Falafel King: Greasy not-so-goodness

You won’t be eating like a king at Falafel King.

If eating out for atmosphere and high quality food is not why
you dine out, then Falafel King is worth a try. Located within
walking distance of UCLA, this place will suit you fine for a quick
lunch, but is not the best place to go for much anything else.

Falafel King is a fast-food-style restaurant, so the service is
quick and easy — you simply order from the counter and pay for
your meal before sitting down at the bright red, plastic booths.
It’s a nice, casual atmosphere for that lunch hour away from
campus.

Although mostly vegetarian, many of the items on the menu did
contain chicken, beef and lamb. I decided to try the basic
vegetarian falafels with hummus and rice. The food was, in a word,
interesting. The hummus was actually not very good and didn’t
have much flavor.

The falafels I tried consisted of ground beans (most likely
garbanzo) to which spices, such as cumin and garlic, had been
added. They were probably the best part of the meal because of the
nice, thick pitas, but they were significantly deep-fried and I
could taste the heavy oil in them.

I can’t say the food seemed very healthy, particularly for
a vegetarian dish.

The potato chips served with the falafels were even greasier,
with oil oozing out of them with every bite, making them seem as if
they’d been fried several times.

The rice was an odd side dish and tasted bitter compared to
other rice dishes you might find in other Mediterranean
restaurants. Even the salad didn’t taste fresh, as the
lettuce wasn’t chilled and the tomatoes were overly ripe.

What’s nice about Falafel King is the wait is comparably
less than that of other often-crowded fast-food restaurants in
Westwood. However, if you’re searching for a healthy
alternative to Jack in the Box or In-N-Out, I’m not so
certain the vegetarian menu at Falafel King offers any fewer
calories. In fact, most of the dishes had been deep-fried and
prepared with heavy amounts of butter.

Feel free to try Falafel King for an experimental, quick lunch,
but I wouldn’t particularly recommend anything beyond
that.

Falafel King is located at 1959 Broxton Ave. in Westwood.