Ishtar Mediterranean Cuisine

We weren’t even planning to go out to eat when visiting Fargo but we were passing this place and it looked too good not to try. Our intuition was good. We got the beef shawarma wrap and lentil soup and they both were great! My wife said it’s the best lentil soup she’s had at a restaurant. The people working were super kind. We went up to them at the end and thanked them for the food.

Absolutely delicious chicken and beef tikka with hummus. The tea is also good! The male staff is very quick in service and is hospitable.

Solid Mediterranean food with no flair. Under seasoned, but good portions. Eating in was no frills. Owner / cook was friendly. Not sure why no lamb gyros on menu.

Had Beef Shawarma, it was good. Wanted to eat it because of the scene in The Avengers where Iron Man asks if anyone has ever had shawarma. The beef was flavorful and there were tomatoes and pickles on the shawarma which reminded me of a burger which I like. Go to this place because it’s good :)

This place is a treasure. From the moment you walk in, you’re surrounded by the warmth, color, and history of the Middle East — and the food lives up to it. I ordered the chicken shawarma, and it was packed with flavor—tender, perfectly spiced, and wrapped in grilled flatbread. We also tried the beef shawarma and chicken gyro—every bite was hearty and satisfying. The hummus was smooth and full of flavor, the rice was delicious and perfectly cooked, and the vegetables were fresh and crisp, adding great balance to the meal. Ishtar is proudly rooted in Iraqi and Middle Eastern tradition. From the art on the walls to the symbolic Ishtar Gate on the window, everything honors the rich heritage behind the food. If you’re in Fargo and craving authentic Middle Eastern flavor, generous portions, and a welcoming vibe, Ishtar is an easy recommendation.

Had the beef kebab with rice—so tasty! The meat was juicy, the rice was perfect, and the service was great. Will definitely come back!

Absolutely phenomenal! Reasonably priced and they didn't skimp on the meat. I'm not a salad person, but the flavor profile on the salad was excellent. If salads always tasted like this I'd eat them every day. The cherry on top was the fresh hummus. A wonderful meal. Friendly and prompt service. I absolutely recommend Ishtar Mediterranean Cuisine!

Best gyro I've ever had, period. My husband and I both ordered beef gyros with rice on the side, and we were absolutely in love with them! There was SO much delicious meat in there, too, and I enjoyed the little pickle spears even more than regular cucumbers that usually are added to gyros. They were filling on their own, so we brought most of the tasty yellow rice home as leftovers (which they give you TONS of). All in all, an revenant experience. We'll definitely be back!

How is some of the best Mediterranean food I've ever had in North Dakota? This chicken nearly made me cry, y'all. I came back two days in a row on my trip here because I couldn't stop thinking about it. The staff was so kind, and I could tell how much heart was put into making this place as great as it is.

Best beef schwarma I have had outside of Lebanon! The balance of the beef with tahini, pickles, tomatoes and onions in the warm bread, excellent!

The best Mediterranean food I've had in Fargo thus far. The Mixed Platter with a side of rice and extra pita will cost you around 60$ but can easily feed 4-5 people. The food and hummus are delicious.

After reading previous reviews, I was expecting much more. Total letdown. I ordered chicken kabobs. No flavor and overpriced. Around $25 for lunch and still walked out hungry. Cashier was also the busboy. Hence the dirty tables waiting to be cleaned. Keep walking. Find somewhere else to dine.

Grateful for this gem in downtown Fargo. I've never been disappointed with the food or service. Every item I've tried has been wonderful

I was incredibly disappointed in my experience with this restaurant because they had been recommended to me by more than one person. I thought the prices were rather high, but the portions are generous, so maybe that balances out. I got the beef shwarma. It looked nice, and the rice was pretty good. However, the beef was tough and didn't have much flavor. It came with a sauce, but that turned out to be watered down salad dressing. I used it on the beef because it needed something. I don't know of other Mediterranean options in Fargo, so maybe this is popular because it's the only choice. I wouldn't rush back.

