Ragadan — Restaurant in Lake View Township

I was so excited to try this place, but it left me extremely underwhelmed and a little irritated—I’m inclined to give 2 stars (below average) because a cup of water costs 50 cents. Water. In a cup. From a faucet. And we spent like $50, including on some bottled sparkling water. Ketchup, mustard, and all other condiment sides are also all extra charges.

The service was fine, the space is small but clean, and the portion sizes are on the smaller side, which I appreciate. The shakes for example are reasonable sizes and not ungodly large like at many other places.

The best thing we got was the basbousa shake (syrup soaked semolina cake pieces, candied orange, and almonds in vanilla ice cream). It was very tasty. The light orange flavor was quite nice.

The falafel ka’ak was lacking in flavor for us. It was stuffed with falafel, hummus, pickle, tomato, tahini, and parsley sauce so it was unfortunate that it all doesn’t result in something with more flavor. Each of the ingredients seemed under-seasoned or something.

The “single dan” burger was nowhere near the high praise I’ve seen from other reviews. It’s a pretty average burger, if a little on the small side. It can hit the spot if you’re really in need of a burger I’m sure.

The baklava shake tasted mostly like a cinnamon shake with bits of baklava that didn’t really taste or feel like what I’d expect baklava to be in a shake. It was good, but not at all what I was expecting and really hoping for. It was not the ice-cream-blended-with-baklava sort of thing I was expecting. After the first few bites the cinnamon flavor became a bit clawing and...

was really hoping to love this spot — the food looked pretty great and some of the reviews on the burgers, falafel sandwiches, and shakes were pretty stellar.

i found the burger to be pretty good but simple and no nonsense, kinda like a Five Guys burger. which i actually really like but i wouldn’t say it’s the best burger in the city.

the falafel ka’ak i found a bit flavourless, though the bread it’s served in is pretty excellent. could personally use more spice, salt, garlic, or something in it.

sadly—after an upwards of $50 purchase for burger, sandwich, 2 shakes, and a sparkling water—we asked for one cup of tap water after we had sat down and they told us it’d be 50 cents each. i find charging for tap water is pretty ridiculous, especially since we also already purchased a (likely) very overpriced sparking water bottle. 🤷🏽‍♂️ this is an automatic drop of 1.5 stars for really no reason at all, and kinda brought down the mood of the rest of the meal.

the saving grace was actually the shake which was delicious! the basbousa shake in particular (i found the baklava shake just taste like cinnamon).

i also appreciate the normal sized portions of everything rather than exaggerated large shakes and burgers. and it’s a simple...

Update: have visited the place couple more times and my opinion haven’t changed. Very tasty and healthy food. As summer approaches it will become my place where I will stock up for picnic at the beach 👌 Tried burgers and they are delicious, meat is really well seasoned and juicy.

Freshness and perfection! Have you ever tried a real falafel or baklava? Are you sure? Here you can definitely have it. The falafel is just as is in the chef’s cookbook: tasty, soft inside and perfect crisp outside but not that hardshell that usually fast food serves it, full of flavour! I had it in form of sandwich and was well combined with tahini cucumbers and other veggies. Moist and fresh! Baklava - there were times when I didn’t understand why baklava was considered an exceptional dish… until I tried it in Istanbul’s oldest place to make it. After that I tried it in many places and it was all disappointing using sugar instead of honey, some cream instead of nuts. Here at Ragadan you can find a very good baklava which uses real honey and real nuts! It it crisp on the top and just enough sweetness in the middle. I loved it. I will definitely be a regular customer. Next time I will take...