We ordered the curry catfish a couple times and it's always good. It came with 1 cup of lentil soup, rice and bread. We also ordered a large fattoush. Service was slow to take our order and bring menus. Overall, it's always pleasant to have dinner there. read more

Saj Alreef Restaurant - Curry Catfish - Persian/Iranian Near Me - Sterling Heights, Michigan

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Update, gave me food poisoning and landed in the emergency room! I would not go there.

I was looking for some turkish restaurant but found this cool place I had never been to before. I liked ambience and interiors. Food was pretty ok, given vegetarian options were limited. I did not have much choice. What I did not like was the time it took for my falafel sandwich to come, it was almost 30 mins even when we were seated immediately and served with soup. Waiter was not paying attention when there was another party of larger group. At end, i was annoyed how long it took to get to go box and check. I would not rate it high given the experience I had. But it could be good place for non vegetarians and ambience is definitely nice. read more

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I'm not sure what I'm missing here. I've read several negative comments about this place and don't understand it. The ambiance is great. A small intimate feeling, even though it's a larger room. I love the decoration, most of all. The food is delicious. Everything we tried, the Hummus, shawarmas, kebabs and even my nephew's mushroom burger (which boggles the mind why you would order that, here) were exceptional. We had exemplary service and a wonderful experience that I can't wait to repeat!! 07/25 read more

Met my in-laws here and was so glad to try this gem out! Hands down, best hummus I've ever had. Had a falafel wrap and it was the perfect amount of food. My husband tried one of dinner meat dishes w both chicken and beef, and everything was sliced perfectly, and so delicious. read more

Before I mentions any food, I must start with our waiter "Sam." The service and kindness he treated us with, despite the fact that this was our first time ever at this restaurant, was unbelievably great. You rarely meet this kind of service , and we do a lot of dining and eating outside. We feel obligated to give this kind man his due credit. The food was fantastic. The fish "masgoof" was beyond our expectations, the kebab was melting in our mouths, and the lamb shawarma "Guss" was straight from the Baghdad. A special thank you to uncle Abu Ibrahim for the authentic Iraqi tea A great experience indeed read more

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Sam was great. Welcoming and explaining some of the more unique Iraqi dishes and how others differed subtly from similar Mediterranean dishes. Food was delicious and large portions. Highly recommend. read more

We just got this Dolma from saj Alreef and it's NASTY it's so bitter and dry the grape leaves are hard and disgusting last time we got Mansuf and Lamb Quzi and Mindi is was so nasty and meet was so zafar so disappointing cuz it was good food at the beginning but now food is nasty read more

Saj Alreef Restaurant - Dolma nasty - Persian/Iranian Near Me - Sterling Heights, Michigan

Had lunch with the family at this Iraqi spot and really enjoyed it! The food was super tasty and came out pretty fast. The place is clean, with a nice modern vibe, and there's plenty of seating, we had a reservation and the table was ready in time. The staff were friendly and helpful too. Definitely a great place to grab a good meal or to invite friends or guests for a casual lunch. read more

Thank you Sam! For the amazing service, food was very delicious & the vibe was immaculate

I want to start by saying the decor transports me to the Emirates and reminds me of the beauty of the Oud stores. It's very elegant and a great place to have a gathering with friends and family. It's not a fine dining establishment but they could have easily taken that route if they wanted. I went with a few friends and we ordered the chicken shawarma with hummus, fattoush with chicken tikka on top, and an Iraqi kabob. I asked the waitress if the Iraqi kabob was made with beef and she assured me it was. My friends both receieved their food about 15 mins later, and mine arrived about 20 mins in. Both of their dishes were pretty good, although the chicken shawarma was a tad dry in my opinion. When I finally tasted my dish, I immediately knew that the Iraqi kabob was not only beef, but mixed ground beef and lamb. It took a while for our waitress to return to check on us, but I let her know I didn't like my dish and I could taste the gamey-ness from the lamb. She started to argue with me that it didn't have any lamb. After going back and forth a few times, she goes to find the owner and doesn't return for about 10 mins. By then both my friends had finished eating. She then stated how the "recipe had changed 3 days ago" and she wasn't aware that the new recipe did use both lamb and beef. I highly doubt that's what actually happened but I didn't feel like arguing with her so I requested for the dish to be removed from my tab and I sent it back. I was put off by the experience so I didn't order anything else on the menu. read more

