Baba Saj - Oak Lawn — Restaurant in Worth Township

Never ever do I leave five stars through the entire program, but I have to be honest this place was great from the way it's decorated and very beautiful I might add not gaudy looking like other places that overthink it, this place is dressed up beautiful, even sexy to me. Now the service takes a while because they are preparing your food they prepare your food fresh, nothing is already made everything is prepared to order and order fresh, please remember that. 👍🤠And their food is spectacular, now you have to give the place a try, don't just go by what race or nationality a restaurant is, go by the ethnic cuisine of Mediterranean food. Me being a very old fashioned Italian 🇮🇹 I know how this could be and I also know great food, that being said, this place is phenomenal, from all of their food that I've tried so far, and the people are very sweet and nice to you always saying hello always smiling. When I asked to cook what he was doing he actually told me what he was preparing and I thought that was nice that's different. And he actually explained it of what he was doing and I thought that was wonderful. The young girl that took my order was totally sweet big smiles and was very nice and very cordial.after a while she even gave me a cup and asked me if I wanted to have some of their homemade strawberry or lemonade, for free and of course I obliged and the strawberry was totally awesome. Now they have an outside patio which is really wonderful because they have a tent over part of it and then there's a huge water pond in this area of Oak Lawn and with the sprinkler on in the middle of the pond it makes it seem like you're somewhere else, especially at night time with the lights on outside it's really gorgeous. I had the falafels and they're wonderful, I had the shawarma steak and they were great, even their fries are awesome and I'm a big freeze guy I like good fries. When I told him I want my fries cook soft they actually came to me with a small cup of fries and asked if that was okay. Nobody does that, I thought that was so wonderful just to see if the fries were soft enough that they actually presented me with a couple in a little plate, that place had me and I continue to go back even more. Plus there's the healthy aspect of it also. The place is super clean and I do mean super clean. Even their prep station looks gorgeous and they have some really great prepared food that they actually prepare it themselves, there's something you don't see anymore, that they prepare the food right there homemade style. And they also add anything that you want in your item. These are good people that are just trying to make their way and the American dream, I as an Italian-American know all too well about this, and I have succeeded in that American dream with my own businesses, so I know how hard it is to get a business going right off the ground. So if you want something new in Oak Lawn and something more delicious than what you'll find at fast foods this is the place to be. And this is coming from an old school Italian🇮🇹 that lives in Oak Lawn and a lifelong southsider. But I know good places when I'm eating there and this place is great to eat. Give it a try I think you will be very surprised at how great it is. Thank you,...

Ramadan Mubarak! I was so excited when I visited the Baba Saj in Oaklawn earlier this year. The first three times the service was alright. The decor is spectacular and the staff were friendly and welcoming. The food was amazing! I love to purchase the Chicken or Steak Sharama bowls. I went again on 3/25/25. This is the month of Ramadan and I notice the restaurant had many Muslim patrons. I placed my order. I noticed that it took a while for them to start preparing my meals due to the volume of orders. When the staff got to my order, I stood up so I can choose my ingredients. They had to replace the rice and meats due to the crowd. I was waiting on him to fix my second bowl and notice how he put it to the side. He started fixing about 7 wraps for the family that came behind me. I knocked on the pixie glass that divides/ protect the food from the public to get their attention and I asked them can they finish fixing my bowl. They started acting like it was a language barrier between us. Then the man who fixed my bowl tried to skimp on my chicken. I politely asked him can I have more chicken. He obliged and the cashier stepped in to assist. I thought she was helping out of kindness due to the time I’ve waited? She grabbed my bowls and place them on a tray. I informed her that my order was to go/ carry out. She seems like she was irritated and place the top on the bowl loosely. I pointed it out to her and told her to make sure the top is secure so my food doesn’t spill out. She shoved my bowls in the bags and rolled the top of the bad down and passed it to me aggressively without saying thank you. I felt disrespected, discriminated by their service and how they deliberately catered to their ethnic group first. I understand that they are fasting for Ramadan and they haven’t broke their fast yet. It’s inexcusable to behave that way even if you’re HANGRY! Shut the restaurant down doing sunset, pray and break your fast. Nasty Customer service is...

BEWARE!! They are not following proper food service guidelines!! We were looking forward to our meal as we had eaten here before and it was good but on this occasion the woman taking our order at the register was blowing her nose non stop and was obviously sick..( not a problem in itself) but then didn’t wash her hands and just put gloves on to start preparing an order without washing hands first! GROSS!!! Picking up gloves with snotty hands just transfers the snot to the outside of the gloves! She wasn’t preparing our order, it was someone else’s order but then the man who prepared our order was eating some kind of a sandwich wrap behind the counter and just set his sandwich down, put gloves on and started preparing orders. WASH YOUR HANDS FIRST! No one wants your saliva on their food. Gloves don’t work if you’re picking them up and putting them on with dirty hands! I can’t say I was surprised… Many people think gloves work… but they don’t if you put them on with dirty hands… you just transfer snot or saliva onto the outside of the gloves. Also , go eat your lunch at a table if you’re working there, don’t hang over the food prep area munching on food. Hopefully management sees this and RETRAINS staff… follow protocols. Wash hands before you put gloves on if you are blowing your nose or eating !!! And don’t eat behind the counter where customers food is being prepared. I mean it’s literally the number one rule in food prep!!! Wash hands and don’t prepare food if you’re sick. Don’t think we will be back. If they are doing this directly in front of customers what are they doing when no...