Makarios Kabobs & Grill — Restaurant in Birmingham

Delicious. I ordered take-out. Making TWO meals out of this. By the time I remembered to take a picture, I had already settled into my hotel room and eaten half of the delicious, savory, hot soup. That's why the soup looks a little low. It was so good. I'm a Flight Attendant, I have not stayed at this hotel before, and this restaurant was close (albeit, up a steep hill! Lol).I decided to give it a try. I ordered the Zesty Ghallaba. I wanted some Feta added to the top of my entree. When I got my bill, it was 23.21. I didn't understand why it was so much. I asked for an itemized check, and saw that the feta cheese was 3.49! I just wanted some feta on top! That price was not what I expected. So I asked for an explanation. The guy (very nice guy, very polite) explained that I could have gotten a salad as the side, and then add the Feta for $1.00. I said ok, do that. I wish that he would've told me this before he charged my card, then we wouldn't have had to do a refund. But then I found out that I couldn't get the lentil soup AND the salad for that deal *or price on the entree). So I opted for just the lentil soup, no feta *and no salad). The lentil soup was absolutely delicious! So glad I got it. I can live without the Feta this time....Lol. The Zesty Ghallaba (veggie saute) was also very yummy! It had tender chicken, and I chose the basmati rice. It had a small sprinkle of sliced almonds on top. The vegetables were GREAT. There were mushrooms, onions, a little bit of tomato, green bell pepper, and sliced carrot, and the Chicken. It WAS Zesty! The bell pepper was tangy. I don't know of they do something to them to make them a bit acidic, but it seems so. The dish was mildly spicy because I ordered it as "Regular", and not spicy. I added some of my own pistachios to the dish. When I was eating the Lentil Soup, I added little pieces of the pita, and some pistachios that I had with me. BUT - let me give y'all a big tip! Even though that soup is made very well, and it's great, I discovered (a little bit too far into my soup....wish I had discovered it at the beginning of eating) that I should add some of those delicious vegetables INTO the soup too! And I did. And it was delicious! I added bits of the bell pepper, carrot, & onion, and ate it with my added pistachio nuts, and small pieces pita I added to the soup. Yummy, yummy, yummy! I've done this before when I've been at other Middle Eastern buffet type places. I add things into the lentil soup to make a whole different soup. If I have another flight crew overnight in this area, the next time I will try the grilled vegetables, Baba ganoush, tzatziki, hummus, and I don't know what else. But I want all of that! Maybe some stuffed grape leaves too! Doesn't that sound delicious? Just look at those char-grilled vegetables in the photos that other customhave shared! Those look freaking delicious! I want to have all that stuff I listed, grilled vegetables, Pita bread, soup, I just want a little Smorgasbord...

Worst experience despite of being a regular customer. Very poor service. We, a group of 4 were treated very disrespectfully and were not even greeted by an attendee. On asking a check, they automatically added gratuity mentioning a count of 6 people instead of 4. After asking for an explanation towards it, manager told that one of our friend came last time alone and did not leave a tip. Because of this reason they added it automatically. I wonder how they can decide that we were not going to leave a tip just because one of my friend did not leave it last time. We were even told with a very rude behavior that if you do not leave tip, we will not be allowed to dine in the restaurant. What kind of restaurant staff and manager behave in such a way. On the top our waiter came in between the conversation with manager and said that they will refuse service from next time. First of all they do not give a good service and on the top they behave rudely and disrespectful towards the customer. I have been there multiple times and i personally feel some kind of racism there because of their behavior. I asked the manager an explanation towards the wrong information (writing 6 guests instead of 4 on the check) and he said restaurant has a right to do so. How can a restaurant charge customer gratuity by adding wrong number of guests. Worst, rude and a very racist behavior. Would never recommend my friends to go their. Staff is so arrogant and rude. They do not know how to behave and serve a guest and in turn they expect from the customer to leave a good tip otherwise u will be refused for a service. Such a shame for makarios. They should train their staff how to behave in a restaurant with a customer first and then expect such tips and gratuities. Will never go there. A total shame and very...

Hanging out in Birmingham, AL on business for a few weeks and it's lunch time! How good can the Mediterranean be in Alabama of all places? Well, let's fine out!

Atmosphere/Appearance: Set right on the corner of 20th Street South and 10th Avenue is this gem. It's well presented and looks super inviting. There is parking for a few cars in the front, but if I can remember there are more spots in the back or else, just park on the street since this is pretty close to downtown. Once inside the restaurant is pretty chill. There's LOTS of artwork hung up all over the place with plenty of straight up & down wooden booths to sit in. Once you walk in you can actually walk right up to a counter to place your order or you can choose table service of course. It was pretty chill in here the time that we came.

Service: Service was just fine. Nothing crazy and he made sure that I had everything that I needed.

Food: For my entree I went with the Shish Combo which comes with a shish kabob made of beef, shish tawook made of chicken and one kafta which is ground lamb, parsley and onion then served with a salad. Of course there's rice on the side. Everything was delicious, juicy, loaded with flavor and it felt authentic. The lamb was a lil' dry, but that was my only complaint. I loved the food here and it was SUPER filling for sure.

Value: Back when I visited this combo was $28.59, but now it's $30.00. Not bad at all. Like I said, the food was filling so you could get more than one meal out of it and it was absolutely worth it.

I'd certainly pay this place a return visit if I'm in the area....