Fattoush

Fresh, tasty and friendly. I will definitely be back!

So being on a vegetarian food kick lately, decided to check out this place.
As soon as I enter, a guy (host/​server/​probably owner, let’s go with «the host»), asked me if I closed the door properly. I told him I’m not sure and I can check. He laughs and said it’s alright, pulls my jacket from the side of my arm and points me to the table for 2.
Nice enough to pull the table and chair for my gf to sit properly. The quirkiness though continued through the night but I’ll proceed to the food we ordered.
Ordered the lentil soup which a previous reviewer perfectly wrote was bland and overdosed with black pepper.
2 entrees: — vegetarian sambusak and m, shkaleh $ 15 each
Both the dishes were delicious. M’Shkaleh had pretty greasy veggies but pretty good nonetheless.
I felt this place has prices of a slightly pricey restaurant but the ambiance didn’t give that impression at all.
Nice quirky owner and above average food. I don’t visit this part of the city anymore so probably won’t be coming back.

Noticed today you are closed for smoke damage. You are a neighborhood favorite. If you had a crowd funding campaign to help you on your feet, I’d contribute for sure and I can think of a hand full of families I know who would too.

Food is mediocre. Owner is so rude. He didn’t bring my toast with my food even though the menu said the omlette comes with potatoes and toast. I asked him for my toast and he says «you didn’t ask for toast» so I said «the menu says it comes with toast» and he just repeated himself. He is horrible. Never again.

Absolutely love the food here. We’ve taken a number of friends here and every meal has been delicious. I’m vegetarian (sliding to the vegan side) and am blown away by some of the veg options… the best being M’shkaleh (my mouth is watering thinking about it).
Despite some of the other reviewers, I find the owner to be a great guy — personable, authentic and genuinely proud of the restaurant.

Eggs, potatoes, coffee, no nonsense. Abed serves up the best breakfast in the land. We were out of town for the longest time, so when we finally got home we made Fattoush our first stop for breakfast. The Benedicts and San Franciscan omelette are some of our favorites and the corn flake french toast is a treat for adults and kids alike! Right outside the J stop at Church and Clipper, easy to get to and you’ll be glad you did!

The owner has a bad temper & very slow service, wouldn’t visit it again
Nothing special about the food.

TIP: Check your meal for maggots and prepare to be bullied by the owner.
I was most taken aback when I politely showed the maggot to the owner, and he tried to shift the blame to me. He angrily retorted «I don’t know how you identified it,» contested my classification, and walked away. Species aside, I prefer my beverages without critters, and I’ve uploaded a photo so you can judge for yourself.
That wasn’t even the only unpleasant interaction of the night. The owner rushed us to order, even though the restaurant was at half-​capacity. A friend asked what he would recommend, and he gloated that that was a «bad question since everything on the menu is good.» She opted for the mansaf, then changed her mind to the shwarma while he was still taking her order. He became angry that she had changed her mind from an entrée to an appetizer, and chastised her in front of the entire restaurant for doing so. He said she was «playing with him» and «hassling the kitchen staff». This all happened while he was taking our order, so unless the cooks have telepathic powers and started making our food at first utterance, his rudeness was uncalled for. We would have left had we not been a party of 7 and in such good spirits.
Despite being one of three tables seated at the time, the food took over an hour to come out — Everyone else’s food, that is. After waiting that hour, it just so happened that the restaurant was out of food for my dish specifically. Still grossed out by the maggot and not wanting to force my friends to wait yet another hour for a substitute meal to be prepared, I ended up not having dinner that night.
«You can write a bad Unilocal review, I don’t care!» was his best attempt at an explanation. So here I am. And I can see from other Unilocal reviewers that the owner has a pattern of treating patrons with disrespect: Harassing those who write truthful reviews, penalizing Groupon customers, and blowing minor disagreements with patrons out of proportion. The kitchen staff and servers were very kind and had a good sense of humor about our comedy of errors, but I have never had such a negative dining experience. If you’re not hungry for attitude, questionable cleanliness, and long wait times, I would avoid Fattoush.

