Ali's Nihari & BBQ — Restaurant in Rogers Park Township

This restaurant has been our go to restaurant for dining and catering since it opened up. However, while most items are still very good, we have had back to back negative experiences that made me leave this review.

Our family had a dinner with about 15 guests. We were immediately seated and given menus. The tables were filthy. I understand this place gets busy, however, to think that customers will be ok to sit with tables having heavy stains on their white cloths and food stains all over the Glass tops, then they are very wrong. They need to ensure to wipe down the tables and the cloths in between every customer or even change the cloths if needed. Window areas, window sills are all filthy and these are not good signs of proper management!

After we got our menu, water and some ordinary table salad. The staff never returned. After waiting for a good 10+ minutes, I walked to one of the waiters and asked him to send someone our way. Well he forgot or who ever he told, never came. So again we had to call them over.

The order Pakora- a plate full of a few full size pakoras then rest were plate full of tiny pakora particles and bits. Literally. A plate of pakora should be a plate full of them. These were vegetables ones and a very easy and cheap food item to make in batches. They basically gave us only 3 pakoras with many fried tiny bits at menu cost Ridiculous.

Sodas. We ordered multiple sodas and it took 3 trips for them to get all of the ordered drinks to us after being asked to recheck our order and see what we asked for. They kept forgetting or serving diff tables and just kept missing our drinks. This is a very simple task. The mango lassi litterally came towards middle of our meal instead of when originally asked of( right at start.)

Nihari was good as usual.

Karachi Gosht: The base/masala was very tasty however the meat was absolutely not chewable. None of us could chew it. We told the waiter and all he said was sorry. Not even willing to replace it. Waste of money for masala only.

Bhiriyani was avery tasty but there was hardly any rice on our platters. Not sure if they were running out or what, but we were not happy with the quantity of rice at all. We had to ask for just some plain rice to add to our plate. Lots of meat actually, hardly any rice! Before eating we called the wait staff to see for themselves and he agreed that rice was less and got us just rice.

My previous visit here was also a negative. Our pickup order was a mess. The naan were super small and dry, thin. The nihari was mostly oil with 1 large meat piece. The bhiriyani was super over the top spicy and almost not edible at that spice level. It is unfortunate that such a wonderful establishment is already showing signs of inconsistencies and...

Food is great and place is clean, the service is lackluster and needs attention.

I've been here about 17 times since it's opening so I have a pretty good feel for this restaurant. The food quality is terrific and the atmosphere is super clean and well kept. Prices are reasonable for Devon street. The last two visits (October 2040 and November 2024], however, I had issues with the service. In October, we came on a weekday evening and put our name down for three at the front. We were told to sit down along the wall and wait. We saw several tables open, but figured they were waiting for bigger parties so we waited patiently. We were waiting for about 10 minutes, when a party of 3 walked in asking for a table for 6. They were seated immediately even though they were 3 people and the full party wasn't even there yet. Just as I was about to ask the seat usher why they were seated before us I saw one of the leads signaled to have us seated immediately because we shouldn't have been waiting. Turns out the 3 other people of the party of 6 showed up an hour later but they were still seated before us, I know this because we were seated next to them. When we asked for the check, the server collected our card, and then started talking to someone he knew at the front for 20 minutes before returning back to us. The most recent visit I had was in November 2024. We came during lunch time and there was only one other table being served when we got there. I place an order for chai, asking it to be delivered after my meal. The food came out in 20 minutes and was very good. After finishing, we were asked if we wanted to pack the food and if everything was OK. We asked it to be packed and then were asked if we wanted dessert or chai. And I spoke up and said I placed an order for chai when the food order was placed and that I was still waiting for that. The server went to the back and then walked up to another table and started chatting with them. Turns out it had been 25 minutes and my chai still wasn't there, my parking meter was expiring, and the chai was taking longer than the food to make. I asked another server for the chai, and still nothing nor an apology. It was as if they were growing tea leaves under uv lamps in the back for the tea. I finally walked up and asked for the bill and how it's remarkable that I've been waiting about 30 minutes for tea and had asked 2 different servers about it. The service seems aloof and distracted when busy, but at 1pm on a weekday there were only two other tables there I don't know why that was such a difficult order with 4 servers walking around. I still left a tip, but that's my second consecutive poor...

One of the worst experience for anyone to have at any restaurant. Went for dinner tonight. After being seated, waited for quite a while no one came to take the order. Had to flag down one of the waiters to give the order. Then the wait started after 10 minutes a waiter comes to take the order, I said we already ordered. 10 minutes later another waiter comes to take the order, I said we already ordered. 10 minutes later another waiter came and said we misplaced your order can I take the order and said I will prioritize your order. waited again then saw 3 tables that were empty when we arrived their food came and they were already eating. i thought to my self so much for prioritizing and asked one of the waiter to get me some cucumber till my food arrives. Still nothing after a while I asked to talk to the owner Ali. One waiter said he is in the back busy, I said ok I need to talk to him. After a while I was told he was not there. I asked for his phone number. They started ignoring me. I said ok I will get his number myself from my contacts. Magically Ali appeared and tried to explain me the ordering system was not working properly. I told him i can see your ordering system is working properly because other 3 tables came after me and they already have their food and I can see your waiters are entering orders in the system just fine. By the way my cucumbers never arrived. Then after some noise the food arrived I ordered 3 iteams only two came. I asked what happened to the 3rd iteam. Ali apologized and went in to get it. By this time other 3 tables that came after me were finishing up. I told Ali your employees lied to me saying your were not here and you lied to me saying you ordering system is not working. He looked at me and said what else should I have done. Humble request never lie to your customers. Once you lie all your credibility goes down the drain. Quality of customer service is important before...