Jerusalem Cafe & Bakery

Delicious buffet and great price. Everything we had here was perfect. The pita bread is made fresh every day and the baklava was out of this world. Highly recommended.

Boo Jerusalem bakery! Soupy tzatziki sauce, no vegetarian entrée options, all hot offerings swimming in water, canned pineapple bits — what a terrible showing. You can not count on this place to be good, always have a plan B when you walk in you might have to just walk out and try another day.

One of the most comforting things in my life is stopping by Jerusalem café, picking up a styrofoam to-​go box, stuffing it with food from the buffet line, and then scarfing it down on my couch at home in my pajamas.
The owner is SO friendly and sweet and always makes my day. You can get a to-​go box of the buffet food for ~$ 5.99/lb, which isn’t bad at all. Lots of vegetarian options, too. even veggie moussaka! It’s not the best Mediterranean food I’ve ever had, but it’s still delectable, and sometimes when life gets really busy and I don’t have time to cook, my styrofoam box from Jerusalem makes me feel like I’m eating a warm cozy home-​cooked meal.

I freaking LOVE Jerusalem Café and Bakery.
I went here plenty when I first moved here and lived on The Plaza but I guess I sort of left it behind for MANY YEARS.
I just went back recently with a friend and honestly BEST HUMMUS in the City… also best falafel (I would keep capitalizing but that seems a little crazy…)
The hummus falafel sandwich would absolutely be my last meal on earth if I could follow it up with a Meyer Lemon Donut from Do Rite Donuts in Chicago. Even if I couldn’t follow it up with a donut… it would still probably be my last meal. It’s SO good.
I have not tried but just thinking about it, am now dying to see if they have baklava.

Stopped and has the Buffett and everything was delicious and spot on. Staff were extremely nice and helpful. Food was fresh cooked well. Try the hummus it is made right in the store from scratch.

This is one of the best places to go for a good and cheap fix. The food is generally fresh and tasty and the price can’t be beat. My household is split with two very different diets, and this buffet allows us to cater to both of those at once.

I have been in love with this restaurant for years. A few faces may have changed, but the quality is consistent. Great food, excellent price an awesome service.

I’m in KC for a few weeks for work and as a shisha (hookah) lover, got suggested this place by a couple co-​workers. Super nice staff and the guy making the shisha does it well and constantly makes sure your tea is full. Great food too that I was able to bring upstairs and enjoy with my shisha and tea

Have always been a fan of all of the other locations, this was the first time dining at this location. My friend arrived nearly 40 minutes after me, so I started myself with their signature coffee and their hummus. Pita wasn’t very warm, thus, felt a little hard. I remember the pita on the 39^th street location to have been absolutely amazing – a melt in your mouth experience. For my main entrée I decided on the kifta kabob, which is a seasoned ground beef; salad came on the side. Salad was very fresh, and so was my entrée. My only wish was that I had more cucumber sauce.

I ate here a few times since it’s close to my house. I do love the fries but the tazitki sauce is nasty. It does not taste like it should. I won’t be going back.

Used to come here pretty regularly, like once a week… WILL NOT BE RETURNING…
The quality of food has been consistently declining over the last year. Many of the items I had been eating starting tasting odd. The last two visits I witnessed things I can’t «unsee» and can’t stomach the thought of eating there again.
The new gentleman who started working there last year has zero regard for food handling standards. I’ve seen him cleaning up the buffet several times tossing food items back into the serving bins, spiral pasta, lettuce leaves, potato chunks… He handles money, then food, then money, licking his fingers between each action, never bother to wash or put on a glove, ever. His hands are about as clean as a mechanics and fingernails… look away… run.
I’m not sure where he came from, he just appeared one day and in about a week he seemed to be running everything behind the counter. Not sure where the other dude went but he needs to get his place under control before his new guy make someone really sick.

Do not eat here.
I came for the buffet to see how it compared to its counterpart down the street and I thought it was just ok. Lovely seating on the patio and mediocre food. I thought for a quick bite to eat and to avoid having a server it was decent.
But then something went HORRIBLY wrong…
At the end of my meal I was looking inside and was horrified to see the person who handled my money cutting food without gloves. He accidentally dropped a piece of whatever he was cutting and placed the rest in a to go box for a customer. I watched him pick up what he dropped and placed it back on the chopping block. After he finished with the customer at the register I was almost certain that I would see him THROW IT AWAY but instead I literally saw him scoop up everything off of the chopping block (INCLUDING THE PIECE THAT FELL ON THE FLOOR) and place it on the buffet. I literally could not believe what I was seeing. I would have loved to give this place a great review because I think for the value, it’s not bad. However, I am forever turned off and if they did something like this in plain sight, I would hate to know what they do when no one is around.
No thanks.

