Gaby's Mediterranean

03/12/12

Tasty

by zepher5150

Great food for a reasonable price. beef shish kabobs that are very TASTY~

Cute little patio seating....very charming. A++

02/02/12

Simply DELCIOUS!

by happydj

My first visit to Gaby’s was over 10 years ago. At the time, the Venice/Motor location was the only location. I was there on an online date. He ordered the meal. Fresh hummus, fresh baba ghannouj, beef kafta, chicken kabob and the garlic sauce….the holy grail of condiments…the garlic sauce. I had never enjoyed many of these flavors before, it was new and delicious and my taste buds danced for days afterwards. He and I only dated for a couple months, but I am grateful to him, still today, for introducing me to Gaby’s.

Fast forward 10 years, blissfully married. The husband and I and friends frequent Gaby’s often. There are 5 locations to choose from, but we enjoy the original.

With hundreds of FANTASTIC restaurants in LA, we don't stray too far from Gaby's. We celebrate many of our birthdays there (one this upcoming Saturday), wedding rehearsal dinners, bring out of town guests here and it’s not uncommon to get/make the call/text/email any day of the week…What’s for dinner? Gaby’s? I have yet to receive/give any other reply than ‘yes’.

The garlic sauce is reason enough to visit, but the chicken, the beef, the lamb, the veggie dishes, the incredibly fresh ingredients and vibrant flavors have kept us coming back.

My favorite is bringing my family from Utah to Gaby’s when they visit, since many of them have never had Mediterranean food. I’m delighted as they ooohh and ahhh and WOW through their meal, just as I did my time. For an extra layer of fun, we’ll order the hookah at the end of the meal. When they get home and recall their visit to LA, they ALWAYS refer to Gaby’s and when they come back, it’s one of the first places they want to go.

Among our friends, we have our favorites, and we often stick to them (which is sad, because everything on the menu is good!). Mine is the Leon’s Chicken Salad, which often times I will add a beef kabob and share with a friend. My husband’s favorite is the Venetian Lamb Salad or when he is hungry, the Kabob combo (he has a HUGE appetite). Dinner entrees avg about $11 and they are plentiful. If there are four of us, we start with hummus and/or mujadara (lentils with fried onions on top…tastes like an in&out burger). We bring our own wine and whether we have 2-8 people, the bill with tax and tip avgs $20pp. What other civilized restaurant can you go to, be guaranteed a fantastic meal and drink your wine for this price?

About once a month we call ahead for take-out, but be fare warned your car will smell of Gaby’s goodness for a couple days afterwards.

We do not see the owner, Gaby as often as we used to (he now spreads his time between the 5 locations), but when we do, we are greeted with the warmest smile and genuine hospitality.

I am picky, frugal and demanding and I’ve been coming to Gaby’s consistently for 10 years, pleased with each experience. Gaby’s continues to be my #1 restaurant.

12/10/10

Gaby's Mediterranean

by gm48

Hello City search staff and screeners... My aname is Gaby, the owner of Gaby's Mediterranean, First of all i would like to thank you for a great site where people can express their opinion freely and business owners get the chance to examin their operation and find some great insights about their business.

sometimes, as a business owner , I feel desappointed when I see customers consider our devotion to quality, service and value, as point of weakness in our establishment. They take advantage of our kidness and generosity to a point where we feel insulted and manipulated.

We make mistakes and our policy is to gladly correct them no questions asked. but people like Shydaug who wrote to you in june 25, 2010 think that they can eat free three times within three weeks because he knows how to manipulate our policy and take advantage of his loud mouth by makind a scene in front of customers. About the incident shydaug is talking about, My Manager called me to tell me about a customer who picked up his food at around 12:30 noonish and calls an hour later complaining about the meat and wants to pick up a replacement plate at 6:30 PM. I went to the restaurant around that time and waited for "Shydog" to personnaly talk to him and find out what he did not like about his food. When he came I did not even look at the plate he brought back. I only asked what is wrong with the meat, he said it was over cooked and started talking about how much he loves the food and how desapointed he was this afternoon because he was not able to eat the lunch he purchased but he loves this place so much he's not gonna write us up online . I appologised to him and went to the kitchen to prepare a whole new plate for him. The line cook who prepared his lunch earlier opened the plate shydog brough back and showed it to me. Four tiny pieces of shaved shawarms meat, 3 pieces of romain letuce and one table spoon of rice where left in the plate. The plate was literarly empty. The line cook whispered to me that this guy came in a week earlier and did the same thing. It was obvious that this "shydog" trying to scam another free ldinner, but still, I put a dinner portion of meat in the plate and hand it to him with a sincere apology. but this man had the adocity to ask me in front of a line of a people for a complete dinner. I brought the plate and told him :" you ate everything sir. Iam giving you meat because you were complaining about the meat" " Your cooks served me burned meat" he said. " If this is what they did I will fire them" I said " but I can not give free dinners all the time.

I took pictures of the plate and customers where shoked when they saw it.

Dear City search screener: I don't want this lettter to be published . that's not the purpose. Instead I would like you to realize that some people use your platform to manipulate business owners for their own benefit. so please try to get the other side of the story before you post derogatory comments that could hurt people's livelyhood.

sincerely,

Gaby

06/25/10

got burned , chared meat and an attitude

by shydaug

I was on my way home from work. I bought it to go. when I got it home i found that I I bought a horribly burned swarama dinner. That I could not finishmost of the meat charred. tasteless bakalava, no honey? I asked for hummus and extra tahina, not there.

so I decided I would tell the manager. I called and Arnold would not be in until 6. So I thought I would go there and show him the charred remains of good beef. He was very nice and offered another dinner. I said yes. and waited. when he said it was ready he opened it. there was meat but, no salad no hummus no rice. it seems some other guy, the owner? said I had eaten the meal and did not deserve a replacement. I asked him to show me. he went back and got my plate . there was salad, rice and charred meat. he said. "I gave you more meat .and proceeded to swear and yell at me and tell me he was going to fire people!!?? it was surreal.... I mean he went off.

he said I did not deserve a full dinner. and because I complained that I was not given what I was offered, a replacement dinner, he took the ration of meat back. I left while he was screaming at the employees. needless to say I will not be back. and I do not think I will go to any others either.

• Pros: i will not be going back
• Cons: yelled at me

02/09/10

Excellent Mediterranean food

by CSMobileUser3

The food and service was incredible. Shared 3 dishes with my husband and they were all fantastic.