Oren's Hummus — Restaurant in Palo Alto

HORRIBLE service. Completely gone downhill since a few years ago. Oren's hummus used to be one of my favorite restaurants in Palo Alto--so much so that I actually worked for them when I was in high school! Ironically, the place that trained me on what good customer service is, now fails miserably at what it teaches.

I came in for lunch today with my dad and was waiting to be seated (there were multiple empty two-person tables). The hostess out front was running around everywhere and kept telling me "one second." She probably made eye contact with me on five or six separate occasions and told me "one second" each time without seating us. A couple arrived 10 minutes after we had initially been waiting. Funnily, a few minutes later, the hostess came back to the front and immediately sat them down before us. She definitely knew that I had been waiting prior to them (c'mon she had made eye contact with me and talked to me multiple times). This felt very unfair and unprofessional.

I approach the hostess after and tell her that we'd like to be seated. She tells us to wait for another table to be cleared. I let her know that there's another table open next to the couple she had just seated before us. She says fine, we could sit there, but we have to wait for it to be wiped. We wait a minute. Then she tries to get us to sit down at the first table again, to which I say we wanted to sit at the quieter table that I had just pointed out to her a minute ago. She sighs and seems frustrated. I tell her, "well, we were actually supposed to be sat at that table (pointed to the table the couple that came in after us had been seated) since we were there before them, but you sat them first." She then seems even more annoyed and shakes her head at me and doesn't say a word--not even an apology when she clearly knows that it was her mistake. Again, very unprofessional. Did not even meet the most basic of customer service standards.

The hostess says she'll bring out utensils. We received the free cabbage salad, plates, and still no utensils from her. We later had to ask someone else to bring them. Our water doesn't come out until 15-20 minutes later. When our food finally arrives, the chicken rice bowl arrives without tahini. I immediately call for the waitress who brought out our food saying "excuse me". She was not even a foot away from me at this point. I call out three to four times, progressively louder, and she does not acknowledge me. Just keeps walking away. This was so comical that the party seated next to us made a joke and said, "Pretending not to hear you huh?" and laughed. Then they said, "Did they forget your hot sauces? You can have ours." They did, in fact, also forget to give us the customary two hot sauces for the table and I had to get it from the party next to us.

I flag down two separate waiters and ask for the tahini. Ten minutes gone and still no one brings us tahini. Finally, I ask the original hostess and she brings out the tahini. Only for it to have a bunch of tiny hairs in it! See picture. Just disgusting! What happened to the food quality control?

Food-wise, the chicken from the rice bowl was extremely dry and burnt. Some pitas had hard edges and others were fully soft. At least the hummus has stayed consistent (we still enjoyed the hummus a lot).

No one bothered to refill our water. Our glasses were empty halfway through our meal. I spend 10 minutes trying to flag down a random waiter to give us the check. A lot of the times, I would make eye contact with a waiter/waitress (and usually, in any other restaurant, they would acknowledge me and come over), but here, they just pretended not to see me.

Overall, extremely disappointing for a restaurant that I used to love and had even worked at because I enjoyed it so much. Will not be back again. Hope management addresses some of these glaring service issues that I'm seeing in...

I end up eating here about once a month with a couple different sized groups. It gets quiet crowded here (even late at night!) and there is usually quite a bit of a wait. Depending on your party size the wait could range from 30min-1hour on most Wed-Sat nights during the 6pm-10pm time slot. It's much easier to get a seat with a party of 2 vs. a larger party. Trying to get a table if you have more than 2 people since sharing food among a larger party is a bit more difficult if you are at the window/bar seat. The people watching is fun though! Go at an off-hour if you want to avoid the hassle.

The service is not the greatest (perhaps it's a combo of being understaffed and extremely busy) and it's pretty really cramped and overcrowded inside. Expect to sit very close to other parties and squeeze between chairs to make it to your seat!

Anyways, if I do come here I usually order something from the following list: Mozy's Rice bowl, Shakshuka, Chicken Skewers, and "Traditional Malabi" dessert. For drinks, get the hot mint tea!

