Fattoush — Restaurant in Palos Township

We wanted to try some food from another immigrant community, as we had great luck in Chicago's Chinatown earlier that day.

This area had a lot of Middle Eastern restaurants so we searched and chose this one. I was pleased to see that Middle Eastern people were the primary customers. They wore a mix of modern and traditional clothing and I didn't feel too awkward about how I was dressed.

As a woman, I was worried about how I looked. I dress like an average American mom, but I want to be respectful of others' cultures. I wore fitted bootleg-cut jeans with a high waist and a loose-fitting top that showed ~1" of decolletage. No one seemed to mind or notice.

No idea what we ordered, but it was all delicious. We tried to order a little of everything, and we were not disappointed!

We ordered an appetizer of hummus and we each received a small complimentary bowl of green stuff. We did not know what it was so we dipped the flatbread in it. It was good, but soon realized it was Lentil Soup. Delicious pork-free Lentil Soup!?! Yaaaassss! There wasn't a drop left.

The salad was delicious, too. Fresh ingredients, house-made dressing, and an original flavor. I was really impressed. Hard to believe a salad could be surprising, but it is.

I can't remember every dish we got specifically, but we did try almost every type of food.

The Shawarma was fantastic and was still delicious as cold leftovers!

EVERYTHING was fresh and delicious: flatbread, sauces, dressing, salad, soups are all house-made.

Even the Pina Colada was made using fresh pineapple and coconut cream, not some premade mix. They were so good that I ordered one for myself as well, after tasting the children's.

The server was pleasant and attentive. She was bilingual. The owner checked on us without being intrusive. He seemed adorably relieved.

My whole family was pleased and the leftovers were delicious, cold...

Had a really disappointing experience here on Friday night. Both the service and food were let downs. Had previously been here in years past and had usually always had an over all good experience. When we arrived we were greeted right away and taken to a table, but before anyone could even sit, the server was at the table asking us if we wanted apps? A few seconds passed and he was back again asking about apps. We did order a couple apps after a few questions were asked, which to be honest he was not very helpful nor did he seems to know the answers to the questions himself. After several apps were placed we had to seek out a busser to request water for the table. Apps over all were just OK. The dips were the only thing everyone at the table liked. Shwarma platter was so incredibly disappointing, came out drier than the crusty bits they scrape off the grill at the end of the night, the rice was hard and really lacked any flavor. We had also ordered the fattosh mixed grill so we had many options and the beef/lamb tasted as if a cheap starter fluid had been used to start the fire while the meat was cooking. The basic salad we got with our meals were so salty, really unpleasant. At the end of the meal the server asked how our meal/experience was and we expressed great dissatisfaction with the food over all. And ultimately no action was taken. Definitely am not one to expect free stuff but a manager to stop and act like they care about the complaint would have been nice. Instead an auto tip was added to my bill for 4 guests and once paid waistaff was seen no more.

Over all a really really poor experience. And despite the couple of decent previous visits, I have taken this place off my roster...

I wrestled with leaving this review. As a small business owner, I understand the importance of protecting the brand. So, I'll start with the positives... My husband and I were the only customers so, customer service was an easy plus since there was no one else to require the staff's attention. We were sat by the window, at a booth. Neither of us are typically fans of hummus. We now know that, we aren't fans of pre-packaged hummus. The hummus here was absolutely delicious! Creamy and flavorful! And, the warm pita that accompanied it was fluffy and warm. Again, delicious! We ordered the Fattoush wings for an appetizer. The char was perfect and flavorful. We ordered the lambchop meal and the seafood mix meal. Both looked delicious. The presentation was lovely.

Now for the reason of the 2 stars... while we were enjoying our appetizers a cockroach crawled up the wall and along the window frame! We immediately grabbed our belongings and moved to a table in the center of the room, away from the walls. When we told the server why we moved, she had no reaction & just nodded her head. THIS is when we should've just left! We didn't, we stayed and waited for our meal. In retrospect, the server's reaction indicated that the appearance of a cockroach was not a rare occurrence. We attempted to eat our meal, but needless to say our appetites were ruined and after 10 minutes of eating in silence, we decided to pack up and leave. This is unfortunate! Especially since, they were recommended for the flavorful cuisine and large portions. We should've just paid them for the appetizers and left instead of feeling guilty about the meal being in the...