Grocery finds... so many interesting middle eastern type of foods. They alao have a bakery and the pita bread are nice as well as the spinach filled ones. read more

Sanabel Bakery - Bakeries Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

See all

Sanabel Bakery is an amazing bakery and retail store. I used to live very close, but I moved 45 miles West. Whenever I return to the city Sanabel is my 1st stop to refill my staples. From fragrant Teas (Earl Grey my favorite), Extra Virgin Olive so green you know it's a 1st pressing, Assorted Baklava that melt in your mouth, to a giant selection of dried beans, seeds and nuts. If you're looking for a double boiler or other specialty pots and pans they just might have one for you. Check out this Neighborhood Favorite! read more

There were so many new things to try, this grocery and bakery shop really spoke to me and my need for new experiences. While I've been to middle eastern shops before, they are always a treat. Lots of baked goods to choose from, hearty meat filled kinds to delicate baklava, moon cakes too I'm pretty sure, lots of pickled veggies, sauces, loose coffee and spices (cardamom coffee, yes, anyone?!) , soups, frozen goods, and bulk items for wholesale. I got a pistachio (my favorite!) chocolate bar, a few soup mixes, my boyfriend loves ajvar, a roasted red pepper and eggplant spread, so looking forward to stealing a few bites of that from him here soon. Seemed like a family run place, they put care into it. read more

I love middle eastern and often do a Mezza table at my Parties. Sanabel is my main source of interesting and delicious middle eastern specialties. They make many kinds of fresh baked breads, so if you have a particular favorite, they likely have it: Pita (white and whole wheat), samoon, Taboun and more. Also Pies (zatar, cheese, spinach and ground beef). the Taboun bread sells out quickly. I also buy romanian and turkish feta here. You will see their Pita bread in local supermarkets. Staff is very friendly and will answer questions and help with selecting items. read more

Sanabel Bakery - Pita - Bakeries Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

See all

Amazing selection. Some stuff I bought was past the expiration date with the tag over the date. However, pita was unreal and pastries were fabulous. read more

Amazing people and authentic Middle Eastern foods. I recommend also for all types of bread!! All fresh

This is the best place in town for pita. Baked daily, it is still warm when you take it to your car. I have not tried the food counter, so no advice there. The service and ambiance are just plain. Do not expect to interrupt the constant stream of conversations going on around you, but you will be checked through pleasantly and quickly. Forget grocery store pita. This will open your eyes to why pita is a staple throughout much of the world. Before I forget to mention the other breads, they are well worth your time. Pastries taste as good as they look. read more

Excellent pita bread. The whole wheat pita is very good for pizza crust. Pete's carries it.

The best middle eastern Bakery around. we usually order food when we get there. customer service always awesome. it's definitely worth the drive. read more

Hands down this is one of the best Arabic bakery in Chicago from my opinion and the reasons because: 1. Fresh made pastries that taste authentic just like from Middle East. 2. Fresh Falafel and Hummus that is made daily. The falafel recipe is very tasty and authentic. 3. Fresh Pita bread with different shapes hand flour types. The only issue if the Falafel is made upon order would be amazing. Otherwise, everything else is perfect. The variety of items extends from finding authentic Olive oil and childhood snacks. read more

Fresh and delicious authentic Lebanese thin Saj Bread. They have lots of middle eastern shelf and cooler items. My impression was it is a wholesale establishment that serves off-the-street customers as well. read more

Horrible all around rude guy at the register is so busy chatting w his friends making it a hang out . The manager or who ever he is emad is nasty rude and has no idea what he's doing . Horrible run place so dirty inside I don't know how the city lets this place stay open read more

Sanabel Bakery - customers at the counter - Bakeries Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I have been dealing with them since I came back to the are. They make the real pita bread, 100% Lebanese. You can't match them and not even any other bakery can make batter pita than their's. Nice people and good service. You can pick up any item they sell or any item you want without looking at the expiration date, because nothing is old or expired like items sold in different or other bakeries or markets. Everything's fresh. Very reasonable prices. It is the bakery to go to. read more

The only place to get your fresh pita and the bakery has so many other fresh and delicious items to choose from! They take phone orders in advance as well! Everything is great, from the quality of the food to the friendliness of the employees. Tip: freeze the pita and it is just as good when thawed as the day you bought it! read more

If you're looking for some Arabic or Mediterranean goodies and pastries THIS is the place!!! They have a bunch of delicious things plus great prices. The owners are always there and are super nice and the old man who's in the oven side is incredible nice too. 100% recommended read more

