Happy Mediterranean Restaurant — Restaurant in Lompoc

As a chef and owner of a food service business owner, I do not leave negative reviews lightly. But my experience tonight, Friday, May 9th, 2025, leaves me with little choice. I love Happy Mediterranean's food. My wife and I have been supporting them from the time they opened. The service is always a little slow, but the food is tasty and very reasonably priced.

Tonight I called in an order on our way home from work at 539PM and arrived at 555 the line was out the door so I knew I was in for a bit of a wait, no big deal. It took about 15 minutes for the 4 groups of customers in front of me to order and get to the register to pay for my food. I sat down and happily waited. As I said, I knew it would take a while. I started in food service 27 years ago at age 15. Around 520 they started calling food orders for people who had ordered while I was waiting in line to pay about 15 minutes after I had called my food in, so I went to the counter and waiting in line while two sets of guests ordered, when I got to the counter the young man who had taken payment from me 20 minutes before asked how he could help and I said can you check on my food, I ordered 15 minutes before the last 4 guests you just served, I know because I ordered 15 minutes before I arrived and I watched all those people order there food. He walks into the back and comes back about 45 seconds later and said, we ran out of the bowl containers and couldn't find them so we haven't started your food yet. I looked right at him and said two things first as a food service worker that is a bs excuse because I watch you put the container on a scale and weight out the food as you dish it up, use a different container, second I point to the security monitor and said see those two empty bowls with tickets taped to them they have been sitting on that counter since I got in line 30 minutes ago. I then asked if he knew how long it would be until my food was ready, he paused and said let me check.

At this point he ran into the kitchen and first thing checked the ticket on the two bowls I pointed out on the 4 massive TV screens that show the kitchen by the register, based on his reaction they were jot my ticket, he proceeded to find my ticket and start building my bowls. This is were his horrendous food handling mistake happened right in front of me on those giant TV screens. I had ordered a bowl with bilgar grains, he opened the rice cooker that held the grains only to find it empty. I watched as he turned around and grabbed a deep half hotel pan from a low boy refrigerator full of bulgar not properly wrapped and proceed to dump it into the rice cooker, presumably to let it warm back up. Now I know the average person is thinking what's wrong with that, we'll grains, rice, and pasta when held in the temperature temperature danger zone 40°F to 140°F grow really nasty potentially deadly bacteria at astonishing speed they are some of the largest causes of food borne illness in this country. I really hope that young man dosen't get anyone horribly I'll tonight.

Management please make your crew take their servesafe certification, legally every one of our employees who touches food even servers are required under state law to have a servesafe card. If this young man has a servesafe please explain to him how he could get people horribly ill or even kill them with what he did. If you'd like to check your security cameras to confirm it was between 620 and 630 when he did this.

When I saw him dump that cooked bulgar into an unwashed rice cooker set on keep warm I flagged down the next young lady who walked by and asked for a refund and explained to her that her coworkers could someone seriously ill with what he was doing she looked baffled, and I explained I'm a chef and have been working in kitchens for 25 years and that's day one food safety class massive no no.

Unfortunately my options for good food in my home town just shrank tonight. Please do better for the health and safety of...

My experience at this establishment was nothing short of a disaster. From the food to the service, to prices, everything fell far below expectations.

I placed my order well before a group of ten who arrived after me, yet I found myself waiting an excessive 45 minutes at an outdoor table in the cold. While heaters were present, none were turned on (during a chilly morning), making the wait even more unpleasant. To make matters worse, I watched the cashier personally deliver food to five members of the later-arriving group while my own order sat neglected. When I finally approached to ask about my meal, I learned it had been left sitting out in the cold. I asked why my name hadn’t at least been called, especially since the cashier was hand-delivering food to others, and her dismissive response was, “I did.” Not only was there no apology, but her demeanor left me unconvinced, as I’d made direct eye contact with her each time she walked out from behind the register.

As for the food? Awful. The chicken shawarma was borderline inedible—completely bland and overcooked to the point of being unpalatable. No one in my group could eat more than a single bite without needing a drink to wash it down. While I typically don’t mind drier chicken, this was beyond acceptable. I spent $21 on that plate, and every single dollar was wasted. The side items were just as disappointing, offering nothing in terms of seasoning or flavor.

The gyro bowl was equally disappointing. The person who ordered it asked for only three of the eight vegetables it typically comes with. Instead of adjusting the proportions, the kitchen simply piled on meat and bulgur, leaving the vegetables almost nonexistent. The result was an imbalanced, flavorless dish that had been allowed to cool before it was served.

This was one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had, and I’ll be warning friends, family, and anyone else I encounter to avoid this...

Happy Mediterranean is going to get very popular so you need to go out and get you some before the lines hit. Driving through Lompoc a couple of weeks ago, I saw this. My heart did a pit-pat, because Mediterranean! Hello!

Today, at lunch I just powered over to Lompoc. The restaurant is a quick ~15 south of Buellton a block down from the Home Depot.

I ordered the shawarma plate which came in, I kid you not, a 13x9 brownie plan of a togo plate. Kudos folks for using aluminum and not the fake recycle stuff. A LOT of food for one person, so I now have lunch for tomorrow too!

My order was beef and my two sides were Fatoush salad and their special bulgar mix. Also it comes with hummus and baba ganuj. The Fattoush salad was amazing...a complex salad lightly dressed, tons of fresh California veggies, and croutons from their super flat bread. The sumac (?) in there gave it a nice smokey flavor.

The baba ganuj, OMG, never had better. It had a spice to it, a chunky texture both of which went very well with the bulgar. The shawarma was nice and thinly sliced with a good portion of veggies and sauce. The flat bread was like a thin flour tortilla. Light and flavorful it still was strong enough to wrap all the goodies in.

I did attempt to try the Jalapeno poppers because I have never seen them on a Mediterranean restaurant menu. They were out...and found out after my order. So, I was comp'd some hummus and the flat bread.

A bit about the venue. I would have sat down but it was a really cold day. They had space heaters but I am a whimp so I did a togo. In a grand California tradition they are attached to a gas station...but the restaurant patio and interior are lovely white and blue. Marble and a huge chandelier...very well done. Come the summer this place will be packed!

Happy Mediterranean, I'm so happy to find you.

NOTE: Closed on Sundays. Discovered when I tried to go over...