Olive Cafe

Olive Cafe is a family-owned Levantine restaurant, bakery, and market at 9530 James A Reed Road in south Kansas City, founded around 2004 by Jerusalem-born Salah Mansi and his wife Nijma — a roughly two-decade institution famous for its house-baked pita and halal Palestinian-Mediterranean fare, with the family’s newer market-cafe, The Olive / Zaytoona, opened in 2025 on Bannister Road.

Description

Olive Cafe is a family-owned halal Levantine eatery at 9530 James A Reed Road in south Kansas City, serving Palestinian and broader Middle Eastern fare alongside an attached grocery and bakery operation.¹² The kitchen is best known for its pita bread, baked fresh in-house and widely cited locally as among the best in Kansas City, which anchors a menu of chicken shawarma sandwiches, marinated chicken and lamb kebab platters, falafel, hummus, tabbouleh, Greek salad, and stews such as kalyah (ground beef with tomatoes, onions, and jalapeños).¹² The cafe has run a Mediterranean buffet on weekends and positions its food as broadly “universal” Mediterranean, extending past strictly Levantine staples.¹² Everything is prepared halal.²

Ownership and history

Olive Cafe is owned and operated by the Mansi family — founder Salah Mansi, a native of Jerusalem, and his wife Nijma Mansi.²¹ The business has served Kansas City for roughly two decades; an earlier original location operated on the city’s East Side as a combined grocery, butcher shop, bistro, and bakery before the family later anchored at 9530 James A Reed Road, and a midtown location formerly operated at 3927 Broadway Boulevard.¹² The midtown Broadway store was historically run by a Mansi son.¹

In 2025 the family opened a new venture, The Olive / Zaytoona, at 8015 Bannister Road — a three-in-one Mediterranean market, industrial bakery, and cafe. Salah Mansi owns the building and Nijma Mansi owns Zaytoona; the market stocks imported Palestinian olive oil, fava beans, maamoul cookies, grape leaves, and Arabic candies, with a cafe serving hummus platters, shawarma, and kebabs and a weekend buffet. The space displays photographs of Jerusalem throughout and is positioned to serve the nearby Muslim community around the Islamic Center of Greater Kansas City.²³

Links

• Phone: (816) 763-0009
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/olive-cafe-kansas-city
• Related (Zaytoona): https://www.zaytoonakc.com/

Menu

Last verified: 2026-06-20 · Source: AllMenus, Yelp, The Pitch, plus delivery aggregators (DoorDash/FoodBoss) · URL(s): https://www.allmenus.com/mo/kansas-city/782674-olive-cafe/menu/ · https://www.yelp.com/biz/olive-cafe-kansas-city · https://www.thepitchkc.com/olive-cafe-in-midtown-gets-mediterranean-to-a-tea/ · Confidence: Medium–High (item lineup and category structure are High and cross-corroborated; specific prices are Medium — aggregator menus drift, delivery listings carry markup, and the original review review prices are dated)

Olive Cafe serves a halal Palestinian/Levantine menu of shawarma, kebab platters, falafel, hummus, and salads, all anchored by its house-baked pita, with a rotating weekend buffet.⁴⁵¹

Signature dishes

• Chicken Shawarma Wrap — marinated chicken breast, slow-roasted, with lettuce, tomatoes, and garlic sauce in fresh house pita. ($8.99)⁴
• Chicken & lamb kebab platter — skewers of marinated chicken and lamb over saffron-colored rice; the cafe’s signature platter, served with soup or salad.⁵¹
• House-baked pita — baked fresh in-house and widely cited locally as among the best in Kansas City; anchors most sandwiches and platters.¹²

Sandwiches & wraps

• Falafel Wrap — pan-fried chickpea falafel with lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles in fresh pita with tahini sauce. ($5.49)⁴
• Chicken Salad Sandwich — ($4.50)⁴
• Olive’s Famous Club — shaved turkey, lettuce, tomato, cheese, mayo. ($5.75)⁴
• Turkey Panini — shaved turkey, melted mozzarella, lettuce, tomatoes, olive spread on toasted panini bread. ($5.50)⁴

Plates & samplers

• Vegetarian Sampler — hummus, falafel, 2 grape leaves, and choice of Lebanese salad or tabbouleh with warm pita and tahini sauce. ($8.99)⁴
• Grilled Chicken Salad — marinated chicken breast with tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta over romaine and iceberg. ($5.50)⁴
• Kalyah — stew of ground beef with tomatoes, onions, and jalapeños.​¹

