This place deserves the 5 star review! For the love of us, this place has been here since 2019 and we just decided to try it. Food did not disappoint! I had the Mandi lamb and my husband had the lamb sheesh platter. Staff is very friendly and gave us suggestions on what their favorite item is. Definitely will be back to try their other menu items. read more

Ali Baba Kabab - Mandi Lamb - Mediterranean Near Me - Schaumburg, Illinois

We had a taste for Mediterranean food on our way to volunteer at our church and we passed by this place. Thanks to yelp. When we entered the restaurant, if you feel like you're transported into another country, even the background music compliments what you're about to experience It's a dicey kinda place nothing fancy. First you would have to take a look at the menu and place your order at the front. They do not have waiters staff to your table. There are two rooms one that you can sit with the front table to order and another room is full of tables that can also accommodate large parties. The guy was pretty good remembering who ordered what while people were coming in and out, placing orders and sitting down and enjoying their food. To my surprise, the service was quick and friendly we ordered the six piece falafel appetizer which was crispy and hot and the tahini was nice and creamy Hubby enjoyed his grape flavored crush. Haven't had that in a while. When we got our meal hubby ordered the beef and chicken combo shredding pieces on top of rice nice and tender had a lemony taste to it and I had the assorted shredded soft beef on top of seasoned yellow fluffy rice. When we got our meal, it was plenty , especially for the price. We could have shared a plate The meat was nice and tender and the sauce was spot on the season yellow rice yum! I couldn't stop eating the rice, but I had to cause I was getting too full that we had take out containers and can I tell you the leftovers was even better! I overheard one of the customers who was happy with his wrapped meal said compliments to the chef the owner said it is his grandmother who cooked and prepared our food. overall it was a nice experience. Staff was friendly place was clean. Food was good and plenty. I'll definitely come back here again even if it's out of the way, the flavor and the texture of the rice was really good! This was a nice find you don't stumble upon new places like this often so I won't gate keep it. if you like this kind of food and you're picky about your rice then Check it out and enjoy your meal here! read more

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We went on a Sunday for lunch. We placed a to go order consisting of one falafel pita, to chicken schwarma pitas and two lentil soups ($38). The woman at the counter was nice, but she was flustered. She told us a couple minutes and it turned out to be 25 minutes to get our food. Once home, the schwarma pitas received a good review. Loaded with chicken and very large. The falafel was also large, but is was very, very seasoned. Maybe it was too much coriander and a bit too much cumin. I could not taste the pickles or the garlic sauce through the spices. This type of falafel is not for me, so I would not return, but the others did like their sandwiches and the soup. If you dine in, I still believe you order at the counter. There is plenty of space inside the restaurant which has two rooms. The paint, flooring and finishes look new and are well done. read more

Great Authentic food I had to bring a tray of food to a gathering I was going to last Saturday and it was a last minute order I stumbled upon Ali Baba Kabab ordered 1/2 Tray of the Chicken Kofta and Rice Pita Bread soft fresh delicious and sauce spicy and i think it is also served with a yogurt sauce which is also very good! Nice owners great service. It is a hidden Gem I will be back !! Thank you Ali Baba Kabab!!! read more

This is a small family persian/Mediterranean restaurant in the suburbs. Everything is made fresh to order so they do take some time but it's all delicious with generous portions. My personal fav and go to is the lamb shank (not pictured) because it comes with flavored rice and the lamb broth which adds sooo much flavor that other restaurants can't quite get here. We've tried other dishes too and while good they weren't as memorable, the lamb shank is what i'd recommend coming here for! Make sure you ask for their special hot and garlic sauces, they really elevate all of the plates. read more

Yeah so Ali Baba Kabab is good. Not the absolute greatest yet not bad either. Definitely a take out place, it feels very awkward when eating inside. The big plus is that food is served hot and fresh..you know..fries aren't sitting in a heat lamp, you have to wait because food is made to order, and that is good! Service is emotionless and a tad slow although one gentleman was nice and handed us bottled water, thanks bro! I suppose if you order in advance and pickup, service really doesn't matter so in no way would I recommend turning away from this place, give the carryout a chance when you crave falafel and kebab. read more

