Comment Archives: Locations: Restaurants: Middle Eastern
Re: “AliBaba Persian and Mediterranean Restaurant”
I've been here twice and I wasn't impressed either time. It seems like a horrible value. I ended up paying $17 (tip and tax included) for some grilled veggies, lettuce, pita bread, and hummus. The water tastes really funky. Their sign says vegetarian paradise, but I didn't find that many vegetarian items on the menu. I'm not going back.
Re: “AliBaba Persian and Mediterranean Restaurant”
Slow service, took a half hour to get our food. Coupons are worthless, you spend way more money using their coupons than if you did not. This restaurant forgot almost half of our order. We had to remind them that some of our food was missing.............and when it finally arrived we were done eating. Worst restaurant ever!
Re: “Falafel King”
We had food delivered to our office for a luncheon and were very pleased. We ordered a combo chicken and beef schwarma, greek salad, humuus, tabbouleh, baklava, pita bread, sauces, etc. The food was hot, well seasoned, plentiful, good value and on time. Even folks who weren't sure they liked Lebanese food thought it was delicious. We are ordering again this week.
Re: “AliBaba Persian and Mediterranean Restaurant”
Surly, slow service. Weird pureed "lentil" soup with no discernible lentils - tasted like Campbell's cream of tomato with dry herb garnish. The beef, lamb, chicken were gristly, un-choice cuts, overcooked, unmarinated, tasteless. Hummous was ho-hum, baba ghanoush disappointingly bland. Only the tabouli salad had any flavor. WARNING: Prices are more expensive in person than listed on their website, overly generous gratuity added automatically to check. Smallish portions considering price. VERY UNSATISFYING MEAL.
Re: “Shish Kebab House of Tucson”
Food is ok but the service is terrible. Last time I went I waited ten minutes for someone to come out to seat us or even acknowledge our existence. Just left. Haven't been back since.
Re: “Shish Kebab House of Tucson”
WOW! The other reviewer must have had a bad day...I went here with my family same exact day as the other reviewer's post. We must have been in different restaurant's. Our meals were outstanding and just the right portions. Service was great too, with our waitress continually asking us if we needed anything and promptly refilling drinks. I had the chicken schwarma with salad and motabal. Schwarma's are meant to be eaten with pita...they are not just plates of meat, hence the reason why they are not big chunks of meat. The chicken had some kind of paprika onions and a sauce that tasted like tahini - really good. The motabal was a roasted eggplant dip that had a really good depth of flavor. The rice, by the way, is not intended to be a "saffron rice" as the other reviewer posted. It was a buttery rice that was probably cooked in chicken broth. It was neither tasteless or dry. If you favor gigantic portions of fat laden food you should stick to McDonald's. If you want very flavorful food with great service, go here. This was a great place and a great experience.
Re: “Shish Kebab House of Tucson”
Bad service and woefully over priced!
Finally got around to trying this place. Picked up the Lamb Shwarma with Rice for $13 and the Baklava for $3....
Firstly, they were 20 MINUTES LATE WITH MY ORDER so, needless to say that, by the time the bag finally actually showed up, I didn't really bother to check the contents, just blindly trusted that there was enough actual food in the containers to feed a person.
When I got home however, I opened it up to discover- I kid you not (I seriously had to get out my measuring cups to check) 1/4 cup of both a salad and some of the MOST TASTELESS AND DRIEST "Saffron" rice imaginable, and, in comparison to that skimpy portioning a "generous" 1/3 of a cup of tiny dribbles of meat with- and I had to count this part too, 4 of the tiniest "slices" of onion I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE outside of a McDonald's burger!!!!
Seriously, I had to get a spoon because the meat dribbles weren't even big enough to scoop up with a fork- much less spear! And, of course, it was pretty much fat and grizzle (how in the seven hells they managed to make actual FAT dry too- I honestly don't even want to know- I mean, I'm the first to admit that a chef's only as good as the quality of their ingredients- and that was obviously the majority of the problem but COME ON!!!!!)
Now, I'll grant, the baklava was good.... all three bites of it....
But, needless to say that given that I was starving at the time, I still managed to choke it down and, obviously, even after polishing everything off, I had to get up and make an ACTUAL dinner for myself.
Sooooo not going back because, I can only surmise that, they've somehow spied out the critics and gave them VIP treatment of some kind here- because these portions at these prices with this piss-poor service and bad quality of ingredients SERIOUSLY SUCKS!
Re: “AliBaba Persian and Mediterranean Restaurant”
I think the food is great. I especially like the Beef Shawarma and their salads.
Re: “AliBaba Persian and Mediterranean Restaurant”
I would like to love this place but when I was there the food was incredibly bland. I left thinking that I had just had the worst middle eastern food in my entire life. I much prefer the place on university boulevard.
Re: “AliBaba Persian and Mediterranean Restaurant”
Worst Middle Eastern food in Tucson.
Re: “AliBaba Persian and Mediterranean Restaurant”
Worst Middle Eastern food in town.
Re: “AliBaba Persian and Mediterranean Restaurant”
Oh man! Live and learn. One of the worst Middle Eastern / Greek, whatever you wanna call it restaurants this side of the Mississippi. We are sorry to sound so harsh but it was plain awful. On a positive note there are a couple of decent places for this style of cuisine in the area but we won't name names and play favorites here.
Re: “AliBaba Persian and Mediterranean Restaurant”
The food here is totally bland and NOTHING ordered between myself and the 3 other people I went with was remotely fresh. According to my friend, they got a new owner a couple years ago and that's when the food started to suck.
Re: “Falafel King”
I also enjoyed the food, the tahini was great. Considering there were only a few customers, there was no reason why the indoor tables were not clean.
Re: “AliBaba Persian and Mediterranean Restaurant”
I love the salads, they are fresh and full of crisp veggies with garbanzo beans and a delicious dressing. Another favorite is the persian chicken kebob- Jojeh sandwich I find the sauce and onions in this wrap, I have not been able to try much more because these are my favorites.
Re: “Zayna Mediterranean Cafe”
By far the best mid eastern food in southern Arizona. Great filafel, always made well.
Indoor and patio seating, not expensive.
Re: “Falafel King”
As of at least August '10, the restaurant has changed names from "El Saage" to "Falafel King", although the menus and restaurant reviews still have the old name everywhere. The food was good, the falafel was crisp and flavorful, and the baba ghanoush was rich and smoky: perhaps the best way I've ever eaten eggplant. The restaurant felt clean to me, but perhaps I have different standards from the previous reviewer.
Re: “AliBaba Persian and Mediterranean Restaurant”
Straight up. The place has horrible food. Even the gyro meat is crappy. In all fairness Fronimo's either. My Big Fat Greek Restaurant on River was pretty good but I believe that one shut down several months ago. Not a lot of good eateries in Tucson.
Re: “AliBaba Persian and Mediterranean Restaurant”
Food was very disappointing. Taste is subjective, but my buddy and I both disliked our meals at AliBaba so that should give it away. Nothing, and I mean nothing was worth coming back for. My phe pita bead was on the stale side, the yellow rice that came with the meal wasn't at all tasty, the green beans which were served in a not-so-wonderful-tasting tomato sauce clearly out of a can. And the giro meat? Dry and salty. Neither of us will be back.
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Re: “Zayna Mediterranean Cafe”
I can not think of a better Med place except an Egyptian joint in Santa Fe. Very generous portions (as it should always be in the mid-east) lovely flavor profiles and yes, the BEST falaffel in town, crunchy on the outside, soft and moist on the inside. AMAZING house-made potatoes. My only complaint would be that the desert cart is almost bare.