10 Must-Try Dishes at Taza Shawarma & Falafel

Every restaurant has its signature dishes — the plates that turn first-timers into regulars and regulars into evangelists. At Taza Shawarma & Falafel on Seminary Road in Falls Church, we've been watching that transformation happen for years. Someone walks in curious, maybe a little unsure about the menu, and walks out already planning their next visit. We'd love to take credit for some secret marketing magic, but the truth is simpler: the food does the talking. Below is our honest, from-the-kitchen guide to the ten dishes you absolutely cannot leave without trying.

1. Chicken Shawarma Pita (from $9.95)

If you ask a Taza regular to name their desert-island dish, eight times out of ten they say this. Our Chicken Shawarma Pita is the dish that built Taza's reputation in the NoVA community, and for good reason. We marinate boneless, skinless chicken thighs overnight in a blend of seven warm spices — cumin, coriander, turmeric, paprika, cinnamon, cardamom, and a touch of black pepper — before loading the vertical spit each morning. As the outer layer caramelizes against the heat element, the fat renders into the meat underneath, creating that distinctive layered texture you simply cannot replicate in a home oven. Each order is carved fresh, tucked into a pillowy pita with pickled turnips, tomato, cucumber, and a generous drizzle of garlic toum and tahini. It is, without exaggeration, one of the best sandwiches in Fairfax County.

"I've eaten shawarma on three continents, and the chicken pita at Taza is genuinely up there with the best I've had anywhere."

— — Regular customer, Falls Church

2. Beef Shawarma Shrak Wrap (from $11.95)

Think of the Shrak Wrap as the Chicken Shawarma Pita's more dramatic older sibling. Where the pita is compact and tidy, the Shrak Wrap is generous and a little bit decadent. We use shrak bread — a thin, almost translucent traditional flatbread — that we warm on the griddle until it develops tiny charred bubbles and a supple, crepe-like texture. The beef shawarma filling is seasoned differently from our chicken: heavier on the allspice and sumac, with a depth that leans into the richness of the meat. Wrapped up with French fries, pickles, and garlic sauce inside the bread itself (yes, the fries go in the wrap — don't question it until you've tried it), this is the meal that converts the skeptics. The textural contrast of crispy fries, tender beef, and chewy flatbread is frankly addictive.

3. Falafel Pita (from $8.95)

Our falafel is the most common source of conversion we see — as in, people who claim they don't like falafel try ours and immediately reconsider their position. The difference comes down to technique and ingredients. We soak dried chickpeas (not canned — never canned) for 18 hours, then grind them raw with fresh parsley, cilantro, onion, garlic, and a proprietary spice blend. The mixture is formed into balls and fried to order in clean oil, producing a crust that shatters on the bite and gives way to a bright green, herb-flecked interior that's creamy rather than dense or grainy. In the pita, falafel gets the full treatment: tahini, pickled turnips, fresh cucumber and tomato, and a handful of chopped parsley. It is a deeply satisfying, fully plant-based meal that doesn't ask you to compromise on anything.

4. Chicken Shawarma Bowl (from $12.95)

The bowl format has exploded in popularity over the last several years, and we think the Chicken Shawarma Bowl is the reason many of our customers discovered that Mediterranean food fits their lifestyle perfectly. Built on a base of fluffy long-grain rice cooked in seasoned broth, the bowl is topped generously with our spit-carved chicken, a scoop of creamy hummus, a bright Israeli-style salad of diced cucumber, tomato, and parsley, pickled turnips for acidity, and your choice of sauce. The architecture of the bowl is intentional: every forkful is designed to include a little of everything, so you get a balanced bite every time. It's the dish we'd recommend to anyone trying to eat well without eating blandly — and at around 600–700 calories assembled, it's genuinely nutritious.

5. Hummus ($5.95)

We'll be direct: if you've only ever eaten store-bought hummus, you are going to be surprised by ours. Commercially produced hummus is typically thick, starchy, and aggressively seasoned to compensate for the fact that it was made days or weeks ago. Ours is made fresh each morning from dried chickpeas that we cook ourselves until they're soft enough to blend into silk. We use a higher ratio of tahini than most recipes call for — because tahini is expensive and many places cut corners — and we finish with fresh lemon juice and a small amount of ice water whipped in at high speed, which lightens the texture dramatically. The result is hummus that's almost mousse-like: airy, rich, and nuanced. Served warm with a drizzle of olive oil, a pinch of paprika, and pita bread, it works as a starter, a side, or (we've seen it) an entire meal.

