Baba Saj — Restaurant in Blaine

We drove two hours with friends to try this spot since I love finding authentic shawarma. Unfortunately, this place didn’t live up to the hype.

I’m not picky about decor — I care about the food — but the quality just wasn’t there. The beef saj was plain, fatty, and had a weird texture, almost like it wasn’t fully cooked. The cheese saj was okay but nothing special.

I ordered both chicken and beef shawarma, and both were only somewhat warm, not hot. They were dry, lacked seasoning, and had no toppings inside. Even looking at the shawarma cones, you could tell they weren’t well seasoned. The tahini sauce was bland and needed more flavor.

The only things I actually liked were the garlic sauce and spicy garlic sauce — those were solid. But overall, the food quality just wasn’t there. For franchise store i thought they will have done right

Also, the pickup order process needs improvement — pies were ready 10 min before shawarma but they decided to hold to it in togo box when its dine in.

Honestly, I preferred Ajeen Bakery much more, especially for their pies, spend 50$ alone for unpleasant experience. I hope...

I will be honest, maybe I just came at the wrong time, because I've always wanted to try baba saj, ever since I've found out about there chicago locations, but the wait was definitely a while, but again, we need to be considerate of the fact that it was only there 2nd day open, so they still have a flow and rhythm to establish for speedy service, so that is okay, I do love the authentic middle eastern vibe it gives, especially a prayer section. More importantly now, the food. I promise you guys, I am very impressed with the food. I loved the beef shawarma saj wrap, it was very delicious. You guys did so good, some of the best shawarma I've ever had in my entire life, for sure! I like it how you guys also have pitas and Iraqi samoons! The fries were not too bad as well, and the falafel was very good. Good job guys, be proud of yourselves, nobody is as impressed as I am. Good job habibi, I rate the food here...

Came to the soft opening and the place was poppin! Awesome crowd, didn't feel overwhelmed at all. Due to the wait, I had my wife grab me a tea from next door as I waited in line. Line moved quick. We wanted to try everything so we ordered the steak shwarma wrap meal, chicken shwarma wrap meal, kids chicken zingers, a can of Palestinian cola and hummus. Due to it being the soft opening the food took a bit of time to come out as expected but when it arrived it was delicious. The only suggestion I would recommend it letting customers know the hummus doesn't come with bread, but I was ok with that. Steak and chicken were flavorful. The zingers were like a chicken patty but cut up, a bit different. Was expecting more like chicken tenders but still was good. Overall great menu, food and open until 1am every day! Will...