Falafel King

OMG!!! Sooo goood! Best hummus is town.

the only place in Gainesville i could find the ingredients i needed for eastern cooking. kebab is different from Persian version still was delicious. wish there were more restaurants serving middle eastern and Turkish foods cause its really hard to find them in this city.

I love this place!!!
I can’t understand when these big restaurants with all the resources in the world get food wrong.
Here we have Falafel King, a small restaurant making the best Falafel Sandwich I’ve ever had.
This place is great, fresh ingredients, tasteful, simple, light, excellent food.
We definitely will be back.

I was told after ordering they ran out of hummus. How does a Greek store run out of hummus? No idea. I got a hummus platter with a side of grape leaves. $ 12. Grapes leaves taste better from the store in cans. All my food was definitely microwaved cause I heard them run it six times. Platter maybe makes one sand which. Tabouli was zero flavor. Falafel was grease central. No rice. No tazeki sause. Never will return. Avoid at all cost.

This is my first time trying out Falafel King even though I’ve passed by it multiple times. I just never found the opportunity to try it out with someone. But today, I walked in and found it to be a small little restaurant. You could definitely tell it was more of a family-​owned business.
I ordered a falafel platter combo with a pistachio baklava dessert and a soda. All of this was about $ 10. Although when I received it I didn’t think it was going to be very fulfilling because it was only 2 falafel with hummus on the side, salad, and pita bread, I was actually satisfied with the portions after I finished the meal.
As for the flavoring I would say it was different from what I usually ate (which would be Asian food and American food). I thought it was interesting the way they made the sauce on top of the falafel. But nonetheless it was good. The only thing that tastes strange to me was the salad that came with the meal maybe because I wasn’t used to it. It had a tangy garlicky flavor that I decided to mix in with the hummus. The dessert, the pistachio baklava, was very delicious though! It wasn’t too sweet and has a nice flaky pastry.
I would definitely come back sometime to try different thing. It is overall a very interesting restaurant and the prices are mostly all under $ 10!

Very friendly servers and I think they have good food. I think the pita needs improvement– they have to make it fresh. However, the chicken rice platter is very delicious. Chicken wrap is very good and the baklava is very good too.

As a huge gyro fan, I read the reviews and had to try it. I got the gyro wrap and it was horrible. The meat was dry and the sauce tasted awful. The pita and hummus appetizer was not good either and the pita that came with it was stale and hard. Would not come here again! Go to Gyro Plus if you want a great gyro in the area.

Yum! Great quick cheap & authentic. I got falafel platter. Hubby got kibbe platter. No frills just damn good.

Good gyro sandwiches that I wouldn’t say don’t get if you’re in the area. Meaning, if you’re in the area and want a gyro. just get it. It’s no Gyro Plus but it’ll do.
I haven’t had falafel for a while so when I do try it I will update this.

This place is dirty and the food is nasty disgusting and awful. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. And if I had a choice to put no stars I would

The food was easily a ¹⁄₅. I got a gyro and a side of falafel. The pita was stale and dry, the meat flavorless and CRUNCHY, and the falafel was crumbly and also flavorless. This was by far the worst Persian food I’ve ever had.
I’m giving Falafel King a ²⁄₅ for the little ethnic grocery in the back, which had some unique items for pretty good prices.

Blink and you’ll miss it, sitting right next to larger places, like the 4 Rivers Smokehouse
One of the better Lebanese/​Middle Eastern places I’ve been to, especially in Florida.
It’s certainly not a fancy, dolled up place, but the rice, tabouleh, chicken, etc., are all so perfectly done, you don’t really care.
The little grocery store in the back sells some interesting items from the Middle East that you won’t necessarily find in Publix. Wish I’d found this place well before having to move or of town.

Got to keep this in the weekly rotation.

Wow, I’ve been searching for decent Lebanese food for a while (read: Lebanese, not just general Mediterranean or middle eastern cuisine. Hate how they lump all these cuisines together. Ex. Egyptian tastes very different from Lebanese in my view). Love this place. Cute take out place with a few tables and decent selection of cheese and hummus in the back grocery section.
I had the Chicken Shawarma and Ground Beef plate. Both were tasty with excellent hummus and garlic mayo. The fresh Banana and Strawberry shake was very tasty as well.

What happens when you don’t get your pistachio baklava fix while overseas? You turn to Unilocal and find the nearest shop that’s still open at 8:30pm and hope they have some. I mean it’s the middle of Ramadan and that was the reason I couldn’t find it a few days prior when I was out of town… Well, just peering in we weren’t sure, but after trying to find this little place for a while (it’s tucked into a shopping plaza with cici’s), I sent my friend in to investigate. She returned a few minutes later with the last 3 pieces. We split them up and were really content; we decided at some point during our weekend in Gainesville we would revisit for a proper meal.
Two days later we came in for lunch. We ordered a chicken sandwich, a kofte wrap, a cheese pie, and more baklava. I can only comment on the chicken sandwich, and while it was good, it wasn’t mind-​blowing. I will say I was really happy with round two of the baklava. The people working here are nice, it’s decently quiet, and it was nice to poke through their grocery section. I will definitely keep this place in mind if I make it back up to Gainesville.

