Kareem's Lebanese Kitchen — Restaurant in Florida

I dined at Kareems last night 11/13 for my birthday. TLDR: Its amazing, must try in Naples.

I made a reservation for a party of 4 for 6pm. But to my surprise when we arrived at the restaurant there were hardly any patrons.

The staff was very attentive and information the whole dinner. They held the door open for my party as we walked with and throughly explained the menu.

Shout out to our server Shaha (can't remember for sure but that is what the check shows) for taking amazing care of us. He made wonder recommendations, was professional and tined the dinner perfectly.

We started with 2 appetizers - Hummus and Arayes. I'm very particular about hummus and the server assured me that everything was made in house. the hummus was very good, creamy, had a great balance of oil, tahini and whole chickpeas. The pita bread was out of this world. The bread is served steaming hot and it light and airy. The pita is also served with olive oil and zaatar. While I prefer the hummus this isn't a bad way to go. The Arayes is like a bread bread with minced meat and garnished with pickles. The taste was amazing my only complaint was that because of the fattiness of the meat it causes the bread to lose its crisp.

Main courses:

Everyone was impressed with their entress. From the taste to the plate presentation the mains were on point. I had the mixed kebabs. they give you an assortment of kebabs and even a lamb lollipop. All the meats were tender and juicy. The lamb lollipop was my favorite. The fattiness and seasoning were perfect. The rice was extremely fluffy. I also tried the Ovzi. A lamb dish with rice, grape leaves and nuts. This is an extremely filling dish so be prepared to have extras. The lamb was fork tender, the nuts gave it a crunch and the pomegranate molasses and yogurt sauce bring it home.

Dessert

Because it was my birthday they offered a complimentary chocolate lava cake. This was 1 of 3 desserts they have on the menu. Im not a huge chocolate fan but I throughly explained the desert. The cake is made of dark chocolate and it oozes chocolate. The other dessert that we ordered was the Qatayef. Dummbed down it's like 2 pancakes that stuffed with cheese and topped with syrup and rosewater. It is served hot and if you have a sweet tooth this is a great way to finish off the meal.

All in all this restaurant is a must. From the atmosphere, to the service, to the food...

I have tried to reach out to Kareem's several times this week with email telephone calls and yet no response; let the reader judge for themselves. The lack of customer service/ caring negates the mostly tasty food.

Dear Manager and Chef Rachid, Four of us had dinner at your restaurant last Wednesday at approximately 5:30. I have been multiple times in the past but not recently, and the other members of my party who had not had Lebanese food were looking forward to the experience . When we arrived it was not busy and we were seated outdoors right away. We did not have a reservation as I was advised to just walk in when I called the night before, however it was filling up quickly. Overall the food was excellent but the service was poor and led to a disappointing experience. Kate our server seemed friendly at first but gave an unnecessarily long explanation about her accent and if we did not understand to ask questions. I would advise that she spends less time making her speech and actually attends to the customer. We had a wobbling table and asked her for something to put under the leg three times before finally using our napkin to bolster it. She was very quick and disinterested, almost irritated, when we did ask questions about the menu. However when the food arrived (quickly) she hurriedly made her speech about what the sample platter contained without allowing for further questions and off she went. It is difficult to impress how standoffish she was in spite of her words saying something completely different. On a positive note the bus boys were around often, replenishing water and naam and were pleasant. I understand it is busy during season however as much as we enjoyed the food it will be difficult to return. My friends treated us and I was actually embarrassed giving your place high marks in the past. Since many of the food items are not common to the general public, I would suggest the staff be coached to be more helpful and patient as part of the fun is trying and exploring new tastes. I never remember having this problem in the past and always received a thorough thoughtful explanation. I hope you find this feedback helpful and I look forward to hearing your...

IF YOU'RE ALLERGIC TO ANYTHING, DO NOT GO HERE.

There was cross contamination and the staff didn't seem to care one bit. I ordered a salmon with french fries and let the waiter know that I was allergic to any kind of nuts, sesame seeds, chick peas and he just interrupted me saying "Yeah it doesn't have any of that" He took our order without writing anything down and leaves. I asked one of the other waiters to bring straws, they never did. Afterwards, he never brought the iced tea which my mom ordered and when I ate the salmon, halfway through; my throat started to swell up to the point where I couldn't eat anything without choking. Cross contamination, awesome! On the bright side, at least I could still breathe! Immediately following that, I took an antihistamine, drank a lot of water, and stopped eating. The waiter comes back, notices I'm not eating my food and asks if something's wrong. I told him there was cross contamination and that I can't eat anything, he ignored that and said if I wanted to send it back to cook the fish more. I declined and then he said to get a plain salmon instead, I said sure. He brings in a plain salmon and I just look at it, then look back at him and say I still can't eat anything. It stays like that for a while. At that point, he's asking if I want dessert and I say no. I'm not eating anything from that place ever again. To cut it short, he comes back; and has the nerve to tell me that I should go there more often because "little by little you'll grow immune to it". That's not how allergies work. Either it gets better, stays the same, or it gets even more severe. That's something I'm not going to want to find out without proper supervision from a doctor. Overall, food was good; experience was not so great, customer service was terrible, just don't go there (or any Lebanese place) if you have allergies to their food. 2/3 times, I had an allergic reaction to food at a Lebanese restaurant. It's not worth it, because even if you tell the waiter; it only takes one ignorant person to ruin your night.

P.S: they still charged us for the ice tea that...