Mezzah

This place was the most wonderful Mediterranean café I’ve ever been to. It was a nice and quiet with a good view of the park. The food was amazing and for the price, the portion size is way more than what I expected. I couldn’t have asked for better service or better food and I am definitely going back.

I was very disappointed in this place, poor customer service — took 45 minutes to get our food after being ignored for 15 (there were 4 other people here) and food quality and taste was sub par. Went to pay and they wouldn’t take cards then didn’t have change to pay sign cash. No AC so it was super hot and fly infested. Was excited to try it, especially coming from out of town but would never come again.

I have eaten there before and the food was ok. 2 – 3 stars. Today I show up, seat myself in the empty dining room and present my gift certificate. The waitress looked very confused. She told me that since they changed owners since I bought my gift certificate that it is invalid. I had a $ 25
gift certificate, those never expire in CA. Needless to say it ruined my otherwise lovely evening. The waitress, who had a difficult time understanding English, did not interact with us again. Another man who was washing dishes when I came in then took over and passed to me to the owner on his iPhone. He said that he would take $ 5 off of $ 50. I said that was no way to keep customers. Brush up on CA consumer protections. Viva le Unilocal

Excellent food, had item #10. Chicken was tender and fell right off the bone. The marinade was tangy and complement well with the rice. I think I found my new favorite place to eat Greek food. Portion are big, a real steal for the price. You need to check out this place, won’t disappoint.

Below average food but I must say that the girls who work at Mezzah are nice gals.

Excellent, fresh, remarkable food. Stopped in before a Sunday afternoon gig in El Cajon and was pleasantly surprised by this nearly empty restaurant. Fantastic place. I’ll be back every time I’m out this way!

Non attentive, had to yell back into the kitchen to let them know people were there. Never refilled water or checked in on us. We got the Messah for 2 and the Beef Shawarma entrée. Food was editable but far from great. Used to Mediterranean being more flavorful and less dry. They should also really give more than 2 pieces of pita with the mezzah for 2 platter because it is really proportionate. The 2 pieces falafel was the best part of the meal.

My girlfriends and I walked in this place and it was completely empty. We searched for a hostess or waitor for a few minutes before the owner appeared and seated us. He brought us ice water and then we waited 15 minutes for the waitress to come and take our order.
Half the drinks on the menu weren’t available… same goes for the food on the menu. The falafel was yummy and so was the spicy cilantro hummus. We ordered the kofta kabob which was low quality beef and over cooked. When we brought this to their attention, fortunately, they removed the item from our bill.
All around, the service was poor and the food was somewhat edible.
I do not plan to ever return here again.

Came in for lunch with 5 other ladies and it was wonderful. They had an appetizer plate called mezzah for 2 but it totally fed us 6 ladies no problem so that was amazing. We had tapooli and it was good and so was the hummus and baba ghanouj. First time trying the spicy dip and we all loved it. The fatoosh is on point. Then we ordered a place for 4 people which honestly could feed 10. Great place loved the décor inside.

I was there attending an event and really disappointed with food and service! Waiter girl had an attitude, the whole place was unorganized. Will never go back

BEWARE!!! If i could give a 0 star i would… Probably the WORST service and WORST attitude. I booked an event for a surpise bridal shower and previously made an agreement ahead of time so I can set up the tables with flowers and display some desserts. The owner was sooo rude and didn’t have anything ready for us. We asked for a table cloth to cover their disgusting black tables and they brought us just one to cover multiple tables! As we continued setting up, the owner of the restaurant got into a loud argument with the workers from the salon upstairs bc the door was left open and the employees of the salon started to jump so hard on the second level I felt as if the roof was going to cave in… very stressful to be in the middle of their rivalry…
It was arranged that we have bottomless refills on our appetizers and they were sooo stingy about it they charged us an extra $ 4 per person to bring out a second round of salad and insisted that it was not part of the arrangements previously made… none of their hostess came to check on us and we had to keep getting up to find them sitting outside on the patio in order to get more refills on our drinks.
Once the party was over we were waiting for our car to pull to the front to load the gifts. We waited literally 15 – 20 mins before the owner kicked us outside bc they needed to set up for a private event. As we watched from the windows there was not a soul insight nor were they setting up for an event.
Its no wonder why we were there from 2−6pm and NOT one customer came inside to order! VeRY disappointing and would NOT recommend to go there BEWARE!

The food is amazing & those who work here are very pleasant. I’m particularly fond if the spicy dip. This restaurant is usually quiet, not many people, but there should be a line out the door. Yes, I think it’s that good!