Ali Baba Kabab - Falafel wrap - Mediterranean Near Me - Schaumburg, Illinois

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We just had chicken and beef kabab at this place + lentil soup. I'm impressed. Best lentil soup I ever had and best mediteranean food in the area . Definitely a place to come back . Food is tremendously delicious 10/10 read more

Ali Baba Kabob is the best authentic Middle Eastern food. It also isn't some chain where they mass produce average items. One of the best places to try something other than fast food while in Schaumburg. Has some lunch combos. They also make large platters. I picked up an order here recently and was impressed. It for sure isn't like many of these fast food style Middle Eastern restaurants. Those have been popping up everywhere and they're pretty much the same thing. Here it's a lot more authentic. The atmosphere also feels like it's in their home. Basically it is because they spend most of their time running a business. They have a Falafel Wrap Meal. It's $10.99 for a falafel wrap, a drink, and fries. The falafel comes with Arabic salad, hummus, and pickles. It has a generous amount of falafel. There's also other lunch specials to check out. A good small local business. It has many Middle Eastern favorites. The prices are pretty good for the big portions you get in these. read more

Ali Baba Kabab - Falafel Wrap Meal - Mediterranean Near Me - Schaumburg, Illinois

I normally don't post negative reviews. But wow, I feel like I should warn people. For $16, these "platters" are an absolute rip off. This is the Lamb Sheesh with beef Kofta. Like 5 pieces of meat. This is mostly rice. The beef shawarma is definitely more reasonable. The food is OK, but upon complaining about the value, nothing was done. There are so many other places in Schaumburg that offer a better value than this! read more

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Pretty good food. Great lamb and hummus. The falafel wasn't that good. I'd have to have their shwarma for a true review telling of quality. So 4 star for being decent read more

I'm sorry I didn't read the reviews before meeting friends at this restaurant. The owner was not welcoming and it wasn't a very inviting environment in which to have lunch. It was so cold in the place many of us wore our coats while eating. Water wasn't offered or brought to the table, so I had to ask. The man who took our orders and also served the food brought a pitcher of regular luke-warm tap water and some plastic cups. We got our own silverware and napkins (which were like tissue paper). I ordered the falafel platter and lentil soup. The soup was tasty but the falafels were the worst I have ever had - overseasoned with little filling. My friends who had the beef shwarma said the beef was dry and rice just fair. The only one of 7 of us who enjoyed her dish had the vegetarian platter. One friend got a salad with toasted pita and said she could have made it at home. She thought it was going to have pomegranate seeds, but it didn't. Maybe there was pomegranate dressing on the salad. At any rate, she was very dissappointd and hardly ate a bite. The owners never asked if everything was ok nor did they clean off the table as we sat and chatted. And the place was empty (no surprise there) so they could have provided some service. Instead, they were unfriendly and never said thanks for coming or engaged us at all. Needless to say, we won't be returning! read more

very good food very nice hospitality i recommend the combo plate. large portions + beautifully seasoned rice

A coworker from the Middle East recommended this place. Oh wow. It's so good. The three of us shared 2 lentil soups, hummus with chicken shawarma (the trip would have been worth it just for this), falafel, lamb shank, lamb sheesh and chicken (we brought most of it home because the servings are so big), and baklava. We ordered the lamb shank because they were bringing it out for a customer as we were arriving to the restaurant, and it looked amazing. It was! Served with a bowl of lamb broth. So good. read more

Ali Baba Kabab - Lamb shank - Mediterranean Near Me - Schaumburg, Illinois

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I ordered 2 shawarma wraps that were very shy on the fillings , dry and tasted more bread than meat . Each for 13$ , and a chicken soup that tasted like it had been microwaved barely edible. Wouldn't recommend. read more

