Tahini Street Food (Clairemont Mesa Boulevard)

I recently had a meeting where the food was catered from Tahini. For some reason, I'd forgotten about the place after they were replacing Dudley's Kearny Mesa location, which is right next to Ramen Ryoma.

I enjoyed the Chicken Schwarma Bowl; while being a bit "tame" in terms of flavor; the garlic sauce wasn't too bad and I enjoyed the pickled vegetables, and the rice was nicely flavored and fluffy.

So, I decided to stop by a couple of weeks later.

I'd gotten there right after opening and the place was already doing some pretty good business.

The set-up is very much in the "fast-casual" vein....you order at the register, the stations on the "line" put things together. One both visits; the young man working the register was ultra polite and made sure to repeat everyone's orders to make sure they got things right.

The menu is very much in the Chipotle mold....or even say....Chi-poke mold; you choose your base, if you'd like it in a pita, bowl, or salad, you can add on snacks, be it versions of fries or hummus, etc......

I was feeling hungry on my first visit and got the Chicken Schwarma Bowl and I really wanted to try the Falafel, so I got a3 pieces of Falafel.

This was good as what I'd had in my meeting. The garlic paste; well actually the menu does say "sauce" and is not as pungently delicious as the versions at Harvest Market or Alforon. But it does the trick here. Loved the pickled vegetables which added a nice zip to the bowl. The chicken was decently moist and tender, though quite mild in flavor....yes; it's kind of food not to offend; but with that nicely flavored rice, it did the job quite.

On the other hand; I really didn't care for the falafel.

While the interior was nice and smooth; the exterior was really hard....not crunchy, hard, and in addition to being more salty than I enjoy, there was a strange bitterness that I detected. Plus, the Tahini tasted weak, runny, and watered down.

The pita though, was nice and warm, it was obviously made fairly fresh as I saw the handy-dandy pita bread oven on the side.

Because I enjoyed the pita; I headed back and tried the Steak Schwarma in a Pita.

And while the pita was lovely as before; the "steak" was very lean and chewy and it was very bland. I really should have gotten a different sauce than the standard Tahini that comes with the "steak"....but at least I know for sure that it's not my favorite version. There was a good amount of meat; fresh veggies; but overall, quite bland.

I also ordered a half order of the Tahini Fries (with no Tahini of course), with Garlic sauce.

This was quite nice; I like the way the garlic sauce complements the crisp fries and even don't mind the pepperoncini's or feta cheese; though I will probably ask for no olives the next time. Still, this was not bad.

Overall a mixed bag; nice folks working, it's fusiony food made for Western palates, not a bad thing necessarily, and that rice bowl is pretty good.

Tahini Street Food
9119 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92123
Hours:
Mon - Sat 11am - 9pm
Sunday    11am - 7pm

Comments

[Cathy]

Well, we were interested to try it here; after training at the Registrar of Voters last year, we just wanted to get home and when we did remember, it was a Sunday (just started being open on Sunday I see). Thanks for trying some of the menu items so we don't have to.

[Junichi]

Looks similar to Simsim further West on Clairemont Mesa.

[RedDevil]

I had similar thoughts about this place. Still on the hunt for good falafel in SD. Thanks for the review!

[kat]

bummer falafel exterior:(

[Kirk]

Hi Cathy - Yeah, kinda westernized Middle Eastern food.

That one is coming up Junichi! ;o)

I think Mr Falafel is better RD...but not great.

I know Kat!

[Sandy]

This is close to the office, and I still haven't tried it. It seems popular with my co-workers. Still need to try Simsim and Mr. Falafel ...

[Kirk]

Hi Sandy - It's very popular and certain items were not bad....

[Soo]

That's too bad the steak isn't good.

[Kirk]

Yeah....though the chicken schwarma bowl ain't bad Soo.