No stars if I could have. THE WORST "Mediterranean" ever. $11 for two tablespoons of meat??? And it's COLD. Awful awful awful. When I called and complained I was told the franchise dictates. I'm convinced Toledo has not a single good Mediterranean place around. Awful.
(1)
JaMalle F.
This is my favorite restaurant in Toledo. The quality of food is great. It's also very healthy generally speaking and especially in comparison to other options. I'm a vegetarian, so it's nice to have a wide selection of various options to choose from. I've been coming here for 6 years. I watched the owner meet amazing weight loss goals from eating the food in his own restaurant. For some reason, the owner who usually is there isn't there as often. Noticed this in 2014 and now 2015. I'm not sure if management has changed, but I've noticed since his absence, there IS a change in quality customer service. You already get small portion sizes, but this is an issue that causes me to drop my otherwise rating from 5 to 4. I remember during visits home, the owner always asking me how college was going. Just super friendly and personable. Hopefully the cheerfulness and engagement via servers is improved. Anyway, best hummus in Toledo. Hands down!
(4)
James M.
Nothing worse than expecting the STRONG flavors of Mediterranean cuisine & getting bland fare! This is the only middle eastern restaurant I have eaten @ in the Toledo area. Guess when comparing to my Dearborn/Dearborn Heights, MI. area favorites, Aladdin's fell waaay short! Hope for all you Toledo peeps, that there is a better choice? Definitely made two trips in one, my first & last! If there was any positive, service was pretty good.
(1)
Lisa M.
Let me be the first to say, I rarely give out one's. But this one is so warranted. From the not good food to our bad service all around this is one of those -I'll never go here again places. My husband and I eat a lot of mediterrean food due to the heathiness of the dishes and the larger portions that we can take home. The menu here is confusing and the waitress seemed like she didn't want to be bothered by our questions. There were only a few other tables in the restaurant being split by her and another waiter and they spent more time talking at the counter then checking on their patrons. My sandwich was dry and although the rice was good - its not something you can easily mess up. We left feeling ripped off and not full at all.
(1)
Mike H.
The girl who took my order was really F**ing stupid. I was in a hurry and ran in to get a shwarma. I didn't even look at the menu, all I wanted was a regular chicken shwarma and the girl kept asking me pointless questions. I kept saying A....REGULAR...CHICKEN...SHWARMA....and she didn't seem to comprehend it so I just walked out.
(1)
Jerry M.
Warning do not waste your hard earned dollars on their food. I love Mediterranean food. I love going to Dearborn Michigan where I can taste awesome authentic Mediterranean food. I love the portion sizes, I love the health factor with the food, I typically love the friendly service that they provide. All of these things were lacking at Aladdin's. I was having trouble with the menu. I wanted chicken tawook with rice or something in that realm. The waitress said no problem that's the jasmine's rice with chicken added. I was so disappointed in the portions. I always, and I mean always have left overs at this type of restaurant. Here I had the smallest serving of chicken (3 pieces) tenders that ever ever come with a Mediterranean dish. It was an up charge of 4 dollars and I was ripped off. Did it taste good? Yea, it wasn't bad. Did I feel doped, absolutely. The desserts looked amazing but I didn't try them since I was on a diet. The waitress wasn't on top of our drinks at all and was slow to introduce her self. I will never go back and I honestly would take the other reviews seriously since they pretty much hit it on the head. We are lucky living in the Toledo/SE Michigan area where the largest Arabic population lives in the US. There are great restaurants out there don't make yourself suffer through the disappointment of this one.
(1)
Alex B.
Over all this place feels like a stamp in an area full of paintings. Middle eastern food is amazing, especially in toledo. I had lamb and rice, the lamb was dry and lacking in flavor, the bright part of the lunch was the humus.
(2)
N H.
