The restaurant has street parking and parking in nearby lot. They have both indoor and outdoor seating. Such cute decor. I tried the beef gyro and combo #3 which was chicken and beef kebob. I got it with half rice and half salad. Everything tasted delicious. The meats were tender. I have to say my goto for the future would likely be the chicken kebabs. Staff was pleasant. read more

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The wait... it takes soooo long to get the food. And how is it a Mediterranean food but there's no fresh garlic sauce? However the portions are big and it is tasty. If you have time and not hungry then give it a try. read more

Lemon Zest - Mediterranean Near Me - Sierra Madre, California

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We've been ordering from Lemon Zest every Wednesday -- the food is consistently great, and the owner along with the previous cashier have always been incredibly friendly and welcoming. It's honestly become part of our weekly routine. However, I wanted to share a not-so-great experience we had today regarding the service. I called in a takeout order, and when I arrived, there was a new cashier. She was on her phone texting and didn't acknowledge us for quite a while, so we had to wait before being helped. When it came time to pay, I simply asked to confirm whether the cash discount had already been applied. Her response came with a noticeably rude attitude. While I was trying to find the exact change, she seemed visibly impatient. After receiving some coins I didn't need, I placed them in the tip jar. She immediately took them out and said in a very cold tone, "Please take it back, I don't need your tips." Honestly, that was surprising and quite uncomfortable -- it's the first time I've encountered such unfriendly service here. We still really enjoy the food and appreciate the owner, but I hope the service experience can improve moving forward. read more

Can't come back. The food is edible, nothing to write home about. Here's where it goes sideways. $50 for My son and I to eat lunch for two. Small portions and not the best quality and not super authentic. Might be good for Sierra Madre residence not for somebody who eats in Los Angeles a lot. read more

Oh those cute yellow umbrellas. we got two lamb gyros, a side order of 5 falafel and a large salad. bill was a little more than $60. I would give the lamb gyro a 4, I was impressed by how much protein was in the gyro "sandwich". the pita bread and tzitiki toppings were good. salad was excellent. the inside of the cafe is cute too, done in green and yellow. There was a free water dispenser with lemon water, welcome on a hot day. Gentleman who took our order and prepared our food was friendly. You made my revisit list. read more

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My new favorite spot for kabobs! The chicken was so juicy and flavorful. The restaurant itself is so cute inside and so clean. Very friendly staff! read more

Lemon Zest - French Fries - Mediterranean Near Me - Sierra Madre, California

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It's decent enough if you want a quick bite in sierra madre. Fresh and tasty. But not authentic Greek or middle eastern. But good food when you want healthy options. Service is sometimes slow. Ambience is casual and it's nice to sit outside in the evenings or on a day when it's not too hot read more

We needed to order a large meal set for a family gathering. Service was prompt and smooth. I really have no complaints from the time I called to place my order to the time of pick up. We ordered the prince meal set for 10-12 people with an extra order of French fries for the little kiddies in our group. The meats were flavorful and tender. The portion sizes were perfect for our family. I love that they also give a generous side of hummus and tzatziki. The pita chips were delicious and we all really enjoyed the grilled vegetables. We would definitely order again. The set had a good variety of items and it was super easy. FYI - We ordered 48 hours in advance but 24 hours would have sufficed. read more

This review is long overdue. This is one of my favorite Mediterranean restaurants and I'll drive out to eat here. The food is consistently delicious, no matter what you order. The people that work here are friendly and efficient. The restaurant lives up to its name with lemon themed decor. If you're looking for delicious yet healthy food - look no further! read more

My best friend brought me here for a casual birthday lunch. Lemon Zest is located in the downtown sierra madre area. You won't miss it because everything is yellow. You order at the counter and then the food is brought to you. I had the chicken kabob with rice and tzatziki. The chicken was incredibly juicy and filled with flavor. The portion was big and I was able to have a second meal later. I definitely recommend checking this place out!! read more

Lemon Zest - Chicken Breast Kabob Lunch - Mediterranean Near Me - Sierra Madre, California

