10/04/09

Disgusting

by allo2222

I ordered a couscous. What they served me had nothing in common with couscous. It was a stew made with tomato paste, thickened with a ton of paprika. It had the consistency of a mexican chili. The semolina was so overcooked that it was soggy and gross.

My dining companion ordered one of the "Shish Kebab" meals. Again it beared no ressemblance to any known meal. I did not taste it myself but it looked horrible and my companion said it tasted gross. It's been more than an hour since we left and she is still complaining that it left her a bad taste in her mouth. As for myself I have a headache from the industrial quantity of paprika they dumped in there.

Please don't encourage this place!

• Pros: Waitresses were friendly and good looking
• Cons: Food is disgusting. Carpet is old and dirty.

02/20/09

Blander than goulash.

by didomonster

We tried this place with hopes high- the menu looked nicely varied and tasty. But everything we ordered was just so bland. The tabouleh was unbalanced- about 5% cracked wheat, 75% parsley, and 20% cucumber and tomato. I thought they gave me fatoosh by mistake, but no, that is their idea of cracked wheat salad. The hummus and baba ganoush weren't bad, just totally lacking in seasoning. Who enjoys can eating mushy tasteless food?- got plenty of that to look forward to in old age, so I don't need to be eating it now. The artichoke salad consisted of canned in water artichokes dumped in a thinned out tahini- gee thanks. Could have done that myself, except I would never, because I have more sense than that. The lamb and mushrooms in brown sauce was blander than goulash, and the mushrooms were clearly from a can. Come on!!!! How lazy and tasteless can you get?!!! My husband proclaimed it the most tasteless lamb dish he had ever consumed, and it looked gross, too. I guess we will have to stick to Kassab's.

• Pros: Didn't have to pay much to be underwhelmed.
• Cons: My mother-in-law's food is more flavorful, and she doesn't even season anything.

04/13/08

Affordable Arabic Food

by PhilipMarc

I had built my hopes up pretty high a few nights ago when a few friends invited me to Ali Baba for some Arabic food. I can't say that I was entirely disappointed, but it wasn't what I had hoped.

The hommous could have used less tahini; the muhammara was overly spiced; the kibbeh was slightly bland and had very little meat; the tabouleh was more tomato than parsley, and the chef may have juiced one too many lemons in the fatoush. The service was also a bit inattentive and I found the wait-staff to be unprofessional.

The atmosphere is very nice though. The music was very relaxing (they were playing traditional Arabic music which is beautiful to hear), and the decor was very much authentic and comforting. Although as I said before the service was inattentive, the man who I presumed to be the owner was very hospitable (even for an Arabic person), and that's saying something.

I did enjoy myself, despite the short-comings. I would not neccesarily reccomend it to all my friends, but I would not deter anyone from giving it a shot either.

• Pros: Hospitality
• Cons: Most of the food )=