Sanabel Bakery is a must stop shop if you are in the area and want some fresh baked Middle Eastern goods, sweets, or something to grill. Their pitas are baked daily and shipped to a ton of stores and restaurants in the Chicagoland area. The za'atar bread, spinach and cheese and meat pies, minced lamb breads, homemade hummus and baba ganoush, a variety of baclava are all fresh and made in house. They also have imported olives, oils, chocolate, spices in bulk, cheeses you can't find anywhere else, and a bunch of teas. They even have kitchen equipment, fancy tea sets, hookahs, tobacco, and engraved knives for sale. If you are looking for lunch they have chicken, beef, and lamb kabobs to go and all the freshly baked goods as well. On this strip of Kimball parking is a bitch, but no worries they have their own private parking lot adjacent to the store. read more

See all

Love their different breads and bakery items. Good, fresh babaghanouj. I always break down and go, whether after a couple months or a few. One of their breads, can't recall the and, is so addicting....gooey, pull-apart deliciousness. read more

Love this place but sadly will not be going back. No regard for my health or yours. The main guy openly flaunted not wearing a mask, the other customer wore it only over his mouth and the other employees it was 50/50 at best. Stay healthy and stay away. read more

Sanabel, what the hell? Let's ring the bel (s). 12 fresh baked pitas for a buck! Lots of cool Medi treats so what the fck! Well for one thing. I don't know what some of those bitchin treats & spreads are since the employees are lackadaisical at best and there's a language barrier. Not a huge issue but I'd like to be able to know or be directed. Second. The smoking. Yes. The staff openly smokes in the store. That's not cool IMHO. If I'm not allowed have a ciggy at Jewel or even in a ~bar~ why can employees at a grocery/bakery puff away in everyone's faces? Getting back to the language barrier, blasé attitudes, and not giving-giving-a-sht-itis of the place I had been informed by various staff different things regarding bringing my yorkie George inside. From it being ok. To grunting and pointing at the door (does that mean take him outside or tying him to the handle?). The last time an old guy puffing away and a young dude got in a fight over him and where he should be. I don't need the drama, I recap soap operas. I like pitas, I like mom and pop joints, but I don't like PITAs. George already grunts and growls. Maybe I'll teach him to smoke and then he will be welcome and maybe even hired as future "Employee of the Year." read more

See all

​Excellent service! The order was put from out of state and arrived in 24 hours. Emad was very helpful and courteous.

Big bag of pita bread, the freshest I've ever tasted, for a dollar. A. dollar. It's worth putting up with the unsmiling lady who hangs around the register. Anyway I think that I'll be in there so much that eventually I will wear her down with my charm. They also have unlabelled goodies on the side counter, little mini pitas with meat, cheese, spinach stuffing. Also outrageously good value. read more

This is an awful place if you want to get ripped off. On a number of occasions the cashier would add additional charges or count items twice even though you have only one of that particular item. If you don't pay attention or notice what's happening they'll try and get away with it. The cashier will play dumb if you question them or notice anything out of the ordinary. Please always ask and get a receipt to double check what they charged you. This type of behavior seems to be the norm as other people including family members shared the same stories. This place of business should be shut down. Shame on you! read more

Great variety of middle eastern foods/seasonings/spices. Truly the only reason I actually come here is for the "whole wheat loaves" - they are sooooo good. There's za'atar and cheese, both fresh and perfectly made every time. the cheese isn't totally authentic but it's still really yummy. My family and I (there's 6 of us) get 8 loaves. They're pretty big and we usually end up only eating about 1/2 a loaf each. read more

Sanabel Bakery - Whole wheat cheese loaves - Bakeries Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

love this place gabriela is always so kind and helpful my favorite love thr bake goods super fresh and yummy

Review long overdue. The freshest of pita bread, same for the flat bread, oh so good and FYI the pita bread has only 30 mg of sodium, some of the other store brought brands clock in at around 200 to over 300, so theirs is healthy too. Today as I was leaving the woman at the register, I'm guessing she's one of the owners told me, over here, these just are coming out, there's spinach and cheese. These little puffs of pure breaded joy. Well of course I had to buy a bag of each. I ate a couple while driving home, which is a good thing because at home I have to fight my husband off for them. Tonight I made spinach tofu pizza with their large flat bread, you can put anything on top of the flat bread on a preheated pizza stone, 8 to 10 minutes does it, just don't overload, since the bread is thin. This is my new healthy pizza! This is a special trip for me as I don't live on the north side anymore, so you lucky peeps that live close, if you don't at least give this place a try, your loss. read more

