Al-Reef Mediterranean Grill — Restaurant in Murrieta

We visited Al.-Reef for the first time last Sunday and we were very pleased. The service and congeniality of the proprietor was outweighed only by the deliciousness of the food that he served to us.

The french fries that were served with our sandwich orders were noteworthy in that they were fresh, hot, and delicious - much more so than they were at any other place I've visited in recent memory that served fries. But that was just the beginning...

I ordered the beef shawarma and it was amazing! I shared a taste with my wife, who normally eschews all things beef, and she's now counting the days until we return because she wants to order the beef shawarma the next time we visit. Chicken shawarma is on the menu too - perhaps I will try that on my next visit.

The proprietor was very generous during our visit. Perhaps it was a slow day for him, or perhaps he was being a shrewd restaurateur, or perhaps he is just a very generous person who enjoys seeing people take pleasure from his concoctions. We were treated to a free small bowl of lentil soup as a kind of appetizer while waiting for our sandwiches. I actually don't like soup most of the time, and when I do have soup, lentil soup is way down on my list, but Al.-Reef's lentil soup is in a category all by itself. I would be thrilled to have Al.-Reef's lentil soup again the next time I eat out.

Very much looking forward to...

So we were just here to order food. There was no one in the shop. So we had ordered a mixed combo plate and the young girl at the register informed me it was a lot of food and enough for two people. We decided to also order a Gyro plate. Mind you none of these combos come with a drink. So my husband had asked her if we can get a drink and she was snappy and said none of the combos came with a Drink. Our bill was $45. He said that he knew that but he would like a drink and then she repeated herself and said that it didn't come with he had his card out to show her that he was going to pay for it.

The fountain machine was very flat! No ice came out at the dispenser. We had first tried the Coke and it was horrible so we had dumped it out and tried the Fanta orange soda and that was all

We got home and saw the food and thought ok the food looks good. The portions are really big. But the food is definitely just mediocre. The meats were all dry. The hummus had a very bad after taste to it. The rice had no flavors. The pita bread was hard. I was really disappointed in this place cause I was really hoping to find a good Mediterranean place...

Honestly, Al-Reef Mediterranean does not deserve any stars at all, but in order for me to send this review so other consumers can know how disgusting this restaurant is, I had to give 1 star. I ordered dinner for my family online to pickup. When I got there the owner wanted to charge me more money for my online order because he raised the price on the Lamb Kabob, but didn't make the change online. I told him I already paid, either give me my order or I will just cancel it. Since the food was already done and packaged, he went ahead and gave me my order. When I got home, my family and I were eating and found, not one, or two or three, but several strands of hair in our food all throughout, maybe that's why there were no customers in there at 6:00 p.m.. We were soooo disgusted, my husband took the food back to the restaurant with the hairs in it and told the owner what we found. I will never ever go...