Rina - Old Fourth Ward — Restaurant in Atlanta

Updated: Had a party of 6 plus a baby on Sunday, 5/28/23. We made the reservation on Seated, an app where you earn money back on meals at certain restaurants (use my code erin2109 and we both get $10!), so we got a percentage back! We sat outside in the uncovered area. It was right above the dumpster, so I kept getting whiffs of that the entire time. If you sit outside, make sure it's in the covered area.

Here's what I got: Hummus ($12): Good! Wish there was one piece of pita for each person. Falafel Salad ($16): Wow, so delicious!! Huge salad. The falafel was so crispy on the outside and fresh on the inside. Perfection.

Others got the Chicken Shawarma ($16), Falafel ($15), and Spiced Lamb Burger ($18). I previously thought the purple cabbage was what made them spicy, but it was something else. If you can't do spice, I would stick to the Falafel Salad.

Every cocktail I've gotten here has been amazing. The food is outstanding. Highly recommend!

Original (2020: We had a party of 4 at 7:45 pm on a Saturday. They said the patio was full, but there was plenty of seating available inside. We felt comfortable eating inside because the tables were spaced out and we chose a table far from where anyone else was sitting. Staff were wearing masks, though some had it below their noses and even their mouths. They have a QR code to scan the menu. They only take credit cards and no cash. They add 20% gratuity to every check.

We got 3 cocktails, all of which were $12: Dor Habonim, Hof Tel Baruch, and the Metzitzim. They were all AMAZING!! So cool and refreshing.

Here's what we got for food: Hummus No. 2 ($12): Super good. Creamier than typical hummus, but so delicious. The pita was so fresh, I just wish it had been warm. Mezze (6 for $18): We got Moroccan Carrots, Roasted Cauliflower, Chickpeas & Veggies, Israeli Salad, Marinated Olives, and Tabbouleh. Our favorites were the Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpeas and Veggies. Next time, we would only do the 3 for $10 because with our entrees, it was a lot of food. Chicken Shawarma in Pita ($13): Soo good. Note that the purple cabbage slaw was spicy and had a kick to it. If you can't tolerate spice, I would ask for it without. Falafel in Pita ($12): Everyone said they liked the falafel over the chicken shawarma, but I think it's hard to choose. They were both so good. The falafel balls were so fresh. Note that the purple cabbage slaw was spicy and had a kick to it. If you can't tolerate spice, I would ask for it without.

The prices are very reasonable. The food is INCREDIBLE. They have options for meat eaters and vegetarians. We will...

I was blown away by the quality of the appetizers. The hummus took me right back to Jaffa, Israel - it was exactly how hummus should taste like. The olives, chickpeas, eggplant were outstanding.

With that said, there are two reasons why I deducted 2-stars from this review. 1 for the menu and 1 for the service.

Menu: When I received my lamb arayas pita, it was clearly deep fried and WAY WAY WAY overcooked. The menu said nothing about it being a fried dish. Normally, when you order a pita, you'll generally get warm, lightly toasted bread. This pita came out of the kitchen looking like a chip drenched in oil. The lamb inside the pita was great and perfectly seasoned but I felt totally mislead by the description in the menu

Service: When I asked my server to ask the kitchen to remake my arayas she pleasantly obliged. However, when she came back from the kitchen 60-seconds later with a different looking pita that was still drenched with oil and marginally less over-cooked; I could tell she did what I used to do as a server... You smile at your table, go back into the kitchen, swap it out with something else, present it to the table as if you did what you were asked. Ultimately, I couldn't eat the sandwich because it was so overcooked.

Additionally, the server didn't really come back once the food hit the table. She didn't pre-bus when we desperately needed more space from the appetizers, nor did she mention that there would be any additional charges for the pita when we were eating the hummus. Ultimately, it was a lousy experience with the waitstaff all together.

With that said - I know this is a relatively new restaurant. With new restaurants, you must allow time to iron out the wrinkles. I would suggest being more descriptive and transparent in the menu and hiring more considerate - perhaps even seasoned - servers. Aside from that - I'll...

Four of us stopped in for lunch on a rainy Monday. We were warmly greeted and immediately shown to our table. Cal, our waiter, happily and patiently answered all our dozens of questions and kept checking on us as it took it quite a while to decide on our order. We ultimately chose to share hummus #3, & a side of falafel. One lady ordered the Amba Chicken, two ordered the Chicken Shawarma (one in a bowl without the pita,) and I ordered the Arayas.

The restaurant was pretty empty and we enjoyed chatting in the cool and comfortable atmosphere while we waited the short time for our food to arrive. The hummus was quite delicious and the pita was warm, fresh and perfect, but we all really wished that there was another full pita as part of the serving. The falafel were very, very hard. Once we got to the inside they had nice flavor, but breaking through the crust was tough! Think they were very over cooked.

The lady who had the Amba Chicken enjoyed her meal as did the one who had the Chicken Shawarma in the pita, but they both said it was a “one and done” and had no desire to have it again. The lady who had the Chicken Shawarma in a bowl without the pita wasn’t impressed with the heavy mixture of flavors. My Arayas was pretty inedible. It was extremely greasy and the meat inside was dry and tasteless. Maybe because the outside was so greasy, I couldn’t taste anything beyond that wet oily grease. Between the falafel and the Arayas, we had to wonder if the fryer temps were off today??

Overall we loved the decor, and the vibe of the place, and our waiter Cal was fabulous. We all just weren’t in love with the food. We all found it overly oily or greasy and too many rich flavors combined together. Cal brought us a complimentary cookie and honestly that too, we all found greasy. Unfortunately none of us have a...