Falafel King - Summer Street — Restaurant in Boston

For a quick work lunch I swung by Falafel King at 1230. While the line looked intimidating, almost reaching the entrance, I knew that the establishment processed orders quickly (almost as efficiently as the Chipotle across the street), so I lined up.

The line took 5 minutes to get to me, where I placed my order for the Chicken Shwarma Salad (~$13 and change). As per usual, I received one falafel dipped in hummus to consume as a snack while going through the ordering process.

The salad is a combination of a bed of lettuce and the Middle Eastern style cucumber and tomato salad. You get ~3x the amount of the cucumber tomato salad compared to what you get in the rice plate (usually the rice plate's cucumber tomato salad occupies the small square in the take out box). You get a big scoop of hummus sitting in the other take out box's small square. A generous amount of chicken adorned the salad.

The food is a solid 4*, great for work lunch and with generous portions. Being distracted with a piece of falafel while in line seems a bit silly, but really brightens up my experience (yeah I know everyone gets this...

"Hello, my friend!," The King says as he welcomes you with a fresh falafel dipped in his homemade and amazing hummus. This is even before you can place your order, which is always difficult to do even after all these years as the possibilities are endless. I have been a loyal customer (and fan) since the days of his food stall at Winter Street. The King is a kind soul who introduced Middle Eastern food in earnest long before one knew what it was about. To date, it still thrills me to enter his brick and mortar locations, especially at Summer Street, catch up with The King, and indulge on his amazing delicacies, all fresh, authentic, and delectable! Hail Falafel King! You are by far the reason Downtown/Financial types will always return to the office for an incredible lunch experience. You continue to make Boston...

Food is good. The service could be better. They dont wait for you to specify what you want on your plate or in your sandwich. I thought it was a one time thing the first time that happened. I ordered a chicken kabab roll up. He threw hummus on it before i had the chance to open my mouth. I asked for some garlic on it, he plopped some on to the middle of the sandwich and threw vegetables on before i could tell him to spread the garlic on the bread so its no concentrated on the middle part of the sandwich. Some would say that is common sense, not here apparently. Same situation went for my shawarma plate, a bunch of things thrown on that i didn't want, before I could utter a word. I know fast service is a must because its busy, but customer retention is as important if not more. Slow down and listen to the customers...