Pride of the Mediterranean — Restaurant in San Francisco

Some friends and I were driving through San Francisco when we stumbled upon this Mediterranean restaurant. The exterior looked inviting, so we decided to stop in for dinner. Unfortunately, that was the only good decision of the night.

Cons: Terrible Chicken Kabobs – I ordered the chicken kabobs, expecting flavorful, well-seasoned meat. Instead, they tasted off—both the seasoning and the meat itself were just wrong. It left me wondering about the freshness and quality of the ingredients. Unfresh Salad – A simple salad should be crisp and refreshing, but this one was anything but. The greens tasted old, as if they'd been sitting out for hours. Unhygienic Kitchen – At one point, I glanced into the kitchen, and what I saw was alarming. It did not look clean at all. Frankly, it made me question everything we had just eaten. No Receipt Breakdown – When it came time to pay, the owner handed us a single total with no breakdown of the charges. This was incredibly frustrating, as we had no way of knowing if we were overcharged.

Pros: The Palestinian tea, kunafa, and hummus were the only redeeming factors. The tea had a lovely, aromatic flavor, the kunafa was rich and satisfying, and the hummus was creamy and well-seasoned. But unfortunately, that’s where the good experience ended.

After leaving, I decided to check out the restaurant's reviews to see if our experience was an anomaly. Much to my surprise, numerous others had similar complaints—questionable food quality, hygiene concerns, and issues with billing.

I really wanted to enjoy this place, but between the unappetizing food, cleanliness issues, and lack of transparency with pricing, I can’t recommend it. Safe to say, I won’t be...

Walking into this spot is quite pleasant as it had a charming feel and you can tell that it is family owned. The issues started to arise with service and quality of hookah. I ordered a hookah ( and having had and made many hookahs in my lifetime), I knew immediately something was wrong. 1. They are using the wrong coal - the coal being used was coal for barbecues. This coal dies quick, becomes very ashy and has a distinct flavor that taints the hookah. There is coal specifically made for hookah. 2. I could tell the hookah is not clean. The plastic hose (meant for one time use) is being reused and not washed properly. You can tell that this is the case from the stale taste of the hookah. 3. The whole hookah has a light brown hue - a result of not being deep cleaned . I suggest that all the hookahs be cleaned in baking soda and vinegar. 4. Every flavor I ordered tasted the same. I could not differentiate bw each of them. But through experience this is the case when the hookah flavors have not been stored adequately and have been left unsealed. 5. Service was sooo slow, and the owner would completely forget about his patrons. I and another pair of customers (the only customers at the venue) had to constantly go looking for him.

This place has so much potential and I hope the owner can rethink how he serves his hookahs and the quality of his service because if he doesn’t, it’s future looks...

Food was pretty good. The owner was nice until it came to the check. My first time I wasn’t aware at the time that we were overcharged since my bf had paid and he didn’t want to make a big deal about it.

The second time I was there, I went with some friends and they clearly stated what dish they wanted and he repeated what we ordered correctly too. But at the end, we were $50-$60 overcharged and not given an itemized receipt… we asked for it and the owner kept talking and avoiding from giving it to us while giving excuses etc. We insisted and finally got it (after time 10mins of arguing) and saw that he put the wrong dishes that were more expensive on the receipt as well as put his own tip of 20% on the charge without telling us. At this point we’d already paid and he’d only give us the wrong order refund in cash but not the extra tip we accidentally gave him since we couldn’t see the itemized receipt until after we paid.

Crazzyyy experience, never had this before EVER. To the owner: If there’s an issue/mistake, own it and provide a speedy fix.

To customers: don’t get charmed or distracted by the guy, don’t get lazy, make sure to get an itemized receipt (this is normal to get without having to ask!!!) check the total cost, don’t be quick to tip as that will probably be in there…. Hate to double tip bad and shady service. Wont be coming here EVER...