Never liked the crowd and "tourist-y" feel of downtown Carmel. Yafa definitely disspelled the feeling after dining especially Friday night. Although the place was bustling with people, the staff and owners managed the guests with friendly smiles. I ate delicious grilled salmon and dipped into my husbands melting, wonderfully spiced lamb shanks. We sat long enough to top the dinner with the refreshing watermelon feta and basil salad, and watched the many smiling, happy faces leaving the restaurant. Of course, we, too, left with satisfied tummies and big smile. Thank you, Yafa team!

What a wonderful experience! I first learned of Yafa at the Taste of Carmel. Two weeks later, I decided to try dinner. It did not disappoint! We ordered the Mezza platter which had a plethora of Mediterranean delights! Kalamata olives, two kind of hummus, feta, cucumbers, tomatoes, grilled artichokes and all the pita you could imagine! Unfortunately, we ate most of the plate before I remembered to take a photo ;) I also ordered a glass of the House Pinot Noir. It complimented every course of my meal nicely! Next I had the grilled pear salad. I loved the chat on the pear! It was delicious! For my entree, I had the combo kebab with lamb and chicken. The meats were succulent and flavorfull. We ended the meal with a slice of chocolate cake. It had the perfect balance of chocolate and sweetness. If you love Mediterranean cuisine, please try Yafa!

Amazing falafel, the rice was so flavorful. Most important the owner and staff are so humble and friendly. Would go back for the yummy Mediterranean food

We came to dine at Yafa on a Sunday evening and we did not like it at all. 1. The appetizer came with artichoke which was like rubber and inedible, we told the waiter about it and we did not even get an apology for that. The appetizer plate costed $24 and it did not worth the money. 2. our main dish came almost one hour after the appetizer, it was getting late and we were planning to leave. When I told the waiter we are about to leave since it is getting late. He brought the food but it was not cooked well. We asked for well-done meat but it was not well-done. 3. We got two small pieces of Baklava by the owner for the one hour delay. first it was one piece cut by half, second it was so dry like it is for week old. 4. We asked for room temperature but the drinks were around 90 F. It seems they keep the dink under the stove. 5. The food was over priced and the quality was low. We order one appetizer and one entree and that added up to $70 + tips. This is so much for one low quality meal and with poor service Please look for other restaurants in the area since you won't have a good dinning experience here.

Lamb kebab and Aleppo kafta kebab juicy and delicious. Nice service. Open till 10 pm which makes a great option for late travelers. Babaganoush and mint tea were very authentic as well.

Been here twice and the food were delicious. I enjoyed the lentil soups, salad and the mixed grilled they offered. The Baklava were excellent!!

Absolutely outstanding. A small room and intimate restaurant with no more than 10 tables. The food is exactly what you would expect for a Michelin starred restaurant. Incredible! And the service is outstanding, the guys were so nice. I wish I had a bigger stomach while eating here!

2nd visit tonight. If you are a local, I suggest not going on a weekend. They seemed to be leveraging a busy weekend to turn tables. We were asked to move tables within the first 15 min, and then asked to leave after 90 minutes. Asked for a knife and was given what was a used knife from the table next to me that had just left. Nice wine selection, decent food, but the experience will turn us to other places in downtown Carmel.

Nice wine, average food, good hummus and salmon, disappointing overcooked rice and eggplant dish. Excellent dates dessert. Cool ambient, but a little too squeezed together tables. Very fast delivery and much attendance from friendly staff. For our European liking it was too much attendance, almost pressure like to do everything fast and confirm your happiness, but maybe it was just a cultural difference.

My husband and I shared the babaganoush appetizer and grilled artichoke salad which were both specials and were delicious. The butternut squash ravioli and chicken kebab entrees were superb. The evening we were there, the owner was the host and waiter for the whole restaurant and he did a great job keeping up.

Amazing lamb kabob-(and I’m picky about my lamb )right amount of garlic in Tziki. Great service . Highly recommend .

Awful! Stay away from this place. I could go for hours describing how disgusting my experience was, but I’ll shorten it to 4 reasons why you should avoid this place. 1) To start with, they offer a beer menu, but have only one option in their inventory. 2) Pita bread is industrial. 3)Kebab was made in the oven, wasn’t seasoned and barely had any salt. 4)Teta’s Eggplant tomato sauce tastes like canned tomato sauce and the dish as a whole is a disaster is not properly seasoned.

