MASSAYA MEDITERRANEAN GRILL — Restaurant in Houston

Middle Eastern (Jordanian?) home-style food. We arrived at 1pm on a Sunday, but they were adding a few more dishes to the buffet ($14.99), even at 2pm, so maybe go around 2 or later if you want to try everything. Most items were chicken, beef or eggplant-based. The chicken breast in the chicken and broccoli and the chicken fettucine dish (not al dente like Italians eat it) was a little overcooked, but the flavor of the cream sauce was good.

My favorites from the buffet were the (1) moutabel/mouttabal (like baba ganoush but with yogurt) - deliciously smoky and lightly tangy - and (2) the shish barak(?) beef dumplings.

If you've had Scottish haggis (lamb stomach stuffed with lamb heart, lungs and other offal mixed with onions, Irish oats, aka steel-cut oats, and spices), then order the kersh(?). NB, the stomach encasing is not eaten, only the stuffing, and most likely it's not halal. It's a special dish, and quite a few people were at ZamZam for the kersh. Similar to haggis, the filling is stuffed in intestines.

There were also some manaqeesh flatbreads in a case next to the cash register. Drinks are bottled or in cans that you select yourself from a refrigerator along the left wall.

The desserts and pastry (separate from the buffet) take up the right wall. There were western desserts like macarons and made-in-house Belgian chocolates. To the right of the western desserts along the right wall was the Middle Eastern pastries, most of which I don't remember the names besides baklava, maybe warbat(?) and burma(?). No halva that I saw, but at the end of the case, there were also a few types of cookies. From others' pictures, it looks like the selection changes somewhat, but I'm willing to bet that they'll always have different baklava, warbat, basbousa (aka hareesh?), and kunafa/knafeh (see pic). The phyllo wasn't crunchy, but then again, it's all doused in sugar syrup.

They gave me a little taste of their basbousa, which was lovely. I didn't detect any rosewater or orange, but definitely the coconut and, of course, crushed pistachios were sprinkled on top.

And then there was the kunafa, which I believe was another house specialty. The slightly savory cheese (like mozzarella or paneer) offset the sugar syrup, and it was not cloyingly sweet, imo.

Everyone, including the patrons, were all...

Worst Experience at Massaya Cafe Hookah and Grill

We had an extremely disappointing experience at Massaya Cafe Hookah and Grill. We called ahead and were assured that we could come in for Iftar, but upon arrival, the restaurant was completely full—even though we had made a reservation.

They asked us to wait for 15–20 minutes, and when we were finally seated, there was a shortage of food. None of us received dessert or any sweets. When we inquired, the staff rudely responded that they had refilled it four times and now had nothing left in the kitchen. The attitude of the staff, especially one particular individual, was arrogant and unwelcoming, as if they didn’t want us there.

To make matters worse, we noticed that other guests were treated far better than we were. The service was biased, and the prices were unreasonably high for the poor experience we had. When we mentioned that we would leave a negative review on Google, the staff member dismissively said, “Go ahead, that’s fine.”

Ultimately, we left the restaurant without even finishing our food. This was one of the worst dining experiences we’ve ever had. We will never return, nor will we recommend this place to anyone. Avoid this restaurant if you want good service and a pleasant...

Never go for iftar buffet here

Went for iftar and it was the worst experience. First of at it a small restaurant and you have to sit outside in cold. Before going i called them for reservation and they said you don't need reservation for four adults and four kids so we went there and after going there they tell that you need reservation. We were fasting and had to wait and still We had to sit outside in cold. And the more worst thing was they had very limited dessert cups. We din't even got 1. When i asked them, they said its over. If you are offering buffet then you should provide food to every customer who is paying for it. So i paid $28 for each of us and non of ua even got to eat the dessert. This is not acceptable. The food was also not good in taste. Dont waste your time and money by going here. I will let my friends and family about this so that they stop going to...