MazMez Middle Eastern Grill — Restaurant in Schaumburg Township

Wow, I have not experienced this bad of a customer service issue in years. This was my third time getting food from this restaurant. Their lentil soup helped me the other week when I wasn't feeling well, it was good enough to order again. I was on my way to an appointment yesterday when I was driving by MazMez, feeling a little hungry. I had a few extra minutes so I thought, perfect, I'll grab some lentil soup and have a couple of bites in the car before my appointment. I went in and paid for my soup and proceeded to wait. And wait and wait some more. A 20s something clueless lady behind the counter paced back and forth, repeatedly checking the order tickets, and now and then tossed a couple of pitas on the grill. I thought I'd give her the benefit of the doubt, and I just waited patiently for a good 10 minutes. Finally I asked of the status of my soup. "Just a few minutes" I got as a response. I asked politely, "is there any way you could just go put the soup in the container for me? Somebody is waiting on me". I mean, is it wrong of me to think there's a big pot of soup in the back and a ladle? She said it needed to be warmed up. I'll take it cold, I said. I get a snarky response, "it'll be a couple minutes". At this point I'm highly considering asking for my money back. I wait a couple minutes more, definitely late for my appointment at this point. Somebody else comes in to order and 20s something is at the register ringing him up. The chef comes out and sets the soup on the counter. I ask if he would mind handing it to me. He walks back to the kitchen. I address the both of them and ask would one of them hand me my soup, or can I come get it myself? They both stare at me blankly and ignore me. So I go behind the counter and get my soup! 20s something yells after me, "Don't come back!" Ha! I most certainly will not after that treatment. There were so many opportunities for actual customer service here. A little communication up front or at any point during the 15 minutes would have been helpful. Or, knowing I was in a hurry, asking the guy at the register to hold on a second while she handed me my soup was certainly a possibility! But it seemed her customer service philosophy is that people are stupid and need to be managed with condescension. I do not wish you...

We came at lunch, which may have been part of the problem. There were two open tables and they were both dirty so my wife got a guy to clean it. He used a rag that smelled like mildew and we had to fix a bit more using their napkins as the guy did not do a complete job. The table smelled so we went to another table that opened up because some other patrons moved due to it being wobbly. It wasn’t wobbly enough to stop me. The owner and his father took notice and I could see them really put a lot of effort into correcting for the mistakes but still it bothered me to think cleanliness wasn’t part of a core Training focus. It took about 20 minutes to get my lentil soup and another 15-20 minutes for my chicken shawarma. We came specifically for the shawarma as I am recently addicted. My favorite is Naf Naf Grill. Not only do they have my favorite shawarma pita but they are REALLY clean. The lentil soup I though was better than Naf Naf. It was quite good and larger than I had anticipated so I shared it with my wife who also thought it was excellent. The shawarma is my third favorite. Behind Naf Naf (1st) and MiddleTerranean in Addison (2nd). The upside of the shawarma pita wrap here is you can pick your toppings. Perhaps I did not choose as wisely as I could have. I’ll be honest, I go to restaurants partly because I suck at cooking so having me choose my own toppings is not preferable, for me, compared to leaning on a better cook to choose for me. Many others prefer to choose, my wife’s falls into this camp. I’d have given it 4 stars if they didn’t use a dirty rag on the table. I probably should have gone into the bathroom to really see how clean they are. There’s really no reason to mix filth with food. The food here though was...

MazMez Middle Eastern Grill is a hidden gem tucked in the strip mall across from Home Depot.

The menu is extensive with many choices in all categories. All meat is halal but bland tasting. The hummus was very smooth and with an unadulterated original flavor!

The falafels that came on the platter were the BEST TASTING FALAFEL IN THE AREA! They were fluffy, light, not a bit greasy, and fried with a perfect crust!

We ordered the combination platter which had a generous portion of all the variety of (4) meats they have on the menu. It also included a salad, rice, pita and pickle items. Everything was made to order however the meat lacked flavor as there wasn’t enough seasoning.

They also have 3 sauce choices; tahini, hot and garlic (toum). These were nice accompaniments to accentuate the meats. We also ordered the baklava variety tin. The baklava is from Nazareth Bakery in Chicago and was very good.

They also offer lunch special options that are very economically priced. They have a separate dining area that is very quiet and comfortable....