Kabob House — Restaurant in Temecula

I discovered recently this little strip center...it's the first driveway east of the In & Out on Temecula Pkwy....there's a Wings and Things there and a few other independent spots that all pretty much look promising. They close at 9PM and at 8:30 PM I asked my wife about dinner....and mentioned this Kabob place I'd seen the other day. At 8:55 I called and they said yes....we'll take your pick up order and this to their credit . I like when a place acts like they appreciate my business. I'd ordered the Kafta plate for my wife, with rice and Greek salad as the two sides, and I ordered a gyros sandwich with fries, an order of grape leaves, a piece of Baklava for dessert. I'd SO much like to say that the food was amazing but I can't. I wish I could call it good, even. I can't. I have to give it a notch under even average.

The grape leaves were very good. My wife's are better and she's a tough critic with stuffed grape or cabbage leaves...but she liked them.

The Kafta was dry. We both agreed that the Kafta wrap at Pacific Pita is better.

The fries are the thinnest you can get....they make In & Out's fries look like steak fries. They were hard and cold by the time I got them home.....6 minutes from when I left the restaurant. Don't order fries to go.

Most disappointing was the gyros. One expects a gyros sandwich to be meat-heavy...and the meat moist and satisfying. I HATE to have to review the gyros as harshly as I do but the meat was pedestrian.....it was not as good as basically any drive-thru that sells gyros, but the kicker was I've NEVER seen a gyros with such little meat. I literally had to take two large bites to get to where the next bite contained any meat. By any standard of measure....weight.....sight.........feel.....this gyros had a noteworthy small amount of meat. I'd been jonesing for a gyros for 6 months and it's pretty gloomy when you finally eat one and it doesn't satisfy your jones for a gyros. And it did not seem like the gyros meat we all know and love from the spit...this seemed less-than quality-wise....and much MUCH less than any typical gyros you've ever likely seen.

The prices are much too high for this pedestrian fare. I don't mind spending $42 on a takeout meal for two but I choke on it when I know I could have been happier spending $10-$12 for both of us at The Habit......or Carl's for that matter.

The baklava plain sucked.

Temecula seems to be rich in Mediterranean food options and you'd think that before throwing their hat into this ring that they'd felt they had reason to believe that their food would really hold its own......but no. I wish I felt otherwise. Find a better spot when you get the...

This was a favorite place of ours, but the service has become horrible.

Most recently my wife ordered online for pick up during the dinner hour.. We were given a 15 minute wait time until ready. I arrived on time and was told another 5 minutes. 5 minutes later, I was told it would be another 10 minutes. 10 minutes later, food was still not ready and as far as I could see not event being prepared yet. The sit down area only had one table of four people, so the restaurant was not busy. I could see the order tickets hanging on the board in the kitchen and there may have been 4 tickets total. Again not very busy.

I finally asked to cancel my order because it had been paid in advance (with a tip included) and the wait was becoming unacceptable. They acted like they could not do this, blaming their "system". I told them them I am walking out, and to cancel my order... just another 2 minutes they said... 2 minutes was more like 5. I told them I am walking out. They argued with me! No apology from the senior guy there, just excuses and arguments. In all I was waiting there 30+ minutes after a 15 wait at home. How long does it take to make 2 kabob plates?

When I finally got the order and I asked them to double check it because I didn't trust them and I did not know exactly what my wife ordered for herself. When I got it home it had the wrong side dishes on the wife's order.

Bottom line.. horrid service. Food was not exceptional, just average. This place has gone down hill and I don't think I will...

Did the Kabob house come under new ownership? We moved from MI about 4 years ago (the center of wonderful arabic food) it took us some time to find a place that we felt measured up to what we were used to and we found it in the Kabob House. For months now, I come almost weekly spend $70 to $80 a week and usually the customer service has been good and the food is good but last week my wife had a couple doctor visits and in between, we were trying to grab a quick lunch and didn't have time for the whole sit down and wait for service, wait for our to go bags after we're done, we just got it to go and decided to eat a little bit of it outside on the tables in front... NO ONE was in or outside, no customers and the waitress proceeds to ask us to leave, told us that the owner doesn't want us eating in front like that, needless to say I ignored the request, then the manager or owner, not sure who he was but he proceeded to sit next to us & began to hover a bit, never said a word to us but made his presence known and again for his sake I ignored him.... I could completely understand if there was a line of people waiting for a seat but they were dead & they were doing construction next door and the outside was dirty and wasn't ideal but it was still better than trying to balance it all in my car on the way to our doctors. I hope we get better service next time we come or we may be forced to find another favorite arabic restaurant.... Listen to your customers, they are your...