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Where do I even begin. I went online and placed an order through their website making the pickup time at 5pm. A family member of mine arrived a little early to pick up my order, maybe 10-15 minutes early. When they asked the cashier about my order she told them that it won't be put through to the kitchen until 5pm. Mind you the website said several times that this was a pickup time, and that my order would be ready at 5pm. When shown confirmation of pickup time the cashier said that their system states it as a pickup time but it's actually when they send the order to the back. My family member told me this over the phone and I became very frustrated. Mind you I had a very important event I was attending that I volunteered to cater. I called the restaurant myself to speak with a manager on duty to address my concern but was told no manger was there. After asking how that was possible they put me on hold and ultimately hung up the phone. I called back asking why they hung up and I was told there are busy and they have customers in front of them as if I wasn't also a paying customer. After they demanded I speak to them over a manager I told them my concern and they told they have nothing to do with that. I told her yes I'm aware of that, that's why I wanted to speak to a manager. In the middle of my sentence a manager came onto the line. Mind you I was told they weren't even in the building. So either this individual wasn't even a manager or the cashier was lying to my face. After a ten minute back and forth with the "manager" I realized that there was zero accountability on the restaurants part. The lady kept saying "well it's ready now. Do you want to pick it up or no?" Mind you this is 30-40 minutes later. It was very clear she couldn't care less that this was a huge concern and it was essentially false advertisement. Overall the employees here couldn't care less about their customers and are the rudest waitstaff I've ever interacted with. I will never eat here again and have advised friends and family never to support this establishment again. I have also attached pictures with the order confirmation for reference. read more

Saj Alreef Restaurant - Order confirmation. - Persian/Iranian Near Me - Sterling Heights, Michigan

I wish I would have taken a picture of the meal. First off we ordered Iraqi mixed grill. It says extra vegetables and it came with 2 small slices of pickled beets, two slices of carrots, a charger hot pepper and an onion. I think they forgot the extra vegetables . Next thing was the lentil soup. On the menu it doesn't say it has noodles in it. Who puts noodles in lentil soup. I am gluten free and couldn't even eat it because of the noodles . The meats were ok, nothing special to write about. Just your typical Arabic restaurant meats . Do not recommend this place . read more

This restaurant has really gone downhill since its opening. I used to go here a lot and I don't think I will return. The prices have been raised around twice in the last year from what I can tell, but the quality hasn't. The saj beef and chicken shawarma was so dry with NO seasoning or flavor, the pickle size was pathetic, and it barely had garlic sauce. Not only this, but it was 26.99 which does not make sense whatsoever. If a chicken shawarma is $7.99, beef shawarma $8.99, and fries are $4.99, the total should come out to $21.97 without any kind of "deal" for ordering an entree/combo. Where the hell is the other $5 coming from? You don't get soup or salad with the order, so what are we paying for? The service was terrible as well. Our server did not introduce herself, we had to ask for silverware twice and waited 15 minutes for it, and it took 15 minutes for water to be refilled despite not being busy. I find the google reviews very suspicious, it seems unlikely that 5+ people per day are leaving reviews with specific server names when they don't even introduce themselves. I cannot believe this is the same Saj Alreef that used to have stellar service and food. I noticed that it isn't packed like it used to be, and I see why. UPDATE: GAVE ME FOOD POISONING. I WOULD NOT GO HERE !!!! read more

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Every dish was fantastic and service from Sam was attentive and welcoming. Sam made suggestions and took time to review the menu and specialties of Iraq with us. We ordered the large salad plate with 5 different offerings, picked by Sam. We tried all three soups and the mixed kebab plate. The bread and dips were wonderful as well. We ate there and they also had many take out customers. Definitely would go there again. read more

Food was good, typical Iraqi place. Def was fresh and soft meat, and plenty for 5 people. The food itself self was probably 4 stars. The place is new so it was very clean, long tables so comfortable seating. We were seated immediately, requested waters. Place our orders for food, soups arrived for everyone in a timely fashion. But for the 30 minutes no water and we had to request it again to be brought out. Food arrived, we ate comfortably. No one once checked on us to see if we needed anything else. Even once we finished eating no one stop by. We had to request someone to bring the check and boxes after finishing our food for a decent time. Our server was polite when he was with us but it's like they just forgot us at times. It is halal! read more

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Great food! Great service! The presentation and taste of the food was outstanding!!! Soooo clean too! read more

