ASLI Mediterranean grill — Restaurant in Denver

I had high hopes for this place. The place had a good vibe, is very clean, and the man who I assume is the owner seemed nice. The service was fast, and our cashier was very efficient and friendly.

My son and I were looking for good shawarma. We have never been to Israel, but cannot believe that the terrible shawarma we were served at "Asli Med Grill" is representative of Israeli shawarma. Sadly, the evening that we went to the Grill they were using a fast cooking method which rendered the meat oily and tasting odd, and we were actually concerned about getting undercooked meat. We arrived at 7:00 PM. The grill opens at 6:30 pm, and I went up to the cashier and asked her why the shawarma rotisserie was not running, as we wanted to order some. As you know, shwarama is slow cooked, over a long time. The manager then unlocked the food cabinet and they put a spit of completely raw, uncooked chicken on the vertical rotisserie and we were shocked. We were not planning on spending hours waiting for the shwarma to grill..... After about 10 minutes the outer layer of chicken started to be partly done (although certainly there was juice/blood coming from the raw meat inside the spindle). The cook shaved off some of this and it was served to the fellow in front of us in line. We were confused why he was served at this point...I hope he did not get sick...

At this point we made our order and I spoke the cashier and asked her to make sure our meat was well cooked, and crispy when it was shaved off. She kindly spoke to the cook, and after a few more minutes he shaved some of the partly done chicken and placed it in a pan, where he sauteed it, we assume this was in oil because of the oily and flavourless meat. Several other parties had chicken shawarma after us. This fast cooking method was used for all of them: partly done chicken removed from the spindle followed by sauteed in oil.

Since I have never been to Israel, I had to check and see it in fact I was missing something...perhaps they use this technique there, and they like their schawarma oily. Nope. Keep reading if you want to hear the details.

We love schawarma. We lived in West Africa for 8 years, and our favourite place to eat was in Lebanese grills/restaurants. We loved the crispy, flavorful chicken shawarma. Also, Turkey has some great shawarma, called Donner. Obviously you can get this all over Turkey, but also when connecting in the Munich Airport you can get wonderful shawarma at the "Oliva Restaurant", which offers freshly prepared southern European and Turkish specialities. I realise that Turkish, Lebanese and Israeli schawarma will have slightly different spices, and that is one of the reasons we went here...we love to try new foods. We found a a nice summary of the differences, but problem with our meal at Asli was not a difference of spice (but rather the preparation) :

Israeli shawarma, Lebanese shawarma, and Turkish shawarma are prepared with distinct flavors and cooking methods, influenced by their respective culinary traditions and ingredients.

Traditionally, shawarma meat is cooked on a vertical rotisserie, where it slowly rotates and cooks evenly. Once the meat is thoroughly cooked on the rotisserie, it is typically shaved or sliced directly from the rotating spit and then served immediately.

Further cooking of the meat after it has been shaved from the rotisserie is generally unnecessary and may even result in overcooking, which can lead to dryness and a loss of flavor. The meat should be tender and juicy from the slow-cooking process on the rotisserie.

After shaving the meat from the rotisserie, it is commonly served in various ways, such as in sandwiches, wraps, or plated dishes, often accompanied by condiments, vegetables, and sauces. The heat retained by the freshly cooked meat from the rotisserie helps to keep it warm and flavorful until it is served to the customer.

Hope this helps, we wont be back. I would recommend for vegetarians due to good Falafel, hummus, and several...

I understand the restaurant has recently come under new ownership and obviously there are things to be worked out, and they seem to be looking at reviews on how to improve.

There are so few kosher spots available in Denver so it means a lot that they'd try to be the best as they can be.

Firstly, the food was excellent, had their Pargiot skewers, with hummus and chips. Nicely spiced and the fries were crispy and hot. Side of rice was kind of tasteless. I was expecting some kind of Israeli rice with spices or something, just some rice out of an instant pot. While expensive one needs to take into account the cost of running a kosher place in an area like Denver where supplying kosher meat is a project and there are so few options.

Now to a few glaring issues that need to be worked out for the restaurant to make it, and a few suggestions that would improve the experience.

The menus are bad. I went in with my brother and we each ordered Pargiot skewers which come with choice of side, we each said felafel which is listed under apps and sides but apparently don't count. Only fries or rice as a side. Then say "comes with side of rice or fries". Bigger issue is when we went to pay, we were charged almost $2 more per item than the menu price suggested. When this was brought up at first they suggested it was because of the tax but that's not the case as taxes were added to the bottom of the screen. When another employee who I guess is the manager came over and looked over the order, informed us that was the price for paying with credit and cash price was the one shown on the printed menu and overhead menu with no indication this is the case. Not only have many customers likely been upcharged without being informed, it's likely illegal in Colorado to charge higher for items than what is shown on the menu without stating there is an added charge for credit/discount for cash. They were receptive to hearing that and the rest of the evening was great where we were treated well, food brought to the table, extra order of fries on the house, food was excellent.

I think this is a big issue, and I understand there is a cost and bother of changing the menus. I think they should reprint the menus and move the TVs from the side of the restaurant to over the counter so they can display menu items and prices in real time, and make changes as necessary.

Just as a personal suggestion maybe add some curtain beads in front of the restroom area. Very unappetizing to see an open bathroom and toilet while you're eating.

Overall while the menu discrepancy issue is major, if they change things so that they're upfront about the cost, the food and service here will definitely have me in the door many more times...

To start off with there was only one guy working when we got in. He was definitely overwhelmed and the screens that are supposed to have the menus were off and there were only four menus sitting on the counter and he just pointed at them when I and there were five of us so there weren't even enough menus for all of us to have one. Then we went and ordered at the counter and the prices are as high as a sit-down restaurant with servers! Then when we went to order it was 5:45 pm, and he said they were out of falafel, didn't have enough Shawarma for my husband, and he was so abrupt and rude as he took our orders. We waited for our orders at our table, and the aesthetic in the restaurant is so mismatched, and again for the price to only have plastic forks and no knives is unacceptable. Then they have no system for calling you up when your food is ready so we just kept going up to the counter when orders came out wondering if they were ours when people didn't take them. Four of us got our food and our fifth did not get her food. She was the first one to order when we were at the counter so I was standing right next to her and watched him type it in. I went up to ask where her Kebab Pita was and the guy argued with me that we didn't order one. He didn't even offer to make one he just said no we didn't order it and left it at that and went back to cooking. He never gave my mother-in-law who paid a receipt so we couldn't check it, but by then another employee had come in and he also was arguing with me and I said look at the receipt on the computer and tell me if it's on there. Well this guy looked it up and said oh okay we will make it now. No apologies, nothing, but then I watched multiple other people get their orders and she had to sit there while we all ate our food. Which, by the way the Pita that he gave me was raw, my chicken was so overdone I could barely eat it, he forgot to give us the right salads that we ordered on our plates. Basically this was one of the worst restaurant experiences I have ever had from the service to the food to the restaurant vibe. I will never be eating there again and I will tell anyone I know not to, which is a shame because there are not many kosher restaurants in the area and my in-laws keep kosher, but they have definitely lost...