Sizzling House of Kabab

This place is a ripoff. The quantity of meat for the price is laughable… and it’s always overcooked and dry. I’ve tried numerous times to like this place because I miss good authentic Persian/​middle eastern food, but every single time it’s been a huge disappointment. Save your money and go elsewhere.

The food is OK, prices are reasonable. I’m jaded b/​c i asked for falfafel and got hummus in the bag. When i called to tell him, he yelled at me and told me I ordered hummus then hung up on me.

General facts: this is a take out place. The amount of seating is extremely limited! So place an order and pick up or go there and pick up. The owners are Iranian so that is their specialty, but they also make other Middle Easter dishes. My comments and ratings below are based only on eating the Persian style kabobs and not the other Middle Eastern fare (i.e., I did not eat falafel, hummus, etc. so I have nothing to say about those either way).
For the general eater: the food is tasty. The portions are slightly on the small side but not tiny. Prices are reasonable. We had 3 different kabobs and rice and they all very yummy but not spectacular. The rice was fine but nothing special. If you are not Iranian and/​or are not looking for more «standard» or «traditional» Iranian kabob, you will get to eat tasty food here at a price that is reasonable (not low but but not high). The owners were very professional, helpful, and kind.
For the Iranian eater: if you are looking for «standard» or «traditional» Iranian kabobs like barg, joojeh, or koobideh and assorted items like rice and grilled tomatoes, this restaurant serves these items but they are not what you are used to. The taste and texture of the koobideh, for example, was not standard even though tasty. The barg was quite small pieces and spiced differently (but tasty). The grilled tomatoes were very good and standard. The rice was strange: it had some orange stuff on it but did not smell or taste at all like saffron which (as an Iranian eater) I found very disappointing. Their doogh (yogurt drink essentially identical to Turkish ayran) was standard and from bottles from a company.

I had been here once upon a time a few years ago and thought they weren’t bad for being in a very white area. Today, I stopped by and the experience was much worse. It took a few minutes for anyone to come to the register, which was the first thing that bothered me. I ordered falafel, grape leaves, steak kebab, and beef shawarma. The tahini sauce is bland and flavorless, and practically water. The falafel balls, I would bet, are bought from a supplier and are also pretty bland. The grape leaves, I am positive, are the lemon mint ones that come in a can. The steak was the smallest cut of, I think flank, cut into adorably tiny little rectangles to make it seem like more and served over flavorless saffron rice, which may or may not have used real saffron. To outs credit, the rice was light and fluffy. The hummus may as well have just been straight chickpea purée for all I could tell by taste. The shawarma sandwich was bland and flavorless and could have used a good shot of good hummus or good tahini sauce, but it had neither. The fish was frozen and would have taken an extra 20 minutes to cook. We will not be returning, which is a shame, as we were hoping, as it’s the only Middle Eastern restaurant in town that I know, that it would have only gotten better since the last time we stopped in. If you are a Persian chef, please set up a decent restaurant in the area. This can’t be the only option around; it’s just not right. Two stars, since the food was at least edible and did not give me food poisoning.

Just finished a delicious take-​out dinner of falafel appetizer, lamb kabab wrap, and tangy yogurt drink, all for around $ 18. All dishes are made fresh, so it’s advisable to order by phone to avoid a 15-​minute wait. (There is no home delivery.) The lamb kabab wrap was different from what I expected (e.g., it included sauce), but was very tasty. The yogurt drink, as distinct from the yogurt soda (which I didn’t try), also had a «different» flavor, but again it was very good. So was the falafel. I’ll definitely be coming back.

We Got takeout last night. The portions were huge and the salads were great but I thought that the chicken was bland. I’ve had chicken kabab other places and am usually a big fan. I’m not sure how they cook the meet. It didn’t look like it was roasted on a grill, which surprised me. Most likely I will go back but I will order something else.

First, note this is a take out place only. There are a couple chairs you can sit and wait (and believe me, you WILL be waiting for a while!) but there are no tables. At least they are nice enough to provide some magazines for entertainment. I ordered a shawarma wrap and my friend ordered a rice plate. We were waiting about 25 minutes. I understand the food is made fresh when you order, but for the wait time… let’s just say, I’d expect the food to be better. I will say the portions are good for the price, but I would rather have better tasting food and a smaller portion of it for a better price.
As other people have mentioned, it is pretty much the only middle eastern option around Lexington. And the meat is halal.
Other than that, a clean looking establishment. The owner/​workers were friendly enough, though they did seem to be having a rather loud argument in the back kitchen that we could clearly hear. I saw someone complain about parking, but they have their own lot so that is not a problem at all.

