Mashery - Hummus Kitchen — Restaurant in Cologne

The only food disappointment during my trip to Cologne. And it was big!

The tables outside were taken. Although they are tables for 4, and they could sit 6 as well, each was taken only by two people, most of them putting their shoes on the benches as well. This was the first red flag: ill mannered crowd.

Inside, the ventilation is non existant. The air was hot and there was too much carbon dioxide. The second red flag.

The waiter was friendly, could speak some English, and that made us not listen to our better judgement.

The portions are tiny compared to what I have seen in any of the Cologne restaurants tried so far. The contents is good, but not proportional with the price.

Ah, the price. The price is twice inflated. The items are expensive for a product made this morning and just spread in the plate. And the portions are small, adding insult to injury.

The plates were small. And they were all chipped. And that gave an overall impression of dirty. Not that the place was dirty. Just a feeling with the small, petty tin plates.

And what's with the small plates? I mean I have ordered three falafels, and they came on a plate barely fitting all three, and a thimble of tahina. Of course when someone has tried to break a piece of a falafel the thimble fell over and made a mess.

The hummus: three milimeters of spread, with four millimeters of cheap olive oil and a generous serving of boiled chickpeas ranging from the normal ochre to some strange very dark brown. I would have said these are simply warmed up canned chickpeas, but probably that would have been too expensive for...

Middle eastern deliciousness! -1⭐ for the prices.

*Edit: since I see the owner is very passionate, replies to reviews and takes things into consideration, I'll elaborate: I know I cannot expect to pay the same price I pay back home, where hummus is considered to be a (delicious) blue color soul food (and where some of the ingredients of Mashery's hummus are imported from), but there are some improvement Mashery can do, to give more value for the dime. The amount of hummus on the plate is like half of what they put in a hummus dish back home and I get it, good ingredients are expensive around here, but, for example, I believe the Israeli-Arabic salad can easily be enlarged, since the ingredients seem to be local. Also, feels weird to pay extra for Zhug (the really really good green spicy stuff) - you don't have to serve it with every dish, but I would provide a small amount for free to anyone who asks for it. Those little thing can change a customer's experience. I don't pretend to know anything about the costs of running a food business, just sharing my experience as a customer, that really enjoyed the food, but had to think twice before ordering dishes, thinking about...

Mashery has some of the best hummus I’ve ever tried, however, for the price, the portions should definitely come with either a way bigger piece of pita bread or at second one. The bread is really nice, but ridiculously small for the size of the hummus portions, and having to pay 1,50€ for another (small) pita bread is kind of annoying, considering the menu prices. The place is nice in general, but it is a little small and there aren’t many tables inside, so it can get crowded relatively easily. The last time we ate there, we were three and waited almost 30 minutes for our lunch, even though we had only ordered one lunch deal, one side and a basic hummus portion. The first time we were there service was somewhat slow as well, so it definitely could be faster. The staff, specially the girl at the register, were very nice and friendly. The local smells kind of sulfuric, which I think is caused by the vegan egg they use. You kind of get used to it after a while, but it is a little overpowering when you first enter the restaurant. I would give the overall experience just three stars, but the hummus is...