Aladdin's is a middle eastern chain in a city that has a wealth of local middle eastern options. Why waste your time and money? The food is adequate, but extremely small portions - nothing like you'd get at one of the other places. It's just disappointing. But if you have to eat there for whatever reason, the food still tastes solid, just not as good as other places, plus more expensive and smaller portions.
(2)
Ron N.
Great attentive service after a two cavity dental appointment. Fruit smoothie, great hummus, tiramisu rounded out the post dentist choices. Personable owner and excellent service. Nice for a mediterranean lunch or a quick dessert. I have to update this because of the 1* ratings other have given this place. I have always liked this place and had good to great food with occasional slow service. The other night I went here and it was just perfect from the Grape Leaf appetizer to the Baklava Cheesecake. This place is under new ownership and management. They are doing great!
(5)
Monica S.
I'm still hungry. I went to Aladdin's for a quick lunch after a movie and ordered a lamb pita. My first bite had lamb and I was fairly satisfied with the seemingly fresh vegetables and crunchy pita. I continued to take bites until I was about a third finished with my meal, but to my shock realized: WHERE THE HELL IS THE LAMB!? I opened the pita to find 4 small sad pieces of overcooked lamb. Wow. For $7.75, I could have enjoyed a nice rice bowl at Chipotle. When the server finally came by to check on us, I couldn't help but explain my dissatisfaction with the meager serving. She replied, "I'll tell the cook." No apologies from the "cook" though, despite her relaying the message and me being one of 4 people in the restaurant. Excuse me while I have a real meal, courtesy of my fridge.
(1)
Michelle E.
This franchise is very healthy and tasty. The first time my family and I discovered this restaurant was on a road trip when we were passing through Pittsburgh. We enjoyed it so much that we went out of our way on our way home to eat dinner at the Toledo restaurant. The food has good portions. They are pretty large even. I really love this place and hope they open one in Chicago.
(4)
Jacquelyn R.
This is my favorite Mediterranean place in town and when I visit (as I am from Texas), I always make a point to stop here. The service is great, it's reasonably priced, the food is super healthy, and they have many, many gluten free & vegetarian options. I highly recommend the Mujadara. I have to say, I'm very surprised that the ratings are so low. This place is a real gem!!
(5)
Kelly R.
What happened to Aladdins? I'm wondering if perhaps they've changed owners. When we'd visit this restaurant on the past, the owner was always present and it was always very good. The past two times, however, have been awful. One was a carryout and they didn't include everything we ordered and paid for. Most recently, we dined in for lunch and it was awful. The chicken on my salad wasn't thoroughly cooked, he was brought out something completely different than what he ordered. I should also mention that we waited about 40 minutes for salads and the restaurant wasn't even crowded. It was also awkward because two of the workers were arguing on the kitchen, but we were able to hear then loud and clear in the dining area. It's time to find a new Mediterranean restaurant. Goodbye Aladdins.
(1)
Ryan H.
Wow, food is good, but portions are small, service really sucks, the manager is a total rude jerk, when they got my order wrong and I told them it was the wrong item, the manager, a super fat dude, came over like an angry mob boss from jersey and started harrassing me about how they wouldn't take it back! Don't come here if you are sensitive to agressive arrogant jerks!
(2)
S L.
I came here for dinner last night with a girlfriend. After much contemplation, I ordered on the Aladdin's Platter. When it came out, I was surprised at how tiny the portion size was. Well over half of my regular-sized dinner plate was salad. The other part of the plate had two small scoops of rice, and a pitiful portion of meat (2 pieces of chicken, 1 piece of kafta, and 3 pieces of beef - all of the pieces were small cubes). The taste was just okay. The entree was $13.95. I can get over double the amount of food at Grape Leaf Diner for the same price, and it tastes better there too! Another nearby option is Grape Leaf Express, where I can get an generous portion of deliciousness for around $8. I also shared a slice of Baklava Cheesecake with a girlfriend. The cheesecake portion was decent, but the baklava was a bit mushy. For over $6 a slice, I expected something fresher. The waitress was friendly, but she did not do her job well. Even though the restaurant was not busy, she kind of forgot about our table. We waited a long time to order dessert, and ended up walking up to the case ourselves to order the dessert near the register. I won't be back. There are much better options that are nearby.
(2)
Sonya I.
Loved this place at first. Best item on the menu is the chicken curry wrap. Found it after my fourth or fifth visit and never looked back. Now onto the sad bits. 1) Often, we would go for dessert, just coffee and cake. Sometimes the cakes were to die for, and sometimes they were stale and dry. At $6.25 a slice, I really think they should toss the rest once they go stale. 2) The waitresses pressure you to order, order, order, as if they are salesmen. When we want just water, please don't screw up your nose like there's a skunk in the kitchen. Also, multiple times we felt as if our waitress had forgotten us. Once, she was so MIA we had to ask for our check at the register. As a side note, we are amiable, accommodating people, who always tip 20-25%. So all i can think is that we were bumped down on the waitresses priorities for not ordering drinks and appetizers. (we were holding out for $3 coffees and $6 cake, which we did not order since we could not flag down our waitress.) We have not been back in almost 6 months. The owner is very friendly, and loves what he does.
(3)
Faith C.
I love Mediterranean/Middle Eastern and up until now my favorite place to go is Beirut. I had been looking for a place that offered a more casual dining experience for Mediterranean food so I could enjoy it more often. I decided to try Aladdins because I read the good reviews and when I drove by, it seemed to fit what I was looking for. We stopped in for a late lunch and our waiter was friendly and joked around with us. (He might've been the owner based on other ppl's reviews.) Sneaky: I wanted to try the tabouli (my favorite dish) and the grape leaves (lboth isted as appetizers) to see how they compared to other places. When we ordered, the waiter asked if we wanted large or small orders of the appetizers. In the menu, there was only one price/size listed (which should've rang some bells) but I thought maybe the large would be more but still cheaper than ordering 2 of each appetizer. It turns out when we got our bill, we were charged for 2 of each appetizer!! So instead of asking if we wanted 2 orders of the tabouli & grape leaves, he tricked us by caling it a 'large' (which explains why it wasn't listed in the menu that way.) The waiter was deceivingly nice so I didn't expect him to trick us like that. Also when we ordered, my friend was undecided on what to get so the waiter recommended the lamb which happened to be the most expensive thing the specialty menu. My friend decided to try it because the waiter recommended it. When it came out, the portion was so small! There wasn't much rice and there were probably only 5-6 small pieces of meat. The icing on the cake was that there was a hair in the sauce (to which the waiter didn't provide any compensation except more of the sauce.) Food: The food itself wasn't bad. It was average. In general, the dishes were a bit tartier/lemony than most other places I've tried. The tomatoes in the tabouli were a bit mushy which to me meant they wrent fresh, although the salad seemed fresh. The grape leaves were very skinny and didn't seem to have as much stuffing as other places and they had the same tartiness as pickles (or pickled olives) rather than lemon tart. The falafel and rice were really good but once again the rice had a lemony tart to it. (for the record, I like tarty foods like pickles so I don't mean this in a bad way. I just wanted to state hat it's tartier than most other plces and was a bit overwhelming for even me,) Portions vs Price The meal portions were small. I can understand being stingy on the meat (ie lamb and chicken) but there was hardly any rice on our platters. Since it was lunchtime I expected lunch portions but I felt like I couldve eaten all the rice in a couple spoonfuls if I tried. What I was most appalled about was the fact that our meal ended up being almost $70 for 3 people! It was not the casual lunch experience I was expecting and I did NOT feel that the portion or quality of food was worth that much money! Had we gotten our meal & appetizers for less than 10-15 each person, I would've felt it was worth it. But for as much as we paid, I would've much rather gotten Beirut where the dishes taste better and the portions are bigger! (I realize the price was higher cause we got the grape leaves and tabouli but if we didn't get the appetizers, we would've left hungry because the portions were so small.) Overall, as nice as the waiter/owner was, I probably won't go there again because for those prices, I prefer Beirut!