I grew up eating a lot of authentic Lebanese food in a Muslim town near Detroit, MI. Since moving to IL, I haven't found any Mediterranean food that I've enjoyed until now. Pro: -Falafel was the most flavorful I've ever had and was moist. It was a little more dense than I've experienced, but it was still super good. -Mandi Lamb was fall off the bone tender -The cashew and pistachio baklava were lightly crispy and not too sweet--better than when I've had at a famous Mediterranean bakery in Dearborn, MI. Con: -Beef shawarma was a little dry -The Lamb could have had a little more flavor. We were told this was cooked in a Yemenese style. I'm not too sure if it was meant to have a lighter flavor, since I'm used to Lebanese food. I'll definitely come back next time I'm in town read more

We went to Ali baba for a birthday celebration and the food and ambience was not what we expected after reading the reviews online. We were expecting a nice sit down place where the server would take our order. The staff was nice overall but we got the impression it was a bit of a hassle for them to serve us. I ordered the mixed grill platter and the meat was above average but I wasn't very impressed. We ordered 6 piece of falafel and they were a bit over cooked. My wife ordered the Tahina salad and she felt the salad was average. Overall, we all agreed that pita house is still tops in the area for Mediterranean food. read more

Ali Baba Kabab - Tahina Salad - Mediterranean Near Me - Schaumburg, Illinois

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So we ordered for delivery today 4/29/23. I got the lentil soup and fatoush salad. My husband had the chicken tawook wrap. This is the best we have had in awhile! The lentil soup was seasoned perfectly and arrived hot. The fatoush salad was fresh and simple. My husband loved his wrap. We will definitely go here again! read more

Clean restaurant, good service, delicious food, big portions. Great that it is zabiha. Highly recommend!

A hot summer weekday after work, we decided to try my first-time-ever kebab restaurant. It's in the same plaza as Vasco's Peri Peri, for which I wrote a review a few weeks ago. I think this plaza is a hidden ethnic food paradise in our area! We arrived here around 2pm, they were still accepting lunch special orders. So we tried two different lunch specials and a dessert. There were no other customers dining in, but I saw at least 3 different customers came to pick up their orders. Bathroom was clean, and it was quiet around the dining table area. Our orders: Lunch combo #2: Chicken Shawarma Lunch combo #4: Veggie platter Dessert: Baklava with pistachio Drinks: Sprite and Arabic mint tea Vegetarian platter - 5 stars First I need to mention that I did try Naf Naf Grill once before, or some hummus package from grocery shops. But I have never been to a Persian / Mediterranean restaurant before. So my experience was quite limited. Veggie platter includes hummus, baba ghanouj, 3 falafels, rice, salad and pita bread for $8.99. And on this plate, I rated all of components 5 stars. Especially hummus and baba ghanouj were so tasty with a lot of flavors. Especially some smoky flavor in baba ghanouj was top notch! Falafel was nice and spicy. Rice matched with everything on on the plate, and pita bread can hold them for a big bite. I would recommend this platter for first timers like me, and at least once try to eat each ingredient separately with a spoon, so you can realize how rich they taste. Then enjoy mixing everything up in the pita. That was the meal of the day today! Chicken Shawarma plate - 4 stars Pretty similar ingredients as the veggie platter. But this one has sweet white onions with spices and shredded chicken, which was a little dry for me. Everything tasted good, too! Baklava with pistachio - 5 stars This small pastry also had a great flavor. I am not sure what it was, but I guess condensed milk and honey? It might sound pretty sweet, but it's not. Very fluffy texture with chunks of pistachio paste. And surprisingly this was only $1! I could eat 10 of them for lunch! Arabic mint tea - 3 stars I thought it was just tea. Nothing really special. So my first Persian / Mediterranean restaurant experience ended up 5 stars level! I would love to try other beef or lamb dishes. I am thinking of jumping into the leftovers right now... read more

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For starters dining area is closed off Server who took my order was very very nice and stated they are expanding maybe two more weeks till they open dining room . I ordered the combination platter and was just Ok with steak being over cooked and lacked flavor, grilled chicken was great and lefts was so thin I thought I'td disappear lol. So Imo I felt not enough meat at all for this platter. Hummus abs pita was good . Ordered chicken 3 shawarmas which were awesome my sons were raving about them. Before I forget ordered their Falafel and have to say they are awesome quite tasty... all and all service was great and they better present their combo plate w more meat and better cooked steak I'd give them a better rating until then I will give them another try in future and update my review then... Thank you for taking the time to read my review read more

