Al-Rayan restaurant — Restaurant in Indianapolis

Wow! Truly amazing food and experience. Excellent value and portions for the price. Easily in the top 5 restaurants in Indianapolis. Food is Yemeni. Our family visited here for the first time 6 weeks ago and we've already been back 4 additional times. I am ashamed to say that I was initially worried about trying Al Rayan because I am not Middle Eastern, didn't recognize most of the menu items, and was slightly worried how we might be treated. I couldn't have been more wrong! All of the staff has treated us with warmth, kindness, and respect and they are wonderful representatives for the Indianapolis Middle Eastern/Muslim community. Our waitresses were exceptional, friendly, and patient/very helpful with my numerous questions during our first couple visits. The owner's adult son comes out from the kitchen and checks in with us frequently to see how the food is and if we need anything. Restaurant is exceptionally clean and the food is a wonderful adventure of complex flavors. I recommend trying one of the family style platters or the Friday buffet for your first visit, so you can try different things. The $29 sampler platter is a huge amount of chicken and lamb, prepared several different ways, and comes piled atop a big platter of wonderfully flavorful rice and accompanied by different sauces and unlimited refills of their yummy flatbread (somewhat similar to naan). The Friday all you can eat buffet is $15.95, but includes unlimited drinks- both fountain and cans. JUST GO TO AL RAYAN and see for yourself. They have little private booths where you sit on cushions on the floor and there are curtains to close during your meal.

Visiting Indianapolis for a day trip, we had not made any plans for dinner. Had heard about an Indian Restaurant that was the best in Indiana, and drove there first. It was actually closed for a week. With that out of the picture, just decided to drive down Lafayette Road, and found quite a few restaurants from around the world. At 38th street and Lafayette, we found Patel brothers and a Halal Supermarket in a strip mall. Contained within the same mall was a Biryani Restaurant (closed in the mid afternoon) and we found Al-Rayan Restaurant. We walked in to a lovely atmosphere and 2 folks greeted us at the door. Loved the options for seating: booth, table, covered booths with a table, and covered booths with an option to sit on the floor. We choose a covered booth with a table. Our service was very prompt and kind. We had water. We ordered the hummus beiruti with oil, parsley and paprika, a falafel sandwich and shish kabab. Now on the menu, I’m vegetarian so I had some appetizer options, hummus, falafel, and tabbouleh. The hummus came out first. It was beautiful, along with a warm piece of lavaash. The hummus was delicious, the way it should be. It was light, airy and so flavorful. Our entrees came out following that. The falafel sandwich came with fresh fries with a wonderful seasoning. The shish kabob was flavorful with an aromatic rice. There was Franks Red Hot Sauce on the table so I used that to have in addition with the falafel sandwich. The food was so flavorful. The wait staff was so kind. They came in and checked on us frequently to make sure we were doing ok. We even asked what the seasoning was on the fries, one of the staff actually brought us some to take home when we asked. Our service was prompt. The food was delicious. The space was so clean and well kept. It was so inviting. I’ve already snacked on the leftover hummus I brought home. Looks like we have more reasons to go back to Indianapolis, Al-Rayan is at the top...

My main problem was with their attitude. We ordered a dish but received something different without any explanation. When asked for the reason they simply said they ran out of our order!!! It seems they think they can serve something else without anyone notice it. That’s unacceptable. Detailed review below:

We ordered mixed platter (28.99), lamb chops (19.99) and hummus with meat (6.99) for three. Pros: 1-They has enough space to sit on floor as a Mediterranean tradition or table. 2-Their food had enough and delicious amount of spices as we expected. 3-The food was cooked well. 4-For Saturday afternoon, it wasn’t crowded. 5-It is close to other international market, which is useful. 6-It has Halal food if anyone is looking for. 7-The bread was warm, fresh and delicious too.

Cons: 1-Don’t rely on amount of food from pictures on the menu, from other Mediterranean and Middle Eastern restaurant experiences (Amer’ grill in Lafayette, Kababi restaurant in Chicago), we expected Chops in real size, but it was less than it shows in their picture. It wasn’t enough for even one of us. 2-The menu says mixed platter will come with two lamb kofta, 2 chicken kofta, 2 shish kabab, 2 shish tawook shawerma, but when our order arrived, we see it wasn’t 4 different kind of kebab and when I asked for that, they told we didn’t have shish kebab and we just replaced it (they replaced it without telling us before that, or allowing us to change our order!!! Do they think we don’t know what the menu says and it is ok to serve what they want?) 3-The hummus and meat picture also wasn’t similar with what they brought for us, it shows a hummus plate full of meat, but the meat was about one tablespoon. 4- The hummus taste was really similar to tahini itself not hummus, but it was ok for us. Overall between us, two of us weren’t satisfied with food and service and the other one wasn’t satisfied with amount of food and service, but he...