Buffet was alright — glad to have tried it once but would probably order an individual sandwich if we ever came back. Falafel, pita, etc. were a bit dry. Owner was nice and the ethnic décor was appreciated. Café in a strip mall with limited parking in front.

My heart was immediately warmed by the owner the moment I stepped in the door! He is their best (passionate) worker there, which goes a long way in my book. From door to counter to dining tables, he greeted me and led me through; not only for myself but for all other guests too! He often checked in with us to see how we were and how our foods tasted. In my visit alone I met five or so tables of frequent’s, and I take that as a good sign.
Best falafel gyro! I think I got the supreme (large?) falafel & humus gyro. They packed the falafel in and scooped a generous portion of humus into my wrap. delicious! The falafels themselves were superb: warm, just moist enough, thick and savory. I substituted their salad in place of the fries.
They have a lunch buffet going for about $ 10! Great deal if you cant decide where exactly your appetite will lead you.

Very neat place. The owner is very friendly and helpful. I had the gyro and chicken fajita (both were good). It’s also pretty cheap so that’s a plus.

Kansas City — especially within the city limits — is a tough town for a buffet-​style place to be successful. Kansas Citians love to eat, so to just throw open the feed trough for a set price is a dangerous move around these parts. This is a big reason why the majority of these offerings around town are either cheap MSG-​laden chinese food, pricey brunch offerings, or casino-​based loss leaders for the gluttonous and indifferent.
Jersualem Bakery, located just west of the Westport area, has been successful now for a variety of reasons. As an extension of Jerusalem Café in Westport, locals know they are going to get amazing middle-​eastern food without the wait times or those pesky portion limits of the standard restaurant experience. While there is a menu board of options for the typical gyros, shwarma, and hummus and pita, the expansive buffet line is made just for those of us who want to stuff our faces with amazing, crisp falafel, smoky baba ghanouj, feta, olive & pasta salad, or delicious lentil soup. Simple, fresh salad features feta and nice big tomato chunks; there’s saffron rice, vegetable moussaka, fresh pita, and refreshing tzaziki sauce and tabouli alongside gyro, fish, and chicken preperations for meat eaters. As a vegetarian, this is one of the few places in the city where I know well over half of the offerings will end up on my plate over the course of my meal, and not just the one or two side-​items ignored by meat-​eaters.
The staff jumps at the opportunity to make you feel welcome, answering any questions about what a particular dish may be or what it may contain. You will typically see a substantial number of people of African/​Middle eastern lineage in the diner-​style booths and tables, laughing and greeting friends as they come in the door, while tattoo’d art-​punks, soccer moms, and suburban adventure seekers ooh and aaaah over baklava and sumac cauliflower. This is not a place that caters to the fickle, bland needs of the suburban crowd — instead, it’s an opportunity to experience an ethnic adventure in taste in a genuine, grassroots environment. The TVs are usually tuned to a soccer game or a travel program featuring locations in the middle east. There is also a small grocery section for fresh pita bread, hookah supplies, chili sauces, tahini, and other staples of mediterranean/​middle-​eastern life.
The all-​day buffet is available for a very reasonable per-​pound price for to-​go, while dine-​in, with a drink included, comes to under $ 10. Getting the fresh tzaziki or hummus in various-​sized styrofoam to-​go containers is miles cheaper than store-​bought and a hundred times better. Jerusalem Bakery has become a place I schedule my time around, giving a good hour or more to sit, relax, and enjoy a good conversation over healthy, fresh, amazing food. After just a few visits, it’ll become more apparent why cultures throughout the rest of the world value food and mealtimes in a way we here in modern America have generally forgotten. There’s no rush to get you in and out — just a desire for your enjoyment and continued patronage.
Jerusalem Bakery is one of the best options in the city to explore a new (or old favorite) cuisine at a very reasonable price, at any time of day — we love you Jerusalem Bakery!

