My son likes The Kebab Shop. Actually, we all like TKS. The food is pretty good, it has a chill vibe and my wife really likes their music. Actually, we all like the music, but my wife is the most ardent fan among us.
We all used to get and customize wraps of some kind. My son usually does Carved Lamb Beef Döner, but then customizes it slightly different each time. Today he made sure to have french fries and hummus in it, and he kept out any pickled onions.
My wife agreed that she doesn’t love too many pickled onions and expressed her wish that she could select “light pickled onions.” That apparently isn’t something their kiosk ordering system can do.
She went through a phase where she would get the bowls, but I think we all like the wraps the best.
The wraps are kind of big, and my wife and I are usually trying to shed a few pounds, so we got to where we either split one wrap and maybe added a kebab, or—what we like to do now is—share a plate.
The plate allows you to customize with one protein and two sides. We usually do steak with veggies and hummus. Sometimes we double the meat.
Today we went for two reasons.
- My son really loves TKS
- My wife has accumulated enough loyalty points to have a free item. It took $15 off our bill today.
We all love their sauces, but my son is pretty gaga over the Cilantro Jalapeño. For $5 we’ve even bought the 8 ounce container of it to take home.
I like the falafel and the pita chips as well. I wish they had dolmas.
Today we went to the Encinitas location for the second time. We usually do the Rancho Bernardo location.
We are all in agreement that the Rancho Bernardo location is pretty much superior in every way.
The RB location is much larger and comfortable, and we have always liked the music in RB. Encinitas was cramped and today they played Bob Marley for our entire visit. I am pretty sure “Three Little Birds” actually played twice!
BTW—I don’t hate Marley, but for sure a little more variety would be in order.
We all agreed the food and timing is better at RB. It felt a little slow today, and the food wasn’t as hot as usual.
The side vegetables for our plate were kinda sad. The pieces were smaller and not very hot. Usually—at RB— they serve us a large portion of delicious hot, chunky, well-cooked veggies.
My wife even noticed that the upbeat messages in the bathroom in RB were lacking at the Encinitas locale. We also found the amount of cleaning they insisted on performing in our vicinity while we dined to be distracting.
Now I feel bad about that last comment. The guy was just working hard to keep the place clean. But given the small dining room, his mopping and wiping and constantly walking past made for a less relaxing experience.
We’ve tried the Encinitas location twice now, and both times it was noticeably below our Rancho Bernardo standards. The Kebab Shop is a great fast-casual spot, but there’s definitely a noticeable difference in quality between locations.
Here is their website: