For my birthday lunch, a good friend of mine suggested we try the Nile Cafe along Roosevelt. This place is near then east end of the First Friday Art Walk and thus has likely received excellent exposure due to it's placement. Although we had a late lunch (1 pm) there was no one eating. Which is usually not a good sign. But we were already there and it's neighbor Krispy Kreme and Quiznos is no substitute for a locally owner restaurant.
The menu was small, printed on yellow piece of letter sized paper in half. The options weren't exhaustive but that is not indicative of the quality of the food. We ordered the sun dried tomato hummus to share. Our waiter did not ask what size we wanted and likely made a presumption for us. Bad. All of their hummus has a disclaimer in parenthesis 'if available', save their regular hummus. I am not really sure how jalapeno and cilantro hummus can be seasonal in Arizona. Perhaps they make fresh batches every day and serve it until the run out.
My friend got an iced tea and got water (non-bottled). Out server was attentive without hovering. The water was despicable. I do not think they use any filtration system. It tasted of an amalgamation of many unpleasant flavors. It was almost undrinkable.
I ordered the chicken meatball sandwich and my friend got the beef schwarma. The waiter informed me that it was no longer on the menu and unavailable. I find it hard to believe that printing a new set of papers and folding them thus omitting this menu item is so difficult. So I got the kingdom schwarma instead. Both of ours came with several dill pickles embedded inside. Perhaps I do not know 'Nile' food, but I sincerely doubt that brine and cucumbers are staples in this cuisine.
Overall the scwarma was decent and the hummus was unremarkable. I am not sure if their attempts at food warrant a return visit. It is not novel. It is not memorable save the bad water.