Aladdin Cafe — Restaurant in Kansas City

I should open with saying that if I were just judging by my food experience with Aladdin Cafe, this would be five stars, hands down. I order them via Uber Eats frequently because of the pandemic, and I'm always so happy with the food. For the longest time I was a gyro only kind of guy, and if that's you, you're not going to be disappointed with what Aladdin has to offer. But if you decide to go off the beaten path and explore other options, you'll be happy you did. My favorite meal I've had there is the Kifta and Hummus sandwich. The flavor is fantastic, though it's a messy eat, to be sure. So worth it though. I've also had their falafel, chicken biryani, shawarma...everything has been delicious. The only reason why I took a star off is because of my visit to the actual restaurant. The person who greeted us had almost an aggro attitude, telling us that he had to clean off a table first (despite the place only having one other table in the dining room at the time) as if we were putting him out somehow. Then he just tells us "the second to last table on the right" as he walks past us. Luckily, the person I was with heard him, because I couldn't make out all that he said and probably would have sat somewhere different. Due to the pandemic, none of us had eaten in a restaurant in a long time. So we didn't really know all the ways that things have changed. We sat at the table and waited patiently for our waiter to bring us menus. After several minutes he shows up and says "are you ready to order?" We said we still hadn't seen a menu, and he tells us that there's a QR code on the table that we were supposed to scan for our menu. But if we've literally never seen that before and never had to do that in the past, even at this particular restaurant, then how exactly would we know this? Also, I have a QR code scanner on my phone, but my companions had cheaper budget phones and didn't have one on theirs. And he never made mention of the QR code thing when he told us where to sit, either. So, his attitude and service definitely damaged my estimation of the restaurant. It's a testament to how good the food is that I only knocked one star off for this server's attitude. The food is just that good. I'd like to leave this review on a positive note, though. As good as the food is, my favorite things to get here are the Rose Lemonade, and the Rice Blaban, which is a sweet rice pudding dessert that ALSO has rose flavor. So good, and it's so rare to have rose flavors in food in the United States, so I really appreciate...

I love Middle Eastern food and enjoy a number of restaurants, but this is pretty much my favorite Middle Eastern restaurant.

They have a nationally recognized and delicious lentil soup, great baba ganoush, good hummus with a green chili sauce, good dolmas (they usually do a red sauce, which is pretty good - their lemon & olive oil dolmas were awesome), etcetera.

The Jasmine's Combo is hard to miss.

The Cauliflower Zahra is also quite good.

We just grabbed the Jaffar sandwich again and it is delicious with the roasted cauliflower, eggplant, and tahini sauce.

Their lentil soup is delicious.  (The only time I have had it not be in decades, was during Ramadan once when things didn't get fully seasoned and it just needed a little salt, generally everything is delicious.)

Great options whether you're looking for some veg fare or not.

The portions are decent, although everything has gotten smaller and more expensive in recent years, along with everyone else. I used to get leftovers from the sampler with soup, but it is still a hearty meal.

The atmosphere isn't anything fancy, but it is pleasant and comfortable, with some interesting decorations and nice light filtering in from large windows. The porch outside is nice when the weather is just right ... A bit close to traffic, but still a pleasant spot on 39th.

The service has always been friendly and helpful...

My wife and I ordered Aladdin Cafe for the first time. We had a $100 GrubHub gift card so we went all out. We got the Agrabah appetizer plate which is their most expensive app. The Baba ghanoush and Hummous were good but it also was supposed to come with pita, but we didn't receive any. Thankfully we had some pita chips at home. It was also supposed to come with feta but the amount given was very negligible. Same with the olives. We only got 2 (and I love olives) and they were canned black olives. You can find better ones at the store. I got the kifta khebabs which were good and my wife got the beef biryani. She said it was pretty good but it tasted flat to me. There was a lot of rice and 5 pieces of beef. Not sure that was worth the price. We also got the rose lemonade which was pretty good. The rosewater gave it a good taste. Without it, it would've just tasted like the powdered lemonade mix that it was. All in all the food was good but not great. Queens Sweets is better, I think, and cheaper. Lastly, we got the tiramisu. It said it had a hint of cardamom, but it just tasted like tiramisu. Nothing special, but it was satisfying. Maybe if we dined in it would've been better. Either way, with the way things are now, restaurants need to step up their game with takeout. Would take a lot for me to...