Sawa Restaurant & Grill — Restaurant in Houston

I have eaten at all the Greek/Mediterranean restaurants in the Clear Lake area, and I must say that this restaurant has become my favorite after just eating there one time. Let me explain. After eating their salad, I am convinced that was the best low-fat salad I had in my life. It was really, really tasty without hardly any salad dressing (there are a lot of spices instead). My main entree was the Ciku Stir Fry with chicken, and it was simply marvelous!!! Dare I say it was better than a lot of stir fry from Asian restaurants? You betcha!! This dish is the owner's own creation, and again it's superb without tasting greasy or fattening (like a lot of Asian stir fry). The service by the owner/chef was excellent, and he suggested the kabob next time I come in which I eagerly await. Also, their pricing is very fair in comparison to other Greek/Mediterranean restaurants. By the way, the Greek restaurant that people in Clear Lake tend to associate with is Mediterraneo. Believe me, I ate at both their locations, and they are very much over-hyped. The food at Mediterraneo is mediocre at best. All lovers of Greek or Mediterranean food really need to give SAWA RESTAURANT a try. This is a completely honest,...

I live near the Bay Area and was looking on trying a new Mediterranean place. I’ve been eyeing on Sawa for a while however, for some reason there wasn’t this spark from the outside that you’d get to enter in the restaurant as there are no cars parked out except one or two.I decided today to finally keep that thought aside and go try the restaurant. Since I only wanted “to try” I ordered falafel and chicken shawarma. After I paid the employee, she mentioned that they didn’t have chicken shawarma.To which she should have informed before I paid. I kept that aside and told her to switch that out for a chicken kebab. And I paid the remaining. The falafel was good which is why I’m even giving the 2 stars however, the chicken kebab was raw and the bread was so hard. I was completely disappointed! The rice from the kebab was good but only two piece of the chicken was cooked the rest was crunchy (raw). I did call and let them know but I feel like they should have offered me a refund of the raw food I had to throw. Would I try it again? I probably would if they would have offered a great customer service. Just thought of bring it out...

This is my first time eating here, having only discovered this restaurant a few days ago. The lemon mint smoothie is outstanding - I would imagine it to be very refreshing on hot and humid summer days. It has distinct flavors of each ingredient. The hummus, however, while fresh, had the flavor of store-bought 'generic' hummus with no zest or appeal whatsoever. Same with companion naan or 'pita' dipping bread. Finally, the beef kabob: while I appreciate the presentation (it's been so long since I've seen it served on bladed skewers like this), it too suffered from chewiness and insufficient spicing. The meat flavor was intact, but it definitely could have used something a little more differentiating.

The atmosphere was clean, yet depressing, dark and quiet - surprising for a lunch hour.

All around, it's a nice alternative for those of us in the Clear Lake area but there are better options to be had, including Cafe Mawal down the street. This would be my backup, second...