Phoenicia Cafe

Not to be confused with the Phoenician resort, Phoenicia Cafe is a Middle Eastern restaurant located just north of the main campus of Arizona State University and three short blocks from the Veterans Way / College Avenue station. The restaurant occupies a storefront in a blue and white complex of buildings also housing a Middle Eastern grocery and the Islamic Community Center. The interior of the restaurant, which has been recently redecorated, features murals, faux stone walls, and flat-panel televisions usually showing music videos or concerts with an international flair.

Phoenicia serves the full range of Middle Eastern mezes, including a thick, creamy hummus (center photo below), and fresh, lemony tabouleh. The lentil soup is a relatively light version of this Mediterranean classic. Zipped up with a squeeze of juice from the accompanying lemon wedge and maybe a drop of the Sriracha sauce that graces every table, it's a nice appetizer, but not the meal-in-a-bowl experience provided my some of more hearty versions of this dish.

Since the soup is going to whet more appetites than it satiates, a variety of pita sandwiches are available, many of them less than $5. The falafel is among the best in the metro area. The crisp exterior is studded with sesame seeds, while the interior is moist and well spiced. For the heartiest of appetites, there's the falafel deluxe sandwich, which stuffs two pita pockets full of falafel, hummus, and tabouleh into a supersized lunch choice.

Other specialties of the house are the hummus deluxe, which combines hummus with chicken or lamb, and the couscous (right photo below), available in chicken, lamb, and vegetarian versions with a zesty red sauce. No alcohol is served, but a variety of fruit juices and sodas are available. There are two lemonades served. For best results, make sure to ask for the house lemonade and skip the pink lemonade, which comes from the soda fountain.

Before or after eating, the adjacent market is an interesting place to browse. If features a variety of Middle Eastern ingredients, sweets, frozen foods, and even a halal butcher counter. Phoenicia is always a good choice for lunch but tends to close early in the evenings. Call ahead if visiting for dinner. The restaurant also tends to draw crowds during the peak lunch hour. Be prepared to wait for a table if arriving between noon and 1 PM on a weekday. There is overflow seating on a patio facing Seventh Street; the desirability of those seats will vary with the season.

The Phoenicia Web site appears to be more reflective of the Gilbert location than the Tempe location. The menu at the Tempe restaurant varies from the version posted online. Phoenicia has high chairs and a kid's menu, but the latter emphasizes snoozy items like chicken nuggets that don't do justice to the restaurant's ethnic specialty. Children with even the slightest sense of adventure will probably do better with a falafel sandwich since most kids are known to like fried anything.

616 S Forest Ave., Tempe, AZ 85281
(480) 967-8009

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AZ Central
Chow Bella
Chow Down Phoenix!
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