Al-Sham Restaurant — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I visited Al-Sham (Chelten Ave location) after a wonderful recent experience at the original Bustleton Ave restaurant. I thought the food and overall experience would match Bustleton Ave, however the Chelten Ave locations falls extremely short. I waited 40 minutes when I was told my food would only take 20 minutes to prepare. I arrived home to find my falafel cold and nasty, the lentil soup was watery and unflavorful, my hummus was drenched with an oil, and the 5 piece veggie samosas I ordered was rung up as beef (I don’t eat meat so I’m very upset that meat was rung up for my order). The food simply was not good at all and inedible. In the 40 minutes I waited in the store, I saw error after error with multiple customer’s orders that restaurant staff would attempt to correct on the fly. One woman just walked out without receiving her food because her advance phone order was unprepared upon arrival.

The owners of Al-Sham should really do a quality assurance review of how their satellite locations are performing. Every location should be operating at the same standard and seamlessly as a single brand. What I witnessed at Chelten Avenue was poor, and the food experience was sub par. I am disappointed to think I would have the same wonderful food experience as I did with the Bustleton Avenue location. My hard earned $30 went down the drain on a meal I did not...

I used to go to the one on city avenue but when I moved to east falls a year a land half ago I started going to this one on Chelten. It was good for awhile . New management I believe and Honestly they are very hit or miss lately it’s been more miss. Order messed up badly in March gave them another chance a few weeks in between and then I get low quality food. You would think with corona going on they’d value their customers so this time yesterday actually I Ordered my favorite a mixed shawarma salad should be easy right? well my lamb and Chicken was so Bland the chicken was overcooked it was hard as a rock. I mean this was pretty early in the day so I’m guessing the gave me chicken from the previous day you call they will fix but The lady gives you plenty of attitude. So after my last incident I didn’t wanna call again honestly just pass on them for awhile unless I go back to City avenue location this one has been xtremely downhill the past...

A fantastic Middle Eastern take out! The baba ganoush, hummus, are exactly right - the baba is as good as mine, I'm impressed.

The tabouli is to die for, the right proportion of bulgur to parsley - it's green in other words. I've also had the meat pie, spinach samosa, chicken souvlaki, and salads with grilled meat. The stuffed grape leaves are very good, more Greek style than Lebanese, but not overcooked or soggy.

There are tables, but it's really a take out kind of place. I haven't had the platters with rice yet so I can't speak to them. Next time definitely the kibbee.

Everything is made to order, the people are welcoming, and the place is clean. Only nit picks - the spinach pie is not spanikopita, it's made with a samosa wrapper, not Phyllis. The tahini sauce doesn't have enough lemon juice. But I could happily eat there...