All of the below won’t be relevant to most patrons. If you’re looking for a takeaway on the food, in my first review I said that it was all just OK. I wish I could take back the nearly $ 250 (thanks,
) we’ve given them across several visits. That said:
I’m always disappointed when business owners take a negative review (especially a factual one without personal jabs) as an invitation to launch a personal attack through Unilocal messaging. It reflects poorly on the business that the manager or owner doesn’t have the maturity to approach a dissatisfied customer respectfully, and handle criticism constructively.
I posted my previous review with two stars, which Unilocal describes as meaning «Meh. I’ve experienced better.» That isn’t a blatant complaint, but of course businesses want 5 Stars across the board and 2 feels like a low blow. I intended it to be factual and didn’t feel angry or emotional about my experience, so I was surprised by the response I received from the owner of this restaurant. I responded to him calmly and at length trying to describe the effect this has on the receiver (aka your former customer). I tried to follow up today asking if he had questions, but he’s blocked me from further messaging. It seems he was hoping it would be a one-​sided vent, not a conversation with an actual human who had a legitimate reaction to his harassment.
I dislike that business representatives tend to launch these attacks privately on Unilocal,because something tells me it wouldn’t have been worded so strongly if he’d posted a public comment to my review. Ergo, I am copying-​and-​pasting his message to me below.
My guess is that he won’t like that one bit, but my response to that, I suppose, is that if you don’t want everyone to see it, perhaps it’s something you should’ve thought twice about writing in the first place.
From abed a. :
«Hi Kali,
You’re right we are not a hyped up brunch place and that is probably why you came to Fattoush knowing that you’re not going to wait like at hyped up Chloe’s for at least 30 minutes for a couple of scrambled eggs and pancakes for your hungry toddler. Also, just fyi Unilocal doesn’t mean anything to me and the elite group that you belong to I feel the same way about them too. I had a pretty good solid reason as to why we did not open on time this last Sunday and I didn’t have to tell you the reason.
I came out and apologized but for you Ms. Elite to reprimand us with a negative review is totally lame.
Customer is not always right.
As a mother you should have a snack for your toddler. Now that’s a BLUNDER.
I’m sorry Kali but your review is uncalled for and for this shit that’s called Unilocal giving people the satisfaction of exercising their first amendment right by slamming an establishment down is disgusting.
If you have something nice to say then go ahead but if you don’t just keep it to yourself.
The reason I responded to your review and others like yours is because we work so hard in our industry only to be let down by reviewers and reviews like yours. Think about it.»

Unbelievable food. Very unique! One of the best restaurants in the city and the food quality and staff are top notch.
The owner is amazing and really cares about every single customer (and even greets most by name after a few visits)!
Mansaf is one of the top 3 dishes I’ve ever had in my life anywhere. The lamb is the best, and the yogurt sauce is out of this world!
EASILY the best french toast in SF. Corn flake crusted french toast… WHAT?!? Freaking delicious.
GO THERE NOW if you want to try something different!

Came here on a Saturday morning with a group of about 10. The place was fairly empty so we got seated immediately. However I was I guess they only have 1 cook so they only took half of our orders to «not overwhelm the chef». I felt like that was kind of odd… He still could have taken our order… I had to wait another 15 mins before could order. I got the NEW ORLEANS Crab, Green Onions, Cheese, topped
with Hollandaise Sauce. The crab wasn’t the freshest but it was still edible. The hollandaise sauce was also very runny. I feel like hollandaise sauce should be a little viscous… Out of all the good food in sf Im not sure if I would come back here again.

The lamb Mansaf here is superb, one of the best I’ve had in the city. Mouth-​wateringly good, flavors still imprinted on my brain. Their hummus is fresh and flavorful. Some of the other dishes have been hit or miss but overall, a very solid affair.
Service is always good, family vibe.

I love this restaurant and Every time I come there
I have a great experience. The owner, Abed makes
Me feel at home, the food is wonderful with a great variety, and a warm atmosphere.

The owner Abed is so hospitable. I came once with my friend Ramsey and the next time I came Abed greeted my by name!
Every dish I have tried so far has been amazing. The appetizer sampler is a must, it’s all very good.
The M’sakhan and lamb Mansaf were so savory. After your meal GET the kanefa for dessert is so delicious.
It’s a real gem of a place to eat in SF.

Very very bad place to eat, fake mediterranean food, bad service. And get this: they charged for tips without my permission, justifying that it’s common. News flash: I pay the tip after you charge me, not before.

So my friend (the birthday girl) decided to try this place as her choice of place to celebrate her birthday. WHAT a disaster this turned out to be… :(
There were other issues (like my fruit cup… see my pic carefully), which were minor, so I will not mention here, but this particular issue I cannot overlook…
My friend (not the birthday girl) & her daughter both ordered wraps. One ordered the chicken wrap and the other the lamb wrap. Now… the lamb wrap was pretty good! The chicken, OTOH, was very dry, to the point where it was not edible even with the tahini sauce. So we quietly explained the issue to the server (who I suspect is also the owner…) Instead of being understanding about it, he became DEFENSIVE and asked «Well, what do you want me to do about!!! We NEVER had an issue with our wraps… EVER!!! You’re the first one to complain about it.» My friend asked to have it taken off the bill and he said (loudly in front of the other customers) «Okay, if that’s how you want to get a free meal out of us!!!» At this point, all I want to do is pay and leave this place. My other friend took the chicken wrap and paid for it to keep our server from getting even more upset.
What the server SHOULD do is to take the offending dish and offer to make another one, or another dish. And if the customer asks you to not charge them for the offending dish, you do so and apologize for the bad experience!!! NO ATTITUDE!!! NO BACK TALK!!! If he had done this, I would not have given up a one star review.
I wished I had taken the time to look at the Unilocal reviews for this restaurant before going here. Could have saved ourselves from a bad experience… :(

Went on a five mile hike and was ravenous afterwards. Couldn’t decide on a place to eat and finally settled on Fattoush based on the good ratings.
The owner was extremely friendly and talkative so I’m surprised at the negative reviews about him being rude. I ordered the veggie wrap and the portion was huge. I thought it was just okay though. The owner said it was one of his favorites but one of the least popular items on the menu.
I love Mediterranean food but this place missed the mark for me despite the fact that anything probably would’ve tasted good to me at that moment. I wish I had ordered the cold sampler plate! I was craving hummus and all that good stuff but didn’t notice it on the menu until I saw someone else order it wahhhhh

