Elizabeth C.
Yelp
If I'd gone to Emory for undergrad, I probably would've been at Falafel King a LOT. It's a very affordable family-owned shop that offers an eclectic selection of food. I've wanted to try it out for a while, but they randomly closed for a summer break for a few weeks and it wasn't clear from their voicemail greeting or the various internet sites (yelp, google, etc) when they'd be reopening. We just managed to get lucky and catch them after reopening while we were in the area.
It's a small spot right by Emory campus, and finding a parking spot can be confusing. The lot in the CVS on the same block seems to be fair game. They seem to do mostly takeout, but they also have a small amount of seating both inside and outside. The folks who run the shop are super friendly.
They offer an interesting mix of Middle Eastern and Japanese food. On the MidEast side, they've got falafel, shawarma, dolmas, etc. On the Japanese side there's ramen, udon, and sides like seaweed salad.
I had the falafel sandwich and ramen, while my dinner buddy had the falafel plate with hummus and dolmas (stuffed grape leaves).
I agree that the falafel is really good. Super crispy on the outside, soft and well-flavored on the inside. The pita is super soft! However, the falafel sandwich is pretty basic. The only other items in the sandwich are chopped up lettuce/tomato/cucumber. They do have a sauce, that seems like spicy mayo but more runny, that you can add to the sandwich, but since they didn't give us any initially, I didn't realize that was part of the game until halfway through. But there are no herbs, tzatziki, or olives, so without the sauce it really is quite bare bones. Thankfully we ate there so I got on the sauce train halfway through, and the sauce is good, but it's not really within the flavor profile I typically want in my falafel sandwiches.
The ramen is not like ramen you will get at a dedicated ramen restaurant. It is basically spicy instant ramen with extra vegetables added. I'm not mad at that at all...spicy instant ramen is one of my favorite comfort foods. And they do give you a pretty hefty bowl. I personally was pleased with it, because again, I love spicy instant ramen. But if you're expecting "ramen restaurant" level of ramen, you will be sad.
All of their menu items are very reasonably priced. My total for my two items was probably around $11, and I was pretty full. They definitely offer a great value here.
My overall impression is that of the various options we have near Emory campus, this is definitely one of the best ones. The food is a great value, they're family-owned, with simple well-made dishes that would probably be less likely to pack on the freshman 15 than some of its neighbors. Do I consider this one of the best falafel sandwiches or ramen I've had? No. But if I were a college student living on or near campus, I would absolutely be here a couple times a month.