(2)
Marcus O.
The waitress got my order wrong, refused to change it claiming that thats what I ordered. I ordered a slice of cake for dessert which was dried out and tasted like alcohol... not what I was expecting. It's to bad this place wasn't better I had high hopes. I will continue to look for a good Mediterranean restaurant in Toledo.
(2)
J B.
This place USED to be one of my T-town favorites...not any more! The food is always fresh and flavorful, and the service can be a somewhat inattentive. After a light meal with family and time to pay the bill, no one could figure out how to apply a VISA gift card. It took 4 people and 30 minutes before the manager came in and threatened to fire the kid trying to take my payment. The guy told me to "SIT DOWN" and wait so he could help the others in the growing line of people waiting for food, tables, take out, etc. I THINK NOT! I really just wanted to pay for my food and leave. So today, I find 3 pending charges on my bank card!! When I called him to ask about the charges, he started yelling at me and said i was "lucky" to get any discount at all on my bill. WOW!!! P.S. Called the corporate office about the situation, and left a message, but so far no one has returned my call!
(1)
Hank's Dad R.
This place is hard to rate. Sometimes the food is great, sometimes it's just ok. The last few times we were here the service has been bad. We've dropped this place off our list.
(3)
Leigh M.
Very ok place. Service seems forced a bit. Food reminds me of a chain, but not in a bad way. The owner very nice though and eager to please.Smoothie was good. I would go back.
(3)
Scott J.
Aladdin's is great and the service is fantastic also. The price paid for the service as atmosphere is worth it. Nick is a great host, he is the man running the show. It has been a couple of months since I had been to the restaurant and the service is great, my server Sean was very knowledgeable about the menu and suggested the best salad that I had never had before. Did I also mention that my drink was never empty? What a concept when you go to an establishment of having a full drink or never running out and not needing to ask for a refill!!
(5)
Neal F.
Great concept, poorly executed. I'm surprised a place like this can stay open in a town with so much Middle Eastern food. Aladdin's isn't bad it's just not really anything special. Toledo has so many Arab markets and almost all of them are better and cheaper than this place. Try the shwarma at Toledo Market on Door and Secor. Aladdin's does offer some nice salads and smoothies however. I don't know I just can't justify spending my money at a chain when I can eat at local, family owned restaurants with better food.
(2)
Heather p.
This small restaurant in a strip mall is a diamond in the rough! The best Mediteranean fare I have ever eaten! I always order the V Nine fresh veggie soup and the fresh veggies and Hummus plate. They make the hummus fresh to order. They have several hot teas to choose from along with all natural smoothies. All their items are freshly made and delicious! 5 stars!
(5)
Susan L.
Can this town possibly have more strip malls? Apparently it can because it ripped down Ken's Flower Shop and put up two, count em, two more strip malls in its place. Ok, done ranting. Aladdin's is a recent addition in the Franklin Park area. My parents are fans of it for the their exact motto: "Serving the in-crowd without the crowd." (picture of the sign is on the way). How great is that? They tout the fact that they are never busy. Love it. Aladdin's is lucky it doesn't face much competition in the Toledo area because the food is plain average. My dad likes their vegetable soup, which was pretty good, but everything else was meh. I had a major issue with portion size. The combination platter came with maybe a total of 5 pieces of meat (1 chicken, 2 beef, 2 lamb). The shish kabob platter also came with 5 lonely pieces of meat (no peppers, onions, tomatoes, etc). Taste was okay but they could at least throw in some pita and hummos to go with it. My mom took a stab in the dark and ordered one of the pita pizza things. She got the Aladdin's, which had chicken with honey mustard. Bizarre dish, considering it holds the name of the business. You'd think it would be more Mediterranean-y. It tasted as weird as it sounds. Honey mustard was really spicey and completely overpowering. We basically picked off the chicken and ate the pita around the sides. To top off the whole experience, the service was slow. We think they got bogged down with carry-out orders. We waited a good 30 min for our food. I'm giving Aladdin's 3 stars because it has potential. The owner/manager is ridiculously friendly and it's clear he's putting his all into this place. It has a nice local feel to it and it's a great alternative to the crowded mall restaurants.
