Mashawi Grill — Restaurant in Redondo Beach

I mean first things first, their chicken is amazing. The chicken kebab plate or wrap - I can't vouch for the shawarma.

I've been coming here (and their Torrance location) for about a decade now because of the chicken. I generally love the food and don't mind the service I receive because I typically take it out.

Now, you may be wondering why I'm leaving a 1-star review. Yelp and Google both have their close time as 8:30. I called tonight (Monday May 19) at 7:55 and the phone rang for about 2 minutes before I hung up. I live nearby, so I decided to drive there. When I got to the restaurant at 8:11 (which is about when my order would have been ready if they had picked up the phone...), the cashier told me that they close at 8:15 and they are no longer taking orders. They don't have hours posted on/near the door, so I can't confirm this, but again, Yelp and Google both have their close time at 8:30.

Also, I am also confident I have picked up food between 8:15 and 8:30 in the past - I try to avoid restaurants close to close, so it happens once a blue moon. I used to work in the restaurant industry and sure it was annoying when people came in right before we close, but I would still serve them. My bad, I guess.

This may have been an isolated incident, but service is typically not great when I eat in the restaurant. After reading other reviews, I think service is a persistent problem. It pains me to do this because it is one of my favorite places to eat out, but I hope this will...

Great food. Mediocre service.

I enjoy the food from this place but I have to put up with often uncaring, unhelpful or rude service from the person taking / serving the food. I’ve been there a few times and each time the person taking the order seems impatient and unhelpful. Regardless of whether you eat there or order to go the wait will be long for your food. While the food is worth it the experience is not. This past visit the girl brought my food to the table with no forks or knives and didn’t even mention where they were located. She didn’t care. I wasn’t the only one served without utensils and each person had to look around to find them. A simple “knives and forks are located here.” from the staff...

We've ordered dinner several times since pre-pandemic times. The chicken is always tasty. But as time has past the portions are getting ridiculously smaller each time we order. I used to order two skewers with veggies. That was too much food. I switched to one skewer, with veggies, perfect. Last night Dec 2023, I barley had any chicken, tons of veggies, but come on. Businesses keep using the pandemic as an excuse for price increases and portion reduction. But when will it end. We, the consumers are getting squeezed from every direction.

The chicken has always been good, but the prices went up and portions went down.

No...