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I didn't know what people meant when they said they loved garlic sauce, until I tasted their garlic sauce, it's so good and creamy, I love pairing it with beef shawarma. Their hummus is also very good and even though it only comes as a big quantity, it's worth the money read more

Ali baba kabab is a Persian Mediterranean restaurant located in a strip mall directly behind a lighting store and kitty corner to a Taco Bell. There's plenty of parking out front. You order your food at the counter and then sit down and they bring it out to your table. All meat prepared is halal. Good quality, fresh, hot and delicious. Our food came out quickly and we started with falafel then worked our way to the lamb shank platter and the combo chicken kabob and beef sharwma platter. The generous lamb shank meat fell off the bone and melted in our mouths! The seasoned basmati rice was both aromatic and tasted exotic! It was served with a refreshing salad that was a nice mix in between bites of meat. The chicken kabab and sharwma platter was very good served with 2 sauces; 1 hot and 1 creamy garlic. Both were great accompaniments to this combo of meats. Definitely coming back for lamb shank and also trying other entree items! read more

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This was our first time eating here, the restaurant was pleasant and clean. The staff was polite and friendly, the man who took our order didn't understand what I said so he pulled out a menu and pointed to the item to make sure of what I was asking for. I appreciated that! This was our first time to try pistachio baklava and the pistachio ice cream pop (Shahi Kulfi) and we were pleasantly surprised, as I don't like baklava very much, or cold desserts. The pistachio flavor made a big difference in the baklava, I actually wanted a second bite and would have eaten the whole piece if I didn't want my husband to try it. The ice cream was dense and rich and not too sweet with large pieces of pistachio nuts, really good quality. We went for the Chicken Shawarma Wrap with garlic sauce and hot sauce and Jerusalem salad. They didn't have Jerusalem salad, which was a little disappointing, and we ended up getting the shawarma Combo Plate and the Mixed Grill Platter. The garlic sauce, hot sauce, pita, and rice were top notch, full of flavor and served fresh and piping hot. The meat was also delicious, my husband enjoyed the kebobs and I had the shawarma. The beef and chicken were a little dry, but well seasoned and mixed with the rest of the food and sauces it wasn't very noticeable. I would recommend Ali Baba Kabob to my friends. We purchased 8 oz containers of the two sauces to take home and I was wishing we'd gotten two of each so I could freeze some. We'll be back next time we are in the area! read more

My husband got food poisoning from this place. I assume this is because when he went to pick up the food he heard a microwave going repeatedly and the food wasn't up to temperature. I do not recommend this place. It was over $50 for a meal for two. I will never return. read more

This is a privately-owned local restaurant and the service shows. The staff serving us (I believe they may have been the owners) were so nice and welcoming. We had the Chicken Tawook and Hummus plate and both were delicious. It was a pleasant lunch. We will be back. There is nothing we love more than giving business to local places that care about their product and service. read more

Ali Baba Kabab - Hummus - Mediterranean Near Me - Schaumburg, Illinois

Love their mandi chicken, mandi lamb, and falafels. Highly recommended. We eat there at least once a month. read more

Tasty and well seasoned food.we love their leg of lamb, Mandi lamb I think it's called. Delicious!!