I got some rancid sesame oil and tried to return it after it ruined some food I had prepared. The woman who's always working behind the register said you have to talk to my manager, I can't return an open product, if I do it comes out of my paycheck. She had me write down my phone number and told me to come back. I returned another day and her boss was there. He said we have to call the company (Ziyad) and ask them if they will take it back. They both kept arguing with me and bringing up all kinds of reasons why I couldn't return the oil. Mostly they focused on the notion that they will lose money because the product is already opened. I said ok, it's true that you may lose money, but that's not my fault. I lost money too! You pay wholesale rates and I've lost $6. Yes, someone's going to have to take a loss, and you are saying it has to be me. They kept insisting that they needed to contact the company to aks if they could return it. It was getting so absurd, I told them why don't you call India where it was manufactured and ask them too? Even another guy in line vouched for me and said, from a customer service point of view, you should refund the oil. Look, I realize this is a local shop and they don't have the easy overhead of a big national chain, and that they actually might feel the pinch more acutely than the local Jewel or Aldi. But to be so insistent that this was on me was too much. There are plenty of other middle eastern markets in Albany Park. I will take my business elsewhere if a $6 bottle of oil is more important to them. They could have offered me an exchange or anything to make this better, but they kept talking about their own bottom line. They lost me as a customer for many future trips, which is a bigger loss financially. My future trips would have been worth more than a $6 bottle of oil. Probably this oil had been out on the shelf too long in a clear bottle and that's how it got rancid. A lot the products on the shelf there are dusty. I have learned my lesson that I should only buy oil in metal tins or brown bottles. I've also learned that Sanabel has no interest in customer care. read more

This tiny store front bakes fresh pita and sells them 10 for a dollar. MOTHER OF GOD they are fantastic. I always eat one on the walk home. I live a few blocks away and the first time I wandered in at the suggestion of a friend there were 3 people ahead of me in line... all buying pitas. I could see into the back and watch pita's on a conveyor coming out of an oven. My pitas were still so warm there was a little bit of condensation inside the bag. The woman behind the counter on my first visit gave me a spinach pie to taste. I ended up buying six. I always ask what came out most recently and buy a few items from the case. Everything I've ever had there is just great. It is also nice to support a small business owner who is there, friendly and gets how to interact and encourage repeat business. The product kicking ass helps too. read more

Did a Yelp search for a bakery where I could buy freshly made pita bread. After weeding through some of the less than objective reviews commenting on everything from the Chicago Dept of Health restriction about (non-service) dogs in food establishments , to rancid sesame oil, & racial slurs , I decided to hit up Sanabel anyway. Like numerous Yelpers mentioned, Sanabel Bakery is an "odd" place. From the empty butcher case in the rear of the store to the cases of grocery items stacked on the floor, it's a testament to disarray. The bakery is off to the side, and packages are unmarked. If this is your first foray into buying Middle Eastern bread, ask "that" cashier (who some Yelpers have totally dissed !!! ) Friendliness/customer service are clearly not her strong points, but she did manage to explain what product was in each bag. I purchased a flatbread with 1/2 cheese, and 1/2 zaatar. Heated it up in a 200 degree oven when I got home. The cheese remained stringy, the zaatar side of the flatbread was tasty. The pitas were much better. Another customer in the store told me the spinach pies were awesome. Will update you when/ if I buy some. read more

The store itself had a nice variety of food items. However, my issue with the place was that neither owner had face masks on (which are required inside in Chicago during Covid-19). The male owner was talking loudly with people, and also on the phone without a mask on; and the woman was checking customers out with no mask on! When checking out, I expressed my discomfort but it was too late because I will never return. They are not adhering to proper public health guidelines. I would rather pay more elsewhere. read more

I wanted to get some pitas from Sanabel that I'd heard so much about. First of all, $1 for six giant, fresh pitas is a deal! I am sure I will never want to purchase the kind from the grocery store again. I walked in and wasn't sure where to go first. The interior of this place, for a lack of a better word, sucks. There are bags and bags of baked flat breads and pitas stacked on the floor. There is an unattended, unlit bakery case containing baklava and other unlabeled treats. I didn't browse any of the aisles, as they mainly looked dusty and dark. It felt a little dirty, but I wanted my pitas. The staff here is definitely aloof. One man smokes openly while walking the aisles, and the one cashier was too occupied to assist a customer. I blindly chose a mixed package of pastries. There were three types in the container, one was baklava, and the other...no idea what they are called. They were good. I know, real helpful right? As it turns out, the baklava was just okay. The one other treat, with cashews and shaped like a star or flower, was delicious. I would've liked more of these. Too bad I don't know what it is! I like the no nonsense style of the place, but my dad grumbled about there being no cashier, and I found the unlabeled bakery items (what is it? how much is it?) an inconvenience. If they were a little more friendly and organized, maybe I would have remembered that I also wanted to try the spinach pies and coconut cookies too. They could have been right in front of my face. I went to another bakery in the area a few months ago (Jaafer) and much prefer their set-up and bakery variety to Sanabel. However, I have yet to find a Middle Eastern bakery with employees who are willing to explain to me what they are selling behind the bakery counter. Worth stopping for the pita if you're in the area. read more