Saj alreef is one of the best iraqi restaurants in michigan! We walked in and were greeted with great hospitality. The restaurant is so clean and has the best service. Sam helped us out and he was so respectful and an amazing waiter. They had the best food and their chicken cream chop was absolutely phenomenal!! It was so soft and melted in your mouth. The gus shawarma sandwiches were also amazing, the meat was so fresh and tender! Saj alreef is a beautiful restaurant with amazing service!! for sure will be coming back here in the near future and recommending this place to my family and friends!! read more

So delicious and beautiful interior of restaurant. Our waitress was super nice and gave us great recommendations such as the Turkish Kabob and the pomegranate juice. Absolutely loved the kunafa (sweet cheese dessert), the Turkish kabob (which I believe is lamb and is a little spicy; half is definitely enough for one; not officially on the menu but our waitress let us know about it), and the pomegranate juice was pretty good as well. The chocolate cake was nothing special and the pistachio cake was kinda like cheesecake but had a sour/tart taste like Greek yogurt with not a lot of actual pistachio or sweet flavor, so I would recommend staying away from those two desserts. read more

Solid Iraqi food. We ordered the family patter for 5 which easily could of fed 8-10 people. The meats were delicious. The chicken and beef kabobs were juicy and flavorful. However, the beef shawarma was so dry and did not taste fresh. They served our platter with 3 different types of rice and bread. It also came with soup, house sauce and garlic sauce. The price is pretty high. I feel the platter should of also came with some type of salad. The inside has modern elegant decor. The staff was friendly. read more

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My friends and I came in on a very cold evening for a nice dinner escape. They weren't very busy, but people were consistently coming in as we waited for service. After a few minutes we were greeted and seated with menus. Our waitress was wearing her coat the entire time. We were all freezing; it's as if they didn't have the heat on. Needless to say, we all ordered soup to warm up. Our waitress recommended broccoli cheddar. We got our soup cold. It has a thick consistency, but no flavor. I left mine aside. We ordered our dinners with their saj bread. I was surprised at how small and thin my sandwich was. As a Middle Eastern woman myself, we could never. It looked like a sample sandwich that focused more on plating presentation rather than food quality and flavor. My pomegranate juice was $9 for a small cup, although it was the best tasting item I tried there. My friend's food came out cold and had to be remade. I didn't understand the hype and wasn't impressed. There are too many great Middle Eastern eateries in the area to eat here. read more

My mom had the 1/2 chicken on rice which she loved - best chicken ever! She also loved her side salad. I had the Greek Salad which was fine. I would definitely come back. read more

Some of the worst customer service from the girls who take the orders. I always get carry out since I leave work. The girl literally tapped my food that was on the counter next to her and had me take it myself instead of doing what most people do which is make sure you have a good hold on it. They need to fix their attitude. If you can't do customer service then don't. The place is beautiful inside but the people are not. You have a bad day and just want some food and you deal with people who look miserable and like they're hating life... really depressing. They need to find their career and happiness clearly they aren't getting paid enough to even put a smile on. The wait time is ridiculous and my food was soo cold. Definitely not worth returning. read more

I wish I could give this place zero stars. We had reservation booked for a communion party four months ago. They didn't have any designated place for us. They just put us wherever they had at that time. They had nothing reserved ahead of time.. it took them over an hour for us to get the food and we are the ones who had to ask them: If there is no space, they just took everybody in. The food was not good either. The people that came after us were served before us and gone before we even got our food . They were also rushing us trying to get us kicked out. They took the cake from the community party and they ruined the whole cake. and on top of that, they didn't wanna serve another dessert that we brought with the cake after ruining the cake. read more

The food was fresh and amazing. Our wonderful server Shifa was very patient and helped us select our meal And answered all of our questions. I was a little reluctant to go at first but my coworker wanted to try it. It was definitely worth the meal and experience. read more

Ordered 2 hours in advance. Get there waited in line 20 mins. They made it 2 hours prior. Cold food. The schwarma is half the size of a normal schwarma. Pretty much just chicken, what little of it there is. Garlic sauce is tiny container. Place looked nice on inside. Couldn't get me to eat this for free. read more

WORST CHICKEN SCHWARMA IVE EVER HAD! It was absolutely terrible!! Our favorite place is Kabob Eden but they were closed when we decided we wanted to order some schwarma. Saj Alreef is super close so we gave it a try. NEVER AGAIN! First of all, they were the smallest sandwiches I've ever seen. The bread was hard as a rock, the chicken was hard and barely edible. I ordered extra pickle & extra garlic. There was barely any garlic sauce on it at all, and I could count the number of pickles it had on one hand. Absolutely the worst chicken Shawarma I have ever had in my entire life! I will starve before I eat there again! You could not pay me to eat one of their sandwiches. I think I have posted one other review in my entire life, and it was also from a bad experience. So this is a rarity, but I had to put it out there because I was absolutely appalled from the experience. If I could leave zero stars I would. read more

