Kabob-ster’s – Not My Cup Of Tea

When I picked up Lois for a lunch outing, I told her I was excited about a new place I had found on Gunbarrel Road called Kabob-ster’s. We went in and grabbed a menu from the counter and took a seat.

What I thought would be a grilling place with meat and veggie kabobs, turned out to be more of a Greek-style place. Or at least their menu looked a lot like the last Greek place I visited except for the kabobs.

I ordered the grilled beef Shawarmer Wrap with fries for $8.45. Lois just wanted a Greek Salad and Tandoor Bread for $6.00 I also ordered two Baklava Pistachio Bird Nest for us to have as a dessert. That was just $1.50.

I went to place our order and then I got our drinks from the drink fountain area. I got Lois a Diet Coke and I got un-sweet tea. I put lids on our cups and grabbed straws and by the time I got to the table I forgot which one was my cup of tea! Lois grabbed one of the cups and of course she got mine, so we took our straws and made the swap.

The girl who took our order brought out a Baba Ghanouj dish that looked like hummus. That was nice. I figured they were being hospitable because of being new, but after about 15 minutes of waiting for a salad and a wrap, the girl came back to our table and asked us what it was we had ordered. That didn’t bode well with Lois. We waited a few more minutes and saw them bring other folks appetizers and telling them they were sorry for the wait. It didn’t seem too busy, but they had about five tables full of people and for a place just starting out – maybe they weren’t prepared to do so well the first few days.

We tried the Baba dish and bread. I loved the bread, it had a wonderful flavor, but it was a little tough to bite off. After about 30 minutes, Lois started shooting them dirty looks. I told her, “It’s alright…” so she wouldn’t cause a scene and she said to me, “No, it ISN’T alright…” I had to explain that even if it wasn’t good to wait that long for our orders normally… I didn’t want her to be too disagreeable or they would remember us and I didn’t want anyone to know who I was. That is why I don’t write under my last name and I always pay in cash.

Lois got a hold of herself when she remembered that it wasn’t about enjoying for us …but to be spies.

Finally, they brought our lunch and a boy even brought extra dessert to make up for it. They really seemed to be trying and, when a place is just starting out, I like to give them a break on things like that. With all the businesses in the Hamilton Place area and seeing young people in medical uniforms, I think this place needs to work on their time for getting lunch to people. Two old ladies may have nowhere to be, but it looked like the others did.

I had to go back up to the help-yourself area and get ketchup for my fries, but there was only one bottle. That meant I would need to use it and bring it back for others to have. I also brought back a bottle of hot sauce just in case my wrap needed a kick. When I got sauced, I had to take the bottles back to the service area. On my way back, the owner handed me a bag and said that was to try later. I understood them wanting to please customers after having to wait but we didn’t need all that food.

Lois was not very pleased with her Greek Salad. She said that it only had one olive and three crumbles of feta (she never likes her meals though). I loved my wrap. The flavor of the meat was wonderful. I tore a part of it off to let Lois try and she said it was good too. I thought she may still be hungry since she just picked at her salad, so I reached in the bag and pulled out the surprise dish. It looked like a bowl full of… well let’s just say, I hadn’t seen anything that green and gloppy since I was in a pasture and stepped in it!

Lois was game to try it, so she took a bite of what looked like seaweed salad and quinoa and she put her fork back down with a frown. “The best thing about this whole meal was the Diet Coke.” she said.

I tried a bite of the square dessert, it was okay but I wasn’t fond of the paper-tasting wrap. I just don’t like filo dough, so I couldn’t fairly judge it. I even tried a bite of the ones brought to us that were supposedly different – same paper taste. Lois didn’t like it either. She said, “Well I don’t think much of your Kobster!”

The best for me was the flavorful bread and the Shewarmer Wrap. Lois went to use their restroom and I got up to take our trash. The girl at the counter jumped over to me really quick and offered to take our trash. I didn’t want her too because we didn’t eat hardly any of the food. I let her take it but I followed her with our drink cups to refill our drinks. She didn’t know I was behind her and as she disposed of our trash, I noticed that she pointed with her finger counting the things that were left. I knew it!

I guess, she was told to do that so they will know what people like or either how much free food to give away - I’m not sure, but I wondered then who was the spy, me or her!

I refilled our drinks and, when Lois joined me, I started to hand her a drink, but …I already forgot which one was which again. Except for Baklava, I really liked the flavors of the food, but I think Mr. Kabob-ster needs more cooks and more ketchup bottles.

Hours:

Mon - Sat

10:30 am – 9:00 pm

Sunday    

11:00 am – 7:00 pm