6. Baba Ghanouj ($6.95)

Baba Ghanouj is the dish that food-curious customers almost always discover by accident — they order it on a whim, then immediately ask when they can order it again. We roast whole eggplants directly over an open flame until the skin is charred black and the interior collapses into a smoky, jammy pulp. That char is not a mistake; it's the point. The smokiness that permeates the flesh when you peel away the burned skin is what separates authentic baba ghanouj from any imitation. We blend the roasted eggplant with tahini, lemon, garlic, and a little olive oil, keeping the texture slightly chunky rather than perfectly smooth so you get pockets of concentrated smoke flavor in every bite. Finished with pomegranate seeds and a thread of green olive oil, it's visually stunning and almost impossibly flavorful for such a simple ingredient list.

"I came in for shawarma and ended up ordering the baba ghanouj as a side. Halfway through, I realized I was eating it as the main event."

— — Google review, 5 stars

7. Zaatar Manaeesh ($5.95)

Manaeesh is Lebanon's answer to pizza, and the Zaatar Manaeesh is its purest expression. We make our dough fresh each day, allow it a slow rise for flavor development, then stretch it thin and top it with a paste of zaatar — the Lebanese wild thyme herb blend — mixed with olive oil and sesame seeds. Into the oven it goes at high heat until the edges crisp and the zaatar topping blooms into something deeply aromatic. If you've never smelled fresh zaatar manaeesh coming out of a hot oven, it's one of those food moments that lodges permanently in your memory. For the price, it might be the single best value item on our menu. Many of our Falls Church regulars order it as a breakfast item or a late-morning snack, and we completely understand that impulse.

8. Lahm Bil Ajin ($4.95)

This little pastry is one of the best-kept secrets on our menu. Lahm Bil Ajin — literally "meat with dough" in Arabic — is a hand-folded flatbread topped with a savory mixture of spiced ground beef, tomato, onion, and pine nuts, then baked until golden. Think of it as a Lebanese meat pizza, but with a thinner, crispier base and a more complex spice profile that leans into warm notes of allspice, cinnamon, and a whisper of cayenne. At $4.95, it is almost shockingly affordable for something this good. It makes a perfect starter, a snack between meals, or — if you order two or three — a satisfying meal in itself. Kids love it, office lunch crowds grab handfuls of them, and catering customers regularly tell us it's the fastest thing to disappear from the spread.

9. Rice Bowl with All Toppings

The build-your-own bowl format is where Taza really shines for people who like to customize their meal. Our rice base is cooked the traditional Lebanese way — long-grain rice toasted in a bit of butter before the broth goes in, finished with vermicelli noodles for texture and a pinch of warming spices. From there, you can load it with whatever protein you prefer (or go protein-free for a vegetarian bowl), add hummus, tabbouli, baba ghanouj, pickled turnips, fresh salad, and as many sauces as you'd like. The fully-loaded bowl with all the toppings is a genuinely overwhelming sensory experience — in the best possible way. The interplay of warm rice, cool fresh salad, creamy hummus, and bright pickles creates a dish that's endlessly interesting from the first bite to the last.

10. Avocado Smoothie ($7.95)

We know — you came for the shawarma, not the smoothie. But hear us out. The Avocado Smoothie at Taza is not an afterthought. It's a thick, creamy, dessert-adjacent drink made with ripe avocado, milk, a touch of honey, and a hint of rose water that gives it a distinctly Lebanese character. In Lebanon and across the Middle East, avocado smoothies are a common treat at juice bars and cafes, and the flavor is genuinely different from what you'd get at a Western smoothie chain — richer, more nuanced, and far less sweet. Think of it as somewhere between a milkshake and a light dessert. It pairs beautifully with the saltiness of our shawarma dishes, providing a cool, creamy counterpoint to all that warm spice. Once you've had it, you'll understand why it's on the menu.

How to Build Your Perfect Taza Order

If you're visiting Taza for the first time and want to sample broadly, here's our recommended approach: start with the Hummus and Baba Ghanouj as shared starters with warm pita. Order a Chicken Shawarma Pita or Falafel Pita as your main, and add a Zaatar Manaeesh or Lahm Bil Ajin on the side. Finish with an Avocado Smoothie. That order covers every major flavor zone on our menu — the warm spice of the shawarma, the smoky depth of the baba ghanouj, the herbaceous brightness of the falafel, and the sweet-floral finish of the smoothie. You'll leave understanding exactly why Falls Church keeps showing up at our door on Seminary Road.

• Chicken Shawarma Pita — the dish that built our reputation
• Beef Shawarma Shrak Wrap — generous, indulgent, unforgettable
• Falafel Pita — converts skeptics every single time
• Chicken Shawarma Bowl — balanced, nutritious, deeply satisfying
• Hummus — fresh-made daily, nothing like the store-bought version
• Baba Ghanouj — fire-roasted, smoky, and surprisingly complex
• Zaatar Manaeesh — the best $5.95 you'll spend on food this year
• Lahm Bil Ajin — the secret menu hero every regular knows about
• Rice Bowl with All Toppings — the ultimate build-your-own experience
• Avocado Smoothie — the unexpected dessert that ties the whole meal together