Ambiance. 5/5. cute takeout place with a clutch of tables, one inviting table is in an alcove with a window facing the equally-cute street of West Sierra Madre. I entered, and studied the menu at the counter for 12 minutes with no one to greet me.... but... I used the time wisely to study the menu. I thought it was the kind of hipster place in which you order on a pad, pay, and wait for your order to emerge from the rear. But no, the pad didn't offer the menu so I waited until a guy finally emerged. No apology for keeping me waiting, not friendly but did answer questions put and was patient as I placed my order. He did thank me when I added a 15 percent tip. He also pointed out the "help yourself" station... the water dispenser, glass cups, utensils wrapped in cheerful yellow cloth napkins, and the takeout containerson a shelf below... help yourself. FOOD I loved the vegan offerings on the menu 5/5 for having these options of faux meats with Mediterranean spices...but i had a craving for falafel ... not sure what the difference was between pita falafel wrap and what i ordered the falafel gyro 4/5. About five pieces, nice sized medallions of fried chickpea goodness with a fluffy thick pita...it was wrapped beautifully, so easy to hold without everything falling out. I thought the pieces of greens seemed a bit limp and a bit clunky as if straight out of a bag of prewashed mixed spring greens you get from the grocery store,...i would have liked more tahini sauce or a small container of tzatziki to brighten up those greens, and some chopped or sliced onions, which there were none but diced tomatos were in evidence. I added fries 5/5, they were hot, crispy on the outside, fluffy inside... TAKEOUT. I bought my mom a beef and chicken combo. I ordered it at the same time as my meal which I ate there. I looked in the bag to verify my order and look for pita bread as i didnt see any. I was told it was inside the container on the bottom of the proteins. Hm. Suggestion - pack the pita separately outside the hot container...like in a bag .... because the pita on the bottom of the chicken and beef inside a plastic container ends up being mush. Soggy. Shredded. A swampy bog of limp bread with no body. 1/5. The actual combo however was delicious. Mom approved the cook on both the tender chicken and flavorful beef. Good-sized chunks off the skewer The long pepper was a nice touch but too charred to eat. Tomato and pilaf I enjoyed. Overall, really good, too bad about that poor limp pita languishing on the bottom....we had fun trying to tell if it was a whole pita or half of one or two pieces sliced on top of each other....so mushy couldn't tell. Overall, cute clean place. Very neat and orderly. Decor cheerful and I enjoyed studying the wall of wine. I deducted a star due to soggy pita and the weird vibe that customers were'nt really valued. Maybe an off night. But I was glad to have tried the place. Thanks fellow Yelpies for recommending. read more

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I kinda love this part of Sierra Madre. The neighborhood is slow and quiet, with a small town USA vibe. Lemon Zest Cafe was so delightful. Maybe it was a slow Tuesday night, but we were the only ones seated inside the cafe. After taking our orders, the server would disappear into the kitchen and it was so quiet I actually turned on the music from my phone a little to break up the silence. I ordered the grilled chicken kabob with half rice, half salad, and it was plenty. And delicious. Such a wonderful, peaceful night, a truly beautiful evening on a quiet street in Sierra Madre. read more

Lemon Zest - Chicken breast kabobs - Mediterranean Near Me - Sierra Madre, California

Super cute vibes and great food. Employees are really nice and I would totally come back! read more

Lemon Zest - Lentil soup (1/2 an order!) - Mediterranean Near Me - Sierra Madre, California

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This is a very cozy, bright, and cute Mediterranean restaurant. Seating is limited inside the restaurant but there is outside seating. The outside seating is not covered so it can be a challenge if weather isn't ideal, like today. It's raining today so no outdoor seating is available. There's poor ventilation indoors so the smoke from the food cooking in the kitchen may be an issue with customers with respiratory issues. I ordered the lunch chicken kabob plate. The chicken kabob is flavorful, juicy, and tender. Not dry at all. The tzatziki and rice pilaf was pretty good. The food has such a colorful presentation. I ordered my meal with a salad, but the kitchen made a mistake and gave me rice too. The Greek salad is also really pretty and colorful. The good here is fresh and tasty. Customer service was ok. After I paid, the cashier told me to take a seat at the only empty table at the restaurant, but that restaurant wasn't cleaned off yet. It wasn't dirty, someone's cup was there. I saw that she was busy so I sat down and moved the cup away from me. I had a good experience and will be back again. read more

Lemon Zest - Chicken kabob lunch plate with Greek salad Coffee not from Lemon Zest Cafe - Mediterranean Near Me - Sierra Madre, California

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Amazing little gem. Ordered the beef kabob plate, the meat was deliciously marinated and super tender. The salad was full of color and flavor, topped with plenty of tomato cucumber and red onions, adorned with feta and peppers and olives. The rice was moist and buttery, everything was perfect. You can tell they take quality seriously, I should have taken a picture of my plate before I devoured it, the presentation was equally impressive as the flavors! read more

Came in here for lunch while visiting, we will be coming back. Food was delicious we both had the chicken kabobs rice and salad highly recommend and the service with a smile we felt right at home. read more

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A very cute spot nestled in the quiet but scenic downtown area of Sierra Madre. Despite living a quick 15-20 minute drive away, I had never ventured out to this area before. There was ample parking on a Sunday evening, including street parking and a lot in the back. Great service, tasty flavor, and large portions. We got the chipotle kebab plate with rice and a garden salad on the side. read more

