5/10. being palestinian and living in amman, jordan for several years, i feel like i have been disappointed yet again at trying to find a place capable of making traditional shawerma, falafel and hummus in kc.
falafel wasn't traditional arabic falafel. it had a soft yellow exterior and mushy yellow interior. should be crispy, dark brown exterior and moist green interior. didn't really even taste like falafel.
the hummus wasn't horrible actually, it was alright. it was too thin though and a little too much lemon and oil was drenched onto the small amount on my plate.
the shawerma was the biggest disappointment. i love this place in amman, jordan called shawerma reem. best shawerma i have ever had. i have been trying to find a place to make similar sandwiches in kc and have not been lucky enough. at the habashi house, they seasoned their meat way too much, making it hard to enjoy the juicy beef/lamb mixture. they put a tahini sauce on the sandwich which is fine, but it needs a garlic flavor too it and my sandwich was drenched in the sauce, making the sandwich very soggy and falling apart as soon as i unwrapped it. also, beef/lamb shawerma should never have pickles in the sandwich, the acidity and tang kills the real deep and profound flavors that come from those proteins. the sandwich did have raw onion in it which was nice but it didn't have any tomato slices.
i am only being very picky because i am arabic. this food means so much to me and i have to give it the grade i did. for someone that isn't used to arabic food, i am sure this place is great. for arabs like me, i think it was the biggest disappointment in kc yet.