Salaam Market — Restaurant in Virginia

My friends and I went there yesterday afternoon - less than 24 hours and so here's a fresh review!

The place is seriously a hole in the wall - but more often than not, these types of places usually have the BEST food ever and this was no exception! The owner was extremely friendly and more than willing to give us multiple samples of dishes inside the glass shelving. We were thrilled with the taste, quality and aroma of olive oil and spices each dish provided us with. I think we tried 4 or 5 samples. I really liked them all!

I went to the restroom and by the time I came out, my friends had already ordered. I ordered a gyro and the owner suggested I get a meat platter. I agreed - why not? I wanted to try ALL they had so if the platter offered some sort of variety; I went for it.

The items arrived with hardly a wait - the 3 three of us ended up getting the same platter (did he suggest the same thing to them?): A meat pie, some sort of salad mix of tomatoes and garlic (tabouli?), a slice of aromatic bread and amazing hummus. ALL TASTY! Also brought to the table was an orzo salad mix and pita bread (for the 3 of us to share) and 3 sodas. And then my gyro (with fries) - which I later took home.

One of my friends volunteered to pay for lunch until she came back to the table stating that everything came to $104 and she just couldn't swing that. VERY understandable; even when she budged $70 for everyone! So lunch (and a take home) for 3 people came over $100. Here's my reservation: it was suggested we order the "meat platter" - this particular platter one of my friends and I looked on the menu and did not see listed although I'm SURE it was on there. I ordered a gyro ($9.99) and was presented with a gyro and fries ($15.99) - feeling like the owner took the opportunity to get the most money out of me as possible. There was no exchange of 'would you like fries or not', therefore giving me the option. I didn't think much of it at the table because how much could a side of fries be?? It happened again as I ordered a second GYRO to take to another friend and was surprised to find a gyro and another side of fries.

All in all, I think the place made around $150 from the 3 of us - one friend paid $65 (herself and the 3rd person), mine was $66 (granted I ordered 2 pies and 1 additional gyro to go) and the 3rd person also ordered 3 or 4 containers of things to go separately, so I'm sure it was a good $150.

Again the food was GREAT! The customer service - awesome; except in thinking about it, I wasn't sure if that was to distract us from the pricing of everything. The owner remarked that I looked like Tina Turner (please take a glance at my picture!) and we all heehee'ed, haha'ed and how I had a great ....I don't know, personality and all. But we had a good time eating and I TRULY felt that the place DESERVED to be in a more popular, high-traffic spot - so the owner may not feel urged to hit customers as hard. We knew afterwards we would not (could not) be going back there any time soon. Which is unfortunate because I really like the food. The owner was funny too.

My advice is to get an itemized receipt, take out your phone calculator and make sure the owner (or whoever waits on you) knows EXACTLY what you want to buy - no add-ons/additions, especially if you're not rich, need to stay on budget and live for tomorrow. We should have been focused on the pricing of everything but when you have a super attentive owner happily offering you many samples (and compliments)... it was kinda hard to drill him about the prices at the end. Maybe I should have sang a Tina Turner song or danced for him and got...

Overcharging/Rip-off alert! I was happy to find some good Middle Eastern food in the area, saw the positive ratings for this place and swung by to try it out. I was promptly greeted and was offered free samples of various foods that fit my dietary restrictions and thought all was going well, but in the end I got ripped off by the chatty man who I thought was trying to be helpful, and now have to wonder if he was chatty and fast talking because he wanted to distract me from what was happening.

I was shocked that my total came to just under $70 and, being hungry and tired and not wanting to seem rude, I inexcusably said nothing to him about it on the spot. I was stunned and just handed him $80; he quickly gave me a $10 bill and a coin for change. I am now kicking myself for not demanding a receipt or immediately questioning how he came up with that number.

I have the price sticker for the sides by the pound I ordered, that the scale printed out when he weighed them, which is for $41.71. He never asked how much I wanted of each side that you order deli style, he just filled each container up to top (and their smallest containers are the 1 lb size, while a typical deli or prepared foods department offers a half pound size container for a "small.") I was willing to let that go and just pay the fair price for what was in the containers, even though I was ending up with about twice the amount of food I intended to purchase.

I also ordered one sandwich which has a listed price, on the menu, of $9.99. The sandwich is huge, I'll give them that. That comes to $51.70 so far, without tax.

Finally, I asked for some of the bread that they said they bake on site, which he added two plastic baggies of, and that was it for my order. I don't see any price for a side of bread on the copy of the menu I grabbed while I was there. And somehow the total now came to $69 and change.

So, the taxes and bread cost appx. $18? If they weren't closed for the night, by the time I got home and re-checked the prices on the deli sticker and menu, and the reality of what happened finally sunk in for me, I would have gone back in and questioned them in person about it. The man who rung me up (who also appears to be the chef and owner, based on some of the things he said) knew what he was doing and I'm not setting foot in...

So we ordered a chicken kabob... falafel platter that should have been an appetizer and a lamb gyro. Also two spanakopadas. The bill was close to $70. Let's just say that the chicken in the kabob was at the tail end of where it is acceptable to serve as in there was a funkiness to it on the finish that you know was massively covered up by the heavy marinade. Also it was overcooked. The lamb was super salty. The tabouli salad was mostly tomato and not so fresh. A little over marinated definitely should have been thrown out yesterday. The falafel absolutely like hockey pucks cold dense centers. The hummus very much not flavorful spanakopita just okay. Decent flavor. Not anything to write home about. Anybody who knows about Lebanese food would be ashamed to serve this to their friends or family as should the dirtbag who owns this place. Don't know his name, never will. He's a heavy set man sat there like a lazy toad while his mother ran around doing most of the work and he was very insistent that they closed at 8:00 p.m. as we picked up the order at around 7 :50pm... The pita was very run of the mill. Nothing was warm or well executed. Also, there was some random kind of yogurt sauce that was sweet and disgusting with a few bits of mint in it. I assume I barely dipped a finger to taste it and it was immediately discarded as was most of the meal. I would not advise anybody to eat here. This place is...