Lebanese Shawarma Carved to Order on 163rd Street Since 2010: Kabobji

Kabobji, at 3055 NE 163rd St in North Miami Beach, carves its shawarma to order and bakes its own pita in-house, and everything on the menu is halal. A chicken shawarma wrap is $14.99, and the restaurant has been feeding this corner of northeast Miami-Dade since 2010, and its menu still centers on shawarma, grilled kebabs and a long list of Lebanese meze.

Kabobji opened in 2010 and says it has spent more than fifteen years serving what it calls the most authentic Lebanese food in South Florida. The kitchen makes three claims about itself that are worth taking at face value because you can taste them: the shawarma is carved fresh to order, the pita is baked daily in the restaurant's own oven, and all the meat is halal.

It has also built a catering business large enough that the restaurant says it has cooked for Royal Caribbean and the Ritz-Carlton. Kabobji appeared on the PBS series Check, Please! South Florida, where local diners review restaurants they love, and back in 2014 Time Out described it as an upgrade from the area's typical grocery-cafe hybrids, both in food and in atmosphere. The menu has grown since, but the shawarma remains the core.

Kabobji offers chicken, beef and lamb shawarma, and the wraps step up a dollar at a time: chicken at $14.99, beef at $15.99 and lamb at $16.99. The chicken is the lightest and best for a first visit, with garlic sauce doing most of the work. The lamb is the richest and the one to order if you want something you will not find at most Miami counters.

Platters are the better value if you are hungry. Chicken shawarma platters are $24.99, beef $25.99 and lamb $26.99, and the mixed shawarma platter at $28.99 lets you try more than one meat on the same plate. Each platter comes with sides and that house-baked pita, which arrives warm and puffed and is the best reason to eat in rather than take out.

The meze list is long, so build a table around a few dishes. A falafel plate is $13.99, and the falafel wrap is the same price for a meat-free main. The hummus and tabbouleh wrap at $12.99 is a lighter option that still fills you up. For something more traditional, kibbeh nayeh, the Lebanese dish of finely minced raw meat and bulgur usually eaten with olive oil and fresh mint, is $20.99 and is one of the more serious Lebanese plates you can order in this part of town.

Ordering prices on the restaurant's own website are lower than on some delivery apps, so the official menu and ordering page is the place to order from. Beer and wine are served, which makes Kabobji a comfortable sit-down dinner rather than a quick counter stop, and the menu flags vegan options for anyone eating plant-based.

Kabobji describes its space as bright and comfortable, built for gathering, with both indoor and outdoor seating and fast, friendly service. The restaurant says its dining room and outdoor patio are built for groups, and it offers reservations alongside walk-ins, delivery, takeout and catering. For a large table on a Friday or Saturday night, booking ahead is the safer plan, and the patio is the more pleasant choice once the evening heat breaks.

The restaurant sits in a large strip mall on the north side of 163rd Street with plenty of easy parking, according to the halal dining guide Zabihah. That makes it more practical than many Miami restaurants for a group arriving in several cars. If you want a quieter meal, a weekday afternoon between the lunch and dinner rush is the best bet, and because the shawarma is carved to order rather than held in a tray, the timing of your visit matters less for freshness than it does at many counters.

Kabobji is open daily from 11 am to 11 pm, so it works for a late lunch, an early dinner or a meal after a late shift. The website offers online ordering for pickup and delivery, and when we looked it was quoting about fifteen minutes for pickup. The restaurant has also launched its own mobile app for ordering.

For takeout, the platters travel better than the wraps because the meat and sides are packed separately from the bread, and asking for the garlic sauce on the side keeps the pita from going soft. Catering orders can be arranged directly with the restaurant for offices and parties, which is how many locals first encounter its food before coming in to eat.

The restaurant is on NE 163rd Street, the main east-west commercial road through North Miami Beach, east of Biscayne Boulevard and close to the Intracoastal side of the county. Driving is the simplest way to arrive, and the strip mall parking makes it easy. If you are coming from Miami Beach or Aventura, it is a short drive along the bay, and rideshare is the easiest choice if you plan to order beer or wine with dinner.

Just east along the same road is Oleta River State Park, the largest urban park in the Florida State Park system, with mangrove-lined water, kayak and paddleboard launches, mountain-bike trails and a small beach on the bay. A morning paddle or a ride on the park's trails followed by a shawarma lunch at Kabobji makes an easy half-day in this part of Miami-Dade.

Address: Kabobji, 3055 NE 163rd St, North Miami Beach, FL 33160. Hours: daily 11 am to 11 pm. Shawarma wraps cost $14.99 for chicken, $15.99 for beef and $16.99 for lamb, and platters run $24.99 to $28.99. All meat is halal, beer and wine are served, and reservations are offered for larger groups.