So, my wife, daughter and I decide to go out to lunch, but money is a little tight, so she gets out the Entertainment book to see if there is a local places nearby and we choose Mezzah. Get in the car, drive down there, have a seat, order some beverages and proceed to choose some entrees. The waitress then sees our Entertainment coupon and announces, «we no longer accept those». Sorry, but that doesn’t work for me. I bought the damn book, drug my ass down there only to not have them honor their end of the bargain. When I press the issue, she says «we have a new owner».
Well, let me explain something to you Mr. New Owner. You had an opportunity to show me what you are made of and why I may be inclined to come back without a coupon and frequent your new investment. Instead, you pissed me off by refusing my coupon, which was the only reason I chose your establishment. I’ll never be back. What a STUPID business decision.
The food was ok, the service was good, although we were the only ones there, and it was lunch on a Friday (Hmmm…not so good; may not be there long…).

Well… what a strange experience.
I saw the Entertainment book coupon last night for Mezzah, and after reading Unilocal reviews, scheduled a date with a friend for tonight (Saturday).
We got to Mezzah at 5:30 and when we walked in, the restaurant was totally empty. We wondered if they were just opening since the tables had no tablecloths, cutlery, etc… a gentleman kind of indifferently asked us if we were there for «dinner or what»? Not sure what he meant by that.
Anyway, it seemed kind of depressing/​quiet/​empty inside, so we asked to sit on the patio, and then we realized there was only one occupied table there… with an ashtray in use. We said we wouldn’t be able to eat there because of the smoke and they just kind of stared at us as we left (and proceeded to Nicolosi’s for a nice dinner in a friendly place with good service).
We left Nicolosi’s at 7:30 and walked back by Mezzah: the inside of the restaurant was now «dressed up» with linens, glassware, etc., but there was only one table occupied inside and one outside. Not a good omen for a Saturday night when all the other nearby restaurants were quite busy.
When I came home, I decided to see if maybe we had arrived before dinner time and I see Mezzah opens at 4 so that wasn’t the case. I also saw that someone else posted a review today about the Entertainment coupon not being accepted. Glad we left when we did.

We stumbled upon this place while visiting family in La Mesa. I assume there’s no shortage of middle eastern food in the El Cajon area but we were in search of the best.
We had an event and came in to Mezzah looking to cater the event last minute. They were so happy to help and were able to take the larger order last minute and have us the food in time. We had them do three of their wraps, chicken shawarma, falafel and the eggplant wrap. All the wraps were really good, great flavor and not to dry in the middle, falafels were fresh and super crunchy. We also had them to hummus and the spicy vegetable dip and both were very good.
Growing up and eating these dishes, I find myself to be super picky when eating out and its always nice to know that someone other then my moms hummus and falafel are super tasty.
By the way American people notice there is a U at the end of HUMMUS not an A. Just FYI…
Anyways great food, great service — Thank you for helping us out when we needed it!

We dined here tonight after being alerted by a
deal and some righteous Unilocal!reviews. Although the
deal was yanked, we gave it a try, anyhow. And boy, am I glad we did.
Service, presentation, taste, portions, price — it was all there.
We started with a beer and the house wine (a peary little white thing that the little lady loved). We moved on to the Mezzah for Two… a friggin’ dee-​lish appetizer. Hey, did I mention that the restaurant’s name, Mezze, means «appetizer» in Arabic. But you want to hear about the food, not my admittedly pathetic knowledge of Middle Eastern dialects.
The «Mezzah for 2» should be called the «sampler to feed a family of hungry oxen for 2 weeks.» It’s a lotta tasty food. Three kinds of hummus, pita, a large salad, falafel, baba ghanoush, and some kind of spring roll (I cannot recall what they’re called). All that for $ 17. Incredible.
We then split a ground beef kabob (also forgot what that’s was called).
To make things even better, we’d arrived during happy hour so they took $ 6 off my check. Lovely, just lovely.
It was a lot of food for two people. Everything was extremely tasty and reasonably priced. The service (an exotic-​looking blond gal) was friendly, patient and knowledgeable.
Will definitely return and can recommend it wholeheartedly.