Love love this place. Since it is Lent season, I usually come here on Fridays (I mised this Friday and went for fish at Mad Jack’s instead but will be back next Friday cause it is so close to my home and work). Love the buffet bar. lots of vegetarian dishes on the buffet bar and I usually load up before coming to work.
I eat a lot of falafels and hummus here! Cheap and good.
the staff are friendly and I also like how you can eat their and not be bothered by some people. It is great. very comfortable and affordable.
Big thumbs up and the food is delicious!

You pay for what you get at buffets, it’s a bit of a truism for anyone who spends a lot of time eating out. You would be generally better off going to the other Jerusalem spot or Aladdin Café for fresh, hot, really well made Med. food.
Nothing I’ve ever had here was bad per se, but rather the quality you might expect from food that’s been sitting and waiting to be eaten for some time. The bread and fried items can be dry sometimes. The flavors are generally a little less bold and intense than if you ordered sitting down off a menu somewhere.
The offerings are generally of a much bigger variety and higher quality on weekends, for what it’s worth. The salads in particular. They offer some things they don’t offer during the week like the farmer’s salad and tabbouleh and the likes.
The market inside is really nice if you need to stock up to cook at home. It’s been a life saver more times than I can remember.
The price is right here if you want to eat a LOT of food. The staff is really friendly and I’ve never had a bad experience here. I’d just generally prefer to sit down at one of the non-​buffet spots in town.

First off, this is not a bakery. Yes they have fresh pita bread, but it’s not baked here. It’s pretty good though. I love their gyros, they do not skimp on anything. The fries are delicious too. The falafel falls short, usually too dry and overcooked. The buffet is a bargain at $ 10 including tax, and it comes with a fountain soda. Plenty to choose from on that buffet.
Now, here’s what I don’t like. The place is not the cleanest. They don’t keep posted hours. I work nearby and have seen them close early on a routine basis. Today, after a minor snowstorm, they didn’t bother to open at all, and there’s not even a sign on the door. Businesses that don’t work on an appointment schedule, especially restaurants, need to be open posted hours if they intend to stay in business. Plain and simple. So that’s how I arrived at three stars.

I’m sure it’s no secret that I am one who avoids buffets like the plague, so I was more than pleasantly surprised by Jerusalem Café and Bakery. I had dined in their restaurant last year and although I had thought Aladdin’s hummus and falafel was a bit tastier, I still thought JC was pretty damn good.
This JC (there are three in KC, I believe) is all about the faster food experience (all serve yourself).
The buffet offers up a whole lot of options such as:
Two varieties moussaka (veg and meat. The veggie variety was *really* good)
regular and red pepper hummus
falafel
array of cold salads (olive!)
1 pizza choice (looked rather dried out and w/​meat)
Gyro
hot vegetables
chicken curry
beef kofta
meatloaf
rice
smokey babaganoush (yum! and normally I don’t like babaganoush)
Aaaand, probably more but I was seeing everything with hummus goggles at a certain point.
All this, for the staggeringly cheap price of $ 9.
I cannot say that I ate even close to $ 9 worth of food, but that’s OK as I was happy with quality and variety of the food (except for the really sub par pita which is cold and white instead of wheat). Not that you’d want to be filling up on pita bread. Instead I dipped the falafel into the hummus.
Another small, OK, not so small, thing is that they don’t have tahini sauce, just yogurt sauce. I know some places serve one instead of the other but I don’t approve. Falafel and hummus are not the same w/​o tahini! OTOH, they have Sambal hot sauce, which is my very favorite, so it *almost* made up for it.
They have free wifi and it works better than it does in certain coffee shops that shall remain nameless. If I were a different type of person, I’d hole up in there all day and graze. And I’m sure they’d just *love* me! Actually, who knows, they may not even have an issue with it, for all I know. The staff was pretty nice and barely minded me taking photos of the buffet like I was some sort of secret buffet agent, reporting to the senior citizen population that today’s curry is chicken instead of beef.
There is a decent variety of baked goods like Baklava and other honey/​nut/​phyllo concoctions (that always taste the same to me) and, best of all, a really excellent Middle Eastern grocery with dry goods, packaged foods, canned goods and a refrigerator section where you will find mmmmango nectar. I was addicted to that stuff when I spent some time in Egypt.
JC, you may be changing the buff-​hater in me! Soon you may be seeing me waddling up with my tray, wearing polyester stretch pants if you keep this delciousness up!