We LOVE the chicken kebabs and falafel here that we usually get with rice, hummus and tabouleh. The hummus is delicious too. We’ve also had the stuffed grapeleaf (pretty good) and the balkava (okay — not as crispy as I like). Overall, I would strongly recommend this place!

This restaurant was my first food experience in Boston and I was not disappointed. Its a takeaway place. We reached there after 30 mins. We had ordered chicken kebabs and ground chicken kebabs. The kebabs are served with saffron rice, hummus and a salad. They were delicious though I would have liked it to be little more spicier.
Overall a good experience !

Delicious kebabs– fresh and reasonably priced. I had the chicken kebab dinner plate with tasty saffron rice, hummus and a salad. We also had the ground chicken/​beef combo and also enjoyed that too.

Last night (9÷6÷14) was movie-​night, and we wanted to get something closeby.
Had previously picked up a menu about a month ago, but hadn’t gotten anything there until last night.
Chicken Chawerma (sp?) wrap, Chicken-​kabab plate Felafel, and stuffed grape leaves… Delicious.
I had the chawerma wrap and the meat was nicely marinated, and seasoned perfectly.
The felafel was nice and crisp on the outside and I ended up drinking the remaining tahini sauce on a spoon after the last felafel was gone.
It’s a nice, small business. I hope I can reach someone with my review and the fine people at Sizzling House of Kabab.
Please support the very kind, humble folks at Sizzling House of Kabab, and I seldom give 5 star reviews, but I want to see them succeed.
TL;DR — Good, savory, cheap eats.

I guess I have a bit of a different take on Sizzling House of Kabab than others. First of all, it’s a middle Eastern takeout joint known for dishes like falafel, kabab, tabbuleh, etc. Now, I’m no expert on middle eastern food, but I was quite impressed. I called ahead to order, but if I hadn’t, I dont think I’d be bothered by a 20 minute wait. It takes time to cook fresh food after all. The prices seemed reasonable to me, at an average of around $ 10. The falafel was really quite tasty to my uneducated pallet. I will be coming back again.

The Good: One of the only Middle Eastern options around. Good falafel and tabbuleh.
The Bad: Chicken was very buttery, but lacked flavor. Lamb was juicy and a chewy (in a good way) but also lacked some flavor. It’s fairly pricey compared to other Middle Eastern options — but I think this has to do with the location more than anything else. I personally didn’t like the hummus. It was significantly less flavorful than other types I’ve had. On the plus side, it was very fluffy.
The Ugly: I waited about 10 minutes at the register before someone took my order. Nearly empty store and just nobody manning the desk.
Side note: Call ahead. They don’t have enough consistent business to just have a big spit going or something like that. I waited over 20 minutes for my food after finally placing the order.

I came here a couple of days ago thanks to the advice of my fellow Unilocalers and boy was I glad I came here. This place is a must visit if you are in the mood for some middle eastern fare. Like others have pointed out this is a take out place ONLY so be prepared for that and also for a small wait since the food is made to order.
I had the salmon kabob plate which had a big olé slap of grilled salmon with rice, hummus, and shirazi. Very delicious would order that again in a heartbeat! Also had an order of the lamb kabob wrap which did not come with anything not even fries (can you feel my sadness here), although it was very good the sandwich was a little skimpy on the meat which let’s face it is what you really want to chomp down on.
Overall this place is a little slice of food heaven. Will definitely be back to try more dishes and get that salmon plate again.

This place is a really great find. We do takeout from here about once a week. It does take twenty minutes so we always call ahead. They cook everything fresh to order.
It’s a take-​out place only. They won best hummus in Boston this year and I must say it’s because they have great hummus! I’ve been aware of this for a while now as every time we eat from there I say, «Hmmm they have the best hummus» In fact hopefully you can buy a tub of hummus while you are there.
I always do the salmon kebab. Usually I don’t love salmon but these guys know how to BBQ and it’s pretty good, not fishy at all. The dinners come with rice, tabouli, and hummus. If you want pita with the dinners you have to ask.
Chicken kebab is excellent as well and this is coming from a picky chicken eater.
Other great finds are grape leaves, and the eggplant dips.
The price is pretty good– about eight bucks for the dinner plates.
This is the best kebab place around– enjoy!