I wish I could rate lower. Also, in the downtown business district... to have only ONE person running a restaurant at noon is insane. The wait was horrible, even to order. We were 2nd in line. She took the 1st order and made it before taking ours. Didn't event take our entire order. Took my partners order (for what he was covering), left me waiting to place my order, and started making his. Nothing was cooked "fresh." Everything was literally microwaved in the back. We could hear the door being opened and closed and the "beep beep beep" of the key pad and the timer. We wanted to just cancel and get a refund, but we're in our work uniforms and didn't want things to get weird. The first order was paid for by my coworker, which was our lunch. We ordered a *large* "world famous hummus" with pita appetizer, expecting to take the leftovers home. $12.99 for a 12oz togo bowl less than half full. But I guess the extra $8 was for visual appeal - it was "pretty." It was definitely NOT fresh-made in-house. I ordered a traditional Gyro, no veggies, and asked if they would add "feta cheese" (specifically asked for feta and said I didn't mind paying more - since it wasn't listed as an ingredient). She said yes. My coworker ordered the beef schwarma. Each was over $12 without sides. I added a side of rice, which ended up being $6.99 for about 8-10oz bowl of basic yellow rice, wasn't even Arabic or Middle Eastern style rice. My partner added fries, which was also $6.99, and it was half the size of a large waffle fry at Chick-fil-A. As said before, I also wanted to place an order for Togo to take home to my family. Couldn't even place that order until our food came out. The menu listed "Tyropita" available as two options - with cheese or spinach (which would be spanikopita). I ordered a 6pc of each. That's when she informs me that "it's all together, the cheese and spinach." OK, so it's spanikopita, not tyropita. I placed my Togo order and sat down to eat my lunch. When I unwrapped my gyro.... it was half cold Donner slices - WITH AMERICAN CHEESE half melted over the top. And what wasn't "melted" was the dry and crusty edges, like it had been left uncovered... for a long time uncovered. Nope. Maybe that's how you trick a kid into eating something, but I have actually had Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes all over and never ONCE has it involved "American Pasturized Processed Cheese Food". I asked the lady if they had feta cheese (kinda the standard) or not - since we were charged THREE DOLLARS for it. Three dollars for a slice of American cheese. She did remake the sandwich and with feta. The next whattheflock moment was her bringing out a box of frozen tyropita saying she "found some" and asked if I still wanted one order of each. I was stunned speechless. They charge these prices, and everything is pre-made and frozen! The gyro/Donner meat was pre-cooked, then refrigerated, then microwaved halfway warm (still refrigerator cold in the middle). My coworker's schwarma was absolutely flavorless. No seasoning or herbs or spices whatsoever. Also, I don't think the wooden platters the food came on are food service approved. It's unsealed/unfinished wood, which you really can't sanitize to commercial use standards. We spent $60 on lunch, and I spent $23 on microwaved Spanikopita and Tyropita. Will post pics of everything! PLEASE GO ELSEWHERE. This place could be so much more if they were willing to make the effort.

This restaurant offers a wide variety of food from all around the Mediterranean. I had the samosas as an appetizer and a Chicken Tikka wrap, and my wife had a falafel wrap with fries. Our guests had lamb and chicken schwarma with rice and salad. All of the food was decent, though for me it was not remarkable. My chicken was pretty dry, and surprisingly low on flavor. Our guests said their saffron rice was good, but that they'd had better. Service was really slow - there was one employee taking orders and cooking. The restaurant was essentially empty. There were 2 DoorDash drivers that stopped in to pick up small orders during the 2 hours we were at the restaurant, and one other table of 2 people that came in to eat. This was from 6:30pm-8:30pm, so I would have expected it to be a lot more busy. Honestly, this was a bit disconcerting initially, though the food certainly was better than "empty restaurant" quality. Lastly: there was no bathroom in the restaurant itself. This is downtown Fargo, and an old building, so I get that to some degree. However, as a guest, my experience was reduced by having to ask the chef&host for the key to the bathroom in order to wash my hands before eating. On top of that, the bathroom itself was filthy and smelled terrible.

I loved visiting the older downtown area to find this tasty food place. It was a gem of a find. Thanks.

Food was good and felt very fresh. I wished that the fries had come with a more mediterranean style dipping sauce than ketchup. Great place to go if you are vegetarian. Despite only having one person working when we went, service was good. Plenty of seating and nice big windows but maybe some background music playing would have been nice.

Their food is amazing! They will accommodate people with gluten and dairy allergies. I'm addicted to their humus. It is so good. The staff is beyond nice and helpful. I tell everyone about this place! Great atmosphere too. One recommendation: do not order online, the owner has been trying to get GrubHub to take it down, but they won't work with him. GrubHub will take your money and he never gets it or the order! It's ridiculous! Make sure to Order in person or over the phone.

We have eaten here at least a dozen times. The food and service are always amazing. We haven't ordered a single thing that we wouldn't order again!

Fabulous food, and friendly service! Modern industrial feel to the eating area. Love the falafel wrap!

Simple setting, delicious food, quick service. Great place to order lunch takeout. Lady behind counter is super nice.

Awesome food and a great downtown location! I have eaten here a number of times and it is always delicious.

The service was a little slow but WELL WORTH THE WAIT! The chicken shawarma was AMAZING! Whatever marinade they put on the chicken was so so good. I'm actually sad I live out of state because I would come to this place regularly.

I ordered beef shawarma and tabouli for lunch. The food was well prepared, fresh, and very tasty. The portions were such that I have enough leftover for a second meal. It wasn't an one y lunch but the larger portions made up for that.