The food was amazing!!! Portions are generous and the prices were quite reasonable. We highly recommend the Lamb Tikka and falafel. Try the tea, it's tasty! read more

The food is good here. The service isn't so great. This is my 3rd time here and the staff is just not friendly. They're not rude or nice if that makes sense. They're just there. My wife loves the salmon sandwich lasaj bread wrap so we keep coming back for that and nothing else. Maybe if the staff was a little friendlier we would try something else. But we just order out so we can atleast enjoy our food without having to deal with people problems. read more

I placed an order Came in the proper time frame and they informed me it will be a couple minutes No communication with the customers I asked 3 times how much longer they communicate with each other yet not with the customer Finally when I was vocal they informed me they are waiting for the chicken and I it will be done soon 30 minutes later they finally got my food ready and they were not even busy on this snowy day read more

I've been waiting for 25 mins for an order that was supposed to be ready 25 mins ago this is unacceptable business I don't care how good your food is read more

They do a few things right and a few things wrong. The good: Food: Amazing Kabob over a charcoal fire. Hands down the best in Macomb County. Amazing bread and Amazing Curry. Wow! Also I love the charred tomato, onion and jalapeño. These guys are grill masters. Take out packaging: Very thoughtful. My advice is get rid of the paper bowls for stews and soups and get the plastic version with lids because they seal better and are not susceptible to moisture. The moist wipes are a nice touch but unnecessary because you don't eat rice, stew and kabob with your bare hands. Service: Top Notch. Decor: Top Notch. Location: Top Notch. The Bad: Food: Side Salad with Full Kabob order is pathetic. 1 star. They use garish lettuce, yuck. Get better lettuce and up cost on the meal if you have to. Throw some cucumber and tomato wedges on there. Grape tomatoes are terrible on a salad. They burst and don't always taste good. Dressing: For god sake, make your own ranch. 3 simple ingredients, mayo, milk and ranch powder. That jarred stuff you serve your customers is terrible. White rice: 2 stars. Way way too greasy. Easy with the oil. Summary: Good food, good people, good atmosphere. But you can make it great and really corner the market with a few minor improvements. Hope you find this feedback helpful. read more

The food here was excellent! I had Mansaf, a Jordanian dish with lamb, and my wife had Iraqi kebab. Mariam was our server, very attentive and friendly. The portions are generous. We look forward to coming back! read more

Saj Alreef Restaurant - Mansaf - Persian/Iranian Near Me - Sterling Heights, Michigan

Came here with a big family group for lunch, the service and food amazingly delicious and delightful! Thank you for great service and patience! read more

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Décor is elegant. Food was fresh, tasty and delicious. We were lucky to arrive at the time of day that we did because it quickly filled up and a long line ensued. I wasn't lucky to capture the celebration of someone's birthday as the wait staff lit a candle on a cake and brought it out to the table as everyone sang and clapped the birthday person. It was an enjoyable meal. Wait staff was very good. read more

Saj Alreef Restaurant - Menu side 2 - Persian/Iranian Near Me - Sterling Heights, Michigan

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Food was great! Wait staff too!. If they would only tone the lights down. I felt like I was being interrogated by the FBI! Lol!

Nobody came up to serve us and take our orders. Also the food was cold after waiting so long. And finally the ambiance was insane and so was the 4hr wait. read more

I have no clue how this place is rated so highly. One of the most disgusting meals I've ever eaten. We were given a fish sauce or dressing with the falafel instead of tahini which was extremely weird. It was so strong all the falafel reeked of fish. I couldn't eat any of it. Both our shawarma sandwiches had bones in them. They also use white and dark meat which I'm not a fan of personally but know many people are. Garlic sauce was bland and watery. Fattoush salad and rice were passable at best. Only positive was that they have the good thin pita bread. read more

Phenomenal food, awesome service, bright and modern vibe. Everything we had was good. We were super impressed. We also were there as a party of 6 adults and 4 toddlers and everyone was super accommodating, we didn't feel like we were annoying them or anything, which is easy to do with kiddos. 1000% we would come back, probably some of the best middle eastern restaurant food we've had in a very long time, and that comes from a middle eastern woman! read more

Great food and service. Beef kabob and shawarma are a must try. We also tried chicken mendi and it was phenomenal.