Falafel Flare Hayward — Restaurant in Hayward

I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to keep it positive with local businesses. That's why I'm torn putting this review out.

My wife and I dined in for lunch a couple weeks for the first time to give this place a try and we were excited with how FRESH the food. She had the gyro salad, which was awesome. The lettuce was nice and crisp while the gyro was nice and warm. I had the lamb kabob plate and it was great! The lamb was cooked perfectly and the hummus was wonderful. The older gentleman who served us was friendly and very welcoming.

With that said, we decided to get the gyro salad and falafel wrap for dinner tonight. I ordered ahead online to try and make picking up our order easier.

As I walked in, the gentleman at the register was wrapping up his interaction with a customer. When it was my turn, he asked me to wait because he has a phone order. Totally normal thing to occur at a busy restaurant. As I patiently waited, another patron stepped in front of me and told the cashier to grab him a drink. I understand he can't really control a patron but he could've at least acknowledged me and just said something like "sorry about that". Just say something to acknowledge what happened. I told him my name for the order and he told me to wait 5 more mins. I got there at the confirmed pick up time but I have no problem waiting for exceptional food.

It was more than 5mins extra but I still smiled and thanked him while he handed me the bag. He didn't say a single word to me. Not even a "Thank you." Completely different experience from our first visit.

When I got home with the food. We split the falafel wrap, and it was absolutely worth the extra wait. Unfortunately, the gyro in the salad was stone cold and dry as if it was cut ahead of time and left on the counter or in the fridge. The lettuce wasn't crisp either. We live only 5mins away so it definitely was not the drive time that cooled it down. I know for a fact because the wrap was actually nice and warm.

The night and day difference in the two experiences is crazy.

Probably won't be coming back. If we're spending our hard earned money, I'd like to have consistency in my food and at least a "thank you" and I...

It was Halloween and we went for lunch to this friendly place. What was spooky and bizarre? To get a perfect salmon burger in a falafel cafe :) Juicy, perfectly done, not charred - on a soft bun with decent pickled cukes, red onion, and salad. No fishy smell, not oily, just right. Babaganoush was creamy and silky, pita was freshly baked and warm (not reheated), and the chicken shish kabob was grilled in the right way - not overdone. The long rice was made with saffron and enough butter to make it yummy, not greasy. The only complain? I wish they had soups on the menu, but then again, perhaps soups are not popular in the East Bay. A gent at the register demanded Adana kebab which was not there - must be good to be this popular :) The owner is very nice; he promised to make some extra Adana next day. He also gives you the estimate waiting time for the kabobs (20 min in our case), so you know what to expect (literally :)) The place is very clean, the tables are not crowded, and the service is impeccable - our plates were removed the moment they were empty. My plans are now to go try the calamari (yes, they do have calamari rings on the menu :))...

Came here for dinner and was super excited to try a new place. The restaurant is super clean, has plenty of seating and staff is kind.

We ordered a chicken wrap (looks like chicken shawarma) and a cheeseburger. The cheeseburger was excellent. Respectfully, the chicken wrap wasn't good. It definitely doesn't taste like middle eastern food. The presentation was good. they are very generous with the amount of meat they put in the wrap which is a plus. The wrap looked delicious however the taste wasn't good at all. The chicken lacked so much flavor even salt didn't help. I was reading some other reviews and I have to agree that the middle eastern flavor is not in this food.

I want to emphasize that the burger really was delicious and I ended up ordering two total! Will definitely come back to try their other burgers!

I definitely recommend this restaurant to reevaluate their spices and flavor for the chicken wrap.

5 stars for the service...