Do you like falafel? Do you like chicken shawarma? Come here. Seriously. I ordered the chicken shawarma wrap and a side of 5 falafel. First thing I noticed was a presentation. Both orders were each brought out on their own wooden cutting board. The chicken Shawarma wrap had been grilled on both sides and cut diagonally, sitting on top or another. The falafel were accompanied by pita slices, hummus, and slices of tomato. We were off to a good start. But then you take a bite into the Shawarma and you get a crisp from the grilling, plenty of meat on the inside, seasonings, and vegetables. The falafel wore a absolute perfect balance of crispy on the outside - softer on the inside. They were so moist. I loved it so much that I made sure to go back to the counter to tell him that I loved it. He pointed to a photo of his father on the wall and explained to me how proud he was and how long he's been in the business. I certainly don't write yelp reviews very often, but good food deserves good reviews. Come here!

So good and so friendly! I'm so jealous of the people who live in Fargo and get to eat here whenever they want! Definitely will remember next time I'm in fargo!

Never made a yelp review ever, but Ishtar is so good, it compelled me to review it. The meats are always so flavorful and the service is exceptional. This place definitely doesn't get enough business, do yourself a favor and try it out!

Scrumptious! You may think price is a little high but the serving size & taste is sensational. Food is authentic and reminds me of my time in Denver. Great memories! Too late for a picture because I usually finish it before I even think about leaving a review. Haha

This is the best Gyro Spot we've found in Fargo. Gyro was very large and tasty. Pita was soft and delicious. We asked for feta in our fries and they were perfect. We also ordered the 3 piece Samosa. Very tasty and rich in flavor. On the day we were there, the owner was working by himself. Service was a little slow because of that, but not unexpected.

I finally stopped here and I was so impressed! The food was great, the atmosphere was comfortable, abd the person working was friendly. I'll definitely be back

Stopped here enroute to Minneapolis from Dickinson, ND. Har been craving Mediterranean food for the past 10 days and since we didn't find any in Yellowstone we knew we couldn't miss it here. The food was really good . The fries were very crispy and the Falafel rolls were fresh and tasty. They made the Taboulleh salad just for us . We topped with the Turkish coffee that simple awesome.

Good fast style Mediterranean food. The best part of the selection was the hummus, soft, creamy, and delightfully flavorful. The samosas (beef) were also well put together even if the tzatziki was a little wetter than I prefer, though that might have been due to the abundance of fresh cucumbers which offered a bright summer flare. The beef shawarma plate was solid. Even if a little on the dry side the flavors, complimented by the red onion, a yoghurt sauce and some as of yet tangy brown sauce, were on point. The Turkish coffee was full of body and served in a beautiful little cup that tied together a solid experience enticing enough to make me want to return.

Pretty good samosas. Excellent spinach pie (lots of spinach). Fine Gyros. Pretty quick.

We ordered a variety of appetizers and they were all delicious. Would drive back to Fargo just for this restaurant.

Great food, atmosphere, and service. Started with the baba ghanouj, which was well-seasoned and accompanied by warm pita. The main dish of beef shawarma was delicious alongside a side of hummus. The whole meal was brought to a close by some delicious Turkish coffee.

One of the best hidden gems in Fargo. Flavor is unreal. Authentic Mediterranean! Treat yourself!

I only got take out due to the pandemic. We just decided to get the sample appetizers and get a snack. It was so tasty, the dolma has great flavor and the falafel was crispy. The only thing is it was a little on the expensive side. I do want to try more when we can eat inside.

Awesome food, awesome people. The swarma and samosa are my go to, but everything I've had is amazing. Definitely recommend

Three notable things about Ishtar: 1. Location: it's right on Broadway. Once you're done with walking around , taking pics with the Fargo theatre sign and generally checking the area out, it's a a nice spot to sit down and have something different. 2. The owner: a really cool guy. He was friendly and informative; guided me about downtown and the city in general. 3. Food: I tried the lamb shank at my only visit there so far. It was nicely prepared. Quantity was just sufficient and the rice served with it was quite good too. I wanna try the half rotisserie chicken entree next time. It's apparently popular and was all sold out when I went.

O wow. Terrible is the only way to describe the experience. I got the mixed plate for $24. All of the meat was over cooked and seriously burnt. The burnt side of the chicken was served down so I didn't see it until I flipped and pieces over. The shawarma meat was so over cooked it was like eating unflavored jerky. The "steak" must have been from a old milking cow as it was so tough I couldn't eat it. The only redeeming quality was the hummus was decent. Guessing it was canned or bottled. Better options in town. Too bad...

Best of its kind in the area portions are generous and the staff is amazing and helpful if you are unfamiliar with menu items. I recommend this place to my friends all the time!