It’s maybe 2.5 stars. There’s not a lot of options in the immediate area for middle eastern favorites like kebabs, hummus, tabbouleh and the like, but the food itself takes a long time to cook from ordering (even when the store is empty) and more importantly, isn’t all that flavorful to begin with.
The falafel is above average, the a wrap is a good option when you’re hungry, but a plate of ground chicken /​beef kebobs just comes off as rubbery and flavorless.

I absolutely love this place and eat here several times a month. Their falafel wrap seems to be a popular favorite, with good reason. I’ve never had falafel that was so soft on the inside, and perfectly seasoned. The wrap includes lettuce, tomato, cucumber slices, a few banana pepper slices for a little zing. Their hummus is so smooth and creamy with just the right amount of tahini; a little bit of lime sends it over the edge. I’m a big fan of their shirazi salad: tomato and cucumber with olive oil, lime and lots of dill; a great palate cleanser at the end of a meal. My favorite is actually their salmon kebab plate, with rice, hummus, and tabbouleh salad. The salmon is always grilled just right, never dry or overdone, and actually pairs really well with the tabbouleh salad.
The staff has always been so friendly to me and willing to answer any questions about their menu.
I can’t recommend this place enough.

I’m Lebanese so I know what good, real, Mediterranean food is and tastes like – and let me tell ya, this place is as good as it gets. I’m not talking about the kebabs since I haven’t tried them, and since I wouldn’t go to a Mediterranean food place for the regular stuff. I judge this place on the hummus, tabbouleh, grape-​leaves and falafel. Anyone can make good kebab, it’s just marinated steak.
First time I went, I ordered the ground beef kebab wraps, said to substitute the lettuce with tabbouleh. well the guy messed up and gave my brother and I the falafel wraps instead. This was a great mistake. I’m not usually a fan of falafel because it’s usually tasteless – this however, was amazing. All of the flavors were balanced. The cucumber, banana peppers, hummus, and tahini, along with the tabbouleh mixed in was just perfect. Not to mention that you can get 2 meals out of one wrap. At least we did, since we ordered all of the sides stuff.
We also got the grape-​leaves. These were delicious. They are the veggie and rice kind, not the meat and rice kind. I’m used to eating the meat and rice ones, so the veggie ones are a treat for me. Really good flavor and definitely fresh. We had falafel on the side, and like I said before, I usually don’t care for falafel since it’s usually tasteless but here it was really good. Comes with a side of tahini for dipping.
Went back there today and tried out the ground beef kebab wrap. Really flavorful and fresh. Got a side of tabbouleh also and it was flavorful and authentic.
Definitely call ahead, everything is made fresh so it can take a little bit of time if you’re ordering a lot of food.
I’m tellin ya… this is a really great non-​yuppie Mediterranean food joint. There’s so many of those places out there that just don’t know what they’re doing. It’s the real deal.

no-​frills mom and pop take-​out-​only shop with reasonable prices (less than $ 10 for a wrap and ~$ 10 – 12 for a plate). very good chicken kebab. not best ever, but quite good and flavorful, and reasonable for the price.
cons: wait time was more than 30 min after ordering for a group of ~6 of us, which got us antsy, but at least the food was tasty.
the grape leaves, baklava, and other desserts were all present in the storefront window and didn’t look like anything special — portions or presentation. didn’t try them out this time, but it’s nice to know they make them!
the cashier also messed up my order and forgot he rung me up for a plate instead of a sandwich, but kindly refunded the amount in cash afterwards.
so all said and told, call ahead? find somewhere to eat afterwards.

Prettty damn good.
Falafel wrap was a good size and the falafel was quite moist although I think theres more than just chickpeas in it bc its green inside. Very tasty although I wish the humus had a little more zing… kinda bland. I also like that the wrap is a pita-​ish bread not a normal flour wrap.
I’d definetly come back to try a kabob plate.