Mozy's Rice bowl - $10.95 "basmati rice with simmered tomatoes, garlic, mint and parsley topped with grills chicken. served with tahini". This bowl is a nice mix of meat and rice. I think the portion size is quite large and it's very filling. This is usually my go-to dish here.

The Shakshuka is also quite good but I dont think the portion size is that great given the price ($10.95). "2 organic eggs, poached over easy in our spiced tomato sauce". I guess you are supposed to eat the sauce with the unlimited free white or whole wheat pita they give you but I don't want to pay $11 for two eggs, even if they are organic... you could add turkey sausage to this for $2 or mozzarella/pesto for $2 but I still don't think that's worth it. The sad part is that this sauce does taste pretty good and I do love eggs. If you go for this, you either need to eat a lot of pita or grab a side.

The Chicken Skewer plate is also pretty good. You can get 1 or 2 skewers with your choice of 2 sides. I usually get hummus, rice, or sweet potato fries as a side. I tried the herbed quinoa and was not impressed. It was really dry and tasted burnt and smoky so I've stayed away. The beef skewers are good too but I prefer the chicken at Orens. I think this plate is a bit over priced for what you are really getting $12.50 for 1 skewer and 2 for 18.95. Still, I guess it is downtown palo alto....

For dessert, the "traditional malabi" was quite good. It's a "Mediterranean custard topped with coconut, pistachios, rose water and grenadine." IT was very light and not too sweet - a nice way to end your meal!

OK dishes

Hummus Beef & Hummus Classic I'm not a huge fan of the hummus entrees. I'd rather have hummus as a shared side vs. my main entree but perhaps that's just a personal preference. -Apple Walnut salad

When you eat here, you get unlimited white and whole wheat pita, red sauce and spicier green dipping sauce, and pickled veggies. Both of the sauces are pretty good but I prefer the white pita to the wheat pita in terms of texture. You can ask your server for a mix of both Pitas. Also... not the greatest pita bread.

Overall, the food isn't bad but it also isn't spectacular. I also don't think it's worth this price, even though its located in the heart of...

Rip, scoop, eat ... don't mind if I do. I definitely enjoy a meal consisting primarily of hummus and fresh pita. We arrived one Saturday afternoon, and the restaurant was very crowded. The dining space is quite snug. Our waitress had to pull out the table so I could slide myself into the seat. Then they started us with a small bowl of pickled cabbage, peppers, carrots, topped with cilantro.

$13.50 Hummus Beef - hummus with tahini, olive oil, and secret sauce, topped with Moroccan spiced ground beef and pine nuts, with white & wheat pita: This beautifully appetizing plate of creamy hummus arrived dusted with cayenne pepper, There was a healthy amount of ground beef topped with tahini. I proceeded to rip, scoop, and eat, of course. Though I satisfied my curiosity to try the wheat pita, I still prefer the texture of the white pita. I would have preferred the pita to be a little more fresh, and a little bit softer. Their pita is a thicker variety, more like flatbread.

$17.95 Chicken Skewer w/ Oren's Hummus - puree of fried eggplant, spices, caramelized onion and hard boiled egg, & Falafel - 5 Falafel balls topped with tahini: The juicy nuggets of chicken were served skewer-less, alongside a scoop of eggplant. The eggplant was a touch bitter and I could not really taste the hard-boiled egg. The miniature falafel balls were very easy to eat and mild in flavor compared to other falafel balls I've had. The tahini sauce on top is rather thick, and practically a peanut sauce.

$2.25 Baklava - phyllo dough, pistachio and honey layered by hand and baked: It's always hard for me to walk away from baklava. For a tiny bite-size portion of baklava, it packs quite a lot of flavor, as well as crunchy, nutty texture. Though small, it's a good size for something so sweet.

The food quality was solid and our server was especially sweet. If I return, I'd like to try the shakshuka next, since that is only available as a...