Aladin Mediterranean Kitchen — Restaurant in Virginia

I would not recommend this restaurant for numerous reasons. The service is slow and argumentative. The food is not that good. I will first provide the positive aspect of this establishment. The bread and olive oil was nice. The French fries were hot and crispy, but very few for the added price of $3 to the $10 schwarma. There was nothing else good about my experience. We will first discuss how slow the service was. We ordered two wraps and it took almost an hour to get them. This was partly due to the fact that I believe the waitress forgot to enter my menu. I believe she entered another tables order as I kept getting food and drinks brought to my table that I didn’t order. The other reason I believe this was a reason was that my waitress asked me what I ordered because she thought that she wrote it down wrong, which she did. She informed me not to worry about that mistake because she forgot to place my order in.

Next I will talk about the argumentative staff. Two separate staff members came by to deliver food to my table that I didn’t order. They informed me that it was for my table even after I pointed them to the table that most likely ordered the food. It was the other table that my waitress was serving. I was polite when pointing them to where it was probably meant but was met with a comment with attitude.

Now regarding the quality of the food. The meat in the schwarma was not very hot and was very tough and dry. The wrap had no tahini sauce added to it. If it did have sauce, that would mean that not only was the meat rubbery, it was almost dehydrated as this was one of the driest wraps I have ever tried to eat. I could only stomach two bites before I gave up on it. The product that was used as the wrap was also disappointing. It resembled and tasted like a store bought flour tortilla, like Mission, but worse.

I was fine with paying my bill and leaving without any comment until the manager or owner came out to talk to me regarding the food. I informed her that I had been in several different Middle Eastern countries and that schwarma did not taste like any of them. I guess she took offense and informed me that she was from Egypt and that how her store prepared them was how all Middle Eastern countries made a schwarma. She might be from Egypt, but I can attest that none of the street vendors in Greece, Turkey, Crete, UAE, or Bahrain ever served a schwarma that was so dry or rubbery. I can accept that the flavor will be different as each cook prepares it slightly different, but slow roasted meat should never be rubbery and sauce always goes on the wrap unless asked for...

Ok, first the Good:

The dining area and bar area (separated by decorative half wall) was very clean and made a very nice impression. Be advised, this was my (pregnant) wife’s and my first visit to this establishment. The decor is very appropriate and the music was actually really good 👍🏽. We were immediately sat and handed menus. I ordered the Lamb Kabob. DESIGN FAIL

12/11/20 Update: I don't know what happened between 9 months ago and now... But I WON'T be coming back for awhile. My husband ordered a fettachinni alfredo pasta with chicken added and it came with a salad and garlic bread. I ordered 10 boneless wings with hot buffalo sauce with blue cheese and a gyro.... The pasta tasted like the kind you get at the freezer section of the grocery store and it's been microwaved, the chicken was rubbery and NOT grilled, the garlic bread was ok, and the salad was perfect. The portions for the alfredo was lousy and WAS NOT worth $15.

My wings tasted like tysons boneless wings and was EXTREMELY dry. I know there's multiple recipes and ways you can make blue cheese dressing, but I've made it growing up with my parents and each different restaurant I went to, it had its unique flavor and this blue cheese dressing tasted like ranch. (Did I mention that they don't give you enough?) The total came out to be 40 something... Take your money to Momma's, at least their pasta is a lot better and they give you better portion size. I forgot to mention that you can tell momma's alfredo is something they make from scratch. 🙁

I ordered for pickup today for me, my husband, and my uncle.

I had the gyro with the sauce on the side, along with baklava. Granted, I've had baklava homemade, but I would say this was rich and the meat in the gyro has the right amount of spices. 😍😍

My uncle had the medium pizza with saus and pepp and enjoyed every bit. It beats Vocelli's and Mama's (plus every other place). But have a bunch of tissues afterwards cause of the saus. 😉😂

Of course the burger was a burger to my husband, but he was struggling towards the end.

Enough of me rambling. Just know we will be coming back and if you ever want pizza, get it here. Its COMPLETELY different than other pizza...