Their meat quality is very good. I got their mixed lule and both meats tasted so good. It was tender and juicy. Salad was great portion and humus was flavorful. The downside is service is super slow so be ready to wait. read more

Lemon Zest - Mediterranean Near Me - Sierra Madre, California

Freaking delicious! Highly recommend the chicken kabob with half rice, half Greek salad and garlic aioli. I can't get over how much the chicken is. Have also tried and enjoyed the beef. Anyways we order food from here often as it's healthy and fresh. The restaurant itself is small and quaint but cute. Good customer service. read more

Great customer service with some amazing food. Love their wraps and the rice, OMG, the best we've ever had.

I got the salmon wrapping that bad. Boy was so amazing. I got it with extra sauce. The more sauce the better. In fact, it was first sauce and then it was salmon but I recommend this place. The prices are great read more

This place is a hidden gem. Some of my absolute favorite foods to eat are Mediterranean. I've eaten at all of the surrounding Mediterranean restaurants within a 20 mile radius and hands down, the Lemon Zest Grill in Sierra Madre is now on my top 3 list. The front of the restaurant looks a bit confusing, I thought I was going into a gelato or Italian ice store. When in fact, this is a full menu Mediterranean Restaurant and Grill. As I entered the restaurant, I was politely greeted by a gentleman named Charyuan. He was knowledgeable about the full menu and offered many suggestions. After looking over the generous menu offerings, I placed my order. While my order was being made, I was informed that all of their food is made fresh, and on the premises. They use 100% quality, fresh ingredients, and the menu reflects the delicious favorites that are often not made correctly at other local Mediterranean restaurants. Today I ordered their lentil soup which was hearty, tasty, not blended or disguised like other restaurant lentil soup offerings. I also ordered their Shirazi salad, which was fresh, exhibited good knife skills with consistency cuts, and perfectly seasoned. For my main course, I ordered their shrimp kabob plate which came with 6 giant peeled (tail still on) and deveined shrimp with just the right grill kiss while drizzled with garlic butter which was served on a fresh and fluffy bed of rice with a grilled tomato and pepper. I'm 100% happy with each item I ordered from Lemon Zest and I'm looking forward to trying many more of their menu items. Trust me, search no more... Lemon Zest Mediterranean Grill is an absolute must visit for any foodie; their food will make you HAPPY!!!!! Try it today! read more

Super cool spot... service was 5 stars... shayan was amazing!!!! Food was 10/10 I recommend this spot to anyone who is in the area. Definitely reasonable and the wait time is not long at all read more

The food is great! It's small and chill so you might not get a seat. But you can get to-go and eat at the park or Kersting Court. The beef and chicken are juicy, highly recommend. The rice is tasty and fluffy. Try delivery too. Service is quicker than expected and that helped when having a hungry toddler. read more

Place was busy and the waiter that was answering the phones delivering food and cleaning tables! with a smily face and exceptional attitude made it happen! Shayan was an excellent employee that everyone will dream to have! Great job... food was great and so was the nice music playing enjoyed the evening with our grandchildren. read more

A nice, quaint and homey little eatery in downtown Sierra Madre. My wife and I really enjoy the taste of the bowls. We find it offers fresh ingredients with a good balance of protein with a dressing that is not too heavy or sweet. We will come again to try other dishes on the menu. read more

Really incredible Mediterranean food - I eat a lot of rice and kebabs, hummus etc, and it's all good right? Like the floor for Mediterranean is pretty high. This place raises the ceiling. From the za'atar on the pits with hummus, to the juicy and flavorful lamb, to the friendly service, this place really hit the mark. Was so impressed. read more

Really bummed this time around. Avoid the salmon! Receipt prices for lunch plate and fries: Chicken Breast Kabob lunch plate $20.73 (not $20) Salmon Kabob lunch plate $25.93 (not $25) Truffle Parmesan Fries - Small $7.27 (not $7) Salmon was inedibly smelly/rancid fishy. The fries were fried too long. The hummus had a large layer of oil. Chicken kabobs and cucumber yogurt were good. I've ordered their truffle fries before and they were good, but they were fried too long for my liking. Really overpriced and underwhelming read more

