I’m on a Mediterranean kick first with Sababa on Tuesday, and now, The Kebab Shop in San Diego. Years ago, I visited the original location of The Kebab Shop in downtown San Diego (found it on Yelp) and remember absolutely loving it. This time, I went to their latest location in Mission Valley and was surprised to find that this is the 6th store!!
This location is in a convenient spot, across the street from Macy’s Home Store at Mission Valley mall and gets good traffic during lunch time! I loved the spits with the meats roasting away in the back.
We managed to try a lot of things like Lamb Doner ($6.99), a nice wrap using flatbread which isn’t overly thick. The meat was moist and flavorful and the combination of the lettuce, tomatoes and sauce was absolutely delicious! And so reasonable!
The Shish Kebab Plates are also awesome and comes with a salad and a side of fragrant basmati saffron rice. Salmon Kebab ($10.99) is seasoned well and great for those who are not wanting meat.
Meat lovers can opt for the Beef Kofte ($9.79), so perfectly seasoned and juicy. A side of dill sauce is served alongside and it goes so well with the meat.
You can also choose Chicken Kebab ($9.79), chicken breast, again, nicely seasoned and very flavorful. There is nothing worse than under-seasoned meat and you will definitely not find that here.
If you didn’t want a skewer plate, then there are rotisserie plates with lamb, chicken or falafel with one hot side and one fresh salad for only $8.99. We had enough sides so we just sampled the meat (lamb to the left and chicken to the right).
I love Falafel ($2.59) and the ones here are light, not greasy and a great choice for vegetarians. I always like to try falafels at a Mediterranean/Middle Eastern restaurant because it is actually not easy to create a well textured falafel which doesn’t end up dense and heavy.
They have lots of Fresh Salads ($3.99/8.99 for 3) — nine of them! Ideal accompaniments to go with your meal or just as is.
Some of my favorites include:
Algerian Eggplant — tender pieces of eggplant with strong flavors including cumin.
Even my friend who I didn’t think liked Tabouli loved it. The parsley salad was finely chopped and very fresh!
The most surprising item was the Macaroni Salad. It was so delicious I couldn’t stop eating it. Don’t laugh, but it had bits of imitation bacon in it, and I really think that’s what kicked up the flavor!
Fast, casual restaurants are the “in” thing these days. You get high quality food at a fraction of the cost and you’re out the door really quickly. I wish we had one of these here in Orange County. There are lots of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern restaurants around but a fast casual place serving such deliciousness is lacking! I would love one in the strip mall down the street, I’d be there all the time! In fact, I’m salivating just writing this post!
The Kebab Shop
1570 Camino de la Reina
San Diego, CA 92108
Tel: 619-491-0279
Yes, I still remember my lunch at this place. Unfortunately the OC does not have one like it. But inside the Wholesome Choice supermarket in Irvine is quite good as there is limited choice in the OC. Don’t forget to get the huge flat oblong flat bread that is only freshly baked and there is always a line for it when the baker is at work. You cannot buy it already baked. So delicious.