Ferdos Grill

My search for the best Shish Taouk continues but these are good. I tried the sampler chicken, ground beef and beef kabobs and wanted more seasoning on all. The tenderloin needed more searing but was medium as requested. The chicken wanted more spice and ground beef more sizzle factor. Either their grill wasn't hot enough or lacked attention. The garlic sauce was looking for a friend on the dish as it seemed made a while ago. I'm not sure if it just a quiet off-day but I was expecting more.

I was in the mood for Middle Eastern food a couple of weeks ago, so I googled and found Ferdo's had pretty decent reviews, so I decided to give it a whirl. I should have gotten back in the car and swung by McDonalds after seeing the parking lot completely vacant on a Friday night, trust me, McDonalds would have been a million times more pleasurable.

After my husband and I were seated, our friendly server placed a basket of pita triangles on the table for us to nibble while reading the menu. I honestly think the pita had been salvaged off of prior tables for a week. It was cold, stale and thin. Starving, my husband and I ordered the Ferdo's Sampler to start us off. The falafel was drenched with oil and was over fried. How could one go wrong with hummus? Ferdo's has! It was soupy, and we had to eat it with the stale pitas! The stuffed grape leaves were like mush on the interior that whatever it was stuffed with was unrecognizable (and gross). The Baba-Ghannouj was left alone, it did not have a pleasant taste. It also came with a tomato and cucumber salad that had a bazar spice flavor I could not make out and just by the texture of the veggies, you knew it was not prepared that day.

When the waitress came to take our entree orders, we had asked her what she would recommend, I could kind of sense her internally saying " Run for your lives, before you eat this food and become violently ill!", but instead she responded with, kebobs. So taking her advice, my husband ordered the Shish-Kebab (steak) and I ordered the Shish-Kafta (ground beef). The portions were enormous. My husband seemed to be okay with his steak, but my ground beef kebob could have been mistaken for a skewered pile of carpet fibers. It was honestly, one of the most vile things I have ever ingested. Both of our entrees came with a landfill of Rice a Roni, it was undoubtably a boxed rice mix.

Besides the food being completely inedible, I couldn't help but notice that Ferdo's is "that" restaurant you take a date you don't want to be seen in public with. I thought that was only in the movies. Weird.

If you have a hankering for Middle Eastern food and you are in South Florida, make the trip to Falafel Bistro in Coral Springs, by far the best in Broward County.

Looky here folks, a confession: I've owned middle eastern restaurants in Miami Beach and Ft. Lauderdale and grew up serving as their head chef before graduating to the front of the house and the stress of dealing with actual customers--so I know how to make all the food on Ferdos menu and keenly understand the difference in skill needed to make passable fare from excellent and delicious dining

Ferdos is paradise (and that's what Ferdos means in arabic)

Unfortunately, most of the the tits and tats crowd doesn't have a clue as to what constitutes good food, let alone good Syrian Lebanese food--the ultimate cuisine when done well.  So for much less than what you would pay for more common cuisines with their crap ingredients that bore you to death and numb your palate into a single-minded quest for quantity as the only means to satisfy, you can instead enjoy truly delicious food of great quality and exotic character.  Don't be shy, head on over, because even though the waiter is from the middle east (Ohio) there is much here to take comfort from and come back for again and again.

Here are some of the exceptional renditions of Syrian Lebanese food you will find and enjoy at Ferdos:

Baba ghannouj (done perferct, with a hint of smokey, roasted flavor)
Tabouli (fresh, fresh, fresh and perfect on the palate without too little or too much lemon)
Kibbee Nayee (for those of you ready to enjoy it, it's one of the best renditions, and fresh fresh fresh, again)
Rolled stuffed grapeleaves (spot on perfect appetizer that you will order several times, because you want more)
Shish Kafta (moist and flavorful grilled meat with perfect rice accompanying)
Hummus (try it with the grilled meat on top, awesome)

Sahk-taine, habibi!