Dinner Buffet

After running a successful restaurant in Beirut, the Wahbys came to California and opened their first restaurant, in Alhambra. In the beginning it was a small operation, seating only 20 customers. In 1990 they moved to their present location, seating over 200 customers with a banquet hall for 175.

Mr. Wahby does all the cooking while Mrs. Wahby handles the business side of things. “I don’t like to cook; I don’t like to be in the kitchen. This is his major thing he loves, but he doesn’t like to do the paper work…so that is my job,” smiles Mrs. Wahby.

And what a job Wahib Wahby does. A daily lunch and dinner buffet, plus catering, plus the banquet facilities in addition to breakfast and daily specials. You can’t get more full service than that.

Kebab Combination

My companion and I decided to try out the buffet instead of choosing individual dishes from the menu. Two of my favorites where the stuffed squash and the spicy chicken.

The squash is hollowed out and stuffed with a mixture of rice and lamb and topped with fresh tomatoes, onions and tomato sauce. It is soft on the outside with an absolutely delicious savory filling. Easy to slice it makes a perfect round of squash and stuffing. I went back for second helpings!

As for the spicy chicken what made it a stand-out was that the chicken was grilled before it was shredded into a mixture of garlic, onion, tomatoes and jalapeno pepper. It’s not too spicy, just enough to be interesting with a smoky taste from the grilled chicken.

Hummos

I’m not fond of stuffed grape leaves but I make an exception for Wahib’s. Instead of being filled with just rice, these are a mixture of lamb and rice and rolled tightly, almost like a cigar. I ate these with some fresh garlic sauce. The two together were outstanding.

If you like lamb Wahib’s will not disappoint. They serve everything from lamb kebabs to lamb roast to leg of lamb they even serve a whole stuffed lamb. Mrs. Wahby explains that people come to the restaurant to try different things, “beef and chicken they could eat it anywhere but lamb they can’t. So we have so many different dishes of the lamb.”

For dessert I decided on hummos, imtabbal, feta cheese and kubbeh balls. No, these aren’t desserts but I enjoyed them as much as I would any sweet dish. The hummos was fresh, smooth with a hint of garlic and a touch of sesame. Imtabbal their version of babaghanouj was smoky with roasted eggplant and savory with a combination of spices, garlic and lemon juice. The kubbeh balls look like an egg shaped falafel but that is where the similarities end. On the outside of the kubbeh is a mixture of lamb and bulgur which is formed around a filling of onions, pine nuts, lamb and seasonings. These are then fried to a golden brown. This is the first time I’ve had these and I really enjoyed them.

Wahib’s also serves fresh salads like fattoush and tabbouleh, sandwiches like shawarma or kafta and they have the freshest snapper this side of the Pacific Ocean. They cook it two ways; you can order the fish whole or a fillet. They cook it with minimal fat and it is served with a tomato based sauce. They also have many vegetarian dishes for the non-meat eaters among us.

Wahib’s is located at 910 E. Main Street, Alhambra. They are open Sunday – Thursday, 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 a.m. For reservations, catering and more information call 626-281-1006 or log onto www.wahibsmiddleeast.com.