Midtown Lunch

Kabobeesh’s quirky, aluminum  West Philly location impressed me with its Pakistani style fried chicken last year. After 10 years of success in the area, the team recently opened up a location off of South Street. It has a more generic look to it, but the menu is similar. I didn’t eat an entire chicken this time.

Kabobeesh has its own version of the dollar menu, with a 99 cent veggie cutlet, that was potato heavy and filling, and a $1.50 chicken samosa, with ground chicken and a lot of chili. I really liked the taste of both snacks, but wished they had been reheated more carefully- less greasy, more crispy.

Kabobeesh also offers full on happy meals that come with rice, nan, salad and choice of vegetable, but I wanted something to eat on the go. I liked the look of the resham beef roll ($5.50)- ground beef on a skewer that gets grilled to order. Often a ground meat kebab can be overly seasoned, this kebab was balanced and had a real beefy, almost hot dog flavor (a good thing).  I asked for it on a paratha roll instead of the naan it was supposed to come with, which is obviously a wise switch because paratha is flaky and fried.

Service was not quite as friendly as the West Philly location, but it was efficient. Kabobeesh is an excellent option for a cheap and non boring lunch on the East side of South Street.

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• Great beef kebabs and you can customize your bread
• Halal, cheap, veg friendly

THE – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• Not everything is reheated perfectly

Kabobeesh, 613 S. Fourth Street, 215-413-0881