With some restaurants, it truly is love at first bite.
The last time I experienced that was with Zaytoon Kabob & Grill. Opened in the spring of 2025, I first visited in August of the same year. (See below for my original review). The lamb over rice platter immediately earned it a spot on my list of favorite restaurants in Berks County.
A year after they opened, Zaytoon has added to their menu, and I was invited to come try two new additions: lamb kabob and lentil soup.
I stopped in on a Thursday afternoon in early May. Despite being in between the lunch and dinner rushes, there was a steady stream of customers coming through the storefront in the Shoppes at Wyomissing. I saw parents with their college students in tow – recently released from their semester at nearby Penn State Berks – along with dine-in and takeout orders as I sat in a booth along the wall.
While I waited for the lamb kabob to be prepared, I had the chance to talk to Bashier, Zaytoon’s owner. Bashier is a Berks County local who saw a lack of halal options in our area, opening the restaurant to fill that gap now that his children are grown.
Meanwhile, Zaytoon’s business is growing – steadily, he says – mostly by word-of-mouth, including unannounced visits and reviews. (See my original post below).
After a few minutes, my lamb kabob platter arrived. Five chunks of lamb meat were laid across a bed of rice with a small side salad and two slices of thin bread.
The meat was tender and soft – not chewy – with just a bit of char on the edges. A few red pepper flakes from the marinade hung around, as did the mildly spicy aftertaste. A little bit of creamy white sauce was the perfect complement, toning it down without taking away from it.
Like the original lamb and rice platter, this comes served with a small salad. (The olives were a new addition). Instead of triangles of pita, it came with two large flat pieces of bread with strong herbal notes.
Honestly, it was too much food for my late lunch. Priced at just over $20, it’s still a good value, especially for dinner.
In addition to the lamb, I had the opportunity to try the new lentil soup. While the lamb was very good, the soup was amazing. It was thick with both bright and earthy tones. I brought home half of it for Julie to try and she had the same “wow” reaction I did. This will definitely be part of my orders moving forward.
Zaytoon was already a favorite of mine, but these offerings are great additions to an already excellent establishment. If you haven’t tried them yet, I highly recommend it.
BCE Rating
Food: Very Good
Ambiance: Very Good
Service: Excellent
Price: $$
Zaytoon Kabob & Grill
760 Woodland Road
Wyomissing, PA 19610
More Mediterranean in Berks County
More Wyomissing, PA Restaurants
Original Review: August 4, 2025
Having been blogging now for more than a decade, I can say with certainty that Berks County has grown tremendously in the diversity of its food offerings. It’s almost night and day to compare today to when I started in 2014.
Not every new addition has been a hit, and restaurants continue to come and go. But one restaurant we hope sticks around is Zaytoon Kebab and Grill.
Zaytoon opened in spring 2025 in the former Zoup!, in the strip mall known as the Shoppes at Wyomissing. It’s a halal grill, one of the few halal spots in the area (Aladdin in West Reading and Sajal in Kutztown being two other notable ones).
The restaurant is cozy with green-tinted booth seats lining one of the walls – half of them built for four, and the other half built for two – with tables dotting the open space surrounding the order counter. A soccer match can usually be found on the lone TV in the corner.
Zaytoon’s menu is highly focused and rooted in Middle Eastern cooking. That means beef, chicken, lamb and falafel as the stars of the dishes. On my first visit, shortly after they opened in the spring, I decided to try their lamb platter.
It came served in a compartmentalized takeout container with the lamb meat over a bed of rice, topped with white sauce. A small salad and two pieces of pita filled the other two spaces.
The lamb was absolutely one of the best things that I have had. It was so tender and juicy, almost melt-in-your-mouth. And the white sauce was perfect. It’s tzatziki-like in consistency, but I feel it has a more subtle flavor than most similar sauces. It really was there to enhance rather than overpower.
About a week after my own visit, Julie stopped in with one of her coworkers. She ordered the exact same meal as I did. She also gave it a rave review.
It was so good that on my second visit, I once again got lamb. But this time, I got it in a gyro.
The gyro was over-stuffed with meat and veggies (tomato, cucumber, shredded lettuce, and onion). Like the platter, everything was smothered in that white sauce.
And again, the flavors were excellent. Even the few bites where I didn’t have the sauce – just meat and pita – were very good and highlighted just how flavorful the lamb is.
My only regret with the trip was that I had ordered a side of fries that I quickly realized I didn’t need. The fries were fine, nothing special, but I didn’t need them anyway because the gyro was so filling on its own.
Back on my first visit, I also tried their pink chai. As a lover of chai, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try this unique variation.
It was strong, definitely real tea and not made from a powder or syrup that some coffee shops use. It had spice to it, not as easy to sip as the more Americanized lattes that are more sugar than spice, but I enjoyed it and would get it again if I needed a pick-me-up with my lunch or dinner.
In addition to serving delicious food, Zaytoon has good prices. Meals are priced under $15, and with it being a quick counter-service spot, it’s a great place for a quick lunch or a no-fuss dinner.
The lamb will definitely keep me coming back. Maybe I’ll eventually try something else on the menu. But even if I just get the same thing every time, I’m glad to have it here in Berks.
BCE Rating
Food: Very Good
Service: Very Good
Ambiance: Very Good
Price: $$
Zaytoon Kabob & Grill
760 Woodland Road
Wyomissing, PA 19610