I will admit to feeling a bit smug as I walk past the Chloe’s crowd on the way to Fattoush, knowing that I’m going to a brunch place on the weekend with superior food and usually no wait. I’ve hesitated to write this review because this place is such a gem, but here we go.
Faves include the Fattoush salad with chicken shawarma, smoked salmon benediction, and lamb hash. My boyfriend always gets the crunchy French toast.
Drink menu includes espresso coffee drinks in addition to simple drip coffee, mint tea, and mimosas with orange, cranberry, grapefruit, and pomegranate. Yum.

I like this place. It’s pretty inexpensive and I don’t think I’ve ever had anything here I thought was bad. I do avoid the benedicts at brunch, though, as the hollandaise has a color that looks wrong. I always have something middle eastern and am a happy camper.
Service was good today, but it can sometimes be slow. The patio in back is nice, but check if it’s open before going if you really want to eat outside.
Parking is easier than you’d think for this area, and it’s on the J-​line if you don’t feel like driving.

Last night I dreamt that I was shopping at Forever 21. As I was going to the dressing room, the attendant gave me one garlic shrimp to eat for each article of clothing I wanted to try on. I finally settled on something and as I came out of the dressing room to show Mr. NSS, there he was sitting across from Tim Gunn… playing patty cakes. Both looked at me, did the z line snap and said, «Make it work!» and then they continued playing patty cakes.
The chosen outfit? A fuzzy pink onesie with a bunny wabbit ears hoodie. WTF. But at least that would make for one cute chastity belt.
I rarely dream. I just daydream so it was baffling to me.
Just like my dream, I’m really baffled by all these surprisingly glowing 5 star reviews for Fattoush. Baffled that they seem to be posted right after a negative review by people with no profile pic or less than 10 reviews. Apparently, Fattoush is THAT life-​changing that it motivated these people (even those abroad) to start a Unilocal account and/​or come out of the woodworks just to write a glowing review about a neighborhood restaurant that I never heard of until it popped up on my Unilocal app. Dayam, and I thought I’ve been around the block or two in SF. I’m not hating, I just don’t get it; the food is not good and the service is bi-​polar which is the best way to put it.
I suggested Fattoush for brunch after seeing an overall 4 stars on Unilocal because it was unlikely to be a long wait compared to popular brunch spots. I was right; there was no wait at all. My first mistake there, if there’s no wait, more than likely there’s a reason for that. Read all the reviews before deciding to patronize Fattoush. I noticed (after the fact) an abundance of suspicious 5 star reviews which is deceiving to the overall 4 star rating. Also there are over twenty 1-​star reviews that have been filtered. Fishy.
Not sure what kind of standards those raving about the food have but if you can’t even execute a Middle Eastern staple like hummus well then there’s something wrong. The Hummus ($ 7) had the texture of Colgate with a unpleasant gritty finish:
. My Lamb Hash ($ 12.95) was no bueno:
. The lamb was gristly, chewy, and unseasoned. The sunny side up eggs looked perfectly cooked; that’s until cutting it released minimal yolk ooze. The bottom portion of the yolk was cooked through. *sigh*
My friends’ omelets were worse and looked like bricks of eggs. They both said, it was not good. We were all starving and we don’t like to waste food so we ate what we could and I tossed half my hash onto someone else’s plate to finish. I love my human garbage disposal.
Regardless of how bad the food was, what rubbed me the wrong way was the bizarre and uncouth service by the owner. He seems to be selective on who he’s nice to and apparently, who he’s not nice to (see other 1 – 2 star reviews). One minute he was a cool cat, the next minute, dismissive and rude.
As we were approaching Fattoush, I noticed the sign out front that read: «patio seating». Upon arrival, I asked if we can be seated in the patio since it was one of those rare sunny days in SF. I was baffled by the owner’s response when he said, «Just because it’s nice one day, doesn’t mean with the snap of one’s fingers, the patio can be available… it takes a lot of time to get it set-​up.» Umm, wow. Please take your sign down outside if you don’t intend to offer patio seating and a not so snarky response would be much appreciated.
While we were ordering, my friend couldn’t decide on what omelet to order. «Hey, everything is good here», the owner commented.
I then told him, I had a Unilocal check-​in deal for a free glass of mimosa (up to 4 per a table). I didn’t even finish my sentence before he turned his back to me. As he was walking away, he asked, «one, two, or three»? If you’re going to have an attitude about customers trying to redeem an offer that YOU as a business owner choose to offer, then don’t offer it at all. It’s as simple as that.
After we paid the bill, we lingered for another 10 minutes and I noticed the owner periodically looking over at our table. There was no wait for a table at the time so we finished our convo. When two couples arrived and were waiting to be seated, I told my friends that we should leave now. As we were exiting the owner sarcastically said, «Ohhh you guys leaving already?»
Yeup and never ever coming back.