Soom Soom Fresh Mediterranean - Los Angeles — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I'm a huge fan of Middle Eastern food but will not support restaurants like this one that I feel are Jacking up the prices in my area for this cuisine. I feel that by one restaurant raising prices so much - it's success could lead the entire Middle Eastern cuisine to go up in prices . Middle Eastern food traditionally was cheap fast and healthy food. It's competitors should be Pizza,. Burritos, and Burger joints. As for this specific restaurant - I saw this small hole in the wall casual dining joint not far from where I live and decided to pop in. It looked like it's mostly a place for take outs as there's not a lot of space for sit down eating and the ventillation isn't great so I felt it didn't smell good inside. I expected this place to offer cheap options for those wanting to buy fast and cheap food to eat at home. It felt like one of those take out Chinese joints. But their prices are high - I felt they charge like high end restaurants. For example, they wanted $10 for a small take out container of Hummus and the woman at the counter said they don't have their regular containers so she offered the only option they have was taking it in a small plate that looked to me like it's half pint.

The rest of their prices were also more than I was used to seeing in sit down restaurants and seemed to me expensive and not worth the cost.

Soom Soom already seems to have a few restaurants in the LA area and might be in chain building mode. I wish them all the success as I do hope LA will have as many Middle Eastern restaurants as possible - but only if they keep prices at a sensible amount.

There's Supermarket Hummus that costs around $3-5.00 for a pint. There's homemade style Hummus in various Israeli supermarkets that either make their own Hummus or buy from smaller vendors - Like Samy Makolet on Fairfax, not far from Soom Soom that sell also for around $3.00-5.00 . Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Ralphs ... also are starting to experiment with different types of Hummus at sensible prices.

The problem in recent years is that Middle Eastern food has become extremely popular in the US - but that isn't an excuse for the prices to go up so much especially not from a vendor who seems his concept is selling take out food.

I hope customers show that there is a limit to what they will pay for take out food for any cuisine and help keep the costs of Middle Eastern food down. I've reviewed other Middle Eastern restaurants - and it seems for some of them the story is the same. They over charge and eventually middle Eastern food lovers move on to cheaper alternatives.

I believe there is a place for cheap take out Middle Eastern food that can compete with other take out and/or fast food cuisines like Pizza, Burrito joints, Hamburger, Chinese, Thai take out joints and food trucks, etc... But I feel Soom Soom prices have to be competitive and within the prices of...

I have been to this place several times. It has been my favorite place for the last 5 months. I have even recommended it to a few friends, I have even raved about it to my family. I was super excited to introduce this place yesterday to my best friend. When we got there everything seemed fine there was not a lot of people there we were the 1st ones in line. Once we ordered there was a crowd of people showing up behind us and it seems that the staff there completely forgot about us! We were the last ones to get our food after about 6 customers! It was ridiculously disrespectful considering I am a regular and I have spend a lot of money there. I am extremely upset and I would hope that this establishment would reach out to me and give me a full refund for what we experienced yesterday. I'm not a 100% sure that I will be going to this location ever again. Luckily there is another Soom Soom close by that I might decide to go to. Frankly it was very embarrassing and I don't know how to feel about it because we were the 1st ones there and the last ones to get our food and everyone saw this. Its not a big place! I've been to this place many times and it has never taken more than 10 minutes MAX to get my food! On top of that something that I didn't realize was happening... The staff there takes orders wearing gloves touching the pen they use to write with and all of that and then using the same gloves to make the food. We asked him if he could change his gloves before making our food. He did but only after reaching into the drawer and putting frozen food into the deep fryer. Then when he put the new gloves on he went back to picking up the pen and continued to take orders from other people. I'm not 100% sure if it was the reason we didn't get our food till the end but considering everything that's happening right now I think they should be more careful. I am a believer of great customer service and I appreciate businesses that go above and beyond because I have been in the customer service industry for many years and I also understand many situations but what happened to us yesterday is so disrespectful and I am not happy about it. We ordered our food at around 8:05 p.m. and didn't get our food till about 8:25 p.m. And what sucks is that the staff there clearly did not remember about our order!!...

Visited this location with a friend. The food was great but service was horrible. The server who appeared to be the manager or the one giving orders was extremely bias to guests. If there are Covid regulations in place it should be expected for everyone. While in line a customer came in without a mask and was asked to put on a mask, he refused and was asked to leave. Fair. Then my friend and I were told if we wanted to eat inside we have to show our vaccination card. Literally as we are eating we are watching the same server/manager watch other customers, allow them to sit, and pick up without a mask. He even interacted with the mask less guy who sat and waited for his food for about 15 mims. A mask less African American guy comes in to ask how long is the wait for food being ordered a few mins after the other mask less guy the same server doesn't answer his question and tells him he needs to put on a mask. It's a small place so.... No one else were asked to even show a vaccination card the entire time we were there.which we sat and talked until it closed (about 2hrs catching up). When we showed the cashier he looked uncomfortable, and barely looked at it. Like he felt bad we were even asked. The guy was picking and choosing who he felt should follow the "COVID protocols" and because of that I will not return. Extremely bias and a lot of things... Lastly, it's not the COVID protocols that's the issue its the treatment and bias that is used. Treat everyone...