Stopped in for the first time on Sunday and was very happy with the experience. The baker was putting fresh cheese pies into the oven and packed us some so hot they were almost melting the bag. Everything was hot and fresh out of the oven and the smells were intoxicating. The lady working there was so nice and helpful... she gave us free spinach pies to taste and we wound up buying a dozen! The baklava was the BEST I have ever tasted from any other place, hands down. But my favorite find was these freshly baked coconut cookies sandwiched together with apricot jam. It took everything in me to not bust open the bags and eat most of this stuff in the car on the way home! I would give this place 10 stars for their fresh bakery. The canned and dry goods were another story. I picked up a few items and many had old expiration dates... one expired in 2010. They had a ton of imported things and most were fresh, but I was still a little leary about it. The cold case had a nice selection of cheeses and frozen items. They also had some shelving with hookah tobacco too. The back of the store had giant, but EMPTY, cold cases. The lady told us they are going to start selling meat and prepared foods there soon. I can't wait for that! The neighborhood is crowded and street parking can be difficult, but we were lucky enough to find an open spot right in front. read more

*Note that as of 2/6/10, Sanabel moved a block south on Kedzie* I was a big fan of Sanabel when it was just a bakery with a few staples. Now, it's a full-on Middle Eastern grocery with baked goods produced in its own bakery up the street. Go get a copy of a Claudia Roden and get cooking - anything you could want for Middle Eastern cuisine (though maybe not N. African) is here. And lots of other stuff you need too: I bought cardamom, semolina flour, and pomegranate juice -- none of which you can get at Jewel. I also noted they have graham flour, dundicut chiles, and some other things you would otherwise have to mail order. The one thing they don't have is produce -- but you can get that across the street (just don't park in the Cermak lot and go into Sanabel!). But if you need flavored charcoal for your hookah, broad skewers for kefta kabob, sumac, and a few pounds of basmati rice, this is your place. I was there 24 hours after it opened, and can only imagine great things to come. They even gave my son and I some wonderful baklava as a thank you on the way out. read more

Best. Pita. EVAH. I stopped in on a whim while riding my bike by one morning. After being given a piping hot, fresh bag of pita for just $1, I was excited to get home and try it. The pita was delicious! WAY better than ever buying pita at the grocery store. Now, every time I want pita (and this is stuff is so good, I want it!) I ride over to Sanabel. read more

Ooooooh pita so fresh the package has slight condensation on the inside. Hummus so fresh you''ll never want to buy that national brand again. A hookah tobacco selection so big it'll make your head spin. Yes! I love this bakery. All kinds of imported Middle Eastern goodness including teas and bulk beans and lentils. Coming soon they will have carry out food too! The owners are so nice and excited about their offerings it makes me want to go out of my way to come back! read more

The absolute best pita bread I've ever had in my life! The true testament to their talent is that the whole wheat pitas are even better than the traditional ones. Fresh, structurally sound and so flavorful they are the stuff that dreams are made of. I just reheat mine in a pan with a light spray of oil and chow down on them plain. For about a dollar you can grab a bag of ten which is a ridiculously cheap price for such craftsmanship. These folks are the real deal of Middle Eastern bakeries - check them out! read more

Fresh pita from Sanabel is as good as it gets. They bake it every day, so make sure you find the freshest loaves you can when you're there. Even day old pita is half as good (though still great) as the fresh stuff. Typically I can find pita that's still warm from the oven. What a treat! The rest of the store is pretty well stocked (especially since the move) with Middle Eastern goodies. They have a couple types of feta and olives in the back, and a pretty extensive selection of frozen goods. The prices, especially on spices and nuts, are very reasonable. read more

Amazing pita bread and spices. Very reasonable prices for the bread. The pita freezes really well by the way, so if you need to stock up and put some in the freezer, that works. My Lebanese friends told me about this bakery, and I am so glad they did! read more

A great authentic Lebanese bakery/grocery in Chicago's Irving Park neighborhood. Be sure to try the freshly baked manousheh FRESH from the oven! (when baker staff is available) upon request. My favorite are the lahm bi ajeen (meat pies) that are similar to meat pizzas served at Turkish restaurants-- very thin crust and spiced ground lamb topping. Only $1.50 each! Stock up on all things Middle Eastern including EVOO, labneh, frozen artichoke hearts, various kitchen accessories incl. Turkish coffee pots, mortar/pistil for crushing garlic. Of course their Arabic bread (pita) is the best I've had in Chicago so far; very low in sodium and they have white/whole wheat varieties. Enjoy! read more

Nice selection of Mediterranean goods. Lebneh, cheeses, pita bread. You have to order meat pies and spinach pies ahead of time.

Loved my pita bread! $5 minimum for credit cards so bring cash because I think it's only $1. Which is great for 10 pieces. They also have a parking lot which is very convenient read more