Caffe Noor Mediterranean Food — Restaurant in Simi Valley

My wife & I saw the reviews & had to try it. Ordering was a bit odd. There is a nice guy who comes out to greet you. Unfortunately, he talks a little too fast while kind of mumbling, but we understood most of what he said.

Pictures of the food you can order is on the wall. I'd call it a menu, but a menu typically describes ingredients & shows pricing. We thought it was strange that we couldn't pay when we ordered, because we ordered at the cash register. Looking back, I should have forced the issue & insisted on paying first, because we would have had the option of saying "oh, wow, no thanks" or possibly choosing something else.

We sat down in a restaurant that was roughly half full. One take-out order was picked up during this time, so the vast majority of their business was from eating there, at that time. We both got impatient because it took just over 25 minutes to bring out our food. Meanwhile, no utensils, water, etc., was brought to our table.

The food was brought to us in plastic take-out containers, with plastic take-out utensils. Water was never offered. When we were finally able to get his attention to ask, a nice looking bottle of water was brought out (looking a lot more expensive than what we needed to just help with washing down the food). I again asked for just a cup of water, but they don't offer that.

At this price point & having to pay after you eat, but provided with a to-go style eating experience, it's like they haven't decided if they want to run a nice dine-in restaurant (ignoring the interior design and appearance), or provide a more fast-food style eating experience.

The food tasted decent. We both gave it a 6.5 & 7.0 out of 10. Although there wasn't that much meat, we both said we would have eaten there again. However, we then went up to pay, and even after returning the unopened bottle of water, were shocked to be given a bill for almost $50 (for a plastic container & utensil style meal). He then pointed to a take-out flyer off to the side where pricing is shown. Why weren't we shown this when ordering? Roughly $22 and $23 for each of our meals.

At this price point, with the plastic container & utensils, only 6 small-to-medium sized pieces of meat, & no water or other attention to detail, we won't be eating here again. At most, these meals should be around $15 & $16 each, & then we'd have little to complain about. At this price point though, there come additional expectations, like ordering at the table (with a menu), offering water, asking if everything is okay with their food, and providing larger or a few more pieces of meat. Even with COVID and inflation influencing pricing everywhere we eat these days, there are much, much better options available, and at a lower...

So glad we came here! I was driving around Simi Valley running some errands with my parents today and we were commenting about how we wanted Mediterranean but how the place we used to go to got evicted.

Thankfully, we saw Caffe Noor on the way to somewhere else and decided to stop here.

Wonderful atmosphere, the staff was very friendly and courteous and (most importantly) the food was amazing! We each got the Chicken Kabob plate and raved about it. The hummus was delicious, the chicken was very flavorful and tasty, the rice was cooked well with good flavor, the two salads were good and the portion sizes were fantastic for a big lunch or a dinner. Next week (I guess starting tomorrow) they are going to be having a new menu with new food options. I can't wait to go back and see what they have!

The only negatives I have are super tiny. As someone who brings a water bottle everywhere and refills it, the only drink options were bottled waters and sodas. No water dispenser or ice to refill my bottle. Like I said, minor issue, but I can easily drink 24-48oz of water with a meal. The only other negative was that they had only plastic forks and no plastic knives or spoons which would have been helpful with cutting the chicken and getting the last bits of that fantastic hummus!

One thing to note is that they actually ring you up AFTER you're done (probably because of the drink situation). That is very confusing as the style of the restaurant is more of a pay-eat-go type place versus a sit down with a waiter, where you would more typically pay after dining.

Menus in the review images are the menus I ordered from, not the upcoming new...

GARLIC SAUCE IS EVERY REASON WHY YOU LOVE FOOD

let me back up

Their Beef Lula is amazing, moist delicious seasoning with the proper use of lettuce, as a texture enhancement and to introduce enough air into your pallet for every bite as a Beef Lula flavor retainer. The beef itself is nice and juicy with a unique Mediterranean profile that doesn't overpower the natural flavor of the beef

The Beef Kabob is CRAZY, if you love steak this hits that craving, again a Mediterranean seasoning that doesn't overpower but ENHANCES the natural beef flavor, it was tender juicy and with the pita a perfect dish

Both dishes came with red onions which set the flavor off just right for meat damn!!!!

But lets get back to the 300 pound gorilla in the room.....THE GARLIC SAUCE!!!!!

It's like just garlic and I think MOAR GARLIC, it made all those delicious dishes... DELICIOUSER!!!!!

EVERYTHING WAS SO AWESOME BY ITSELF BUT THAT GARLIC SAUCE MAKES THEM NEXT LEVEL!!!!!

and they have this super refreshing Mediterranean soda with real fruit flavor and are super refreshing

Open till 10 and its the perfect place to get something fresh and made with a love of food culture and...