Ali's Chicken & Waffles — Restaurant in San Diego

Location: I work in downtown and tried this place for the first time. I was greeted with a smile and greeting. Place looks bright and clean. A simple menu with sandwich entrees averaging about $7 and sides about $5. I ordered the spicy chicken sandwich + combo (fries, drink and sauce) to go. Getting the combo doesn't get you a deal as it just adds the price of the fountain drink and fries. Again more words of niceness from the cashier then told me my food would be right up. After about 10 minutes I received my order and I was on my way back to work... ETA 5 minutes. Food: Food was in a white box and upon opening, I saw a nice sized chicken sandwich with a white sauce dripping from the sides of a crispy looking piece of chicken. The fries were a golden brown with a hefty color of red spice on them. I grabbed for the fries first as they were a good amount filling the box but unfortunately they turned out to be cold and not very crispy. Good flavor but it seemed they weren't the fresh out of the fryer fries that I hoped for. Still good and flavorful but just not fresh and crispy. I next grabbed for the sandwich. I was able to handle it with 1 hand so it wasn't the biggest sandwich I've had but still had good weight to it. No veges on it... Just bun and meat. I like that!! The bread was fresh and chicken crispy. It was legit good! I ordered the spicy version but only about a level 2 for my tastes. I had to add a couple packets of Red Hots to it. Again, still a great sandwich. Crispy on the outside and tender/juicy on the inside. Seasoned well. The Ali sauce taste a bit like "McDonald's Sauce" but went well with the cold fries. Overall: I'll be back. I'll add this place to my list of downtown work eats. I hope try a fresher batch of fries. I also want to try the waffles and shrimp. Definitely a must try...

Will review quickly as I eat out so much.

Had 3 sandwiches and collard greens. Review: The 1st sandwich was the spicy chicken sandwich. It had very good flavor and hot out of the grease so it was fresh, tender and juicy. The second sandwich was the chicken and waffles. It had great flavor and with the help of Smucker's syrup they added on the side. The last sandwich was the original chicken. It was good also. The best was the spicy sandwich.

I was disappointed in the collard greens. Had very little flavor and the bacon strip in the greens was undercooked. Didn't want to risk the chance of getting Trichinosis from a parasite if the pig was infected. My collard green recipe would blow the green off of these collards.

The service was great and the atmosphere decor bland.

I tried once and probably wouldnt try again as there are so many choices...

Found Ali’s via EatOkra and decided to pop in for breakfast during our short layover. I was excited to learn that this is a halal restaurant which meant there would be zero limitations on what I could order. We ordered the breakfast burrito, the cluckfast burrito, mom’s tea, and mom’s iced tea.

The burritos were massive—especially for the price and they didn’t skimp in the crispy beef bacon. While we were dining, a group of workers came in to order lunch (always a good sign). The interior is humble, but the offerings are absolutely something to write home about. The tea was so good we ordered two more to go for our walk around the downtown area and were very grateful to receive them free of charge with well wishes for the rest of our trip.

We do plan to come back to San Diego, and this will be...