La Palma Middle Eastern Restaurant — Restaurant in Detroit

We had a difficult week at work so we decided to treat our hard working staff to lunch so we ordered a variety of food and picked it up. Everything was fantastic especially my favorite, the tomato kibbe (vegetarian option made of tomatoes and bulgur wheat with cumin and other middle eastern spices). We also got the freshly squeezed orange juice, fatoush with grilled chicken, chicken shawarma, and the loaded chicken shawarma fries, and hummus. The staff couldn’t be happier with how fresh and authentic everything was. Thanks again to the La Palma team.

Update 5/31/24: We came all the way from Dearborn where Arab restaurants are plentiful but not as good as they were many years ago. First of all they serve the fluffy little bread they bake in the brick oven in front of your eyes with delicious garlic sauce and spicy garlic sauce as an appetizer. The hummus was so creamy and delicious even my picky 2 year old daughter couldn’t get enough. The fatoush and tabouli (salads) were crisp and fresh and had just the right amount of dressing. The main course was the platter for 3; an array of flame broiled chicken skewers, lamb skewers, kafta, veggies and my favorite the lamb chops served on a bed of fluffy yellow rice. The freshly squeezed orange juice and fruit smoothie was the icing on the cake on this sunny and beautiful day. The servers were quick, knowledgeable, and patient as ever. The co-owner and cook Fahd even came by to see how everything was. Exceptional restaurant and service; we’ll be back soon. Thank you!

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Great food, service, and decor and wonderful ambiance! The place looks very new and very clean.

I had the thinly sliced chicken breasts with the saji sauce. Very good and seasoned to perfection. My husband had the combo platter with shish tawook, kafta, and chicken kabobs with rice and he loved it. We also shared the loaded chicken shawarma fries which were amazing! I've never had something like that. We got burgers and fries for the kids and they loved it, but they also couldn't stop eating the hummus which was a big surprise to me because my kids are very picky, but hey I was happy because hummus is very healthy.

We all loved the little pitas that come straight out of their brick ovens that they make up in front, right before your eyes. And the garlic sauce was on point. 10/10 we'll...

Me and my friend both ordered a shawarma, one lamb one chicken, and the guy (not our server) brought 2 shawarma plates. We kindly told him that we had ordered just the shawarma and we did not ask for the plate (which is $10 more and way too much food for us at that moment). He understood and went back to talk with our server and the kitchen. Okay, no problem!

But then our server came out to us and started blaming BOTH of us, saying that “she repeated the entire order back and we confirmed it was correct.” (Which she did repeat the order, but she did NOT say ‘plate’—and even if we both somehow misheard the repeat, I know 100% the word “plate” did not come out of my mouth when I ordered). I would have been fine with the whole thing if she had apologized, but no—she stood there and blamed us and refused to own up to her small mistake or even try to reason with us. I am a server myself and I would NEVER act like that towards a customer.. especially over something like this.

The other guy came back and said she was STILL not accepting the fact that she put the wrong order in. He also told us “that is why she asked if you wanted soup or salad”; she never asked any of us actually—and our other friend actually did order 2 dishes that came with a side. She just randomly brought us 4 salads and we figured they just came with all the meals since she never asked. The manager then had to come out and ask what the problem was. The fact that all we wanted was a shawarma and ended up having to deal with all this.. her attitude and the fact that we had to be questioned SIX DIFFERENT TIMES made us lose our appetites and we decided against waiting for a remake. Our server also never even came back out of the kitchen until after we had paid.. wouldn’t even look at us.

I truly tried my best to explain the situation to all three of them and how it was just simply not what we ordered, but they were not getting it and made it very difficult.

I would love to try this place again, but the fact that it was this difficult to get the right order (which we never even ended up getting after waiting over an hour) is very upsetting.

On a good note—the salad and the pita bread were amazing!! I truly wish I could have tried the shawarma. The food and drinks that we did receive...

I hope this review finds anyone who considers ordering from this establishment.

To begin, I’ve never had any issues with this restaurant. Whether it was the food, order take out, or dinning in. However on this particular day ( Wednesday 11/16/2022 ) I had an issue with my to-go salad having dressing on the actually salad and not in the container for a normal to-go order. So here I am hungry and can’t even eat my salad because it’s welted. In hopes that La Palma would make it right, I am told( on 11/17/2022 ) by an employee that the manager will call me back, but I was not asked for my name nor phone number to follow up. In the midst of asking if they need this information I was rushed off the phone and hung up on.

Several hours have gone by without a phone call so I decide to call them. Instantly, I was placed on hold ( hmm, they must have caller ID ) for about 2 - 3 minutes. An employee finally picks up the phone and hears my reasoning for calling and mentions to me the manager is not in and to call tomorrow.

It is safe to say that I will not be returning because I am sure I will be getting another run around tomorrow. What’s disappointing is the service received when it came to potentially correcting the order, let alone trying to speak...