(3)
Scott L.
We have eaten at Aladdin's several times over the past year and have never been let down. Pros: The food is fast, fresh and the staff are always nice. They seem to go out of their way to ensure you have a pleasant dining experience. Con: The desserts look better then they taste.
(5)
stephanie t.
i'm not exactly sure why this place isn't packed. the food is delicious and fresh and healthy! as a vegetarian i was happy to see that they have over 40 vegetarian options plus freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices and smoothies. the service was friendly and fast and it is so reasonably priced. i will definitely be making return trips.
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Specialities
Takes Reservations : Yes Delivery : No Take-out : Yes Accepts Credit Cards : Yes Good For : Lunch Parking : Private Lot Bike Parking : Yes Wheelchair Accessible : Yes Good for Kids : Yes Good for Groups : Yes Attire : Casual Ambience : Casual Noise Level : Quiet Alcohol : Beer & Wine Only Outdoor Seating : Yes Wi-Fi : Free Has TV : No Waiter Service : Yes Caters : Yes
Terri W.
No stars if I could have. THE WORST "Mediterranean" ever. $11 for two tablespoons of meat??? And it's COLD. Awful awful awful. When I called and complained I was told the franchise dictates. I'm convinced Toledo has not a single good Mediterranean place around. Awful.
(1)JaMalle F.
This is my favorite restaurant in Toledo. The quality of food is great. It's also very healthy generally speaking and especially in comparison to other options. I'm a vegetarian, so it's nice to have a wide selection of various options to choose from. I've been coming here for 6 years. I watched the owner meet amazing weight loss goals from eating the food in his own restaurant. For some reason, the owner who usually is there isn't there as often. Noticed this in 2014 and now 2015. I'm not sure if management has changed, but I've noticed since his absence, there IS a change in quality customer service. You already get small portion sizes, but this is an issue that causes me to drop my otherwise rating from 5 to 4. I remember during visits home, the owner always asking me how college was going. Just super friendly and personable. Hopefully the cheerfulness and engagement via servers is improved. Anyway, best hummus in Toledo. Hands down!
(4)James M.
Nothing worse than expecting the STRONG flavors of Mediterranean cuisine & getting bland fare! This is the only middle eastern restaurant I have eaten @ in the Toledo area. Guess when comparing to my Dearborn/Dearborn Heights, MI. area favorites, Aladdin's fell waaay short! Hope for all you Toledo peeps, that there is a better choice? Definitely made two trips in one, my first & last! If there was any positive, service was pretty good.
(1)Lisa M.
Let me be the first to say, I rarely give out one's. But this one is so warranted. From the not good food to our bad service all around this is one of those -I'll never go here again places. My husband and I eat a lot of mediterrean food due to the heathiness of the dishes and the larger portions that we can take home. The menu here is confusing and the waitress seemed like she didn't want to be bothered by our questions. There were only a few other tables in the restaurant being split by her and another waiter and they spent more time talking at the counter then checking on their patrons. My sandwich was dry and although the rice was good - its not something you can easily mess up. We left feeling ripped off and not full at all.
(1)Mike H.
The girl who took my order was really F**ing stupid. I was in a hurry and ran in to get a shwarma. I didn't even look at the menu, all I wanted was a regular chicken shwarma and the girl kept asking me pointless questions. I kept saying A....REGULAR...CHICKEN...SHWARMA....and she didn't seem to comprehend it so I just walked out.
(1)Jerry M.
