Hadramout — Restaurant in Fresno

I had sought out this Hadramout place several months ago. The 1st time I drove around, saw nothing that suggested that there was a restaurant anywhere near there. Nothing there but used car dealership. The second time I parked on the street as the used car dealership was full of cars as well as no parking-get- towed warning signs. I walked up to the office, pushed on the crooked, scratched up, greasy blackened doors and entered. There were no overly friendly used car salesmen, no other customers, just a cluttered black plastic counter. After knocking on the counter several times over the course of a bunch of minutes, someone came out from the kitchen. I ordered the standard Middleastern fare, hummus, shawerma, lamb kebabs, beef kebab, etc. After a long wait, I took the food home and shared it with my wife. We thoroughly enjoyed the meal. The flavours were strong and vivid, quite different to the usual Greek and Lebanese versions. Really good food we concluded, but not worth the expedition to find it, or the wait for the food. Today, the place was easier to find, the used car lot appears to have moved. but the lot is still infested with cheesy used car lot advertising, obscuring the restaurant itself. The door frame and glass are just as dirty as months ago. The counter could use a Windex wipedown, but there was no person there. After 4 or 5 "Hello!"s, my wife found a bell and rang it. And waited. And rang it again. And waited. And rang it.. ..and waited. Eventually a young man came to the counter, gave us 1 menu and said 'Take any table.' I snagged a second menu and headed to a table and .... waited. A man from the only other occupied table went to the counter and banged on the bell till an older man came out. The customer said "We have been here almost 1 hour and we have still not got our food.* The man from the counter said "I don't work here, I'm just helping, The cook is here by himself." Four plates of food for the table of four came out in the next 5 minutes. We waited. And waited. And waited some more. Neither older helper guy or younger cooking by himself guy came to take our order. We waited. And waited, and then we left. Summary: The place is dirty, the tables wobble. The food is good, if they ever take your order, and if they do take your order, the food is not worth the wait. Hadramout: NOT...

I fully admit I've never gone to a place that called itself Yemeni. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I keep an open mind and look for something new. I was completely blown away, and I hope you will be too.

I'm visiting for a Conference, and staying at a hotel on the same street. I walk in, it's a bit quiet for seemingly dinner time, but apparently that's just because they keep late hours. I ask for carryout, find something that looks interesting (the Maslook Lamb dish). The server (host, or maybe even line cook?) went to check something in the back before taking my payment, probably to confirm supplies. I used to work in the industry, I appreciate things like that. Before I could blink, my dinner was being bagged. Everyone is super nice. Then the same server offers me hot tea to go with it, just in an open cup. I accept, it's spiced and very delicious.

I get back to my hotel room, the portion is incredible for the price, everything held up in the carryout boxes without spilling. The meal is still hot, the flavors incredible. My only regret was waiting for my last night before trying this place out.

Who'd have thought something that perfect could come from behind that...

Reviewed the menu and the server took the order verbally without neither writing it nor using an iPad etc.

The restaurant offered ALL of us FREE HOT soup. Then the order came in hot in temperature where YOU need it with the COLD weather nowadays.

Note that the Kabsa which chicken and spicy rice was very well cooked the way it should be served. The chicken meat separate from the bone with a small touch with your fork or spoon. It was DELICIOUS. The plate was so FULL to the point two of us had to stop eating and resorted to take the rest of it home.

The Kibda (liver) was very well done and very tasty and you can see the steam coming out when we received it. However, the Falafel was just a plain appetizer where they offer FOUR pieces of SMALL falafel without Tahini nor Tomatoes etc. The chef nevertheless gave us two additional falafel at NO COST in addition to some plain lettuce underneath the Falafel as shown in the photo. The Falafel wasn’t the best in taste nor in size.

Their bread is baked freshly on site and was tasty but pricey.

Try this restaurant as the Menu is full of options. You WILL be...