Fares Arabic Cuisine — Restaurant in McAllen

My wife and I have been in the RGV for several months. We moved from San Diego, California. We love it here in the Valley.

The people our so nice and the food is great. My wife and I had a favorite Mediterranean restaurant we went to in San Diego called Aladdin's. This place was the best. Great food.

My wife saw this restaurant on our way to the cleaners. We had to stop and check this place out. I wanted to see if the Mediterranean food here in the RGV would be the same as it was in San Diego.

You walk into this restaurant and you feel a sense of peace. We love all kinds of food but I don't write reviews on "good food." I right reviews on great food. There is a difference.

My wife ordered beef kabob with rice and grilled vegetables. She also had tabouleh and hummus. I had the Shawarma Lamb plate with rice and hummus. I also ordered another side of hummus with beef and Baklava to go.

My wife had ice tea, and I had cucumber lemonade (Yummy. Oh my Lord). The food was served in a timely manner and the portions were huge. Everything brought to our table was made fresh.

The pita bread just melted in your mouth. I took my first bite and in my opinion, this meal was better than the Mediterranean food I had experienced in San Diego.

This meal, by far, was exceptional. I had to tell the owner how pleased my wife and I were with the meal. The guy had a big smile on his face like he already knew his food was awesome.

This food was definitely made with love. Meals prepared like this meal, our truly hard to find. This restaurant is definitely the place you would take family and loved ones so they can also experience the joy of this exquisite food.

My wife and I will be customers for life. I will definitely tell my friends and family to go to this restaurant. Thank so much for the excellent meal.

The love you provided through your meals will touch the hearts of everyone who eats at your restaurant. May God bless you and yours always.

Also, don't forget to leave a great tip for great food and great service. The people at this restaurant clearly go out their way to make your dinning experience a memorable one.

Show your love and appreciation. Give a great tip. You will be blessed for your kindness my brotha. Peace and keep loving...

We came when this place originally opened, I want to say about a year before covid, but recently wanted to give it another try, and we were not disappointed.

Overall, it can be a bit pricey, but damn, the food was worth every penny.

We got the Fares platter for two, believe it had probably the best pricing for two people which includes two meats, three cold mezzes, a salad and pita bread, which also includes rice and veggies on the plate.

The flavor of the Shih Tawook (chicken) has a bit of a southern bbq flavor and yet more, which is great as we usually tend to get regular bbq chicken in the area and the differnce in flavoring is spectacular. The Kofta Kebab (beef) has a flavor similar to what we call Albondigas which is a mix of like meatballs, rice, seasonings and other ingredients that I wouldn't know other than to say it was delicious.

The baba ghannouj, hummus, and the muhammara were all fresh and packed with flavor. We almost filled up on them before the actual meal .

By far the side salad that they give you in this meal, called Fattoush, let me say I'm not big on eating salads but it had so much flavor I was basically fighting to get more of it than my wife.

If you're in the area, want to try something other than Mexican or Chinese, give them a try, and it won't disappoint. They even had fresh in house made pistachio cake, which paired amazingly with their special hot tea.

Thank you for the experience and...

Unjustifiably expensive prices. I’ve grown up around Middle Eastern food for the better part of my teenage and adult life. Absolutely nothing justifies the rates being charged for what’s on offer, often for food that is stale (grape leaves, I’m looking at you). Average grade food at prices approaching $30 for a single shawarma (Gasp, this is virtually twice the price of a large shawarma from the infamous Café Helen in central London) and $20 for hummus (essentially chickpeas, tahini and lemon juice!) including tax. Heck, even the so called ‘Fares Fries’ are exorbitantly priced at over $11 for a small plate. Now the restaurant may justify all of the above by stating their use of the highest quality ingredients and rising supply chain costs being borne by a family run setup, but unless they’re using Le Bonnotte potatoes from France for their fries, I’m not quite convinced. This is a standalone restaurant in McAllen, not Miami. This is Fares, not Nusr-Et. Despite rising prices for most items globally, we still have some of the most cost effective rental, labour and supply chain charges in the country here. Please ground yourselves like the Za’atar you use and come back down to Earth to more realistic prices. Share the beauty of the Middle Eastern culture with more people in the Valley rather than excluding them by providing mediocre food at prices only the very...