Shawarma Guys food truck in San Diego has just been named the No. 1 place in the United States to grab some grub, according to Yelp.

 There are a couple of tables set up in front of the food truck where, if you're lucky enough to snag a seat, you can relax and enjoy your food.

Shawarma Guys is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; it’s closed on Sundays, at 3012 Grape St. in San Diego's South Park area.

Last year, former cellphone salesman Bryan Zeto achieved his lifelong dream of opening his own restaurant. Today, his Shawarma Guys food truck in South Park sits at the very pinnacle of Yelp’s list of the Top 100 Places to Eat in the U.S. in 2020.

Shawarma Guys, parked in front of The Bottle House liquor store at Grape and Fern streets, ranks No. 1 on the seventh-annual list published this morning by the crowd-sourced rankings website Yelp.com. In its first 11 months of business, Shawarma Guys achieved a top ranking of five stars in nearly all of its nearly 500 customer reviews.

For Zeto, earning the prestigious honor was an astonishing turn of events. Merely hoping to make it into this year’s top 100 list, he was given news of his first-place finish late last month during an on-camera interview with Yelp’s regional team.

 “It was a validation that my hard work had paid off. All year long I’ve been working 13 to 14 hours a day with the goal of making sure that everybody leaves here happy.” Zeto said.

Zeto was born and raised in Detroit. When he was 11, his family moved to San Diego’s East County where as a teen he started working in the family business, selling pagers and cellphones. From an early age, he loved to cook and became known among his friends for his barbecuing expertise. One of those friends was Steven Hirmez, who owns The Bottle House.

“He has always had a passion for cooking, he always talked about opening his own restaurant.” Hirmez said.

When Zeto started looking for a restaurant building in 2018, Hirmez offered him a less-risky solution. Why not test the waters first with a food truck that he could park in The Bottle House parking lot? Hirmez also talked Zeto out of his initial idea of opening a taco truck.

“I said, ‘Bro, in South Park there are eight Italian restaurants, two taco shops and fish trucks all up and down 30th Street. You can’t do that.’ Instead he came up with the shawarma idea and the neighborhood is loving and appreciating it,” Hirmez said.

Earning the Yelp award is just the latest honor for Shawarma Guys. In the past year, it has also been rated the best food truck in California by Redbook and Yelp, and San Diego Magazine named it the city’s best Mediterranean food truck in 2019.

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/san-diego-food-truck-named-no-1-in-yelp-top-100-places-to-eat-in-us-in-2020/2239684/
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/photos-3-san-diego-restaurants-land-on-yelps-top-100-places-to-eat-in-the-us/2239716/?_osource=newsletter_news_KNSD
https://www.hungryones.com/2019/06/elite-week-shawarma-guys/
https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2019/mar/05/feast-shawarma-guys-finds-spot-grape-street/#
https://www.facebook.com/Shawarma-Guys-782638568769828/
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/san-diego/story/2020-01-07/is-south-park-shawarma-truck-the-best-place-to-eat-in-america-yelp-reviewers-say-yes
https://www.yelp.com/biz/shawarma-guys-san-diego

Last year, and the year before, six restaurants in San Diego County landed on Yelp’s Top 100 list. Add to that the position San Diego has attained in the beer world, and you'll understand why the rent is steadily going crazy.