El Cajon International Foods

great no-​frills arabic grocery store. chaldean friend turned me onto this place (his family are regulars). been going here for at least 4 years. better than fair prices. everything’s imported, except the produce. big fan of the wild-​grown pickles (Cortas brand best). tons of teas. excellent hot/​fresh deli-​style swarma, but usually hard for a gringo like me to communicate my order (but well worth it). if i was into home cooking, i’d buy all my cooking oils here, cheap. stopped by yesterday to buy canned hummus for my vegitarian burgers at home. authentic/​nice staff everytime. if they don’t change, i will shop here til the day i die.

I used to go to this place all the time for their chicken shawarma sandwiches! They were only $ 5.00! Lots of chicken and vegetables on a whole piece of flat bread! Everytime I would eat one, I was as stuffed as a Thanksgiving turkey!
Now, it’s a different story.
They raised their prices and decreased the amount of food! Now, you get the sandwich on only half of the flat bread for almost $ 7.00! :(Damn economy!

Located on Main street, this is a great location to find your authentic Middle Eastern ingredients to create your unique dish. Walk in and you’ll hear some Middle Eastern music.
One star for their decent selection of imported products such as olive oil, spices, certain desserts, and other canned goods.
Another star for their bakery — you can get fresh baked breads, spinach pies, feta/​spinach pies, laham-​ahjeen (arabic pizza), and baklava and other sweets.
Last star for the hummos, olives, cheeses, and pickled goodies. They also cook up some chicken and beef kabobs (each kabob for $ 1) and shawarma. This grocery store is attempting to compete with the restaurant across the street, Ali Baba, for the kabobs… there is no match. Ali Baba wins HANDS DOWN.
Parking is limited — there is about 8 spots in their parking lot, but street parking is available if you’re lucky.