Tabali, Smiley’s Grill, and Abela’s Offer More Food Choices

Three new food outlets opened on campus last week, offering students more variety in their food choices.

Students had complained that one month into the semester there was a lack of food diversity on campus, especially after Zooba ,  Catering Co  and Shawerma Garage closed down over the summer.

“Every year we check the food outlets on campus and we see what needs to change, so this year we found that we have three outlets which can be substituted,” said Associate Director of the Food Service Office Sahar Kamal.

The three new outlets include Tabali, an oriental Egyptian kitchen restaurant, which opened in the HUSS Building, Smiley’s Grill at the Americana Food Court, and Abela’s – which replaces Catering Co.

Tabali offers the same category of food that Zooba had offered – classic oriental Egyptian cuisine, including Koshari (medium platter for EGP 16), ta’amia sandwich (EGP 6.45), and foul (beans) sandwich for EGP 6.

That’s welcome news for students like Mechanical Engineering Senior Student Omar Waleed

“I stay at the university from 8:30am to 6pm and I couldn’t find anything to eat on campus, especially after Catering closed,” he said.

Tabali’s food is slightly more expensive than the average oriental restaurants, like Gad. Tabali’s Operations Director, Hussein Mohamed said that this is because Tabali targets customers that are of higher income such as, AUC students.

Mohamed also explained that they are now focusing on improving their operations and satisfying their customers.

“We plan to offer different promotions every week,” added Mohamed.

But if fast food is more to your palette, Smiley’s Grill just might hit the spot with its XL Spicy Chicken Crunchy Sandwich (EGP 62), Chicken Pizza Sandwich (EGP 51) and Chicken Sub (EGP 42). For those more health inclined, a salad bar platter goes for EGP 48.

“We are trying to attract our customers here at AUC and our top priority is food safety checks and the quality,” said the AUC Branch Manager, Abdelrahman Mohamed.

Mohamed added that they care most about the food safety by training the employees how to cook food safely and to routinely check the quality of service they offer to the customers.

Meanwhile, Abela’s offers a third option, focusing on breakfast and lunch.

Their menu includes croissants (plain for EGP 12; cheese for EGP 15), omelets starting at EGP 20, and a traditional Egyptian breakfast platter at EGP 27.

For lunch, Abela’s turkey avocado panini will set you back EGP 50, while a traditional cheese burger goes for EGP 60.

Abela’s also offers a variety of Mongolian grill dishes starting at EGP 30.

“Abela’s … is specialized in industrial catering with international companies, however, we have just entered the retail education sector, we joined Cairo English School and AUC is our second branch,” said its Operations Manager Tarek Rihan.

Rihan said that Abela’s is planning to renovate its current space during the winter break.

Students have had mixed reactions to the new food outlets.

“We didn’t know about Smiley’s Grill, we tried it out because it’s new and it turned out to be really good,” said two freshmen students as they left the food court.

“I tried Tabali more than once, to be honest, the service is not good and most of the food that is on the menu is not even available,” Samah Hussein, a communication and electronics engineering student, told The Caravan.

But Business Sophomore Lobna Diaa thinks Tabali is a good substitute for Zooba.

“Every morning before going to class, I buy my breakfast from Tabali,” she said.