Once Named #1 Place To Eat In U.S., San Diego's Shawarma Guys Unveils First Brick-And-Mortar Restaurant

February 7, 2024

Once named #1 on Yelp’s Top 100 Places to Eat in the U.S. list, San Diego's Shawarma Guys food truck has opened its first brick-and-mortar restaurant.

In its first year in business, Shawarma Guys garnered a perfect five stars in nearly all its first 500 online reviews, resulting in the San Diego food truck being named by online review aggregator Yelp as the #1 place to eat in the country for 2020. The mobile eatery was first opened in January 2019 by Iraqi-American chef and former cellphone salesman Bryan Zeto and his father/sous chef Samer in an empty lot at 3012 Grape Street in San Diego's South Park. Shawarma Guys was also featured on Guy Fieri's hit Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives in 2022. 
Following a multi-year search for a prime space to open the company's first brick-and-mortar location, Shawarma Guys took over the former Petrino's Greek restaurant space across from Grossmont Center in La Mesa in spring 2022. After nearly two years of development, Shawarma Guys will finally unveil its first restaurant today. Like the food truck, expect the restaurants to offer a menu of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean dishes, including the popular Australian Wagyu beef shawarma, chicken shawarma eggrolls, lemon cream chop fries, and much more, as well as beer and wine. 
In addition to the La Mesa restaurant, Shawarma Guys is also planning to open eateries at 9690 Reagan Road, Suite 103, in Mira Mesa and build a 2-story building with rooftop seating in the empty lot where the food truck parks in South Park (pictured above). There is currently no timeline for the opening of the additional restaurants. 

Shawarma Guys is now open at 5525 Jackson Drive, Suite B, in San Diego's East County city of La Mesa. For more information, visit theshawarmaguys.com and check out the menu below.