Never again. The food was just absolutely the worst I have had. We ordered chicken Kababs, eggplant dish, cauliflower and shrimp kababs. The only edible dish was the eggplant dish. The meats were cold and flavorless. The cauliflower was not cooked through , cold and fLavorless. I am not sure why the restaurant has almost 5 star rating and even a Michelin recommendation. The restaurant must not be allowed to exist . The owner agreed to not charge for the entire meal.

I don’t normally review, but this place was so perfect I had to! We made reservations online for birthday dinner, we were a little bit early for our reservation time but still got seated right away. Complimentary Prosecco even before our appetizer of hummus and pita! Lobster ravioli and lamb shank were both cooked, seasoned and presented with perfection. And for dessert they brought more complimentary wine, this time a sweeter dessert wine. The atmosphere was great, and service was impeccable. Will be coming back next time we visit Carmel.

First of all service is just amazing. Liked the guy at front desk. The food here was amazing. We tried mezza platters and cauliflower steak and both were really amazing. The sauce with cauliflower steak was just out of world. Overall would love to come here again

Delicious meal in cozy, quaint town of Carmel. I normally think seafood when dining on the central coast, but this Michelin recognized establishment garnered my attention. I started off with artichoke hearts, gnashed on a Yafa Salad and completed my dinner with New Zealand Lamb Chops. Awesome and exquisite. Check it out next time you’re in town.

LOVED it! We are vegetarians, walked into this place and asked if they could make veggie kebabs. They agreed and made some of the best roasted zucchini, peppers and onions we had ever tasted (well, not really a kebab but 10 points for the effort!). Overall, it’s a small family run place with great service and interesting ambience. Food was fantastic. We had falafel, egg plant, watermelon salad. Mains were served with brilliantly flavored saffron rice. Now for the best part: the pistachio pudding!!! One of the best tasting pudding we have had! Thank you for the unique tastes and wonderful service!

Food is good, nothing special though. I’ve eaten the same dishes in Greece, Turkey and UAE and here they don’t taste like the same. Baklava, unfortunately, is very far from the original recipe. Overall it’s too expansive considering what we’ve eaten (28$ for a roasted cauliflower?), and I think that it’s only because of the location..

I would give this place a 4.5 stars. The service was very friendly and helpful. I ordered the Lebanese Hummus and the Rack of Lamb. I think the Hummus was way too small of a portion for the price. As an individual it’s fine, but for sharing it’s not enough. The Rack of Lamb was cooked perfectly, the mashed potatoes were very good, the spinach was bland and mediocre. Could have had a better side other than the spinach. When I received my order, there was a lamb chop that didn’t have any meat on it. For $40 I expected at least 4 full chops. I mentioned this to the server, and they quickly gave me another much larger one, so they really take care of you. Overall I would come here again. The food needed a bit more salt, but other than that, it was good.

Stopped in while doing a two week food tour of California coast and was stunned. I will be dreaming about the Mishmish chicken- the flavor is out of this world. Definitely worth the drive, and I am jealous of the locals who get to enjoy this delicious food and atmosphere daily.

I was very excited to come here as I am a big fan of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern cuisine. I really loved the ambiance of the restaurant. The owner was very friendly and the service was excellent. However, the food was not so great. We ordered the homemade hummus which was completely bland, at least for people have general knowledge in Middle Eastern cooking. The chicken kebab was way overcooked, dry, and missing any flavor. The rest of the food we ordered was mediocre, although the complementary baklava was very tasty. This place definitely has potential as long as they improve the quality of their dishes.

I would give 4.5 ⭐ if it would be possible:) very nice place. small and cozy. with good food and hot tea! 🍵 it was great to find it on July 4th in the evening:)

Definitely a restaurant worth checking out. Everything we tried was quite delicious, well presented on the plate. Server was very knowledgeable about the items on the menu. Everything, including the kebabs and halloumi, was cooked to perfection with every detail in mind and just the right amount of char and seasoning. We look forward to returning to try more items on the menu during our next trip to the area.

I highly recommend their seafood pasta. Seafood were perfectly cooked mixed in creamy tomato sauce. Hummus is on the spot and halibut were well seasoned. Beef and lamb kebab is a little bit dry. Food: Good Ambiance: Good Service: Good