I don't get the hate. Damn good shawarma, and fries that were crispy when they got to my door. Thats a big plus for me when ordering anywhere. Big shawarma too, saved half for later. Will order again . read more

The best Persian food I ever had in my life!!! The hummus is on another level!!! They're also very nice people! I Wish I could give them 6 stars!! Finally We have quality middle eastern food in Schaumburg!! read more

Ali Baba Kabab - Lamb shank with Houmas! - Mediterranean Near Me - Schaumburg, Illinois

Honestly the best! The flavors are just like being in the Middle East. So I talked to the owner who told me that he was in Dubai and learned most of these dishes back in Dubai. If it's your first time here get the shawarma wrap, and depending if you prefer beef or chicken. Also tried the boneless chicken over rice, it was amazing! The flavors are just right. Can't wait to come back to Chicago area to try more great ethnic food. read more

Ali Baba Kabab - Mediterranean Near Me - Schaumburg, Illinois

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Ordered carry out was disappointed! Size of the portions and flavors were off! Main course for 15.99 plus tax, had barley any meat or salar.. and chicken kabob tasted and looked super odd,not enjoyable. Lentil soup was decent. Most pf the lunch went to garbage. Never again. Wouldn't suggest to anyone. read more

Ali Baba Kabab - Mediterranean Near Me - Schaumburg, Illinois

This was our second visit to this newly opened quite little Persian Middle Eastern eatery. Nothing fancy about the place. A couple runs this place and do far quite good at their job. No need to wait you can grab a menu and seat yourself and order . The edit is not too long . The food came out hot . We ordered chicken and beef burger and mixed grill and chicken combo . It was nice. The quantity seemed just ok. They hardly gave any dessert menu. They should work on it as well. It's nice place to stop by if you are not looking for too much. Restroom was clean. read more

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It was our first time ordering after hearing recommendations from our friends. We ordered the special combo and was not disappointed! Very tasty and nice variety. Enough for two meals. We will definitely go back. read more

When I try a new Mediterranean place, I like getting the combination dinner platter to get a nice mix of stuff and properly gauge the place. The platter here was okay. Certainly not bad, but definitely not stellar. The quantity and variety was good enough, but the meats were on the dry side. They did include a nice, spicy red sauce and garlic sauce, but not enough of the latter (which added to the overall dryness). I think the biggest negative for me was the salad. The lettuce was brownish and didn't look fresh, so I wasn't compelled to eat it. I think an easy fix would be to replace the salad with hummus in their platter, as hummus is tastier and would help counter the dryness. 3.5 stars overall. read more

Ali Baba Kabab - Combo platter - Mediterranean Near Me - Schaumburg, Illinois

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So I ordered delivery and was very satisfied. Average Iranian food. I enjoyed everything I ordered. Usually when I enjoyed what I ordered I want to go back and try something else. My food was on time and contained everything I asked for. read more

Dope Place, easy comfort, food definitely a positive vibe 10/10 definitely recommend it

Good food here! Got the mix grill plate and falafel and the flavors were wonderful. Falafel was moist on the inside and flavorful- while still crunch on the outside. Kabobs were all nice too. Keema was my favorite of them. Chicken was a little dry/overcooked, but good spices. Lamb was good and tender. Baklava was tasty though a teeny too much honey or oil inside for our taste. Well for my wife's. I ate mine and then hers no problem. :) read more

Ali Baba Kabab - Mixed Grilled Platter - Mediterranean Near Me - Schaumburg, Illinois

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Catered for a small family event and everyone loved the chicken Mandi and salads! Will definitely reorder ! read more

Ali Baba Kabab - Mandi Chicken - Mediterranean Near Me - Schaumburg, Illinois

Very friendly and quick service. Clean inside and had soft Arabic music in the background. The man at the front was super sweet and even offered juice for my daughter. I got a beef shawarma plate with lamb sheesh kabob. My salad was fresh and the veggies were crunchy. It had a basic dressing on it, I mixed it with rice to eat. The rice was very good, Persian style with saffron from the taste of it. The beef shawarma was good , not too fatty, and the lamb was yummy, it was juicy and cooked perfectly. The white sauce was thick and tied all the food together. If I had to complain I'd say meat and rice ratio were a little off , but was still a generous enough portion for you to eat and have leftovers. Definitely recommend and will go back for the owners alone were very warm and friendly. read more

The beef shawarma wrap was very flavorful and moist! Usually beef shawarma wraps are dry on the inside but this was different! The fries that also came in the lunch special were also great! read more

Ali Baba Kabab - Beef shawarma - Mediterranean Near Me - Schaumburg, Illinois