Sunnin Lebanese Cafe — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Sunnin was a pleasant surprise and satisfied my periodic craving for Lebanese food. Prior to this weekend, I had walked past this restaurant hundreds of times while attending UCLA, but never set foot inside.

I expected Sunnin to be a run-of-the-mill Lebanese fast food joint, after spotting a dual shawarma spit by the entrance and observing kebab & hummus platters in front of most customers. But after examining the menu, I found a full page dedicated to famous Lebanese dishes such as ouzi, kousa, beymeh, etc. I don't think many places in the Westside serve these traditional dishes on a regular basis, I usually only see them during a special occasion like Ramadan.

I committed to ditch the kebab/shawarma options and made up my mind to exclusively order from the specials labeled "Em-Toni" on the menu, which I later learned is the nickname of the executive chef at Sunnin. Bad news is that not every special was available, I could only choose from three out of the fifteen. Good news is that I was familiar with one of the options, the koussa, and it was not crossed out. We ended up also ordering the mezze combo, since our server guaranteed that the portion and variety included din the two items would be sufficient for two people. Unlike other Arabic restaurants I've been to, lentil soup is not included with the meal.

The cold mezze arrived fairly quickly, consisting of dips like hummus, tabbouleh, and muttabal. They were all refreshing. The muttabal had strong roasted eggplant flavor and some tart aftertaste. The tabbouleh was very aggressive on the parsley that's soaked with sourness from lemon. Hummus was thicker than the typical and unlike most I've had before, Sunnin's version had much more garlic and a distinct nutty finish.

Then, we were ready for the hot mezze, which included a few Lebanese pastries and finger foods like falafel, fatayeh, sambousek, kibbeh. The falafels were deep fried to golden on the outside, but the fillings were a little bland. Sunnin doesn't make the Palestinian type with green hue that has more flavor in my opinion. My favorite was the spinach fatayeh, a pastry stuffed with spinach and onions, and some other ingredients which gave it a deep herbal flavor profile reminding me of zaatar. The beef kibbeh was solid, pretty much a densely-packed croquette filled with beef and pine nuts, the closest non-Lebanese equivalent would be potato balls from Portos, which is nowhere as savoury and tasty as the kibbeh. Overall, the quality of items in the mezze was exceptional, although it didn't quite justify the high price of $27.

Up to this point, the food was executed reasonably well, but the koussa was even more memorable. I had eaten it before at Ramadan iftars, and I know they are time consuming to prepare. From what I've been told, the kousa is made by slicing out the core of summer squashes to leave a shell, and stuffing the hollowed interior with rice and minced beef. The stuffed squash are boiled in a tomato type of broth. Sunnin's version is a real treat, the fillings are really compacted into the core and don't collapse when I try to split the squash in half. The tomato broth was lightly salted, and a dollop of labneh was served on the side. Get this dish if you want a true taste of classic...

I was introduced to this restaurant by a close friend and business partner. He mentioned to me how it was one of his close friends' business and truly described it as one of best restaurants he knows about. I thought to myself "of course he says that." Upon arriving to the restaurant I was greeted by a young man at the register. He politely walked me over to my table. I sat there and looked around the restaurant. I saw families, young adults , people in suits, people in scrubs, older ladies and gentlemen. I found it so interesting how many different types of groups were brought together under one roof. As I waited for my friend to get there, I peeked over to the people sitting next to me in order to get an idea of my options and see if there was anything that caught my eye. They ordered like 5 different things and it all looked amazing. Finally my buddy gets there, and he immediately places his order. We got the lamb plate. We talked for about 10 min and bam the food was hot and ready placed on our table. We eat, we talk and we exchange business ideas.THE FOOD WAS AMAZING. 30 min later the owner walks in and walks over to our table. He gives my friend Marcus a huge hug, he introduces himself and gives me a hug. I realized that i've seen him before. He's a member at a local gym where his son is always playing basketball. His son is a basketball phenom and he's always making sure to let the world know he's his son's #1 supporter. We talk for about 5 minutes. He lets us be. When we ask for the check and they tell us George (the owner) took care of it. He didn't have to. He didn't owe us anything. He didn't win anything from taking care of the bill for us. He did it out of the kindness of his heart. Im positive thats the reason so many people love his restaurant. Theres so much authenticity to George's character. So much respect and humility. He loves his community and he loves to see people smile in his restaurant. A month later I go again and I find out he's a close friend of my mentor and he's catered for our office many times in the past. I couldn't believe how connected we were. I will never stop going to his business and will definitely bring my family and...

Where do I begin? Lordy Lordy, first things first, starve yourself! Ok, maybe have breakfast that morning before you go.

This was my very first time trying this restaurant, the last time I had Lebanese food was over 20+yrs ago. This was my wife and both our boys very very first Lebanese food tasting. It absolutely 💯 did not disappoint!

We tried a bunch of dishes (shared) and appetizers. The Eggplant, the chicken, the beef, and pretty much every appetizer that was on the menu. Folks at other tables watched in amazement as the food kept coming. At one point, I think we almost had no room at the table for any more food.

All the dishes or appetizers we tried were wonderfully seasoned and very flavorful! You can tell real love and effort was put into all of it. Everything is made in house, even down to the hot sauce which did have a very nice flavorful kick.

Deserts, we tried the Rice pudding (On point) and the Ashta, which should be a must try for everyone! Ashta is a beautifully creamy dessert that has a hint of Orange blossom with a rose flavor that very subtle, yet delicately flavored with honey and topped off with pistachios.

Service was a 10 out of 10. Wait staff was very friendly and if you have any questions about each dish, they are more than willing to explain each one.

Please, if this is your very first time, try a mix of everything.

The wife and I have three simple questions we ask each other after leaving a new restaurant that we have tried. #1 Did the overall flavor of each dish leave you wanting to take another bit? Yes #2 Did we feel that this meal was money well spent? Yes #3 It’s either a yes or a no on returning. For us it was big Yes

Overall impression, 💯 we will be back again and for sure stuff ourselves.

My only disappointment, was not with the restaurant itself, but the fact that we live a good distance away from it. If we lived even half the distance, we’d most likely be eating here a few...