Five Star Falafel

Very good all round. Nice service, tasty combo shish kebab with bonus hummus and unbelievable baklava. Don’t forget the fresh mango lasse.

The order — #20 Lamb & Beef Shawarma wrap, #15 Potatoe Salad, order of Baklava 1 plain and 1 pistachio, and a Orangina drink. Total $ 17.06 *WOW*
So the shawarma wrap was not bad. The lamb was a bit over powering, but the spicy sauce they give you helped calm it down a bit. If you don’t like lamb I would suggest asking for none. Over all, the rap was good. Even if it did fall apart just 2 bites in to it. I would hover over a plate and pre pare for the drop.
The potato salad was really good. The lemon juice added a wonderfully zesty flavour to the bell peppers and the spice was a great complement.
The Baklava how ever… well…it did not make the trip from the restaurant to my house. I am guessing they forgot to pack it, or it was packed separately and I did not see it. Oh well, it was not for me so no real harm lol.
All in all I would recommend this place. It was extremely clean, the people were very helpful, and the food was fresh and flavorful. Even though it is a bit pricey. Maybe bring a friend and go ⁵⁰⁄₅₀. =D

Fantastic! The owners were extremely helpful describing the beautiful array of food. We had an overwhelming appetizer platter with 9 or 10 different things, all delicious. The falafel were the best I’ve had, and I lived in the middle east for over a decade. The shwarma wraps were delicious, with real meat on the vertical broiler, not the preformed stuff. I even learned how to make Turkish tea with their samovar. Very friendly, tasty experience. We’ll be back soon.
Update — Well… they’ve closed… and I’m bummed. The new place Garlic is pretty good but not Five Star.

Small place next to an Indian grocery store
It’s one of my favorite places to eat
I’d recommend this place to all of my friends

Unilocalers alert — This space/​place continues to be OPEN for business; however, under new management. Same menu, new taste. New restaurant name signage scheduled in a week or so: Garlic restaurant ~ ?
+: attentive nice service. . food continues to feel «clean» and healthy. . renovations under way for 2014 grand opening. . at the same time, no disruption to dining in. .
five star falafel. . continue to be yummy gOod:. . if anything, tastier, more moist, nicer wrap technique, just delicious. .
lamb & beef shawarma. … sOO deLiSh ! !!
baklava. . decent
Turkish coffee and Turkish tea was good but weak
—: missing the super nice family that previously run the business. . And, the previous to-​die-​for made to perfection in-​house pistachio baklavas ~ so yummy, fresh, just sOo. . wHaT a TreAt ! !!. . honestly, it will be hard finding those baklavas again. . :((

I’m saddened that I didn’t get to say farewell to the owners of 5 Star. Good luck and good ventures to them. I was surprised. I walked in a door posted with a sign that read, «Garlic» and I wasn’t greeted like before. I knew something was up and pinned on it as soon as a man that was and remained seated, while telling me, «5 Star is here but it’s not», «Five Star is no longer», «I only have chicken shawarma».
I was confused and hungry but, I said,
«No thank you». It seemed like I walked into the «twilight zone». I bounced!
«Garlic» hmmmm, not me, not now. Didn’t pass the attitude observation.

Five Star Falafel is a family restaurant tucked in the corner of an unassuming strip mall. The food was wonderful. Their falafels were better than most places I have tried. I love how crispy and flavorful they were. The lamb and beef shawarma was of good quality as well. The extra sauce on the side were both tasty but for most part they were not needed since the food was already well seasoned.
Owners were accommodating and friendly. Chef came out to check on us and make sure we love everything we had. We did.
Don’t be intimidated by the quiet location. Falafel lovers must not overlook this little gem.

A true gem of a restaurant hidden Ltd in the corner of a strip center when you find the place you’ll never forget it but it is so good
I really don’t know the names of all the dishes we had but the falafels were excellent and all the other kebab type things work equally fantastic the price was tasty floppy and made just right I have no idea why this place is in the middle of nowhere but the servers and the owners were just great will be back again and again

I love this place. The food is delicious. I recommend it to everyone.
The one catch and the reason for four out of five stars is that they take forever to make your order. I always have to wait for 20+ minutes even when they say it will take 15 minutes, so plan accordingly.

This place offers great variety of food, including some vegetarian options.
Prices are great.

Is not fancy but the best Shawarma in the area, good food excellent service:)) the lentil soup is good and the hummus is great.
Nice place to go

One of the best kept secrets in the South Bay! Five Star Falafel (FSF) reigns supreme over the plethora of mediocrity that is the El Camino ethnic food scene. I used to frequent Troy Greek Cuisine in Berkeley when living in the East Bay. Troy has 4 ½ stars on Unilocal and had a 27 or 28 on Zagat. As much as I love Troy, FSF has better food and better prices. The shawarmas are incredible and the falafel is even better.
FSF is located in a diverse strip mall behind a car wash and a couple Indian restaurants. They are usually fairly quick with the food and there is plenty of indoor seating. They have a punch card program where after 5 visits you get a free appetizer. The owners are very nice, in particular the German man who works in the kitchen.
I have no understanding why anyone would give this place 1 or 2 stars. I have been here 5 – 6 times and it is consistently superb. Either they got a stand in cook or are being disingenuous with their reviews. FSF is one of the few restaurants in the South Bay that is a solid five stars.

