busy, but good and inexpensive. i'm a big fan of middle eastern food, so i was looking forward to trying shish. you place your order at the counter, then seat yourself at a table. we had trouble finding an open table, but a waiter noticed this and cleared out a pair of hipsters surfing on their laptops and nursing a soda between the two of them. i must say that after reading some of the reviews, i was pleasantly surprised by the service- the waiter was very attentive and helpful. thefoodwas prepared fairly quickly, and brought to us as each dish was prepared, not all at once.
we tried the gyros sandwich, hummus with chicken shawarma, babaganoush, cheese and spinach pies, and the veggie shishwich. the hummus and chicken shawarma were excellent (my 5-year old couldn't stop eating it), with a large portion of chicken and a very nice fresh green salad. the gyro was also very good and very large considering how inexpensive it is. we barely touched the babaganoush, which we normally love; this version was too coarse, oily, and smoky for our tastes. the pies were made with beautifully flaky, light phyllo: the cheese pie was very good, though a bit sweet. the spinach pie was disappointing- way too bitter, and i think they used frozen spinach in the preparation. the veggie "shishwich" would have been a home run, except for the fact that it was so watery- they need to let the roasted vegetables rest and give up a bit of their liquid before putting it into the sandwich.
overall, not the best or most authentic middle easternfoodi've had, but still a good experience. i'm sure we'll be back.