Pretty underwhelming. Tried hummus, Baba ghanouge, falafel, and gyro and fries. Gyro was OK but they didn't put any onions or cucumber on it. Tahini was super watery, and without flavor. Baba ghanouge had some flavor, but pretty bland, and the humus has no flavor- like canned chickpeas thrown in the blender. Fries were soggy. Falafel was actually terrible, tasting like a dough ball. We ordered a 5 piece and threw out 4. Prices wouldn't be bad if the food wasn't so bad. There are now several Greek/middle eastern/Mediterranean restaurants in town, I think you can skip this one, as I know I will.

So glad to have such great Mediterranean food in downtown Fargo! It can get busy around lunch, but I've always had great service no matter the rush. I usually get a gyro for lunch and it is reliably tasty, but this weekend my wife and I ordered three appetizers for a tapas-style dinner and they were all fantastic - dolma, kuupa, and samosas. Fun to sit up in the window seat and people watch on Broadway!

This meal right here is the way to go!! Best meal I've had in a while!! Go see my boy, he will call you brotha and treat you to some great food!!

One of my favorite places to order delivery from in the pandemic era. The lamb sandwich is delicious and flavorful. The meat is extremely tender and while it is a simple sandwich, it is definitely a treat that I look forward to every now and then when I am craving for something savory. Their mezze selection is decent and all their food tastes great.

Really nice people! Also they were very accommodating. The restaurant was neat and clean, my food was cooked to perfection! Great vegetarian choice! Highly recommended.

Very slow service for at best for average food. Had to send back meals because of incorrect order. Took over 20 minutes for new order. Don't waste your time of money.

I'm a big Mediterranean / Greek / Middle Eastern fan, love the cuisine. Have been to Ishtar twice, the first visit I ordered the Dolma's and the Lamb wrap. The rice in the dolma's was so overcooked it was baby food, and not much else in the grape leaves except rice. The lamb wrap could have used more lamb (for the price you pay) and not have it overcooked. My second visit Falafel & Chicken Shawarma. Falafel could be my middle name but geez talk about overcooking and frying the f**k out of it. The chicken shawarma - that chicken that does appear to be on a rotisserie tasted several days old and was as dry as leather. Very disappointed - was looking forward to great chow, especially as I have not had good experiences at Aladdin Café. I just don't understand why these joints cook the life out of the protein - it's not pleasant!

This restaurant was a new find on an evening strolling through the frigid streets of Fargo during a recent visit. Curious, I stepped in from the cold and found the atmosphere very friendly. The only person working was the owner, who was super helpful with everything. I went with the platter which came with scratch-made hummus, pita, dolma, falafel, and more. The food was top notch. I also had a cup of hot tea which was good enough for me to ask about it. Turns out the owner makes it himself. He gave me a large container of the tea free of charge. Overall great experience.

Great food best prices in town. Pure n halal meat I highly recommend everyone to visit this restaurant when you are in the neighborhood.

Ishtar is absolutely fantastic. The food is 2nd to none, and the customer service is flat-out amazing. The owner and employees are extremely friendly and personable. The price is absolutely fair, and considering the service and product that you receive, I'd say it's an absolute bargain. 5/5. One of my absolute favorite places in Fargo.

Bang-on Arabic cuisine. Simple & elegant seating arrangement. The workers and owners are always involved with the customers and always seem so invested in how good the food turns out. 10/10 would recommend

We were very excited to try Ishtar after seeing that they had felafel on the menu. Our group of four shared a mezza platter to start, and were delighted with how fresh and flavorful the ingredients were, despite the fact that it's January! Somehow even the tomatoes were tasty. The tabouli was full of fresh parsley and zingy with lemon, and the dolma were so tender--there was none of the chewy-leaf quality I'm so used to. The baba ganoush was lush and smoky. I loved my felafel, and appreciated the staff's suggestion to try it with a mango-based condiment that I've never had before. I really enjoyed the tzatziki as well. A welcome addition to the area!

I highly recommend no one go to this restaurant. Worst customer service ever! I ordered 15 minutes before a party of 4 and an 1 Hour later they got their food before I did. Pays to be friends with the owner. Then my dish not only looks like two long turds but everything on the plate is cold. They never even asked me if I wanted something to drink. I went to pay and they didn't even know what I ordered or if I had even paid or not. About ten people stood in line at the register to order and waited for at least 15 minutes until they walked out. People at the tables did the same when no one came to help them. People even walked out when no one ever came to cash them out. To make it all worse as the owner was cooking he was putting bowls he was using on the floor. Eat at your own risk!!!

Certified Banger. Had a little a dis and a little a dat. Recommend u get up in this spot and get some of that mediterranean cuisine up in ya!

Best Mediterranean food in Fargo hands down. Stopped in today for the Beef shawarma and it was delicious. Couple next appeared to order 1/2 the menu and everything looked fantastic.