K & M Shish Palace

Shish Palace has a genuine pedigree: it was started by a few former La Shish employees — that legendary Dearborn Lebanese name — who struck out to build their own, and the Auburn Hills branch on University Drive carries that DNA. It’s Lebanese-Mediterranean done generously and well: char-grilled shish tawook and kafta, chicken and lamb shawarma, lamb chops people specifically rave about, and the full mezze lineup — creamy hummus, baba ghannouj, tabbouli, falafel, warm bread that keeps coming, and a garlic sauce (toum, not the mayo-y stuff) that’s the real deal. There are big family platters built to feed four to ten, plus fresh-squeezed juices and smoothies if you want something bright.

It reads as a casual order-and-sit spot, but the food punches well above that — clean, fast, consistently four-plus stars across hundreds of reviews. Come hungry, bring people, and order more mezze than you think you need. We’ve got it on our list as Auburn Hills’s standout Middle Eastern table and a reliable group pick in Auburn Hills.