Mr.JJ Mediterranean grill — Restaurant in Louisville

Went to the place for the first time. Wanted to eat Mediterranean food and wasn't that far from my hotel. As someone who has traveled the world a lot for business and being from the Mediterranean region myself I have tried a lot of Mediterranean cuisine across the world and made it myself I have a pretty good idea of what Mediterranean food should taste like. Terrible service and bad food. Went into the store and decided to get the chicken shawarma and the chicken gyro and two pop bottles. Had a kid take my order and that was fine at first. Then after giving him the money he didn't give me any change back. Either he didn't notice that there was change back or that he assumed my change was a tip( usually tip is after you eat your food then you decide how much tip, it depends upon the service and the food). I decided to let that go as it wasn't that much money. Every restaurant that I have been too after paying for the drink unless it is something that needs to be prepared they give it right away. The kid just walks away without giving me any pop. I stop him and ask him we can sit anywhere right? He says you can only sit at the two tables right near the front door with two seats. I preferred a booth instead because I was with a couple friends and there were 2 open ones on the side perfectly fine but he made it so that I had to sit there out of all places. After a couple of minutes a large congregation of people entered the restaurant. Because the cashier (aka kid) was so adamant on sitting close to the door we easily got crowded. At that point with so many people around it was uncomfortable to just sit there nonetheless eat there. Thankfully we didn't get our food yet. When our food came we had first asked for it to be dine in. After the large amount of people we asked to do takeout. The cook or owner whatever just promptly and quite rudely says okay here not our problem and throws the food into a bag roughly. Even for dine in he hadn't put on a tray or anything but just had the food held in his hands. All of the Mediterranean restaurants that I have been to around the world always give you some sauce to eat with or hummus and bread at least. He just gives us the food and asks for extra money for the sauce. We had to ask for the pop now that we payed for and yells at the kid to go get the pop and tells us to move out of the way so that the other customers can step up. His first priority is to treat us and the customers behind us hadn't even chosen saying that they were still choosing. We left the restaurant and went back to the hotel. He hadn't put any napkins or anything in the bag. Now onto the food. Starting off the chicken shawarma was not cut. Its common to cut a chicken shawarma of that size in the middle to make it easier to eat but rather it was badly wrapped and stuff was falling out. The taste was even worse. There was a disgusting overpowering taste of Tzatziki sauce and garlic paste mixed together making it taste sour and rotten. Horrible over all. Moving on to the gyro. It was better than the chicken shawarma but had way too many black olives and had stuff falling out as well and had very little taste and was also very dry. Overall the food and service was terrible and would not recommend anyone. I wish before I would have seen the negative reviews of this place and how rudely the owner replied to them before coming to this place....

Desperate not to go back to my side of town without grabbing food I can’t get there, I found this place by searching “food near me.” A pretty unique search, I know. :D

I've seen some people warning not to discount this place due to its outward appearance. I just need to pause here for a second because we are living in different worlds. Places that look like this (fine, by the way) on the outside ARE ALWAYS good. You're not walking in there to eat a bunch of heat-and-serve GFS and Sysco foods like you are at most places with the aesthetic people seem to often be chasing. When you see a place like this, even if you're not hungry -- you should stop.

Anyway, back to the important part. As soon as I walked in I was greeted cheerfully through a window in the kitchen. The aroma was heavenly. While I perused the menu and tried to decide what to order I was delighted to see how the patrons and the owner interacted as he buzzed back and forth between the kitchen and front counter. "Customer service" would be too impersonal a term for what I experienced and saw. Top Notch.

They have an extensive menu which I hope to have the chance to try more of soon. Today I got the shawarma chicken wrap, spiced hummus, and an order of falafel.

My wrap was perfectly toasted and extremely delicious. I dipped it in the spiced hummus which was pretty genius. The hummus is really good on its own, too. The falafel was perfect. They were nicely crisp on the outside and had a pleasant texture with grains/nuts, maybe? I definitely recommend those and the sauce that comes with them. There was a pretty good selection of cake/pie slices and baklava -- I think I saw almond, walnut, and pistachio (my favorite). I didn't see those until I was waiting (not long) for my food and had already paid, so I look forward to trying sweets on my next stop in.

I definitely rank this...

JJ’s Mediterranean Grill has been on my “must try” list for a while. I saw this little gem on Louisville foodie social media groups and was intrigued by the reviews. Time after time, people raved about the owner, the food, and how the restaurant always has a fresh pot of homemade, sustaining, nutrient rich soup available at no extra cost for customers, and for free to anyone struggling with housing or food insecurity. I came to try it tonight for the first time with a foodie buddy of mine. I am a lifelong customer after only one meal here. The chef, JJ, is so warm and kind. The young man working the front register was sweet, efficient, and unbothered by my barrage of questions pertaining to vegan choices. Hailing all vegans: we can EAT here, y’all. There are many options for dairy free, gluten free, vegetarian, or meat eaters. Chef JJ is careful about honoring those with food allergies or specific dietary lifestyles. He even changes gloves, utensils, etc for vegans or those with an allergy. My friend and I split a vegetarian sampler, hummus, and an extra salad. Every single bite was an explosion of flavor. I got so excited to eat I forgot to take pictures of everything. So sorry! I don’t know what Chef JJ puts in his magic green marinade that sits atop the hummus, but it is religious. There is a large glass case up front full of homemade desserts, lovingly crafted by his wife. My friend and I both ordered more food to take home because everything was so delicious. Chef JJ doesn’t even take tips. He pays his staff and sets out an optional tip box; all donations go to the homeless. I can’t believe this beautiful place has been here this whole time and I am just now trying it. Don’t walk, run. JJ’s is the place to go. Thank you, chef and staff, this was an...