Is Falafel King fancy? No. It’s a carry-​out Lebanese place with a small grocery attached that happens to have a couple of booths. It’s not the type of place you visit for the atmosphere. But it’s worth a try if you feel like getting some Middle Eastern for lunch.
One thing Falafel King has going for it is that the pita bread is baked on the premises, and you can tell. It’s fresh and delicious, with enough chewiness to resist falling apart when wrapped around the falafel.
And it is the falafel that you should get here, by the way. I often end up ordering a kofta (spiced ground beef) sandwich, just because I love a good kofta that much, but they call it Falafel King, not Kofta King, for a reason. If you want gyros or other meats there are better options for you elsewhere in Gainesville.
(Word to the wise — the sandwiches all come with pickles inside, though the menu doesn’t spell that out.)

I don’t get it. I just don’t get it. I have heard great things about Falafel King so when I found myself starving and on Archer I thought I would pop in for what is one of my favorite things ever… Falafel.
I was underwhelmed from the get-​go. While I was greeted immediately, I still stood at the counter for a whopping 7 minutes before my order was taken. Obviously the woman working was alone and left to make the food AND take the orders, but 7 minutes is a bit excessive for a lunch counter place. Perhaps it would not have irritated me so much if she had been sporting a smile.
I ordered the Falafel Wrap and Stuffed Grape Leaves, two of my very favorite food items. While I waited I browsed the grocery section of the store, which offers a variety of Middle Eastern specialty items. I picked up a bag of Israeli couscous and was greeted by what seemed like 100 tiny bugs that had found a cozy home in the pasta bag. GROSS!
I tried to push the bug situation out of my mind, hoping that the rice and pita had not met the same fate as the couscous, but it seriously affected my appetite. Regardless, I decided to risk it and started with the grape leaves. They were fine, overly acidic, not enough sumac, not great but fine.
The Falafel wrap was disappointing, There was way too much tahini, the pita was stale, and the Falafel was dry. The dietitian side of me was excited by the concept of a baked Falafel, but I would rather have the extra calories and a moist Falafel than that dry mess.
All in all I will not return to Falafel King, the combination of bad service, bad food and BUGS has completely turned me off.

Gyro Plus has competiton!
I really liked this place. The pita wraps were great. I never got to try the falafel (despite them being the supposed «King» of it). I will have to come back to try it out. It’s a really small place and they’ve got a tiny little market in the back (real small). The dining room area is tiny as well with several tables. The service is real friendly, and seems as though it’s family run (I’m not too sure though)
I tried the Chicken Pita wrap ($ 5.50) and the Gyro Pita wrap ($ 5.75). My brother got the Chicken Platter. The chicken pita wrap had a good amount of meat to veggie filling ratio. The chicken was a little dry, but tasted great. The sauce inside was fantastic as well. The Gyro Pita wrap was much the same as the chicken wrap. The meat was real tender and there was plenty of it.
The chicken platter ($ 7.50) (and every other platter) comes with hummus, taboleh (minced vegetable salad), and pita bread. The chicken platter also comes with basmati rice. I tried the chicken and it was the same as the chicken wrapped in the pita. It’s a grilled skinless chicken breast, although it was also a little dry. The hummus was awesome though. The taboleh tasted fine but it isn’t my kind of dish.
Overall, this is a great place for take-​out. Not really a kind of place you bring a larger group, but maybe a small group of buddies. The prices were fair as well and the portions were good. Not sure if I would get the platter, but the pita wraps are definitely worth it. Definitely will give this place a re-​visit

This place has been here forever, since I was a little kid. Most people get their orders to go, since there is not much seating. But, it prefer to dine in with my family because it reminds me of when I was young.
There are some interesting drinks if you explore the grocery area, and they will give you a cup of ice to pour your purchased drinks over.
I come here specifically for their falafel, minus pickles, and add feta cheese. They really do hook you up with quite a bit of feta here when you ask for it. They also make their own breads, which is why they hold up to being wrapped so tightly without cracking. Their Tahini sauce is also great, as well as their hummus.
The Greek Salad is excellent as well.
However, if you are looking for the best Gyro Sandwich, that may be at a different place. Like I said, I come here for Falafel only.

Had the falafel… would pick gyros plus anyday (sooo much better). Tasted like cat food. My friend and I didn’t even finish ours (and I am by no means a picky eater). We ended up going to McCallisters and getting something else to eat (and that’s saying something since I’m a poor college student).
I will admit I only had the falafel but if the item you’re supposed to be «the king» of isn’t good… well…