rev:text
| - Aladdin's is a franchise with almost 30 locations in a few different states. Still, as evidenced by all the accolades on the wall, the food is better than what you'd expect from a chain. My boyfriend grew up eating at Aladdin's in Cleveland with his family, so he was excited to have a location near our apartment in Pittsburgh. He came home the other day raving about their spicy kafta rolled pita, so when we needed a quick dinner on Saturday night, we decided to turn to them for takeout.
They have very convenient online ordering, which was great, and there is no fee for it. You get a free hummus with your first online order, so that was delightful. The only thing to remember is that after your first online order, you have to call the restaurant and confirm it - you just need to do it the first time, I guess so they can make sure you are a real person or something. They told us to be there to pick up the food in 20.
We were there on time and our food was ready. We had our free hummus, some falafel, a lentil soup, the chicken sambusek, and the Mediterranean lamb. We were hungry, as you can see. Everything was clearly well-made and very flavorful - the only downside was that none of it was....warm. I think the food might've been ready about 10 minutes before we picked it up. So I guess I'd wish they'd been a little more accurate in their estimate of how long the food would take to cook.
Besides the temperature, the food was really tasty. The falafel had great flavor, though it wasn't quite as soft on the inside and crispy on the outside as I'd have liked (Sababa's falafel is still my ideal!) The lentil soup was very mild, but restorative. It was so fresh, light, and lovely. My boyfriend wasn't a big fan of the hummus - I'm not sure what it was that bothered him, maybe the stronger tahini taste? I thought it was fine though.
The chicken samusek was really interesting - flavorful, almost smoky chicken wrapped in a pita. The lamb was delicious also, served over the most lovely cinnamon rice. But again, the temperature - it affected the taste and the texture of the meat. Sigh.
I really think this is a 4-star place, we just had a 3-star experience this one time. I'm sure we'll order from there again and maybe we'll show up early to pick up our food, or dine-in!
|