Warning do not waste your hard earned dollars on their food. I love Mediterranean food. I love going to Dearborn Michigan where I can taste awesome authentic Mediterranean food. I love the portion sizes, I love the health factor with the food, I typically love the friendly service that they provide. All of these things were lacking at Aladdin's. I was having trouble with the menu. I wanted chicken tawook with rice or something in that realm. The waitress said no problem that's the jasmine's rice with chicken added. I was so disappointed in the portions. I always, and I mean always have left overs at this type of restaurant. Here I had the smallest serving of chicken (3 pieces) tenders that ever ever come with a Mediterranean dish. It was an up charge of 4 dollars and I was ripped off. Did it taste good? Yea, it wasn't bad. Did I feel doped, absolutely. The desserts looked amazing but I didn't try them since I was on a diet. The waitress wasn't on top of our drinks at all and was slow to introduce her self. I will never go back and I honestly would take the other reviews seriously since they pretty much hit it on the head. We are lucky living in the Toledo/SE Michigan area where the largest Arabic population lives in the US. There are great restaurants out there don't make yourself suffer through the disappointment of this one.
(1)Alex B.
Over all this place feels like a stamp in an area full of paintings. Middle eastern food is amazing, especially in toledo. I had lamb and rice, the lamb was dry and lacking in flavor, the bright part of the lunch was the humus.
(2)N H.
Aladdin's is a middle eastern chain in a city that has a wealth of local middle eastern options. Why waste your time and money? The food is adequate, but extremely small portions - nothing like you'd get at one of the other places. It's just disappointing. But if you have to eat there for whatever reason, the food still tastes solid, just not as good as other places, plus more expensive and smaller portions.
(2)Ron N.
Great attentive service after a two cavity dental appointment. Fruit smoothie, great hummus, tiramisu rounded out the post dentist choices. Personable owner and excellent service. Nice for a mediterranean lunch or a quick dessert. I have to update this because of the 1* ratings other have given this place. I have always liked this place and had good to great food with occasional slow service. The other night I went here and it was just perfect from the Grape Leaf appetizer to the Baklava Cheesecake. This place is under new ownership and management. They are doing great!
(5)Monica S.
I'm still hungry. I went to Aladdin's for a quick lunch after a movie and ordered a lamb pita. My first bite had lamb and I was fairly satisfied with the seemingly fresh vegetables and crunchy pita. I continued to take bites until I was about a third finished with my meal, but to my shock realized: WHERE THE HELL IS THE LAMB!? I opened the pita to find 4 small sad pieces of overcooked lamb. Wow. For $7.75, I could have enjoyed a nice rice bowl at Chipotle. When the server finally came by to check on us, I couldn't help but explain my dissatisfaction with the meager serving. She replied, "I'll tell the cook." No apologies from the "cook" though, despite her relaying the message and me being one of 4 people in the restaurant. Excuse me while I have a real meal, courtesy of my fridge.
(1)Michelle E.
This franchise is very healthy and tasty. The first time my family and I discovered this restaurant was on a road trip when we were passing through Pittsburgh. We enjoyed it so much that we went out of our way on our way home to eat dinner at the Toledo restaurant. The food has good portions. They are pretty large even. I really love this place and hope they open one in Chicago.
(4)Jacquelyn R.
This is my favorite Mediterranean place in town and when I visit (as I am from Texas), I always make a point to stop here. The service is great, it's reasonably priced, the food is super healthy, and they have many, many gluten free & vegetarian options. I highly recommend the Mujadara. I have to say, I'm very surprised that the ratings are so low. This place is a real gem!!
(5)Kelly R.
What happened to Aladdins? I'm wondering if perhaps they've changed owners. When we'd visit this restaurant on the past, the owner was always present and it was always very good. The past two times, however, have been awful. One was a carryout and they didn't include everything we ordered and paid for. Most recently, we dined in for lunch and it was awful. The chicken on my salad wasn't thoroughly cooked, he was brought out something completely different than what he ordered. I should also mention that we waited about 40 minutes for salads and the restaurant wasn't even crowded. It was also awkward because two of the workers were arguing on the kitchen, but we were able to hear then loud and clear in the dining area. It's time to find a new Mediterranean restaurant. Goodbye Aladdins.
