Zamzam Mediterranean Grill
Words by Kerri Shadid / Photos by Sajin Poos
Zamzam Mediterranean Grill owner Yousef Elyassin has mentioned “authenticity” at least 20 times in our conversation—from the reason he opened Zamzam (he wanted to create an “authentic Mediterranean restaurant in Oklahoma City”) to why it continues to stand out (customers drive in from the surrounding states for the hummus and falafel because “they are so fresh and authentic”).
It turns out, he has good reason for saying so.
Elyassin opened the original Zamzam Mediterranean Grill & Hookah in Warr Acres in 2007 with his brother, Mahmoud Abuobead, and his brother-in-law, Mahmoud Khader.
Yousef’s brother-in-law opened multiple restaurants in Jordan in the early 1990s—a great start for a restaurant that bases its menu off dishes from Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine.
Nearly every year, Yousef himself goes back to Jordan to try all kinds of restaurants. “They are really creative there with food and drinks, so I pick up a lot of ideas and bring them here,” he says.
Yousef is proud that his restaurant’s offerings are fresh and made daily, and it never cuts corners. The baba gannouj has chunks of eggplant. The parsley in the tabouli is bright and plentiful. The beef arayes—a quesadilla-like dish—is beautifully chargrilled and spiced exceptionally well.
Elyassin says hummus and falafel are Zamzam’s signature dishes, and his personal favorites. The falafel is perfectly cooked, crisp and not greasy, and features a classic spice mix made for falafel brought in from the Middle East or a specialty spice shop in Dallas. And the hummus—served with thick, soft pita—is far richer and creamier than average, with a bold tahini flavor.
Jennifer Casco, one of the managers of the downtown location, notes that customers who have spent time in the Middle East “make a point to say that this is as authentic as where they came from. It’s nice when someone outside the building says that, because they aren’t just trying to hype us up, they mean it.”
As soon as it opened, Zamzam—named for an ancient well in Saudi Arabia that still flows to this day—became “the hangout” for the Middle Eastern community in OKC, Elyassin says. He notes that some of their most loyal hookah customers come in two or three times a day.
It’s been a long road for Elyassin and Zamzam to reach this point.
Elyassin, who was born in Jordan before moving with his family to Kuwait when he was 10, came to Tulsa in 1978 at the age of 18 to study petroleum engineering. He didn’t know any English. At first, he would use a pay phone to call home at midnight, saying, “I want to come back!”
Fortunately, he discovered his passion while working in restaurants during college. Several years later, while working in an oil field, a college friend called to offer him a job as the assistant manager of the IHOP in Wichita Falls, which he jumped at. After he was promoted to general manager, IHOP corporate visited his restaurant because they were so impressed with its growth. As a result, he and two friends got the franchise rights to open the first 12 IHOP restaurants in Oklahoma City, beginning in 1999. All 12 locations are still in operation, although Yousef sold his shares in 2010 to focus his extensive corporate restaurant training on the mom-and-pop environment of Zamzam.
But there have been setbacks, too. In March 2019, Zamzam burned to the ground. Following a complete remodel—one that included creating an outdoor patio hookah lounge, where up to 70 can dine and smoke hookah—it reopened in December 2019, mere months before the pandemic broke out. The city of Warr Acres mandated that itclose.
But Zamzam, like the well for which it's named, continued to sustain the community, providing to-go food that was available for pickup through the newly remodeled hookah lounge. Fortunately, that much-cited authenticity and the love of OKC’s Middle Eastern community carried Zamzam through and paved the way for its current growth, as more and more locals and out-of-towners found their way into the Zamzam family.
And Zamzam is still a family affair.
Elyassin based the original menu off what he and his family were cooking at home. Now, his son, Ahmad, who became the co-owner of Zamzam in 2021, creates most of the new dishes, such as the halloumi sticks, the spicy potatoes and the popular harissa-honey grilled wings.
Elyassin says his partnership with his son, who started working at Zamzam when he was 15 years old, allowed them to open the new location on Broadway in downtown OKC in early 2025. The downtown location, which does not offer hookah, turned the most beloved hookah flavors from Warr Acres into mocktails—Bluemist, Double Appletini, and Mediterranean Mule.
The downtown restaurant has attracted a broader clientele to Zamzam, raising awareness among those outside of the Middle Eastern community about this metro-area gem.
Zamzam Mediterranean Grill & Hookah, 3913 N. MacArthur Blvd., Warr Acres, (405) 789-8008 & 714 N Broadway Ave., Oklahoma City, (405) 493-9161 zamzamgrill.com
