Aladdin Cafe — Restaurant in Richardson

If you don't look Middle Eastern, I wouldn't recommend this place. They will ignore you.

I went here yesterday with my husband thinking it would be a pleasant experience, but our entire time here felt very uncomfortable. When we first came in, we were met with a sign which states to wait to be seated. However, there was no one around to take us to our seats. Instead, one of the girls at the counter told us we could sit a certain table number, and we had to figure out ourselves which table that was. We scanned the QR code on the table to view the menu, but afterwards, we were a bit confused on how to order. We didn't know if we had to go up to the counter or if someone would come take our order. This process felt very messy on the restaurants part. We went up to the counter and placed our order, which came out to approximately $65 for just me and my husband, which was ridiculous considering the poor service. We thankfully made our order in time before brunch time ended (2pm). After we sat back down, we were then finally approached by a girl who asked if we had placed our order already. This had me thinking that if we had stayed in our seats and been at the mercy of this waitress, we would have surely missed brunch. Our food was good, and it wasn't bad, though the eggs could have been seasoned more. Overall, the food was quite overpriced and not worth what we paid, especially considering the portions they gave us.

Now here's the uncomfortable part, when we got our food I asked that same waitress (who was late coming to our table) for napkins. She acknowledged what I said and I trusted her. The napkins never came. And I watched her run around the restaurant and appease the other guests who I noticed were all Arab/Middle Eastern like herself. So it was quite obvious that she had some prejudice against us given that she took extra care to make sure the other guests had what they needed. She never came back to our table after that first request I made. She put extra effort to seat a large Middle Eastern family together behind us but we were ignored. The environment also felt very crowded with too many chairs especially given that they frequently roll out a tray of the food to your table. I felt like I was being a bother because of the amount of times I had to scooch my chair.

Once it was time to go, I ignored her and she instead addressed my husband as we were on our way out. An eye for an eye. Very disappointing. If this is a Muslim owned establishment, one would never guess it because it felt like an exclusive Arab club rather than a legit restaurant. Qamaria Yemeni Coffee in Mansfield is much better, and they behave like Muslims should as well. Not to mention, they have professionalism, excellent customer service skills and organization. Qamaria's atmosphere is very relaxing and serene in comparison. It's like night and day. Whoever manages Aladdin should be ashamed. I do NOT recommend this place. In fact if you live in the North Dallas area, please go support Qamaria Yemeni Coffee whenever their Dallas location finally opens. Don't waste your money...

Shorthand: cool place, subpar drinks (can't comment on coffee or food), waitress and Kitchen staff were poorly trained, (we were given a plate of food that was eaten from by another customer, but we eventually were refunded for the food).

We ordered apple tea and a mango smoothie. The apple tea was not worth the price for the size and taste (there was also food coloring in it that kinda made it look unappetizing). The food we ordered was the chicken fajita sandwich and the Turkish kumpir. We were told after receiving our drinks that the Turkish kumpir would take 20 minutes given that they were busy (not sure if they meant the hours before we came in they were busy because there were only three other tables of guests- we came at 2 pm for reference) we said we would wait for it and they let us know the chicken fajita sandwich was on the way. Unfortunately we did not get to taste the food due to some very poor service. We were given a chicken fajita sandwich which was a good portion size and we had moved the plate around to take pictures as seen in the photos. The waitress then comes around and places another sandwhich on the table. We notified her that she had given us the wrong order because we had not ordered two sandwiches. She proceeded to take the fajita sandwich saying that it was a falafel sandwich meant for the other table. She puts it from our table directly on to the other customer's table. We let her know that the sandwich remaining on the table was not part of our order. She takes it back to the kitchen. She goes out from the kitchen and back to the table behind us switches the plate and puts the chicken fajita sandwhich back on our table. I told her we didn't want it as the other customer had already eaten from the plate as it was obvious because the sauce on the plate was smeared. From what it seemed like afterwards in the back of the kitchen she was told to put the same food on another plate. When she did, we requested a refund. She became frustrated because the people in the kitchen were frustrated from the situation. Seeing that the people in the kitchen were arguing we went up to the register and just asked for a refund. The waitress came up there defending herself saying the sandwich was not even eaten from. Thankfully another worker had just came in and understood our complaint and refunded us for the sandwich and kumpir. Hopefully the tip that wasn’t refunded had gone to the staff that was helpful in the situation.

To owner: please watch your cameras on Tuesday at 2:40 pm onward to watch it all happen if you don’t...

Please teach your waitress the difference between tea and coffee if she is delivering drinks. Also asked for water and she never brought it. Had to ask three times and another person brought it. Order of fries had to be asked for three times as well ($12.99 for fries??). Food was not great. Coffee was the only thing that was decent. Trays are only till 2 PM, despite it being the main advertisement and you are only allowed to sit outside at night. Came here for a birthday and it was very disappointing. Would not recommend.

Reply to owner: We paid $12.99 for the Turkish kumpir that you came back saying was sold out after we had already paid for it so you said you would bring fries instead (We had to ask you for the difference back, you did not offer). The fries were not brought out until we asked three times and were soggy/blackened. The waitress literally stated to all of us she did not know what the drink was she delivered when asked if it was coffee or tea. We asked to sit outside and were told we weren’t allowed during the day. We never told to ORDER WATER (seriously?) at the front even though we asked for it. The water was also hot when we received it. Poor response from owner. Will not be returning. Providing a glass of water for customers buying food is beyond simple. I’m confused why the owner is unsure of what I’m “complaining” about when I clearly stated we received poor service and food. All stars updated to zero due to dishonest and rude...