Short Story:
This place has good food for the price.
Long Story:
This place is a bit hidden and small. They have a limited menu but what they have to offer is good. I went with a few friends around 8:30PM and there were not that many customers there. Our food came out relatively quick and well made. I’d go back.

Following up on the old review, I thought this really needs to be updated:
Apparently they had some changes to their Chef, and ever since the quality/​quantity of food has significantly changed!
1– They discontinued my favorite plate — the combo Kebab — which had everything in it
2– They changed the way they do the Lamb Shawarma, which was one of the very special things they had. Now it’s like really bad
3– Why did you change the spices added to the shawarma? What you had earlier was simply great, now it isn’t!
4– The food portions have been reduced … significantly!
5– Wait times significantly grew from what they had earlier.
Come back to the great standard you had when you started … please?

I came here with my friend and his brother the other day. We all got different meat plates and shared the mixed appetizer. Food was good. It is hard to find Mediterranean food in this area and I was happy to find it.
The people who own this place are really nice and chatted with us a bit.
I would love to see an expanded menu and I look forward to returning.

I saw all the great reviews for the Five Star Falafel and decided to pick up dinner here the other night. I called 10 minutes in advance, but it wasn’t ready until about 15 minutes since they have to fry up the falafel. I got the Five Star Falafel Wrap (Falafel, Eggplant, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, Hummus, Tahini Sauce, $ 5.99,
) which was really tasty! The lavash wrap was very dry, and I ended up ripping off some of the extra, but I liked that they gave you extra sauce on the side along with spicy sauce. I liked the eggplant in the wrap, and would definitely order this again. However, I will have to come back and try out their kabobs in the future! Parking was easy to find in this plaza, but some of the spots are a bit small.

Food:
Five Star Falafel was great! You can definitely taste the authenticity of the food. The sauce was fantastic, and there weren’t too many veggies to overpower the entire wrap.
They also accommodate for vegetarians.
Baklava: Yummilicious. Each order comes with two pieces, but the guy gave us an extra one so our other friend could have one. :)
Service:
Service is very kind and hospitable. The food took a while to come out, but I don’t mind waiting for a good, wholesome home-​made meal.
Price:
More expensive than the standard falafel places.
Would I come back? Sure, why not.
Don’t forget to pick up a stamp card.

I got the five star falaffel and was able to taste the combo shawarma, chicken shawarma plate and the beyti kebab. I also got the baba ghannouj for appetizer and baklava for dessert. Everything was good and the portions are large. The baklava was tasty and not overly sweet.
The people there are awesome too.
The lady at the counter asked if it was our first time and showed us the menu.
After our meal, my wife forgot her leftovers on the table. We got in the car and left, but then remembered. We circled back and I ran in to see if they might have not bussed the table yet. They already cleaned up and I was about to leave, but the lady saw me and told me she kept it on the side! Without me asking for anything, she also went above and beyond to give me some extra sauce and a bag. I was just going to grab the wrap in foil and leave. Yay for them!

Super friendly owners! They were explaining all their dishes to us before we ordered. My gf and I both ordered the plates. I ordered the shawarma combo, this consisted of lamb, beef and chicken shawarma. All the combo plates come with rice, salad and hummus. I opted for extra salad, the dressing is light and simple (oil and lemon juice i believe) The hummus is fresh and smooth). They also give you pita bread for the hummus. The meat was seasoned pretty well. The only ting I might have to complain about the food was my girlfriends plate which was the lamb kabob, it was a tad bit dry. I feel like lamb meat should be cooked a little on the medium side so it stays super tender and easy to cut into. We also ordered the baklava which came with a pistachio and walnut version. The pistachio one was delicious, so was the walnut one but it was slightly sweeter.
I would definitely come back to this place because this family owned establishment was very friendly and the food was pretty good!

There’s certainly no shortage of Turkish places in the south bay. However most of them are so-​so 5* rates amongst the better of the masses. The owners are Turkish but lived in Germany and there’s a good size Turkish population there. However the only other Turkish German place I knew closed which was in San Carlos a year or so back
I somehow missed the Iskender (maybe im going blind) which is my go to dish and ended up with the Adana. Good flavors and texture on the kebab. Good rice and hummus to boot. Im not a fan of lettuce so the salad got picked of its tomatoes and the pickled veggies. Owners are really nice and they plan on expanding the menu. I vote for Pide, Lahmacun, and tripe soup!