Soumarelo

by andres l.

Been here twice.... and still loving it!Great appetizers! Sarma and KUFTA must try!The RotisserieChicken and the GYRO! and Excellent..portions are quite large.... Very Cheap.... I just wish they had more dessert selections.....

by Jerry L.

*The food here is amazing for the price.  *You pretty much get top gourmet quality dishes for a fraction of the cost - even cheaper than grocery store price! *The $5.99 half rotisserie chicken meal (or $7.99 whole chicken), they advertiser it for To Go, but it's okay if you dine in as well. *Very succulent and flavorful chicken, meat pulls right off from the bone.*Also tried the Humus and mushroom salad - $1.99 each:  both very tasty. In fact, most of their side dishes are just $2.*Kufta - $1.50 for two fried meat balls, they had to make if from scratch that day; waited like 20 minutes for those 2 little football-shaped meatballs, but well worth the wait.

by brittany k.

Ive been wanting to try this place since I moved to Pasadena and read all the great reviews, but just recently got around to it. Whole chicken meal: Chicken is sublime...perfectly cooked, moist, neatly cut into four quarters. I love this chicken. Rice is good, fluffy. I think they cook it with chicken broth. Im not really a fan of the garlic sauce - it tastes a little bitter to me, but Im sensitive to bitter things. The owner is nice and friendly, and you really cant beat the price ($8.65) for a whole chicken, rice, pitas, and garlic or sweet chili sauce. Im sure Ive had better chicken, but not for this cheap!

by L. H.Mike R.Bong E.Sharon S.Irene C.

Soumarelo is in a non busy area of Pasadena and on a corner where you can't really notice it. I have been here a few times and love the chicken. You can get a whole chicken for under $10 with pita bread. The guys who work there are so nice. I was given a free cup of lentil soup to try from one of the guys and it was really good. It was the best lentil soup I have ever had. This place does not get really busy but I notice a lot of people order the chicken as take out. I think if people knew more about Soulmarelo they would definitely have a lot more customers.Been here three times and so far I've never been disappointed. I like the vibe of this corner business, located in NE Pasadena. It's like a friendly neighborhood joint: unassuming, unpretentious...but damn good. The prices are EXCELLENT. You can get a half rotisserie chicken, which, by the way, is like Zankou's, only MUCH better, tastier, and CHEAPER. Try the chicken kabob plate. EXCELLENT. Thumbs up!I wish I could say that this was not the only time I was able to satisfy 10 girls at a time. But I'm happy to say it's not even like that.I really don't know what to say that the other reviewers haven't.  I guess I'll share my experience here and that should do it.  I didn't have the normal dining experience here.  There was a group of 13 of us, so ordering off the catering menu was the best option for us.  We ordered ahead so the food would be ready, but since it was kinda last minute, there was a little wait.  But can't really complain because they were still able to accommodate even with all the food we ordered:- rotisserie chicken- beef lula kebob ($5.99/lb)- chicken lula kebob ($5.99/lb)- falafel- pita bread- rice- garlic pasteThe total came out to about $90.  Yeah, can you believe that?  All that flavorful food, all last minute with food left over for later on that night. ... Everyone was satisfied!I have to admit, we tried this place out because Mediterranean Cafe was closed... But I'm glad we did! Although I felt the website was designed to make the place look fancier than it really was, I'm quite satisfied with the food. I know it was cooked fresh to order, because we had to wait around 15 to 20 minutes for it. The beef shawarma was flavorful, tender, and covered with delicious garlic sauce. However, next time, I think I'll get the beef kabob. I stole a bite from the boy's plate and MAN that stuff was GOOD! Melt in your mouth, perfect, savory meat wonder... But then, he said that you have to eat it super quick- after 15 minutes or so, there was a noticeable decline in the tastiness.Our order was boxed up and ready for us to take home when we got there, yay.  I loved the pita, rice, and the garlic paste.  The chicken meat would just fall off the bone.. it was tender and juicy.  The service was wonderful.. and they have 4 scoops of ice cream for a dollar!

by The E.

Not bad, but not great.Their hummus is good, especially the specialty flavors (ex. sun dried tomato). The whole chicken is on the greasy side (even more than Costco's). They include a sweet sauce with the chicken, which I have never seen at any other Mediterranean restaurant. Their garlic sauce is not my favorite, it is mayonnaise based. The rice was good, but once again a little too oily.The service was good. Small, family run business. You can't beat their prices. The whole meal (including a small full chicken) was under $10.

by Donna G.