I’d give it 3.5 ***‘s.Went here on a Friday at 12:30pm. No patrons were dining here. Hmmm. why not? We had a pick of any place to sit. They do have outside dining but it was too windy that day so we picked a table inside by the window for natural light.
The waitress probably didn’t have any wait experience in her life. I think we had the menus for 5 minutes and she wanted to know if we were ready to order. I knew what was on the menu as I previewed it before I came. My friend however didn’t. I did ask about the house wine, what vitner was it, she didn’t know had to ask and then came back and said it was Australian. OK. If I asked for more explanations on the menu items she was very perfunctory.
Ordered 3 appetizers (hummus and falafel, feta cheese with olives and mint, ayares), I salad (fatoush), 1 wrap (beef sharma) with house salad. 2 glasses of house wine
($ 6 a glass which turned out to be very good). When I think appetizers, I think small plates, well these were HUGE! Wow. All the food was fresh and tasty. The only item I didn’t care for was the falafel but my friend really enjoyed it. (Like a previous Unilocaler review, I noticed it was a grayish ball but the texture/​cooking was good. I just have never seen or tasted falafel like this).There was no dessert menu, as I wanted to share something if they had something besides baklava since it was my friend’s birthday.
We each had boxes to go, as I said the portions were large!
I gave the waitress my
coupon and they at first refused but I insisted as I was not going by what they were telling me (only use at happy hour) as nothing was written on the certifcate saying there was a limitation. After 10 minutes of talking to someone on a phone in arabic or chalean, don’t know which one, they begrudgingly complied. Whew! But this is very unprofessional and for this I docked them a star.
I would consider trying this place again in the evening IF I saw that they have some dish that is different on the menu, like the ayares, which I had never heard of or tried before. The food was fresh and that warrants 3 stars in my book. I would hope they have better service in the evening. Maybe I would try happy hour as the apps are huge. Wonder how the drinks are?

OMG Craving Mezzah right now even as I go to the Unilocal page.
I found Mezzah through a friend, because I needed a place to cater a couple of events that my school was putting on. As I was in charge of the food committee, there was a lot of pressure to have an excellent display of delicious tasting food. Mezzah (and my friend) saved me. Everyone that we were catering to asked where I got the food from and demanded the name and address… This place is AWESOME, and very reasonably priced.
The food is so fresh, and so good, I really could gush on and on about how delicious this place is. Their falafels are AMAZINGGG, and the sauce that they give you for the falafel is equally as delicious. The chicken kabob is so plump and juicy… it’s just all good, but the chicken and falafel are my favorites.
I LOVE MEZZAH!!!
PS: Shout out to Ammar, who is the current owner of Mezzah – he really did everything to work with us, and put up with all my catering changes haha Thanks ammar!

Tapas are my kryptonite. As my sweetheart and I discussed last night, both my father and I share a love for a leisurely dining experience. I prefer to sit down, order a drink, maybe an appetizer, and talk for awhile with my dining companions before even opening the menu. Tapas allow you to do just that, then lather, rinse, repeat… or as it were, drink, eat, talk, repeat. Of course, my SO isn’t quite the same way, but tapas at least give me the thrill of a variety of different dishes to sample so as not to tire of just one entrée.
Enter date night at Mezzah. We somehow ended up with a code for a free $ 25
gift certificate and naturally, I picked the closest place to us. There was NOBODY there when we entered and that was a little strange, but then again, it was a Thursday night in downtown El Cajon which is pretty much a ghost town. Service was on point and so was the food! My «Mai Tai» tasted nothing like any Mai Tai I’ve ever had and I have suspicions it was actually a very strong margarita. Not good, but whatever, I’m not a complainer when it comes to booze. The only other thing I would advise against is the pizza. We got the margherita pizza (not my idea) and the tomatoes were unflavorful and colorless and the tandoori bread it was served on did not support the toppings well. But who orders mixed drinks and pizza at a Mediterranean tapas place anyway? Shoulda stuck to wine and their specialities, smh, rookies!
On to what we ordered and what we will definitely be returning for in the future:
–Hummus– both regular and south of the border style as suggested by our server/​bartender/​owner? Both types were delicious! (He offered the combo at no extra charge)
–Arayes– marinated ground beef inside pita. Mmmmmmmmm, love it!
–Sherhaat– steak strips cooked in tahini. I would equate it to Mediterranean carne asada.
–Boraq– Middle East beef egg rolls served with aioli. I just ate one cold for breakfast and it was still good.
I can’t wait to go back and try some other options. Because I was with my man, the vast majority of our selections were beef, but there are so many other items I look forward to testing.
Yet ANOTHER gem in El Cajon!

The two most important qualities I look for when dining at a restaurant: how tasty the food is and how great the service is.
Mezzah passed both tests with flying colors.
Middle Eastern food is already delicious but there’s a certain, special touch to how Mezzah prepares their food. I heard it’s a family business and the chef is also the owner. That makes a HUGE difference, in my opinion. He’s obviously going to pour his heart into each menu item and make sure it exceeds expectations. He’s not just some chef working at an hourly rate.
The service is outstanding. I can’t stress this enough. Everyone greets you by name and the owner makes his rounds to each table to personally speak to each customer. You definitely feel the warmth and kindness from each employee. I live in Phoenix but always travel to San Diego for vacation. This is the one place I never skip out on. I would recommend it to anyone looking for fabulous Middle-​Eastern food during the week (and also to people looking to shake it shake it on the weekends).