Assaraya Turkish Restaurant
Thalateen Street., Olaya, Riyadh
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Tel: 01 4649336
So, where in Riyadh is the best shawarma found? I have no idea but I have a suggestion. And it’s highly-recommended! Assaraya Turkish Restaurant is home to one of the best shawarmas in Riyadh. I’m not sure if their shawarma is Turkish (because I can never really tell shawarmas apart) but I’m sure it contains what I want most about my shawarma: chicken grilled just right, semi-soggy fries, soft bread, and aromatic garlic sauce.
When I was first introduced to Assaraya, I thought it was just another shawarma and kebab place. Sure it looks nice on the outside with its green and yellow sign and see-through glass walls in the men’s area where the chicken is being grilled in rotating vertical spits, but it’s still just a shawarma place. What more can I expect from it? Turns out, eating in Assaraya is quite an experience! The location of Assaraya in Thalateen is usually clogged, which is a bad sign for motorists but a good sign for diners. It means a lot are willing to brave the evening crowd to eat in Assaraya so it must be that good.
Upon entering the family section of Assaraya, I was greeted with a sense of authenticity. The chandelier and lamps give the place a homey yet elegant feel. They have a waiting area with a miniature nature scene on the side – stuffed animals and artificial plants. The family section is large and can accommodate several families at a time. But each dining partition is rather small. That amount of space coupled with the warm glow of the lights, stuffy ventilation, and the heavy curtains covering each room, gave me a little bit sense of claustrophobia but nothing a good meal can’t fix. The waiters are attentive and they try to explain the unfamiliar names of dishes in the menu, which offers a lot of choices.
We began with the bread and the dips that had us at first swipe: the hummus with butter and baba ghanoush. The hummus with butter became an instant favorite. Give us that and a few warm bread and we’ll eat them with gusto any time. The baba ghanoush is soft and smoky. I balked at the tabouleh because I was never a fan of parsley but a friend can finish this salad all on her own. We proceeded with our shawarmas: the jumbo and the plate. I couldn’t really complain about their shawarma because it’s delicious in its simplicity. The chicken is roasted well and the fries are sparse but okay. The garlic sauce is light but flavorful and the bread that wraps them all up is soft and chewy. One jumbo shawarma can send me home fulfilled and happy. I like the jumbo shawarma better than the regular one because of the bread. It spells a huge difference for me. We tried their kebabs, boneless chickennn, and mixed grill too.
The meats are tender, juicy, and perfect on their own. We also tried the chicken dish in a clay pot and it was good too although nothing spectacular; the tomato base has a sour kick to it. The grilled prawns were too salty. I love their strawberry juice, as well as their melon juice. They’re sweet, pulpy, and refreshing. The food of Assaraya is straight-forward, simple, delicious, and affordable. Nothing too fancy. That’s why I like them very much.
Assaraya Turkish Restaurant,
The almost legendary Assaraya Turkish restaurant on Thalateen street does not disappoint even
the most demanding customer. There must be a reason why this restaurant has held its position
as one of the most popular restaurants in Riyadh for over three decades.
After visiting this restaurant for the third time now it became clear what its secret is. The
consistent good quality tasty yet simple food, the swift, polite service, very affordable prices and
family friendliness of this place are what keep people returning again and again.
The family section of Assaraya is large, actually consisting of three different areas of closed
booths. The clientele consist of families of all nationalities and lots of groups of expats like to
visit this restaurant too. This restaurant can get noisy and have slight crammed up feel to it but
once you close the curtains to your private booth you will forget about this minor distraction.
Assaraya is famous for the large flat breads they serve to be dipped with hummus within almost
minutes after the customer has sat down. A Turkish waiter attends to your order; they are all
knowledgeable of the foods and often recommend dishes to people unfamiliar with Arabic
foods. Another waiter brings the food and yet another cleans the tables. This ensures the
timeliness of the service.
The food indeed comes so quickly to the table from ordering that the so called “fast food”
restaurant chains in Riyadh would be shamed in comparison. The food will not take longer than
10 minutes to arrive even in the peak hours of the weekend.
The mix of Turkish and Arabic dishes to choose from the menu is excellent and the low prices
enable the customer to sample a variety of dishes at one sitting. The restaurant also has a great
selection of fresh juices which come in large jugs at minimum prices.
The majority of the meats are served grilled, they are juicy and tasty. The Turkish specialties
such as the clay pot dishes are worth trying out as well as their famous jumbo shawarma. This is a
good place to try out quail if you haven’t yet experienced it. The proportions of all the dishes are
so large; the customers regularly leave the restaurant with bags full of food to take home.
A small family can enjoy and finish a delicious full course meal at Assaraya in less than an hour
and pay less than 150sr for it. Well worth the traffic hassle to get there!
The food is simple, fresh and never disappoints. Frequent diners know not to fill up on breads and dips as you then have no room for the entree. The waitstaff are friendly (sometimes too much so) and entertaining. The prices are very reasonable. A walk down “everything” street following dinner is a must, have to walk off the bread!
It’s the right choice if u can’t think of anything else. One thing is 100% sure that food is hot n fresh. Assarya salad, grilled chops, fish and lamb stew is highly recommended.
This place is great!! Although the atmosphere is a bit creepy with all their random selection of animals all over the place, the food is quite the opposite. Their bread and babaghanoug are both super delic in addition to everything else on their menu!