Aladdin Sweets and Café — Restaurant in Hamtramck

This was the worse experience I had at Aladdin. I grew up eating at Aladdin and once in a while, I drive all the way from Grand rapids to eat there. This was my go to place for Bengali food for over 15 years. I was a big fan and I used to cater food and have it delivered to Grand Rapids because of how good the food was and how friendly people used to be. So, it wasn't something new for me. I had their food many times. On 12/26/21, I drove all the way down to Hamtramck location to taste the sweets thinking we can cater food for a wedding from Aladdin. At arrival, the guy at cashier (had colored hair) didn't even greet me, just starred at me like he was annoyed by my presence. Regardless, I ordered box of gulab jamun, kalajamun, rosogolla and it was disgusting to say the least. First bite of each, you can tell it was sitting there for a while. The word Rosgollah has "Ros" which means "juice" and let's just say it was the opposite. The rosgollah's were dry and not a drop of syrup. I've never seen dried up rosgollah. The kalajamun was no where near a kalajamun. The word "kala" means "black" and the whole thing was brown. Inside of it supposed to have a different color, texture and flavor and it was plain. Also, all three items had same flavor and it was like biting and eating rubber. I can just hear the rubbery noise in every bite and the sweets weren't sweet at all. Tasted like it was all sugar free gum. I couldn't even swallow, I had to spit it out. I spent around $20 thinking, I will get to sample some good sweets and it was complete rubbish. I had to throw it all out. I am not sure if the ownership changed or the chef changed or the owner decided to save money. I never had a terrible experience at Aladdin till now. I used to love the food but I do not plan on spending money at a place that has such low standard. If they have lowered the quality of their sweets then who knows what else they are doing. I will make sure to inform people around Grand rapids to avoid ordering from Aladdin unless that's the last option on the planet. Very disappointing experience after being such a great place...

I came to Michigan from Bay Area Califorbia and wanted to try authentic Bengali food and hospitality. We asked for the Bengali appetizers on the menu, but were told they were not available. Ordered lentil soup/daal, had no taste and had raw garlic bits floating in it, haleem, meat was not cooked enough, white rice, hard, old burnt rice, carp/Rohu fish curry was cold and not tasty, just tomatoe sauce and raw garlic in the curry. Samosas and shingara were ok, asked for sauce and they gave watered down yogurt that looked fermented served in a foam tea cup. The booth where we sat was sticky and unclean, I was afraid to touch it. I wiped it with napkins afterwards and the napkins turned yellowish brown. This is a disgrace to true bengali culture, hospitality and food. The place should have management and staff change or be shut down. While we were eating, a white Caucasian customer who ordered samosas asked for chutney/sauce. We overheard staff blatantly telling him they had no sauce. Went to wash my hands and the bathroom sink was clogged. There was a fly constantly swarming around with no concern.

To top that off, my husband went to pay and he was being ignored and then they used a calculator to add up numbers that added up to $73.00. My husband gave him a $100 bill and looked at him bewildered. The guy calculated more numbers and then said it’s $23, not $73. We were not given a receipt or a bill, which indicates tax fraud and illegitimate business transactions. We wanted a Bengali sweet to eat after all that, and we were told we had to buy a box of sweets, there were no individual servings at A “BENGALI” SWEET SHOP!!!!! AS A PROUD BENGALI, THIS IS A DISGRACE TO MY CULTURE OF DELICIOUS FOOD AND WONDERFUL HOSPITALITY THAT IS SO UNIQUE!!!!!

THIS PLACE NEEDS A MAJOR FACELIFT.

WE CAME OUT DISGUSTED AND DISSATISFIED.

I don’t even want to give it 1...

So I read so many mixed reviews of this place but we just went and loved it! They started by giving us free pakora on the house which was tasty. Then I ordered the vegetable singara which was also good. They brought us two sauce with them a spicier green sauce and a sweeter brown sauce. I also ordered the salad and it came without dressing because they didn't have it but he broughtback the sauces and it was perfect. The green sauce was a spicy creamy treat on the salad. My husband ordered the Kashmir Chicken which we got without the bones. Oh my goodness was it delicious! I ordered the aloo matar gobi as they were out of begun bhartha. Which I am totally not surprised of as eggplants are impossible to find right now, I've tried! I got it on the spicier side. It was good. But the star was definitely the Kashmir Chicken. The rice was perfect too. Normally the rice is well, rice but the flavors in this rice were so good. As for the bread we got the paratha and plain naan. The paratha wed never tried before but loved it. The naan was ok because well we ordered it plain should have probably ordered it with garlic. We got everything for $29! Such a good price! And on my way out the manager said next we come he would get me Begun Bhartha on the house! The food came so quickly too! My husband and I typically play cards while we wait for our food but it was at our table so fast we only made it through one game and that was after the appetizers which came immediately! I highly recommend this place! I gave it a three star on the atmosphere just because it's nice but nothing really special. But I kind of find that charming. None of the other customers were speaking English which I find a sign that a place is serving...