Yemen Grill — Restaurant in Aurora

This place came as a recommendation to me from a coworker. I'm interested in trying new foods ,cultures, and places. Recently I've been to a place who also serves authentic Mediterranean. That other place is way better. This place is very confusing when you walk in. Theres a sign that says order here so I thought you ordered first then sat. After looking at the menu a guy came over and said to sit. We looked over the menu and decided on a few things to try. We ordered the Arabic tea, the cucumber and yogurt with pita appetizer, lamb haneeth, and the small kebab platter. When ordering the guy did not understand what I said so I had to point to the pictures. While waiting we were never checked on. I'm not sure if they do that here like any other restaurant because not a single person was checked on. Several times someone had to get up and ask for something. Again, if this is just a diner/ casual place that's fine but I thought this was a sit down restaurant so perhaps I was mistaken. Our dinner arrived but we never got the tea or the appetizer. I had to ask for it and again had to point to the menu. My tea came very hot so that was fine. The cucumber and yogurt dip with lemon and spices was served in a styrofoam bowl and I had to ask for pita ( received only 1 small peice). The yogurt dish was simply just yogurt. My friend who was there with me is from a place near Greece so we know what this should taste like. It tasted just like a bowl of yogurt with cilantro sprinkled on top. It was pretty boring and absolutely not as advertised. The pita was fine. My dinner was fairly good. I did really enjoy the lamb itself. It was soft ,juicy, and flavorful. The rice was cold and lacking flavor. Never had this type of rice so I cant say if it should have spices or not. My friends dish was big so that was a good surprise. Her rice was also cold. It was served with decent hummus (no pita), an undressed and very boring salad, and 3 kebabs. The lamb was pretty good but the other two were delicious. After we were done, we had to go up to the counter to ask for our check to pay. This guy had to get the other guy to help because he did not understand us. He repeated our order verbally instead of on paper. He was extremely hard to understand so I said yes just so we could leave. Our total was $43. What we ate was definitely not worth that. Later just as we left we got a receipt by text. They charged us for hummus that we never ordered. We were so frustrated by the language barrier and experience we just drove away. Overall I am very disappointed by my experience with this place and am surprised by the 4.3 rating. The atmosphere was decent. I did like the decor. The guy was nice but customer service was extremely lacking. I'm here to try a different cultures food and try new things so I'm not asking for this or any authentic place to become americanized or turn into a tourist attraction, but whomever is working with the customers needs to be able to communicate with the customers( at least better than these 2 did). I truly hope this is not taken the wrong way. I just think alot of the issues was due to a language breakdown between the two of us and it could have made a difference for the best. The reason for my star rating is lack of proper customer service and...

Hands down the best Middle Eastern / Arabian Food we have had since transplanting from the DC area. We were shopping near by, needed a quick bite to eat and happened upon this shining little jewel of a restaurant. It’s decorated nicely with what I’m assuming is a traditional style. It’s warm and inviting.

Now let me tell you about the food. The food is amazing.

We had The Tea with Mint,Lentil Soup, The Appetizer Platter, Lamb Haneeth, and Small Mix Grill with Fries. Please see pictures on menu and pictures of actual food. You will see that the dishes come out just as beautifully as they are advertised. So often you go to restaurants and see beautifully staged photos of the food that you’re going to get and then get something that looks not even remotely close to the menu. Not the case here. And it’s just as good as it looks.

And the food is so delicious! It is very well seasoned. They offer salt and pepper, but I can’t think of any reason you would need either. Let me tell you just how delicious it is. Put your drink down this is the kind of hilarious that can’t be made up. While we were eating there was a woman here also. She was obviously trying to restrain herself when she packed up half of her meal to leave with it. When we left, I observed her sitting in her car gobbling down the rest by the handful. That’s how good the food is. She didn’t get past the parking lot with her leftovers before she attacked them with obvious abandon. I think that is a testament to the absolute culinary excellence that can be found here.

The Tea with Mint is delicious. I hope I’m not giving away any culinary secrets, but here we go. I added just about a half a teaspoon of sugar. This is a Yemeni tea. It’s very smooth and mint isn’t the only thing that rounds out this delicate tea. There are no heavy tannins to irritate the tongue, just a mellow smoothness that is very enjoyable. I detected notes of rose, cardamom, and cinnamon as well. I know I love minted tea, but this is over the top!

The Lentil Soup is a hearty soup. Mild, but flavorful with a tangy note that is very satisfying.

The Appetizer Platter is so good with the stand out stars being the Baba Ghanoush and the Tabouleh. The Cucumber Salad is very fresh. And the Falafel was perfect. Warm and crisp on the outside, tender and moist on the inside. The Stuffed Grape Leaves are also good warmly spiced and very nice.

The Lamb Haneeth is melt in you mouth and fall of the bone tender with very balanced flavors that tantalize your tongue. And don’t forget to get into that marrow bone with a straw ( something Loubna at Sahara taught me )The Lamb is perfectly marbled and carmelized and normally I don’t eat fat, but this is worth at least a nibble of indulgence.

The Small mix Grill is also very very good.

I have a feeling that you can’t go wrong with whatever you order her

If you like lamb. If you love Middle Eastern / Arabian Cuisine, you will absolutely LOVE this place. And to top it off the owner is very nice. Come here. A lot. Will post Photos later!

The place is still awesome after...

I recently visited Yemen Grill with high hopes of enjoying a delicious meal, but unfortunately, my experience was far from satisfactory. I ordered the Lentil soup, Arabic salad, Lamb Tekah with rice, and Chicken Mandi. However, almost every aspect of my dining experience left much to be desired.

Salad: To my disappointment, the salad lacked essential ingredients such as lime and salt, which are crucial for enhancing its flavor. When I politely requested these additions from the waiter, I was met with an inappropriate response as he proceeded to use after he bring the salt and lime offensive language in different languages. This kind of behavior is unacceptable and tarnishes the reputation of the restaurant.

Soup: Despite being advertised as spicy, the Lentil soup failed to deliver the promised flavors. It lacked the desired level of spiciness and left me underwhelmed. The taste was rather bland and did not meet my expectations.

Lamb Tekah and Chicken Mandi: The menu explicitly stated that the lamb kabab and chicken were grilled. However, upon receiving my order, it was evident that both dishes had been fried with oil instead. This discrepancy was misleading, as I had anticipated the distinctive smoky flavor that comes with grilled preparations. Overall, my experience at [Restaurant Name] was highly disappointing. The absence of lime and salt in the salad, the unsatisfactory taste of the soup, and the misleading information regarding the grilling of the lamb and chicken all contributed to my dissatisfaction. Regrettably, I cannot recommend this restaurant, and I would rate it 0...