Balqees Restaurant Traditional Yemeni & Lebanese Cuisine - مطعم بلقيس — Restaurant in Bailey's Crossroads

We usually would go to Saba Yemeni as they have been our fav for years now. Someone actually suggested that Balqees is Saba’s (little) sister branch (which we found out not to be true) and thought we can’t go wrong. My wife also researched that they have good outdoors seating, which is our fav way to dine these days due to the pandemic.

We were pleasantly surprised to see amazing outdoors arrangement with well lit outdoor space. With music roaring out of a huge Led Speaker in the background, we headed in. The wait staff, Mahmoud, asked us if we had a reservation, which we did not and said that for doors seating we would have needed one, but said he can fit us in and it’s highly recommended to have a reservation for future. He also informed us that for outdoor seating there’s a minimum of $25 per person for a party of 4 or less (min charges for party of 4 is $100). We are a family of six with kids and seniors. Mahmoud (part owner/ part family) was considerate enough and arranged us to sit away from folks smoking Shisha (Hookah). It was a cold night and we were seated at the table that had a fire place. There were gas heaters but all of them were in use, but Mahmoud assure us that he will bring one as soon as some of the customers on other table left.

With fire burning, we as a family gathered around it, and started looking at the menu. We quickly decided what we wanted. We got Regular Hummus, and Hummus with Lamb as appetizers, Jareesh, chicken Kabsa and chicken Mandi, we also got the s’mores, pistachio cake and saffron cake as dessert and finished off with mint tea.

Everything was exceptionally flavorism. For starters Hummus with Lamb was delicious. My dad, who is not a lamb eater, loved it too. By the time we were done eating appetizer, hot Jareesh made it to our table. We got a smaller bowl and everyone got couple of spoonful and enjoyed it. The spicy dressing in the middle with fried onion was awesome, salted perfectly. While we were on Jareesh a big tray of hot Mandi and Kabsa was brought in. We all had singles seconds and thirds. It was delicious. The rice has perfect spice while the chicken was falling off the bone, mixed with salad, spicy chutney and tomato salsa. Foodgasm is a perfect word to describe the feel. Mahmoud recommended us to get pistachio and saffron cake which as well. I loved the saffron more than pistachio. Our kids enjoyed the s’mores while dad and I enjoyed black Mint tea to finish off our amazing evening.

It was a cold night and initially a struggle for us to how to eat as there was fire right in the middle. With an extra table, we made it like a buffet. Mahmoud, our server for the night along with an older gentleman made us feel at home. The service was as top notch with Mahmoud stopping by frequently asking us if we needed anything else. He also got us couple of more gas heaters when most of the people left. According to my younger son, the night was part of his best memories.

I would highly recommend Balqees for folks who want to try Yemeni, Saudi food and it sure will give run for money to Saba Yemeni, a very healthy competition. Amazing food, great ambiance and perfect service, we will be returning there for sure. N thank you Mahmoud, if you are reading this, you turned an ordinary Sunday night to an amazing one. Shukran Jazeelan Ya Akhi wa Barak...

Original Review: 11/2023

Amazing Food, A good bang for the buck. Farah was an amazing hostess, a truly outstanding overall experience

——————————————————————-

Removing stars for the service delivery levels. Horrible and Pathetic.

Another UPDATE (10/2024):

After this update, went to the restaurant and it was not terribly busy but had to wait forever for the food and then was served ‘plastic cutlery’ to go with middle eastern food. Questioned this move, Found a gentleman claiming to be the owner explaining that we do that for everyone until someone asks for steel cutlery. Looked around, all the ‘locals’ did not have to endure this so sensed a hint of racism.

Another, Another: UPDATE (08/2025):

Since the food was great and the dine in service levels had dropped considerably, went ahead and placed an online order ‘from their own website and ordering system’, waited for 45 mins, went inside only to find that the understaffed location missed my order and , NO JOKES ! , proceeded with taking a picture of my order from their phone and then waited another 20 mins, Family was hungry and waiting outside in the car.

Went back and finally got the food. Due to the long wait, decided to open the bag and take out fries for the kids, (something which I never usually do) discovered they were missing a $30 item. Went back in and they again (after taking pictures of my order from their phone) again asked me to pull up my phone and then gave me the missed item, had a coupon for a free drink, was never offered one, I reminded them but was disgusted at this point so just rushed out. 45 minutes of wasted driving time from Maryland (One-way). People are already paying CRAZY high prices if you look at other reviews, this isn’t a cheap joint. But the service delivery levels are of downtown Yemen as well.

Over a $100 quick take away and this level of embarrassment. Advice to people eating there, try going in with some local Arabs to get treated with respect and have a flawless experience. I can see usually the locals are leaving 5 stars since they probably communicate in Arabic and then get treated with respect and dignity.

You can see I am being very objective and gave them a couple of chances before removing all the stars, they increased the ambiance but never catered to the understaffing issue (Maximizing Profits will hurt them in the long run and it’s sad, cuz the food was...

Unfortunately it was an unexpected and uncomfortable experience with this place, We were four big families Once we got seated and asked to have 4 separate checks of each family head to make it easier when we pay, the management refused and said no it is going to be a total order and at the time of payment we can tell the cashier what each family has ordered ,we got unto a little discussion about it and we were about to leave but we have kids we did not want to spoil the day for them it was Eid Feast...The orders came after 45 minutes many of them were wrong and duplicated and had to be returned back to be corrected, my wife asked for Baba Ghanosh never served, a main dish called Hasna were ordered for two ladies they came with two different uneven onion topping and the difference were very noticeable, We asked for water, water came after 4 times of requests from us within 20 minutes, food also is not the best, taste wise and portions wise,and by the way the place wasn't that crowded when we came, after we finished the food it took them 45 minutes to remove the empty plates,We asked for Hooka"Shisha", one of the Shisha came with half filled water and it didn't work the Shisha guy came and added water through the SIDE of it and this is was A RED FLAG, For all people who smoke Hooka "Shisha" know that to add water to Hooka,the glass jar has to be removed from the body of the Hooka to add water and also for washing and cleaning the jar after every single customer usage, unfortunately the Hooka didn't work after Shisha guy added the water from the side of Shisha body, I stepped in to check the Hooka as I have many of them at home, I found out that the glass jar is glued to the the Hooka body that the reason the water is added through the opening where the hose is plugged, I was wondering if this place get this jars washed and sanitize after each use, it is the same concept like a person has a cup of juice with a straw but the cup lid is glued to the cup and the only way to wash the cup after usage is to use the small lid opening instead of removing the cup lid,Any way that was our experience as four families and it wasn't unpleasant and won't...