I really like this place. The owner is nice and friendly. I saw him nodding to other frequent…read morecustomers, which makes this place very warm, especially during pandemic when people have less communications. The food here is fantastic, as always. I have tried fish, chicken and veggie platters for lunch and kabob for dinner, and they are all flavorful and tasty. Shout out for the hummus and baba ganoush, they are my must-have things each time I go there. The price is lower than you typically have to pay for a meal in this area, but the quality is higher than a lot of other restaurants. Sometimes there will be lamb shank for lunch, if you are lucky enough because not everyday serves it. There are also desserts which are also tasty. Once I went there the owner also let me tried the fresh tomato salad made from the tomato he grew himself, super grateful for his friendliness!! Overall this is a fantastic restaurant, and is my first choice when I don't want to cook my own. Highly recommend!!

Honestly, this is the most underrated spot on campus. Everything is home made, fresh, and…read moreabsolutely delicious. From the hummus to the grilled meats, every bite I had was amazing. Since this is all ran by one older gentleman (the owner himself), the meal takes a little longer to prepare so please be patient when ordering. He wasn't exactly in the best mood when I was ordering but the food definitely makes up for the service and I respect the hard work he puts into this restaurant. I am definitely coming back here when I get the chance to visit UIUC again.

My partner and I stopped in to visit for the first time today. The place was bustling with a Sunday…read morecrowd, but the staff looked after us and got us seated in no time. My partner and I split a Mediterranean dip, and we each got a Pita Gyro. The food was excellent; definitely my favorite gyro in town! Really liked my Nitro Cold Brew coffee as well. Atmosphere was nice; the place had a great vibe. They've clearly put a lot of work and polish into making the ambiance pleasant, and it shows. Everything was very clean and well kept, and you could see the importance the staff put on keeping it that way. Great food, excellent service -- we can't wait to visit again!

It gets one star because of the younger ladies working here. They have to start somewhere and I…read morehope they learn from this place. The breakfast menu was minimal? 3 American style items and crepes. If you're going to open for breakfast, read the room. You need to make the menu for most. I ordered biscuits and gravy, bacon, and my eggs over medium. I did get that, but one half of one egg was over medium. The gravy was from a can, no doubt. And the biscuits were pre-made. But that's not what threw me back initially. The food came in a Styrofoam to-go container. STYROFOAM TO-GO container! Are y'all that cheap you can't wash dishes? I mean, the "silverware" is plastic as well. Being in a liberal state, you think you would have been shamed into not contributing to the landfills like this. Then you have the old guy on the griddle who thinks this is Benihana. Scrambled eggs are normally scrambled in a container. This dude cracks the eggs onto the griddle and literally chops them as they cook on the flat top. No stirring the yolk, nothing but chopping. Next, you have a soda machine that screams "yes, we are so cheap we are showing you in everything we have". Let's not forget the "mug club". $128 plus tax for beverage fills. I'm not sure anyone would visit enough to make this worth it. I am not so sure the owner has ever done this before. Needless to say, 1st and last visit.

I ordered a Dee-Dee's Cutlets Sandwich (on the restaurant week's menu) to go. It was delicious! The…read moresandwich contained a big chicken cutlets, and mozzarella (kind of herb seasoned), and was just suitable for feeding me full during dinner. People here were so nice and friendly! I see that it's only open during dinner time through Thursday to Saturday. I think students would be happy if Dee-Dee's Beef could expand its opening hours to lunch throughout the week! Looking forward to that to happen!

Prediction: Dee-Dee's Beef will soon become a Champaign-Urbana institution…read more This place is the real deal. They know what they do extraordinarily well and stick to it. I had never had an authentic Italian beef sandwich before, but after last night, I knew I had had the best in the state, outside of Chicago perhaps. Their menu is straight-forward and harkens back to deli and sandwich shops of old. In fact, I had assumed that Dee-Dee's had been around for decades. My combo sandwich was heavy duty, bursting with beef, juice, and flavor. If you are a more economical eater, unlike myself, then you could certainly get two meals out of it. Customer service was above and beyond. I imagine that I corresponded directly over the phone and counter with one of the Owners when placing and picking up my order. Located in the Cracked restaurant space right on Green Street, they are open three days a week (for now) and accept all major credit cards. We will be back, no question.

