My boyfriend and I are convinced this place is a drug front. There's hardly ever anyone in here at dinner time (maybe it's more busy at lunch?) and the staff (besides the incredibly nice owner) always looks irritated that we've walked in. The service is generally awful (unless it's the owner, a very friendly older gentleman). That being said, they have both the best hummus and falafel in town. I don't eat meat, and my boyfriend loves turkish food, and there's not many places that provide excellent choices for both of us. I don't know if it's the quality of the olive oil or the chickpeas, but seriously, I cannot stop eating the hummus. The food is worth everything else weird.

Ask for a receipt and check it your purchases if you pay cash and beware of being overcharged! We were a party of 3--we had a falafel deluxe, an eggplant sandwich and a gyro, 2 bottles of green tea bevereage, 1 diet coke and two baklava...total $68.00. Folks, this is sort of like taco stand food, only Middle Eastern. Our bill was outrageous for what we got. (When did you ever pay $68.00 at a taco stand?) The sandwiches were pure slop...hard to find any falafel, eggplant or lamb. And sure sloppy can be very good, but these sandwiches were awful. The place was crowded, dirty and no table service at all..ie. the tables were not wiped clean (we had to get the rag and do it ourselves), the music loud. The crowd only tells that the surge of customers during lunch hour on Dec. 31 were not savy to good Middle Eastern food. While the baklava were very flakey and just right...not drenched in honey, the rest of the stuff had no substance, just a lot of dripping tahini, lettuce and burnt pita. Whatever you buy, check your receipt if you pay cash, because the cashier may have his hand in the till. Lots of good Middle Eastern food in Seattle, but don't waste your money at this place. The one star is for the baklava.

the mexican guy you're talking about is not mexican he's egyptian. sherlock!

Zaina is a staple of my diet and has been for about 7 years. There is no better falafel sandwich in Seattle.

Unlike the below negative reviewer, I've been here three times and every time the place has been adequately clean, the service fine, and the food excellent. This place has the best falafel I've ever had, and the prices are pretty good. I am talking about the Pioneer Square establishment, not the downtown location, so that may account for the discrepancies between my experiences and that other, negative reviewer.

I give a restaurant two trys before I make my final decision, but after my 1st visit, I was pretty sure this placed sucked and a second visit things wouldn't be any different. The first thing I noticed was how dirty it was. A darkly lit semi-underground room filled with an excessive amount of hookahs and dirty lop-sided tables, nevermind the trash scattered underneath. If the place were packed, I could see how the staff were too busy to do anything but in fact, on both visits I was second to one other customer who seemed as disgusted and apprehensive about eating there as I was. The staff seemed too busy conversing with eachother, most notably an arrogant mexican guy wearing gym shorts too small for him who sauntered around the place with a smirk, once stopping in front of the other customers table and standing there looking out the window. When my food was ready, the guy plopped it on my table but not before saying "Your Welcome" (I don't remember having thanked him). The food itself was obviously old, my falafel sandwich was slapped together. Don't be fooled by the photo's of the cute kids hanging above the counter or the awards on display, this place is a dump. Better, stop by Cherry Street Coffee across the street instead. A lovely subdued cafe that serves delicately made falafel by nice people which had they not been out of falafel (hence their popularity) I would have gone.