I've been wanting to try Soumarelo for a while now after seeing it on the top 5 places to try in Pasadena on Yelp.  I love Mediterranean food but I haven't been able to eat it much after my trip to Egypt, where I had an Mediterranean food overload. I can't believe I made myself wait this long to try Soumarelo!!  I've heard that lunchtime here is crazy and line is usually pretty long so I decide to pick up lunch at 2:00.  It was perfect, there was no one there except for 2 tables of high school aged kids that probably ditched their last class.  I called in my order so it was ready right when I got there.  I ordered the whole chicken which comes with a package of pita bread, rice and garlic paste.  In addition I also ordered the roasted pepper hummus and mushroom salad.  Everything was delicious!  The chicken was cooked to perfection--juicy and tender--it literally fell off the bone.  They have this sweet chili sauce that I dipped my chicken in which made it that much better.  The owner was super nice too.  I guess he could tell it was my first time and he explained the menu to me.  He said I could order any of the combos and substitute whatever I wanted in the combos.  They also deliver within a 3 mile radius--perfect!  The portions are huge--I'll have food for the next 4 meals--literally.  Everything on the menu is very reasonably priced!  The whole chicken with rice and pita was only $7.99.  The additional sides are only $1.99.  The cost of all the food I ordered was only $13 bucks--and honestly you could feed a family of 6.  They also sell ice cream here (I think it might be Rite Aid ice cream)--it's four scoops for a buck--what a bargain!

by Mike R.

Been here three times and so far I've never been disappointed. I like the vibe of this corner business, located in NE Pasadena. It's like a friendly neighborhood joint: unassuming, unpretentious...but damn good. The prices are EXCELLENT. You can get a half rotisserie chicken, which, by the way, is like Zankou's, only MUCH better, tastier, and CHEAPER. Try the chicken kabob plate. EXCELLENT. Thumbs up!

by Carina O.

You are all nuts. This place was gross. I had an average (amazing-compared to this place) Greek Salad last night at George's Greek in Burbank during a short class break. It really hit the spot and I wanted the same thing today, only better and more "authentic". I was enticed by the description on Yelp of moist chicken and garlic sauce. I ordered a greek salad and half a chicken to go. The place was empty except for some teenagers ordering fries to go. I was excited by how quick the food was and by how nice the man working was. I drove home as I only had a half an hour to eat before heading out again. The salad was brown, 3 times overdressed, the pickles didn't go and were horrid, and I literally spit it out on my napkin. I mean I am an Uncouth Gourmand, so I did first pick out all of the Persian cucumbers and eat those. But it was bad. I then moved on to the chicken and rice and pickled veggies in search of redemption. The veggies were spit out immediately. I prayed that the chicken would be good...wrong. It was super dry. Like mouth choking dry. The only thing of this meal I ate was the rice and the stale pitas. I am sad this place was so disappointing. I will stick to Zankou and Med Cafe, and I recommend that you all do the same.

by Irene C.

Our order was boxed up and ready for us to take home when we got there, yay.  I loved the pita, rice, and the garlic paste.  The chicken meat would just fall off the bone.. it was tender and juicy.  The service was wonderful.. and they have 4 scoops of ice cream for a dollar!

by Soh Riel I.

I did it! I finally went to Soumarelo. I had been putting it off for awhile, but one day I just decided to go for lunch.When I arrived there were a few customers ahead of me. I waited a little but not too long. The clerk finally came over and took my order and explained some of the menu items. Everything looked really good. So good I had a hard time deciding. Should I get the sandwich for $4.99? Or maybe I should get the 1/2 chicken with rice and pitas for $5.99. The half chicken seemed like a better deal for a first time visit.When the food finally arrived it was pretty good. The rice is standard instant rice as served at many Mediterranean places. I prefer steamed rice though. The chicken was typical rotisserie chicken. It was good, but not too distinct. One of the really interesting things here is the condiment sauces. When the clerk/server brought my order  over he explained the two sauces to me:" The red one is sweetened chili, and the white one is garlic dipping sauce. Be sure to try them both with the chicken.""Okay."I usually don't try hot sauces of any kind, but since he gave a little recommendation I gave it a try. The sweetened chili was okay. It was kind of like a sugary  version of Tabasco. Hot and sweet. And it was also made of grated chili peppers. The garlic sauce was the star of the show. Very , very good.  It was like a garlic paste with yogurt. It tasted good with everything! It was made with real ingredients and not a bunch of artificial fillers and flavorings. They have a host of other side orders and things that I look forward to trying.The service here is pretty attentive. And the clerk took time to explain a lot of the menu items. I did not encounter any snobby attitude. The prices are also pretty reasonable for good quality food. If business were to pick up it would be helpful of them to get more help. I recommend giving them a try.