Akron Restaurant Reviews

If You Can’t Pronounce It, Eat It

Aladdin's Eatery, 782 West Market Street, 330.535.0110

I have to admit, I was a little scared the first time I walked into Aladdin’s Eatery in Highland Square . Arabic food smells so different then most other foods we’re used to in the US of A, but then I saw the dessert counter. I knew I could struggle through about any meal for a piece of carrot cake the size of my head.

The first time I went to Aladdin’s, I went with a friend. We ordered several different things and we pecked around until all of the food was gone. This method seems to work great. There are so many different dishes to try that sharing it all family style seems to be the method that I keep coming back to.

As for what to order, I love their soups. The lentil soup, the chili, the len-chili and the chicken chili are all good. If your not to adventurous with your culinary delights, try one of their salads. The spinach salad is super good.

If you really want to try something unique, order something you can’t pronounce. Falaffel, hummos, baba, fattoush and dawali are all staples in the Arabic diet and they’re all tasty treats and all vegetarian. Dawali, grape leaves stuffed with rice, chick peas and mint, are awesome in the Dawali rolled, dawali and feta cheese rolled up in a giant pita and toasted. The Falaffel Pocket is also worth checking out, it’s made by stuffing falafel (deep fried fava bean and wheat paste) and greens into a pita pocket and putting some dressing on top.

If you’re looking for a meat-treat try the shishtawook which is a chicken kabob topped with spices and some kind of crazy sauce. In my carnivorous days, shishtawook was one of my favorites. My gramps is a big fan of kibbie, ground meat mixed with wheat, stuffed with toasted pine nuts and then fried. If those don’t do it for you, then there is the pita pizza. It is giant and tasty.

If you’re looking for a nice beverage to go with your meal, I recommend getting one of Aladdin’s smoothies or juices. All of their smoothies start with a strawberry-banana base, they my mix in an exotic fruit of your choice. The guava smoothie kicks ass. For all you juice people out there, I’d go with the orange-carrot juice. It’s a pretty basic juice, but they do it really well.

Post-meal, if you have any room left in your gullet, walk up to their dessert counter and see what looks good. There’s a good turn around on desserts so chances are they’re all pretty fresh. If you don’t have room for a full dessert snag a cookie, they’re worth the price.

I’d recommend checking out Aladdin’s to anyone interested in trying some good Arabic food. You could go to Tangier, but Aladdin’s is a lot cheaper and I think it tastes a lot better. For cheap Arabic goodness, I give Aladdin’s 4 blimps. If you have a chance, get a table outside, that way you can avoid the crappy quasi-Arabic music going on in the inside

Cheap Arabic Goodness :
Crappy Faux-Arabic Music: