Food Hamati — Restaurant in Columbus

I meant to update this 4 months ago. The food at this place gradually got worse and worse as it became more successful. To the point where I was embarrassed to bring colleagues there. The employees are nice, but the owner is very hands off now. Family used to be in the kitchen, but now there are hired cooks. It's now nauseating. Even worse is they seem to think that beef means lamb + beef. They don't seem to understand the difference between beef and meat. And they said it was specified in the menu board, but it wasn't. As a result, I literally vomited when I got back to work and took a bite of my to-go wrap. I just can't handle lamb. And with how lamb-y it was, that suggests it either wasn't cooked well, good quality lamb or both. Having dated a Lebanese guy for a number of years, I know the difference. Good lamb makes me gag. Bad lamb makes me puke. In either case, learn the difference between that and beef!

The chicken shawarma that I loved is barely edible now and also leaves me feeling a little sick. The only thing that remained good when last I went there was the falafel.

Very disappointed. I'm never going there again.

Original review: This is a new restaurant that has quickly gotten the seal of approval from the Arabic community. And with good reason. In terms of style, the owner is Jordanian, so the food is more in keeping with what you would find there, which is similar to the Palestinian food you find at Lavash in Clintonville.

Be forewarned, this means if you expect your hummus to be filled with garlic like at the grocery store, it won't be. It has a smoother, gentler flavor. To be honest, I thought it tasted kind of like tahini. The pita bread here is very similar to that of Little Lebanon Bistro, and is constantly being made throughout the day. It's very soft, light, and fresh. Mine was even still warm.

While I am not a fan of lamb, my dinner partner was from Lebanon and is very picky about his kebbeh. He loved the kebbeh here. He also thoroughly enjoyed is lamb/beef kefta platter, while I enjoy my chicken kefta platter. The salad served with the meal was spot on, and the baba ghannouj was like nothing I've had before. It's the owner's own recipe, and it is divine. So flavorful! I'm not a fan of cold eggplant, and so I generally avoid baba ghannouj, but I really enjoyed this. Right up until I got a small piece of finely diced eggplant. Then, I promptly returned to disliking it. But again, I just don't like the cold eggplant flavor. If I did, then it would've made it perfect.

I enjoyed it so much that I brought a couple colleagues with me a couple days later for lunch. I can now say that the chicken shawarma wrap is just... wow. That's all I can say. Wow. Sooo good. 100% recommend. It's not very filling on its own, so I'd recommend either getting the combo (fries and a drink) or order a side. But it is totally worth getting. My colleague shared his walnut baklawa and it was sinfully dense and delicious.

The prices are very reasonable, all the food is made fresh in house using family and personally developed recipes, with exception to the dessert. The baklava are brought in bidaily from Detroit, and it is very yummy. I forwent the standard walnut baklava (baklawa), and instead tried the pistachio and almond varieties. Both were very good, moist and rich in flavor without being soggy. Tasted like they were made using simple syrup rather than honey, which is definitely my preference.

In sum, we had a very enjoyable experience and thoroughly enjoyed the food. I definitely recommend checking it out. And if you happen to be joined by non-adventurous people, they do offer a small selection of traditional American food (e.g., burger, fries,...

UPDATE: The old quality of the food is gone now although it's still good for most of the people who have not had the old taste. They alos need to be more professional for takeout orders and food presentation. There has been incidents where they missed Pita that I ordered for and paid for, same experience with Garlic sauce, it was not there even though I paid for it, sometimes they gave hammus instead of Baba ganouz although we specified clearly on the online order. These are not major loss for a customer but they look unprofessional of course. Food Hamati is still one of my favourite restaurants out here..and I want them to excel in all segments to compete with the other restaurants.

I and my husband love Mediterranean food and finally we found this place, so far the best one among all we tried with. This is our go to restaurant for every weekend. Quality is very very consistent but the quantity is low for dine in compared to take away orders and they should serve the garlic sauce in a small cup instead of putting that on the middle of the parcel box. Once I pay extra for garlic sauce but it was missed when we opened the packet. If these little things can be taken care, they will beat any upscale restaurant in terms of quality as...

This is probably the most authentic tasting shawarma place I could find in the Columbus area so far. It isn’t in the best location compared to where I am, otherwise I could eat it routinely. When I first started coming here, the place looked a little rough but they have since made many renovations so they must be doing well. The prices have been creeping up every so often that it is getting to a point where the taste might not be financially worth it. The regular shawarma now is $13 and shawarma plate is $21. The shawarma plate is a huge portion, however. I didn’t take a star away for any of that because I understand inflation is affecting pricing everywhere. I took one star away because over the several years that I have been coming here, they have NEVER had the food ready within the time frame they gave. I always arrive at the end of the time and still wait at least ten minutes in the store for the food to be ready. One minor note is that they don’t always consistently put utensils in the bag so if you really need them make sure you...