The Casbah

I like sitting in their patio on nice days and having a long lunch with friends. They have a good amount of vegetarian and vegan options on their menu, although most of the vegan options are not labeled. Hookahs, beer and wine also available. Very friendly staff, belly dancers on Saturdays. I really like the vegetarian old city sampler because it comes with a little bit of everything (hummus, tabouleh, grape leaves, & falafel). They're open until 2am so it's a great place to get veggie food late at night.

Sure this place is a lot more interesting looking than many other Jax restaurants. But..the "interesting" doesn't make it past the looks of the place/people. The waitress was really nice, and very helpful in helping me find vegan items on the menu (don't eat the rice if you're vegan - it has butter in it) but the food I got was absolutely booorrr-ZZZZZZ-ing. I've had much better fast food/cart/mall made middle eastern food. It's really not worth the $..and it isn't even that expensive. I wouldn't recommend wasting your time/money/or hunger here...unless you like bland food. And I know some of you do...based on rave reviews for other vegan friendly restaurants I've eaten at that ended up boring my taste buds into retreat. Again..super nice waitress..main bonus.

We met some friends for dinner and drinks. The atmosphere was truly wonderful. The close packed restaurant have a lively feel with enough noise to not hear other tables, but not so much as to drown out our conversation. The waiter was excellent. Answered questions, gave us time, never pushed, served well, checked in right before happy hour ended, made great recommendations, and was all around wonderful. We order the combo for two. We got the fool (fava bean dip - Superb), the vegetable - chesse - olive tray, the ground beef, and shrimp kabobs. The food was excellent. The atmosphere was wonderful, and the drinks terrific. We really enjoyed the experience.