Dips, sides & salads

• Hummus — ($9.99)⁴
• Baba Ghanoush — ($5.99)⁴
• Tabbouleh — ($10.99)⁴
• Greek Salad — ($5.00); Kibbeh ($2.50); Kalamata Olives ($2.00); Feta Cheese ($2.00); French Fries ($2.69)⁴

Buffet

• Weekend Mediterranean buffet — rotating spread of olives, dolmades, gyro, shawarma, hummus, lamb shanks, fried cauliflower, roast zucchini, lentil soup, and rice; runs into Saturdays.⁵²

Dessert

• Baklava — ($2.00)⁴

Sources

• Status verified active 2026-06-23 via Yelp — Olive Cafe, 9530 James A Reed Rd (accessed 2026-06-23) and Restaurantji — Olive Cafe (accessed 2026-06-23). Yelp listing updated June 2026 (191 reviews, 119 photos), no closure banner; Restaurantji 205 reviews; posted hours Mon–Sat 10a–8p, Sun 10a–5p; phone (816) 763-0009. Original James A Reed cafe still operating; the family’s newer Bannister Rd venture (The Olive / Zaytoona) is a sibling expansion, not a replacement. : a 2025 report mentioned the Mansis looking to sell the James A Reed space — unresolved whether/when that location closes or relocates; monitor.

Disputes

None recorded.

Footnotes

1. The Pitch — “Olive Cafe in midtown gets Mediterranean to a tea” — https://www.thepitchkc.com/olive-cafe-in-midtown-gets-mediterranean-to-a-tea/ — accessed 2026-06-08. Asserts: founder Salah Mansi; Jerusalem origin; original East Side location as grocery/butcher/bistro/bakery opened ~7 years before the 2011 review (≈2004); midtown Broadway location run by a Mansi son; house-baked pita reputation; menu (shawarma, kebab platters, kalyah, samosas, sage tea); “universal” Mediterranean framing. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

2. Kansas City Star / Yahoo News — “New KC Mediterranean grocery, bakery, cafe (and sometimes buffet) opens” (June 18, 2025) — https://www.yahoo.com/news/kc-mediterranean-grocery-bakery-cafe-144820230.html — accessed 2026-06-08. Asserts: Olive Cafe served KC for two decades at 9530 James A Reed Rd (and formerly 3927 Broadway Blvd.); owners Salah Mansi (Jerusalem native, owns building) and wife Nijma Mansi (owns Zaytoona); halal/kosher; Palestinian olive oil and imported goods; weekend buffet; Jerusalem photographs; proximity to Islamic Center of Greater Kansas City. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

3. Here Kansas City — “Discover Mediterranean Restaurant Kansas City: The Olive Zaytoona” — https://www.herekansascity.com/olive-zaytoona-kansas-city/ — accessed 2026-06-08. Asserts: The Olive / Zaytoona at 8015 Bannister Rd; Mansi ownership; market + bakery + cafe; hummus, shawarma, kebabs; relationship to the original Olive Cafe. ↩

4. AllMenus — “Olive Cafe menu, Kansas City MO” — https://www.allmenus.com/mo/kansas-city/782674-olive-cafe/menu/ — accessed 2026-06-20. Asserts: item names, descriptions, and listed prices for sandwiches/wraps (Chicken Shawarma Wrap $8.99, Falafel Wrap $5.49, Chicken Salad Sandwich $4.50, Olive’s Famous Club $5.75, Turkey Panini $5.50), plates (Vegetarian Sampler $8.99, Grilled Chicken Salad $5.50), sides/dips/salads (Hummus $9.99, Baba Ghanoush $5.99, Tabbouleh $10.99, Greek Salad $5.00, Kibbeh $2.50, Kalamata Olives $2.00, Feta $2.00, French Fries $2.69), and Baklava $2.00. Note: aggregator prices may lag the cafe’s current in-store pricing; delivery aggregators (DoorDash/FoodBoss) list higher combo prices reflecting delivery markup. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

5. Olive Cafe aggregator/review profiles (Restaurants-World, Wherevi, Sirved) — https://olive-cafe.restaurants-world.net/ · https://www.sirved.com/restaurant/kansas_city-missouri-usa/olive-cafe/596608/menus — accessed 2026-06-20. Asserts: combo chicken-and-lamb kebab platter over saffron-colored rice served with soup or salad; lentil soup, fragrant rice, and fries as sides; weekend Mediterranean lunch buffet (olives, dolmades, gyro, shawarma, hummus, lamb shanks, fried cauliflower, roast zucchini) running into Saturdays. ↩ ↩² ↩³