they recooked half-eaten chicken on the grill and re-served the same salad? No. This is clearly a major health code violation. Then, when they cleared our plates, the server said to us, "You didn't want dessert, did you?" That was the icing on the un-ordered cake for us. So disappointing. Food was pretty tasteless, and service was... very odd. I think we're done with Zaytoon.

The food here is consistently great. We've only tried to go orders but the interior looks awesome…read moreas well. Service is friendly. Recommend 100%

Dinner with a side of rude attitude. No thanks!…read more If it were not for the food, and I could give 0 stars, I would. Not sure if they were having a bad day, and we came on the wrong night, but that should not be any excuse. I use to frequent their old location, and have yet to go back since they moved. First attempt at the new location, I tried to come with 2 girl friends for an early lunch on a Monday at 11am. Their hours say they open at 10:30am, but it was 11:20am, and their doors were locked and the people inside said they were closed. Second attempt was on a Sunday evening at 6pm. We were 2 families totaling 8 people. We told the hostess/server our party size, and almost immediately, she did not seem too happy about it. That is when the attitude began. We looked around, and noticed that there were about 2 or 3 other tables of 2-3 people dining, so it was not like they were busy. We were really taken back by her reaction and tone, which made us worry about the service the rest of the night. We got seated, looked at the menu, and let her know we were ready to order. We were curious and had a few quick questions, such as which is popular and which type of meat comes in the plate (because it did not specify), but her responses were very rude. She even tried to give an attitude saying we could not change what comes on the plate, when in fact we were just adding to the order. She was just so quick to try to find a problem to speak on that she did not realize it was an addition. I started to get upset. I truly tried to keep my calm, but it was really hard with the way she was speaking. Food took pretty long to come out even though they were not busy. Good thing we were not in a rush. We noticed that the people next to us ordered before us, but our food came out first, so we felt bad. Then when their food did come out, I believe something was wrong, so they had to wait a little more. Although the food was decent, the service ruined the entire experience. For that reason, I would not go back.

Matcha Tales, Always looking to enjoy the food/drink…read moreexperience. We found a gem. Took a minute to prepare, but I am willing to sacrifice time for taste . Worked out great. All I heard was this is the best Matcha ever. Wow. Let's memorize this. Well deserved. See you

Pastry 4/5 Customer service 5/5…read moreValue 3/5 We came right before closing so the only thing we can get was pastries The honey cake is the best; moist and balanced in flavor. Everything is good and fresh. It is a little pricey @$7 per piece.

This was my first time ever eating at this restaurant and from once a separate told us we got there…read morejust in time. We had ourselves an early dinner around 3 PM and he said the restaurant had just cleared out. Apparently they were packed for lunch!! I've never had a style of food before so I asked my boyfriend what I should order since he likes the style. He actually ordered me a chicken curry dish and himself another meat dish, but I can't remember what it was called. Both items as well as appetizer it was delicious! I should've taken a picture of the items we ordered for the appetizer since it was a three portion combo plate, but the pictures are below! Ambience was very relaxed and I really like how there was a half steps down into a little patio area so it seemed like you were almost underground, but you could see out. It was cute watching people walk their dogs and families ride their bike bikes. I will definitely want to come back here and get and buy more dishes!

We ordered a bunch of food to be delivered…read more Food arrived quite warm, however, - the potato bolanis did not travel well. The bola I had become soggy and the stuffing was spilling out - so hard to eat. - the chicken kabob was delicious - the filet mignon kabobs were tough and needed a knife - the kohbideh kabobs had disintegrated but were tasty - the Baba Ganoush portion seemed small for its price $12.50 - three tiny sauce containers for all this food, left us wanting! There was plenty of rice and bread. This was our first time order. Will try dining-in next time.

Great service, even better food. Don't let appearance fool you. This place has been around for a…read morelong time, and for good reason. Their food feels home cooked and very comforting We always get the tandoori fish every time we're nearby.

Love their North Indian - Pakistani Meals served in a ' Clean & Friendly Family Owned & Run Desi…read moreEatery.... Location is very near the U.C. Campus & San Pablo / University Avenue Gourmet Gulch... Their Curries are Authentic & Delicious Homemade by Family members' close Supervision !!! Daily Specials can be Accompanied by Complimentary Homemade Naan Bread.... Available via Doordash ; not sure about Grubhib and Others as am ' Not a Member ' !!!!!!

It's true when they say you can taste the love put into the food. Even though this store seems…read moreunassuming, I was really surprised by the quality and taste. We ordered joojeh and koobideh kabab. They are both so good. My partner says it's the best joojeh kabab he's ever had in his life. They give a nice portion, with generous amount of butter and saffron, to make everything taste more fragrant and delicious. Nice salad and tomato for a complete meal. I'm excited to try their other options next. Thanks Darband for providing a delicious meal. Recommend 10/10. Ordered through door dash.

Darband's is located in a little cute eatery food court near the Berkeley campus. The owner is…read moresuper nice and always asks customers how they like the food, like "Was your meat seasoned enough or juicy enough?". The owner values customer opinions about his food which I think is awesome. I ordered a Beef koobideh plate which I thought was perfect. The meat was juicy and had a nice buttery flavor. It came with two roasted tomatoes, rice and some pita. The entrees are definitely reasonably priced as well especially being near the campus. Only drawback is this place doesn't stay open too late, closes at 7pm and misses much of the dinner traffic, but definitely a place worth trying.

This review is based on an order for delivery. We ordered food for 12 people and all of the food…read morewas good. The rice was a little small for 12 servings, but all of it was good and went over well for our group. The delivery was on time and communicated for delivery. My favorite was the salmon skewers and the spinach filo, a lot of flavor and texture! So good. This was my first time eating from here, but I would definitely return again!

I ordered the Salmon Kebab Dinner and this might officially be my new go-to spot for Mediterranean…read morefood. The salmon was cooked perfectly -- tender, flavorful, and not dry at all. The squeeze of lemon on top made it taste even zestier and really brought everything together. My only tiny suggestion would be to add more lemon. Lemon is relatively inexpensive, so an extra slice (or one thick wedge, like a generous 1/4 of a lemon) would really elevate it even more. The Armenian potato salad was AMAZING. I honestly prefer it over any traditional potato salad I've had. It was fresh, well-seasoned, and had so much flavor. The Rice Pilaf was also delicious -- I'm not sure what all the ingredients were, but every bite had great texture and seasoning. You can tell care goes into it. The hummus was smooth, creamy, and full of flavor. I would've loved one more piece of pita bread to go with it, but what they provided was still really good. Overall, I rarely give perfect reviews, but this is easily a 4.5 out of 5 for me. Since Yelp doesn't allow half stars, they're getting the full five. Just a couple small improvements and it would be flawless. Definitely coming back.

I walked in at 8:29 on a Saturday night and the host said "I hope you don't want to eat here."…read more As he was carrying a bag out. I asked if he closed at 9 and he said yes, but the kitchen is already closed so I can sit there, but that's it. Not even 8:30 pm. People were still dining Saturday January 24, 2026.

Disappointed after being a consistent customer. The service was abysmal. Service stumbled out with…read moremy two soups in hand as if he were carrying a dog bowl. His fingers were on the lips of the bowl with the suit washing up and touching his fingertips. He stopped by to see How things were going after we've finished. My drink was empty for almost 20 minutes before anyone said a word, and it was another server. The french fries were quite tasty, but the beefs of lucky was a sloppy wet mess. Not sure what's happened here, but things have definitely taken a turn for the worse. Might be my last visit to this restaurant after dining here many times.