My dad recently bought dinner for my entire family after losing a bet. He didn’t think it was possible to have a girl with the Paff name, but our sweet little daughter proved him wrong. My brother’s girlfriend was the one who started the bet with him, so she got to pick the restaurant for our night out. She picked Aladdin’s Eatery, a Middle Eastern restaurant that she has been wanting us all to try.

Outside

Surprisingly my wife and I managed to get the kids ready and beat everyone to the restaurant. We were greeted by a very friendly man behind the register, who I assume to be the owner or manager. Once I said we were waiting on the rest of our group, he directed us towards a reserved table in the back of the small room and asked that we have a seat.

Inside

Once everyone in our party had arrived we started with the vegetarian combo appetizer of hummus, tabouli, baba ghanoush, falafel, and dawali (stuffed grape leaves). The delicious sample of hummus was gone quickly, so we ordered another plate of the delightful chickpea purée along with a few more baskets of pita.

Hummus

In my experience, most Middle Eastern restaurants do not offer a kids menu, but Aladdin’s does, which was a welcome surprise. Our two-year-old loves grilled cheese and enjoyed his grilled cheddar cheese pita with fruit. His plate was served before the rest of ours, so he was able to eat while we continued to enjoy our appetizers.

Grilled Cheddar Cheese Pita

Aladdin’s offers some unique items that I have never seen on other similar restaurant menus. The first items that really stood out to me are their pita pitzas, which use either hummus or some combination of dressings as the sauce for this take on pizza. The other isn’t quite as unique, but isn’t something I haven’t seen before, rolled pitas. These remind me of sandwich wraps in that the pita used is thin and resembles a tortilla.

Falafel Rolled & Wrapped

After being impressed with Aladdin’s falafel from our appetizer sampler, I ordered the falafel rolled. In addition to the mildly spicy falafel patties, the rolled sandwich is topped with greens, tomato, turnips, pickles, and tahini yogurt dressing.

Falafel Rolled

Aside from the delicious falafel, the one ingredient that stood out the most to me were the pickled turnips. We actually had a plate of veggies with our appetizers, and I was surprised by how much I liked the turnips. They added some interesting texture and a great flavor to the roll. I think next time I would order this with either hummus or baba ghanoush added, which are both rolls offered on the menu as well.

Chicken Sambusek Plate

My wife ordered the chicken sambusek plate, which combines grilled curry chicken with onions, peas, herbs and spices, which is then folded into a pita pie topped with diced tomato, and scallions. This was easily my favorite of what I sampled. The curry and spices added a wonderful flavor to the chicken and vegetable mixture. The plate comes served with mixed greens, sliced tomatoes, mushrooms, calamata olives, and your choice of dressing. The sambuseks can also be ordered as an appetizer.

Aladdin’s Eatery has some unique and tasty takes of Middle Eastern food, but still excels at the more traditional items. And it does all of this at an affordable price. Highly recommended.