(1)Ryan H.
Wow, food is good, but portions are small, service really sucks, the manager is a total rude jerk, when they got my order wrong and I told them it was the wrong item, the manager, a super fat dude, came over like an angry mob boss from jersey and started harrassing me about how they wouldn't take it back! Don't come here if you are sensitive to agressive arrogant jerks!
(2)S L.
I came here for dinner last night with a girlfriend. After much contemplation, I ordered on the Aladdin's Platter. When it came out, I was surprised at how tiny the portion size was. Well over half of my regular-sized dinner plate was salad. The other part of the plate had two small scoops of rice, and a pitiful portion of meat (2 pieces of chicken, 1 piece of kafta, and 3 pieces of beef - all of the pieces were small cubes). The taste was just okay. The entree was $13.95. I can get over double the amount of food at Grape Leaf Diner for the same price, and it tastes better there too! Another nearby option is Grape Leaf Express, where I can get an generous portion of deliciousness for around $8. I also shared a slice of Baklava Cheesecake with a girlfriend. The cheesecake portion was decent, but the baklava was a bit mushy. For over $6 a slice, I expected something fresher. The waitress was friendly, but she did not do her job well. Even though the restaurant was not busy, she kind of forgot about our table. We waited a long time to order dessert, and ended up walking up to the case ourselves to order the dessert near the register. I won't be back. There are much better options that are nearby.
(2)Sonya I.
Loved this place at first. Best item on the menu is the chicken curry wrap. Found it after my fourth or fifth visit and never looked back. Now onto the sad bits. 1) Often, we would go for dessert, just coffee and cake. Sometimes the cakes were to die for, and sometimes they were stale and dry. At $6.25 a slice, I really think they should toss the rest once they go stale. 2) The waitresses pressure you to order, order, order, as if they are salesmen. When we want just water, please don't screw up your nose like there's a skunk in the kitchen. Also, multiple times we felt as if our waitress had forgotten us. Once, she was so MIA we had to ask for our check at the register. As a side note, we are amiable, accommodating people, who always tip 20-25%. So all i can think is that we were bumped down on the waitresses priorities for not ordering drinks and appetizers. (we were holding out for $3 coffees and $6 cake, which we did not order since we could not flag down our waitress.) We have not been back in almost 6 months. The owner is very friendly, and loves what he does.
(3)Faith C.
I love Mediterranean/Middle Eastern and up until now my favorite place to go is Beirut. I had been looking for a place that offered a more casual dining experience for Mediterranean food so I could enjoy it more often. I decided to try Aladdins because I read the good reviews and when I drove by, it seemed to fit what I was looking for. We stopped in for a late lunch and our waiter was friendly and joked around with us. (He might've been the owner based on other ppl's reviews.) Sneaky: I wanted to try the tabouli (my favorite dish) and the grape leaves (lboth isted as appetizers) to see how they compared to other places. When we ordered, the waiter asked if we wanted large or small orders of the appetizers. In the menu, there was only one price/size listed (which should've rang some bells) but I thought maybe the large would be more but still cheaper than ordering 2 of each appetizer. It turns out when we got our bill, we were charged for 2 of each appetizer!! So instead of asking if we wanted 2 orders of the tabouli & grape leaves, he tricked us by caling it a 'large' (which explains why it wasn't listed in the menu that way.) The waiter was deceivingly nice so I didn't expect him to trick us like that. Also when we ordered, my friend was undecided on what to get so the waiter recommended the lamb which happened to be the most expensive thing the specialty menu. My friend decided to try it because the waiter recommended it. When it came out, the portion was so small! There wasn't much rice and there were probably only 5-6 small pieces of meat. The icing on the cake was that there was a hair in the sauce (to which the waiter didn't provide any compensation except more of the sauce.) Food: The food itself wasn't bad. It was average. In general, the dishes were a bit tartier/lemony