Shish — Restaurant in Saint Paul

January 6, 2023, updated. Dropped to two stars. We've been regulars at Shish since that first visit. During COVID when local businesses needed customers most, we ordered every other week. Service was good but not great, food was good but not great. We didn't say much, times were hard and we attributed the quality to the need of the business and stress of the times.

We've continued to order but our frequency has declined as the service and food quality has declined.

Tonight we ordered to celebrate a birthday. We "know" we need to show up at least ten minutes after the internet predicted time says food will be ready. We show up and the place is kind of busy but not as busy as we've seen before. And we wait. And wait. And wait. Keep in mind, we're here for pickup ten minutes after our quoted time for food to be ready.

Ten more minutes of waiting, and we ask for a status. They're working on it now. But then one of the staff members says to me, "can't you see we're busy?"

I can see it. I know that. My order being ready 25 minutes after the quoted time is a little ridiculous.

The next bit of information from staff, "we can't limit our internet orders."

Fine. Don't limit them, no one asked you to. But when an order comes up and your staff KNOWS that order isn't going to be ready anywhere near the time it's supposed to be, they should be getting on the phone and calling the customers, getting the orders spaced out, apologizing.

I worked in the food industry and during my time, over a decade ago, our ordering software could predict and space out projected readiness. Even if today's software can't fully project, someone should be adjusting the projection to more than 20 minutes during busy periods. Customers are not unreasonable, we will come when told to pickup our food. We will not stop coming if your place of business is honest with us. But if I have to keep guessing at what time my food "might" be ready, I'm going to get tired of it... And I am.

Tonight our food was subpar (curry was watered down, items were overcooked, items were forgotten), our food was late beyond the promised time by 25 minutes, staff was not helpful and treated us badly, and... I'm not certain when or if we'll be back. This is not the first time our experience has been bad and we've tried bringing it to the attention of the establishment and have gotten nowhere. Tonight's experience threatened to impact a birthday, we'll look for a difference "favorite" place in the future and wait a long time to try this place again.

January 19, 2019. Five stars. We went in on New Year's Eve for the first time. The food was amazing! It seemed like they were understaffed, especially for the rush they were getting... But nothing was delayed. The staff was friendly, attentive, and didn't forget to check on anyone or bring anything. It's the best experience I've had in a restaurant in a while. Highly recommended. Great gyros, great Curry, we are already talking about when...

I was never served my food, and they refused to refund my money. Shish ripped me off. About 8 weeks ago I ordered a Mediterranean chicken sandwich, a large latte, a hibiscus tea, and I tipped 20%. It took 15 minutes to get my drinks. I started reading my book, and when I looked at my watch 35 minutes had passed and no food. I went to the counter, to the guy doing silverware not Willis who took my order, and told him I haven't received my food yet. It went something like this: Excuse me, I haven't received my food yet. Yeah? I have to be somewhere. Can you just give me my money back? No. What do you mean, no? I never got my food. It's been 40 minutes now. No, I can't do that. What do you mean? Why not? Just refund it to my card. I need a manager here to do that. I can't do that, I need a manager's ok to do that. Just take $30 out of the till then. No way. Ok. I would like to speak to the manager. Oh, there's no manager here today. (Saturday) Can you call the manager? No way can I call. Will a manager be here tomorrow? Nope, there is never a manager here on Sunday. How about Monday? Probably not. Any day next week? I don't know. Hardly ever here. It's my fault, I messed up your order. Stunned silence. Snarky, big grin, he says: Oh! I'll go to the kitchen and see if they've made it yet! Maybe it's ready! You can just get it to go if it's ready! I declined. I was so insulted. You can leave your information and I can leave it for the manager when they come in. I was angry, I had to get out of there, so I just left. I called later and left my information, to a girl. Nothing for a week, so I called back and gave the info again. Nothing for a few weeks. So I did it again. I give up. They ripped me off. I went to Shish the first time last July 2022. Had a burger, it was so good. I talked to the owner and he told me about the beef, it's high quality. I took note of the servers. Two brown haired guys, Willis and a young blonde guy, and a girl. An older latino guy came out from the back...

Shish Restaurant on Grand Avenue has provided—for me, my family and friends—the most reliably outstanding casual dining experience in St. Paul since it opened in 2006. Weekend breakfasts are consistently filling and wonderful (tough choice for me every week between Shish Breakfast w/gyro & eggs over easy, Breakfast in Jerusalem with well-balanced sampling of Middle Eastern fare, Shakshuka, generously scaled Greek Omelette, or my standard “go to”: Chai Oatmeal w/ fixings and a side of perfectly cooked, melt-in-your mouth scrambled eggs). My friends often spring for the Turkish Coffee, but I am clumsy and spill-prone, so forego the challenge of pouring it into a small copper sipper by ordering a large cup of the best dark-brewed coffee to be found on either side of the Mississippi River; added bonus: Leo (the owner) has trained his ever-friendly staff to circle tirelessly past the table with endless refills).

Lunch and dinner items are also special, my favorite being the Leo Burger (maybe the best burger in St. Paul with the added flavor of gyros and gouda cheese on top), my wife’s being the Chicken Shawarma pita or wrap. The fries w/ garlic aioli are perfect side dishes for all the sandwiches, and the soups are as tasty as they are aromatically tempting. Avid tea-drinkers will enjoy the “Breakfast in Jerusalem” blend. You may want to cut your lunch/dinner order in half and take the leftovers home in order to leave room for dessert: lots of tempting choices to split among friends; my favorites are baklava or carrot cake.

Shish can get busy two or three times a day with a nice mix of chill Macalester students and genial “post-grad” St. Paul regulars, but the staff is always well trained, hard-working, conscientious and friendly, so with good timing or a little patience, you will enjoy a Middle Eastern meal as good or better than any I’ve had in the...