Aladdin's Eatery Highland Square — Restaurant in Akron

We ordered different things to sample and compare. Some things are amazing, some bland. I guess you just need to know what to order. The shish kebabs were delicious 😋, plane hummus too, - creamy and smooth. The pesto hummus didn’t exceed expectations, was ok. The pine nuts were on point though, and sun dried tomatoes were not sower or overly dry, those were good in the pesto hummus. The pita bread was good. The Kafta though had a weird spice to it, like cinnamon all spice, that shouldn’t be in a ground beef sausage. Or at the very least I didn’t expect it there. Felt like Christmas edition sausage that overstayed its welcome in January 🤷‍♀️ But if you like cinnamon in your meat - then maybe it’s your thing. Falafel was not dry like at most restaurants, it was moist and creamy, but very salty. The tea ☕️ was not hot, it was barely warm. I was hoping for a hot cup of tea to warm up my hands and soul on a cold winters night. Maybe it’s just a precaution to avoid a potential lawsuit from burned 🥵 victims, but barely warm??? It’s ok, I drank it, even without lemon 🍋 as it wasn’t offered. 😊The best thing on the menu from what I had a chance to sample was the chicken. Moist, flavourful and not overcooked. Steak tips were good too even though they were medium/ well done. I like them like that so that was good. Rice was very plain and flavourless, not like Indian rice. And the salad dressing tasted like very diluted hummus. It’s not bad, just not really a dressing, if you ask me. Would I go again? Maybe in few months. And I’ll try other things as I love variety. I’m a chef myself, particularly in Eastern European and Mediterranean cuisine, so it’s always a treat to find a good quality...

Young ladies seem friendly enough, informative enough, customer service oriented much and that's AMAZING bc Cvd hath suckethed outethed the braineth of a many & besides that there is zero care in most of these spaces where good customer service should be. However beauties I'm unsure if the special "jasmine rice" is originally like this raw undone peas/potatoes hard & seemingly freeze dried peas & carrots but NONE of those veges other than onions in that rice was done. Very unappetizing and I was HUNGRY like a wolf wanted something hot/wholesome. This was a huge flop for me @ 16+ dollara for a plate of hard uncooked veges mixed in seasoned brown rice. The only thing that was worth the trip was the grilled chicken & tahini/lemon sauce. GNOT a go for again choice. I'm likely too picky and should just stay out of unfamiliar territory. I came for the pie & it's didn't even excite my taste buds. I'm just being honest and hopefully no one else got that batch of special rice huge dissapointmebt to a starving wolf belly that could likely find pleasure in just about anything. Could have uploaded a photo but instead it's too late & I was forced to consume most of it. I just attempted to allow the grilled chicken to take the lead but it was way more of that rice than 4 stripes could compensate for. Honesty over Appeasing. Abc.a4e thats me 2023 All Better Corporations Advocate...

The middle eastern fare is good, but the service was pathetic. My experience could've been so much better since the shawarma was made very well. So the issues: we waited over 40 mins for our food after ordering. And this isn't some fine dining club where the ambience and expectation is that you enjoy a drink while you wait. And unlike all middle eastern restaurants in Dearborn, you're not served hot fresh-baked bread with olive oil and garlic paste as complimentary starters. Nothing. Zilch. Then when it finally came after an interminable wait, the appetizer (lentil soup) was brought out along with the main course (shawarma). Which means one or the other would get cold while we dug into the other. To top that, the lentil soup was more like a vegetable soup, with barely any lentil (black not the usual yellow lentils) and more leaves and water than anything else. The soup is served in a wide saucer kind of bowl rather than a traditional soup cup/ bowl so it also gets cold fast.

All in all, I probably...