Marouch Restaurant — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Attention LA food lovers: Marouch is, hands down, the best Lebanese cuisine restaurant in the city. The food is made with a lot of love.

They offer many vegetarian options as well which I love because I can take my vegetarian family and friends. However, I love all the meats they serve. Made with traditional methods and ingredients, the dishes are rich in texture and flavor, and every bite is worth savoring slowly.

When it comes to Mediterranean restaurants in LA there are so many options but after trying many of them I've decided this one takes the prize for #1.

I always bring my out of town guests to this restaurant because I want them to experience food with heart and soul.

The staff is so friendly and amazing. And I can tell they love and are proud of their food. The dishes look like works of art. Full of color and textures.

My favorite dish is the yogurt kabab with chicken or lamb. The rice is soooooo good. And this is coming from someone who doesn't love to eat carbs. Haha

It is located in a small strip on the south eastern side of Hollywood, right next to a 7-11. But don't let the location or the surrounding street fool you. It truly is a gem hidden in LA. It is worth exploring and experiencing. The restaurant is small cozy and intimate and I love that the chef greeted us and sat us down , then went back to the kitchen and cranked out a superb meal.

I can go on and on about this place because every time I go, I leave so happy. And my guests always thank me for the happy surprise. I also love the little wall of photos with celebrity diners because it has a picture of Seth Rogen smiling happily with the chef. Jamie lee Curtis was there too. Haha. Two actors I love have eaten there and it makes me feel great that we have similar taste in top Mediterranean cuisine.

As I type this I am eating leftover kebabs from last night. So I gotta stop now. All I can say is you better check it out otherwise you're...

Tucked away in East Hollywood is Marouch, where you can indulge in Lebanese, Armenian and Middle Eastern cuisine.

Last night's dinner was remarkable. From the many meze side orders to the fabulous entrées, Marouch delivers.

For starters I had the Tabbouleh, made from crushed wheat, parsley, tomato and green onions seasoned with lemon juice and olive oil. It was extremely refreshing and crisp, obviously made daily.

Next the Marouch Special with Hummas and Falafel came out. The falafel had the perfect combination of ground garbanzo and fava beans. The inside was cooked perfect and held together well while the outside was fried to a golden crispy brown.

Lastly for appetizers, I had the Fatayer, or cheese turnover. Delicious cheese wrapped in wonton paper and fried. Yummy!

Bob, our server was wonderful and described each dish in detail as it came out. It was lovely to hear how the food was prepared and its cultural origins.

For entrées I had the Lahm Mishwi, or Shish Kabab, with tender cuts of seasoned,  charbroiled filet mignon and lamb, and the Shish Tawouk, or boneless, skinless, chicken cubes served over a bed of rice. The meats were fantastic - juicy, tender, well seasoned and delicious. Everything you'd want from a kabob. And the rice, ohmygoodness, the rice. It was out of this world. So good I cleared my plate!

My second entrée was the Ferry, or quail. I had two whole quails marinated and barbecued with creamy garlic sauce. That little bird was packed with flavor and presented beautifully. The seasoning was extraordinary and made for wonderful little morsels of meat.

As a thank you for our visit we were gifted with a lovely bottle of wine on the owners behalf. Last night turned out to be a memorable, entertaining and fun experience.

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On a whim, a friend recommended Marouch to see if they could cater our wedding. And WOW -- not only did Roman and his team lay out a spectacular, delicious feast that had our guests drooling and asking for recipes, but Roman also went above and beyond in helping us plan out and execute a remarkable reception. I'd even go as far as saying that he delivered more planning and coordination than our actual wedding planner!

We can't recommend Marouch more... the quality of the food, the personal touches, the incredibly warm/friendly/funny service that came from Roman... it made our wedding day and the planning leading up to it truly wonderful.

We had SUCH a diversity of dishes that really gave our guests an awesome selection, and it was so good that some guests were piling kebabs on top of fattoush on top of mujadara on top of falafel... it was a SIGHT to behold!

But, I have to specifically call out the muhammara and babaganoush. All of the dishes were amazing, but those two both had people going back for seconds, thirds, and -- since Roman wanted to be sure we didn't run out of food -- leftovers the next day. I had cousins trying to reverse-engineer the muhammara, and people were using anything they could to scoop it into their mouths: spoon, pita, bagel, potato chips, and even some fingers!

When we'd done our original tasting, the babaganoush was also a standout, and Roman shared a bit of a story about how they infuse family secrets into making that Mediterranean staple. It starts with the choice of eggplant... and just like the babaganoush, the successful reception we threw started with choosing Marouch to be...