The karak chai with saffron is amazing. Do yourself a favor and get the large. The food is also…read moregreat but lunch (hot food) service does not start until 11am so please be aware of that. We got there a little early and had the chai and a date mamool while we were waiting. They ended up taking our food order a little early so it would be ready at 11am since they weren't very busy and I am pretty sure the front counter worker was enamored with our 2 year old daughter. This was our second time here (we went last year as well when my wife was at this same conference) so I was well overdue to review this place. The food here is fantastic which is why we repeated it - it has to be for us to do that at places we visit. Good or okay doesn't get a repeat from us. The dolmas are exactly what you want them to be and there is a perfect amount of salt on the arabic salad, the cabbage salad, and the pickled turnips. Speaking of which, the pickled turnips here are divine perfection. I would be hard-pressed to find better pickled turnips anywhere. The schwarma is quite solid - not as good as I recall from The Netherlands, but as good as any here in the U.S. The Middle Eastern vegan platter is quite a bargain and delicious to boot. The workers here are very kind and I have no knocks against this place at all. They even sell Dubai chocolate to go on a deal - Buy two original bars and get a Strawberry cream Matcha one for free.

The food seem like it had been sitting out for a while. I had the beef shawarma plate and the beef…read morewasn't really fit to eat. The venue wasn't air conditioned and it was full of flies. The staff were friendly but overall the facilities were on the dirty side making for a poor dining experience.

The price to quality to portion size ratio is perfect. Best pizza in town! There are plenty of…read moreoptions to customize with and the food seems to be made with a lot of care.

If you're on the University of Illinois campus and are looking for good stone oven style pizza,…read morethis is the place. They have two sizes (personal/ large) and you can customize the pizza anyway you want. Once you walk in you'll see "build your own" menus. Customize, then bring it to the counter. They will call your name when it's ready. Highly recommend...enjoy!

Loooooved this restaurant. We got the mixed grilled house plate so we could sample three meats. We…read morealso chose the red rice which was delicious. The Jerusalem salad added a nice bit of vinegar to cut through the richness of the meats. I tried a Mediterranean soda they had in the case and it was also a nice sweet change from the savory food. My favorite bite was probably the lentil soup we got when we sat down. Unexpected but delicious. It's exactly the soup you want to feel warm inside. The restaurant was clean, staff attentive and lastly desserts - WONDERFUL. We took the layali lubnan to share. It's a dense white cake, with a rose water and orange water pudding like second layer and topped with whipped cream and pistachios. You've never needed anything more. Chambana needs to support this business. We need them here for a loooong time

Friends wanted to stop by because I believe this place opened fairly recently. It was clean and had…read morenice decor. Most importantly, they had World Cup games going which we love. Prices were reasonable and food came out fairly quick. I thought everything we had was tasty and had good flavor. Also portions were good as well. Will stop by again!

Cafe Sababa is absolutely a hidden gem inside the Illini Hillel!…read more I ordered the sweet potato croquettes this noon, which is listed on their menu for the restaurant week. The croquettes were just amazing! The sour sauce and the vegetables made the food more refreshing. The amount (5 croquettes in total) was just suitable for a quick lunch. The people here were so nice, while there were not so many seats for dining inside. Anyway, it must be a 5 stars cute place on campus!

I've been going to Cafe Sababa inside of the Cohen Jewish Center for about a year now - and I have…read moreyet to be disappointed. Aaron Stevens and Matt Harsh work in the kitchen, occasionally with a student (like myself) who will help out. The lunch is non-meat, so tuna melts, grilled cheese, pizza slices, and BYOB's (build your own bagel) are the standard fare. They also do some really tasty nacho fries, which is jalapenos, cheese, tomatoes, and onions on seasoned french fries.

What a great experience! It was definitely worth the trip from Milwaukee! The cheeseburger was…read moredelicious and the fries have a crispy coating, which i really enjoyed! Everything was very hot and fresh! The service also was very friendly! Another place to add to my list of places to return to! :-)

I always get the same order every time & it NEVER failsstaff is friendly & thank god for free extra…read moresauce