Holy Land Deli
Restaurant, Grocery/Bakery/Deli, General Store
$ - inexpensive
Turkish, Lebanese, Egyptian, Kurdish, Afghani, Deli, Greek
Under one roof, the Holy Land Deli serves as a restaurant, grocery store, general store and deli, for not only the Middle Eastern but also African, Asian and American communities.
The Holy Land Deli is divided both functionally and architecturally into two general units: the restaurant and the store. The restaurant serves generous, savory offerings of traditional Middle Eastern and Mediterranean fare such as falafel, grape leaves, hummus and baklava; the store/deli provides an array of goods ranging from kalamata olives and feta cheese to flavored tobacco and popular Arabic music titles. The atmosphere is usually lively and short lines at the various counters are common.
- Buffet
Added by brad*bradley on Apr 19 03 (updated Apr 11 04)
Reviews
Good food, but smells like cooking meat! If you can tolerate the smell, it's definitely worth it.
The falafel makes it worth the trip! I wish they didn't use plastic everything, but otherwise I'd say it's quite veg friendly and a very cultural experience.
The whole store smells like heaven; spices, fresh bread, and sauces. My favorites are the falafels, tabouli, hummos, baba ganoush, and of course the pita bread. Especially good are the HUGE loaves of afghani bread with garlic and other spices.
While it can be a bit confusing to navigate when it's busy, it is totally worth going. The food is fabulous. The grocery section has quite a selection of interesting and tasty products. The bread is addictive... be sure to pick up some pita to take with you!
FYI in response to a previous comment, tahini is always white because it comes from sesame seeds. Holy Land has great Middle Eastern food.
Holyland is a good place to go. In order to go there you must first be patient, because sometimes the lines can be long. Whenever you go, there's usually good Arabian music playing, and the people that work there are usually nice. I know that some of the people can be a bit angry at times. The food has a good selection of vegetarian food. They have falafel sandwiches, and combos. They can have quite a number of different things, if you like Falafel or hummus it's a good choice.
I was so excited to go to Holy Land after reading the great reviews here, and hearing that having the pita and hummus fresh is even better than getting it from the co-op. I was dissapointed to say the least. The food was drenched in oil - oil everywhere! The food hardly stayed on the styrofoam plate from sliding in pools of oil. The service was awful - the people behind the counter were irritated when I asked if there was any dairy in the tahini sauce, and it took a minute to get an answer, which was 'no', but when the salad came out, the dressing was white - which has me think 'dairy', so I asked again, and another guy just said "I don't know! I don't know!" and he was upset - so we just gave up and left the salads at the counter. I might stop in if I'm in the neighborhood and having a hummus attack, but otherwise, it's really not worth it.
Holy Land makes some of the best hummus and falafel that can be found locally. Totally worth stopping by the deli to pick up (though it can also be found at many of the local co-ops and some local grocery stores.)
Don't miss their legendary baba ghanouj! I recommend trying the vegetarian plate, which includes the baba ghanouj, falafel, hummus, pitas, and stuffed grape leaves.
While waiting for your order, step into the grocery area and pick up some fresh bread to take home. There are a few varities here that aren't distributed to the natural foods shops.
this is how i'd rate the various middle eastern places i've been to around here. by all indications, the holy land emerges as the overall winner.
- best falafel sandwich: holy land
- best hummus: holy land, jerusalem's
- best tabouli: emily's lebanese deli
- best pita bread: holy land
- best spinach pie: sindbad's, emily's
- best grocery/deli: holy land
for starters, i'd recommend the delicious 'falafel combination' sandwich, and/or some hummus and tabouli. i didn't care for the stuffed grape leaves, which were of the more mushy variety. the olives and feta from the deli are first rate, and the rest of the newly expanded grocery is exhaustive and full of incredible variety. on any typical day, there are people shouting across the store to each other in Arabic, and all sorts of colors and smells and sounds drifting through, which adds to the delightful bazaar atmosphere of the place. it's no wonder that virtually every co-op in the twin cities carries the Holy Land's hummus, baba ghanouj, tabouli, breads, etc -- it's simply that good.
Best falafel I've ever had! I like that they have a little store attached too, so you can grab some hummus and pita to take home. :)