Mama's Vegetarian Falafel — Restaurant in Philadelphia

“Can I please get a large Mama’s?” “White or wheat?” “Wheat please.” “Why wheat? White tastes better and is healthier." “Haha, okay.” “You want hot sauce?” “A little bit.” “Have you been here before?” “Yeah, a lot.” “Do you live here?” “I go to school here.” “Where?” “I go to Penn.” “Ooh, so you’re smart.” “I try.”

This is the kind of friendly (and if you’re a girl, flirtatious) service you can expect from the cute Israeli boys behind the counter at Mama’s Vegetarian, the infamous Kosher falafel joint on 20th, between Market and Chestnut. Falafel from Mama’s is something of a Sunday afternoon tradition for me.

The falafel are always hot out of the deep fryer and the necessary condiments are constantly being refilled from buckets of freshly chopped cucumbers and tomatoes. The guys who make your sandwich are not only good-looking with exotic accents, but they assemble your meal like only a professional falafelist could. The slice, spread, dollop, scoop, 3 falafel, scoop, 2 falafel, squeeze of tahini...it's a process that makes you feel like you're watching a well-oiled machine. The only delay can be when you have to wait for more falafel to come out of the fryer, which in the end is even better because they are hot and greasy and even more delicious.

Expect to see all sorts of unexpected clientele at Mama’s on your average Sunday afternoon. You have the older Orthodox Jewish couple, the young Israelis, the Orthodox college students, maybe an Asian or Indian kid, and many others of ambiguous descent. Basically, everyone goes to Mama’s. And you’d be silly not to – where else can you get a hearty and delicious meal, entertaining service included, for only $5? That doesn’t include the wide selection of Israeli beverages in the cooler or the numerous side dishes.

If you’re there during peak hours, be prepared to wait--after all, Mama’s is no secret. And they aren't open on Saturdays because of Shabbat--this is probably the main drawback of it being a Kosher restaurant. Mama's is cash only, but there is a Wawa with a no-surcharge ATM at 20th and Chestnut.

If you haven’t been to Mama’s, I recommend going. It's my favorite restaurant in this entire city, although I probably haven’t been to enough to seriously judge. It's at least my favorite lunch spot. And if for some reason you find yourself down on South Street, or if you want meat, there is Mama’s Grill between 6th and 7th.

Moral of the story: eat at...

This 1 star rating is not a reflection of the food which is delicious. Nor, is it representative of the "entire" staff which until today has been more than pleasant. This 1 star rating, is for the 1 employee that provided me with the 1 and only reason that I plan to never patronize Mama's falafel moving forward. I went the Mama's a little after 11am today. The store was not crowded less than 6 customers were there at that time. There was a couple in front of me, and 2 guys behind me that appeared to be coworkers out for lunch. After the couple in front of me ordered, I stepped up in the exact spot they were standing in and waited to place my order. To my surprise the employee (a young Asian woman) took the order of the person behind me. I thought to myself, maybe an online order or something. Then she began to take the order of the other coworker who was behind me as well. At that point, I felt she was purposely giving me the cold shoulder. My presumption was validated by her response. When I calmly stated, "excuse me I didn't order yet was there a reason that the 2 gentleman behind me were serviced prior to me?" While not making any eye contact, she replied "that I was standing in the wrong spot." The answer puzzled me, because I was standing in the same exact spot as the couple before me. Also, if I took one step back I would have stepped on the 2 customers that she just serviced. Further, if it was truly accidental anyone would say sorry I thought you ordered already what can I get for you. I deal with subtle RACISM all the time, and this unfortunately is another occurrence. Ironically, I'm half Asian myself and it felt weird being treated like that by someone that resembles half of my family smh. Nonetheless, another employee over heard the situation and offered an apology (which she did not) for the confusion and took care of me right away. I thanked that employee for his customer service and left feeling disrespected for no good reason. At no time did I step out of character because that's not in my character so I chose to vent via a review. I hope that that this review will prevent future customer's from sharing my experience. Once again, thank you to the gentlemen that resolved the issue as well as the cashier who also offered an apology even though they were...

This review is not necessarily reflective of the food. It is reflective of unprofessional and unpleasant service. I ordered a catering service two days in advanced to arrive at 11:30 for our event. We called multiple times, but the company kept saying they would be there in 5 minutes. It turns out they ended up getting there at around 12:10-12:15, about 40 or more minutes late. I also called a day early with payment options to give them my card. They told me to wait until the delivery person got there on the event day to pay. So, after they arrived 40 minutes late, the driver, who was the owner of the business, refused to give us the food unless we first paid. Postponing delivery for another 10 minutes because we had to call the company and do it via phone while they were busy with the lunch rush. Once they would finally give us the food nearly an hour late at this point, a bunch of us had to help the delivery person to carry the food. We entered the building, once we entered the building and the delivery driver saw stairs, he put the box down and said he was not going to carry it anymore and left. DO NOT GET Catering from this company. Not reliable at all. It ruined the event which was supposed to run for an hour. The cold food seemed as though it would have been good, but, at this point it does not matter. What is worse is that they were completely unapologetic did not offer an apology, a discount or anything. A very...