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I decided to meet a long friend at the Lemon Zest Cafe for lunch in Sierra Madrea which the backyard is the San Gabriel Mountains and Cucamonga fault zone. This is a cute and small restaurant in the shopping area, there are five more Lemon Zest Cafe located in Azuse Ca, Glendale Ca, Northridge Ca, Sherman Oaks Ca, and Van Nuys which is permanent closed now, there is free 2hrs. parking and the same for the back too. The outside and inside ambiance is all about lemon's ,yellow door's, trim, chair's, flower pot's, there are about seven tables insider and two tables in the patio, there is a water area with ice cold cucumber water,along with real utensils cloth and paper napkins, plus a really cool wine display on the wall. We both ordered the combo chicken kabob, the chicken was season and grilled very well, so tender and juciy..(it just look so pretty) the salad was crispy with fresh Ingredients, along with lot's of rice you also get two small container of garlic and dressing, the food was delicious plus tasty. Our server Carman was friendly kind and helpful. I'll be back! read more

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We've tried the chicken kebob, the Greek salad, basmati rice, the beef and lamb gyros. The food has been delicious every time.

I tried lunch special chicken kebab plate the other day. When I looked that the plate, I got disappointed immediately. 1 skewer chicken kebab, poor quality salad, small amount of hummus, small amount of butter. It costs with tax almost $25. No thank you! But the ambiance is cute and it's definitely a good place to take some pics. read more

Today we went to a Lemon Zest cafe to give it a try. The place is very cozy, beautiful, and very welcoming. The food is amazing, very delicious. Chef is very talented and very sweet. I highly recommend. read more

Lemon Zest - Mediterranean Near Me - Sierra Madre, California

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We came to Lemon Zest to try out a new restaurant in Sierra Madre. The cafe was easy to find with the sign out front and we found parking at the nearby park and walked the two tiny blocks over. There was a very friendly young woman at the counter who answered our questions about the menu and even gave me some water without any additional fruit. We sat down and our food came out very quickly! We were the only people in there until a fun group of women came in and said hello to the owner in the kitchen before sitting down to order and eat. The falafel was really good and the toppings were very fresh and flavorful! It was a huge gyro that kept me full the entire day after. The truffle fries were really good but if you find cream to be too heavy for you, I'd opt for the regular fries and maybe get the sauce on the side because there was not a dry fry in site! My boyfriend is not vegetarian so he got a lamb plate and thought the sides were really good but that the lamb was a little dry and he would have liked it a little juicer. But he said that he would come back and try more things on the menu! It was also pretty affordable considering how large the portion sizes were! read more

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Food was no joke amazing and very big portions. It is on the pricey side but honestly worth it. Ambience very homey but also elegant can't wait to try the gyro next!! read more

A hard-to-notice spot in downtown Sierra Madre. It's a very cute little restaurant with not too much seating. I come in here now and then to get some fries because their portions are good and they have pretty good fries. The only downside was that it took around 10 minutes to get the fries. Keep in mind, no one else was in the store. It's not too big of an issue because I usually sit by the window and wait. It's a good sit-down place, but if you're taking things to go and are in a rush, I wouldn't recommend it. Overall, a cute place. read more

Their chicken breast quality has gone down tremendously as well as their beef kabob. I'm a big mediterranean foodie but this place has disappointed me few times already. Won't be going back. read more

It was my first time and the food was so fresh and flavorful. Shayan was a great host and took great care of the needs of our table. Will definitely be back. read more

Loving the cute bright cafe. We had the chicken, lamb, and beef kabobs plate. Every single one of the meat was so tender and full of flavor. Chicken has always been my go-to test for how restaurants treat their meat. Its is very easy to have dry nd flavorless chicken. But my husband and I loved it. The Mediterranean Salad was amazing also. Will come back again to try their other dishes. read more

I like to come here for lunch because their lunch specials come with 2 free sides. I always get the chicken breast kabobs with hummus and eggplants as my two sides. The plate also comes with rice and pita bread. The food is consistently good. This time I tried the lemon bars for dessert and they were delicious! This restaurant is located in downtown Sierra Madre. I love downtown Sierra Madre. It's a cute hillside town with not that many chain stores. There is parking out front and in the back. Just don't make an U turn to get to a spot in the front. I did that once and got a $300 ticket ! read more

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Lemon Zest is a casual restaurant for Mediterranean fare, offering a menu of kabobs, gyros, wraps, and mezzes. The Sour Chicken Kabob (Kabob Torsh) had a bit of a Persian spin and was made of juicy chunks of chicken in a marinade of pomegranate molasses and walnuts, giving the kebabs a sweet and sour flavor. The Veggie Plate came with small crispy falafel balls, grilled vegetables (onions, bell peppers, zucchini, yellow squash), hummus, and an eggplant dip. Both plates came with thin pita bread and a Greek salad made of lettuce, cucumber, tomato, onions, and olives, all topped with oregano and feta cheese. Everything we had here was flavorful, fresh, healthy, and delicious, though the menu prices were definitely on the high side. read more

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