Abdu Arabian Cuisine — Restaurant in Da'an District

From the beginning there were problems and many signs that a mistake had been made in choosing this restaurant.

The first problem was the atmosphere. AC was set to a "chilly" 28 degrees. Seating was next to the gate to an apartment - which is understandable since many business owners live in the same building they work. However, many people kept walking in and out from right next to our seat, the door was left open, and the apartment behind was quite dirty (pictured). The amount of traffic through the door, which again was right next to a seat, was impressive.

The wait staff was another issue and initially had me sympathetic (based on some positive reviews), thinking "this is a tragic example of how bad staff can ruin a restaurant with great food". Many options were not available (this was addressed in other reviews though with the reason being that the owners want to provide fresh food). So we ordered, waited a few minutes and were told they didn't have the dessert we ordered - fine. A few more minutes and now the main course isn't available -.... also fine.... ordered something else. I was starting to lose hope, but decided to try and remain hopeful in spite of these initial setbacks.

When the main dishes came, despite ordering two different dishes, they were the same. We asked why they didn't look like the picture and were told that it was in fact different - okay. Tried the food and confirmed, it was the same..... same side dishes, same spices, same marinade, same everything - two different prices lol. I will say, however, that the chicken dishes were delicious in spite of the staff messing up the order. This is the only reason that this is a 2-star and not a 1-star review.

Halfway through the meal the hummus came out with zero flavor, a tiny amount of stale bread and some equally bad falafel. A full breakdown of the food can be found below: Hummus - 1/5 stars Chicken Dishes - 4/5 stars Soup - 5/5 stars (surprisingly delicious) Baklava - 3/5 stars Ice Cream - 5/5 (truly fantastic!)

Tonight may have been a fluke, but based on my experience, I can not recommend this restaurant. I would say that I'd give it another try, but with how unpleasant this experience was and how much middle-eastern restaurant competition is in the area, it is a bit of a hard sell.

All in all, if you aren't afraid of being embarrassed and are willing to sweat for an hour to not be able to order from half the menu and receive mediocre food that you didn't order - then this is the place for you. Otherwise,...

The lamb served as part of the lamb kabsa was really good! The chicken from the chicken shish tawook was also cooked really well. However, the seasoning overall needs a bit of work... the rice from the lamb kabsa meal, the chicken from the chicken shish tawook, and the chick peas were all really sweet and not seasoned at all like any Arabic food I've had, and definitely not at all like the food where my family is from. I'm not sure if they were prepared that way to cater to local tastes. The Greek salad and the fatoush were virtually the same with maybe a very slight difference in the dressing, and the lamb kabsa rice was also covered in the same kind of creamy bland white sauce.

They were out of hummus when we visited, which seems pretty odd for a Middle Eastern restaurant. We ordered the chicken "Arabian sandwich" as an appetizer instead, which was actually pretty good, but was mostly just a wrap/burrito thing with chicken and cheese. Again, not something I would consider authentic Arabic food (at least not in my experience).

The younger waitress was quite nice. The older one was nicer as we were leaving, but we still didn't get to try the baklawa because we were too embarrassed to order it after she commented that we were ordering way too much and tried to convince us to cancel part of...

Common…we have just sit down and like the soup and wana order it and straight away you said oh you have to order the main menu….and when we orders the main menu and lamb is out of stock…sometimes a little courtesy does helps…this is my 2nd time to this arab restaurant and what a way to spoilt our mood Thanks for your reply but i guess u did not get my message…the 1st time i was at your restaurant last year I was alone and i almost spent almost 1000NTD just me alone, the way that lady told us about the main dish is surprisingly unexpected…there are other restaurants that did the same and they are very courteous with it…i do not eat chicken and that lady do not even know that lamb is out of stock and we are only starting to order-we are already ready to go off and not wanting to waste our time since your restaurant are not full that day as compared to some other weekends…but lets not further go into this…no sorry needed for either side as if you are sincere …u would not reply...