On Gulf Road, within sight of the Kuwait Towers, stands a building in traditional Kuwaiti style that opens from 8 in the morning to 11 at night, seven days a week. Its name is Mais Alghanim, and it is among the most reviewed restaurants in Kuwait City.
It began as a canteen for workers
The story is older than most people assume. The place started as a canteen for the staff of Yusuf Ahmed Alghanim and Sons, opened by Edmond Barakat, known as Abu Emile, under the name “Mess Alghanim”. In 1953 the canteen turned into a restaurant serving full meals and takeaway to everyone, not to employees alone.
In the 1970s management passed to Emile Barakat, and in 1987 the restaurant moved to the site of the old Kuwait Television station, at which point the name shifted from “Mess” to “Mais”. In 2003 it moved to its present home, a building put up in the traditional Kuwaiti style, and a second branch opened in Mahboula in 2010.
Nearly seventy years from a workers’ canteen to a table on the Gulf. The distance the restaurant travelled is the same distance the city travelled after oil.
What it serves
The kitchen is Lebanese at its base, with grills and Arab and Middle Eastern dishes. The menu carries vegetarian and gluten-free options and a keto list, and everything is halal. The price bracket is mid to high.
Certain names recur in visitor reviews more than others: the mixed grills, the cold mezze, the hummus, and the fresh bread that arrives hot and is replaced at the table. Reviewers also keep pointing to the consistency of the food over many years as the reason they come back.
The room
The dining hall is large and takes tables of more than twenty, which explains why it shows up in reviews of family occasions more than reviews of dinner for two. There is outdoor seating, a children’s play area, live music, and parking with valet service.
What keeps coming up in the notes
And because no picture is complete from one side only: reviews repeatedly mention grills arriving lukewarm at the table, and slow service at peak times. The restaurant replies to these reviews publicly on the platform, to the negative ones before the positive.
On TripAdvisor it holds a rating of 4.3 out of 5 from more than 1,200 reviews, and ranks fifteenth among more than 800 restaurants in Kuwait City.
The details
Location: Gulf Road, near the Kuwait Towers, Sharq, Kuwait City.
Hours: daily, 8 in the morning to 11 at night.
Phone: +965 22251155
Price bracket: mid to high.
Sources: the restaurant’s TripAdvisor page · the official website
Kuwait One, once a week.
The most useful stories we published this week, in your inbox.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
