by Jon S.

Very above average Middle Eastern restaurant. I ordered the kofte kebabs that came with rice pilaf made with allspice and a house salad that had a tinge of mint, cucumber, and vinegar and oil dressing and baba ganouj for appetizer. The staff are very good and atmosphere in restaurant pleasant with music videos imported from the Middle East. Would highly recommend this over the hugely disappointing and overpriced Istanbul Cafe.

by e J.

I might need another visit but my initial impression is good. They feature typical Mediterranean fare though their specialty seems to be the meats. The kabobs were excellent, lots o' rice, salads a little too lemony but good. Some portions were small (like the hummus) but generous with the flatbread. I usually hate TVs it restaurants but I dug the Arabic music videos playing on their flatscreen. All in all, four of us ate there for under $75 and walked out satisfied.

by G L.

Well, Betty.Ordering the fancy schmancy plated stuff is about the only misstep you can take at Sahara. They seem to have three menus: pitas for those who like food, plates for yuppies who like tiny food, and some spendy rack-o'-lamb list which obviously I know nothing about. But, I have had the shish kebab plate with four cubes of tough lamb, and I have also had the shish kebab pita with four times the meat, tender and $2 cheaper than the plate.I do not question such happy mysteries. Just order a pita -- my favorite is the kafta kebab (spiced ground beef), but I can also vouch for the falafel and every carnivorous sandwich being stuffed with filling goodness, and a balance of fresh salad. The plate is just a heap of akooterments that you're not going to eat anyway.If the pita is not enough for you (doubtful) or you want to leave comatose, I would recommend the fried kubbeh appetizer and baklava with a pot of Arabic coffee for dessert.I would give five stars, especially in Anchorage, but for a teary-eyed, drooling attachment to $4 shawarma twice daily at Mamoun's. Sigh . . .Anyway, they are a new place, so the girls will want to take your orders by number, but they are friendly and laidback. The interior is spacious, offers booth seating, and gets some warm natural light. It's kind of nice. If you are OCD, do not touch tablecloth/cloth napkins, it has icky texture (synthetic).

by Betty C.

"Yelp" is right.  I know it's new, but I can't wait to never eat there again!  I love hummus and stopped at Sahara a recent evening to see what they had.  The location is a drag, and I had to cut through some parking lots to cut a big loop out of the drive.  The dining room was clean, well decorated and had groovy Arabian videos playing on the wall television.The menu looked promising and I opted for the Vegetarian platter... I would have ordered sooner, but our waitress forgot  about us for a really long time (even though she only had one other table).The gratis appetizer was fried pita chips and bad salsa.  I also ordered baba ghanouj that came with my meal instead of as an appetizer (I hate that!).  And these both came some many minutes before my date's meal arrived (I hate that even more!).  For $4.50, we got a very small smear of baba ghanouj, Rip Off!  My platter was dismal: big plate showing a lot more plate than food.  It included 2 small dolmas (tastless and stale), 2 small falafels (tasteless and stale), tabouleh salad (ample and good), an Arabian salad (because they were out of spinach pie, seemed like cucumbers and vinegar to me), and that joy of joys, the hummus.  Argh!  The hummus was barely present - a smear so scant you could see through to the plate!  This all cost $13.99 - I can't remember the last time I spent that much for an entree at a casual restaurant and received such very small portions.  My date had the beef kebab which came with 4 pieces of meat, a small green salad, and a WHOLE LOTTA rice - Rip Off!  He was not particularly impressed at leaving hungry after a 50 dollar bill.Service needs work, food was just okay,  and I honestly feel I didn't get what I paid for.  For $50, I'll make hummus at home.

by R L.

I found out about this great new restaurant from a Palestinian co-worker.  Back when I used to live in California I ate Mediterranean food on a semi-regular basis, and the fact that there wasn't really a good option for all the standard Mediterranean fare here in Anchorage -- shawarma, pita hummus, falafel -- was pretty tough on me.Well, enter Sahara.  This place is great.  Not only is it relatively cheap, it's also exceptionally good.  I've had the shawarma pita lunch here twice now, and it's to die for.  The falafel are also great.  Most of the lunch dishes come with fries, which are unsalted -- that surprised me a bit -- so you may want to salt them yourself.The desserts are very good, too.  The first time I went there was with a bunch of coworkers, and we got some sort of Lebanese layer cake which was delicious and not too sweet.  I've also had their baklava, which is great.  I'd recommend getting a pot of their arabic coffee, too.  It's basically just what we commonly call Turkish coffee, because it has cardamom in it, which gives it a distinctive flavor that I personally really like.The ambiance is nice, too.  I guess they get Egyptian TV stations via satellite, so they play Arabic music videos, which are fun to watch, even if you don't speak Arabic (like me).  Otherwise the interior is sparsely decorated, with a panoramic picture of Jerusalem on the wall and a hookah here and there to give it that Middle Eastern flavor.  Of course even without all that, the throaty sound of Arabic coming from the kitchen lets you know right away that the place is authentic.The location is a bummer though.  It's near the corner of C St. Fireweed, but unfortunately it is on C St. and C St. is one-way.  That means that if you aren't coming from downtown, at first glance it seems like you pretty much have to take A St all the way to 15th, turn around, and come back.  But!  There's a shortcut!  On the northeast corner of the Fireweed C intersection is a pawn shop called "Cash America".  If you're on Fireweed, just turn into the parking lot there.  It connects to Sahara's parking lot in the back, allowing you to avoid the huge loop.

by Benjamin B.

Probably the best falafel I've had in Anchorage, service was great, came with nice complimentary appetizer.  The Turkish coffee was AWESOME A++++.  My one gripe was the fries were a little undercooked but had interesting flavor so I was OK with that.  Great place will patronize again.

by T C.

It was a little difficult getting ahold of someone on the phone for a phone order, but we managed to get through, and boy am I glad we persisted. Like another member, I loved Mediterranean restaurants in California, and am really happy to have found something this amazing. The warm grape leaves were a tangy treat, and the falafel sandwich is monstrously huge and delicious - definitely two meals. This thing is like, as big as my face. It's like eating my face, except my face is made of the most amazing sauce and chickpeas.The baklava, though pricey, is made up of two generous pieces, perfectly sweet and moist. It's probably the best baklava I've ever had! The only thing I'd say is that the side salad for the falafel left something to be desired - it's a simple shredded green lettuce with some slightly vinegary dressing, cucumbers and tomatoes. Perhaps some onions or some sort would be good to snaz up the flavor. $27 for dinner for two, with leftovers for tomorrow. A++ will buy from again.