than most other places I've tried. The tomatoes in the tabouli were a bit mushy which to me meant they wrent fresh, although the salad seemed fresh. The grape leaves were very skinny and didn't seem to have as much stuffing as other places and they had the same tartiness as pickles (or pickled olives) rather than lemon tart. The falafel and rice were really good but once again the rice had a lemony tart to it. (for the record, I like tarty foods like pickles so I don't mean this in a bad way. I just wanted to state hat it's tartier than most other plces and was a bit overwhelming for even me,) Portions vs Price The meal portions were small. I can understand being stingy on the meat (ie lamb and chicken) but there was hardly any rice on our platters. Since it was lunchtime I expected lunch portions but I felt like I couldve eaten all the rice in a couple spoonfuls if I tried. What I was most appalled about was the fact that our meal ended up being almost $70 for 3 people! It was not the casual lunch experience I was expecting and I did NOT feel that the portion or quality of food was worth that much money! Had we gotten our meal & appetizers for less than 10-15 each person, I would've felt it was worth it. But for as much as we paid, I would've much rather gotten Beirut where the dishes taste better and the portions are bigger! (I realize the price was higher cause we got the grape leaves and tabouli but if we didn't get the appetizers, we would've left hungry because the portions were so small.) Overall, as nice as the waiter/owner was, I probably won't go there again because for those prices, I prefer Beirut!
(2)Marcus O.
The waitress got my order wrong, refused to change it claiming that thats what I ordered. I ordered a slice of cake for dessert which was dried out and tasted like alcohol... not what I was expecting. It's to bad this place wasn't better I had high hopes. I will continue to look for a good Mediterranean restaurant in Toledo.
(2)J B.
This place USED to be one of my T-town favorites...not any more! The food is always fresh and flavorful, and the service can be a somewhat inattentive. After a light meal with family and time to pay the bill, no one could figure out how to apply a VISA gift card. It took 4 people and 30 minutes before the manager came in and threatened to fire the kid trying to take my payment. The guy told me to "SIT DOWN" and wait so he could help the others in the growing line of people waiting for food, tables, take out, etc. I THINK NOT! I really just wanted to pay for my food and leave. So today, I find 3 pending charges on my bank card!! When I called him to ask about the charges, he started yelling at me and said i was "lucky" to get any discount at all on my bill. WOW!!! P.S. Called the corporate office about the situation, and left a message, but so far no one has returned my call!
(1)Hank's Dad R.
This place is hard to rate. Sometimes the food is great, sometimes it's just ok. The last few times we were here the service has been bad. We've dropped this place off our list.
(3)Leigh M.
Very ok place. Service seems forced a bit. Food reminds me of a chain, but not in a bad way. The owner very nice though and eager to please.Smoothie was good. I would go back.
(3)Scott J.
Aladdin's is great and the service is fantastic also. The price paid for the service as atmosphere is worth it. Nick is a great host, he is the man running the show. It has been a couple of months since I had been to the restaurant and the service is great, my server Sean was very knowledgeable about the menu and suggested the best salad that I had never had before. Did I also mention that my drink was never empty? What a concept when you go to an establishment of having a full drink or never running out and not needing to ask for a refill!!
(5)Neal F.
Great concept, poorly executed. I'm surprised a place like this can stay open in a town with so much Middle Eastern food. Aladdin's isn't bad it's just not really anything special. Toledo has so many Arab markets and almost all of them are better and cheaper than this place. Try the shwarma at Toledo Market on Door and Secor. Aladdin's does offer some nice salads and smoothies however. I don't know I just can't justify spending my money at a chain when I can eat at local, family owned restaurants with better food.
(2)Heather p.
This small restaurant in a strip mall is a diamond in the rough! The best Mediteranean fare I have ever eaten! I always order the V Nine fresh veggie soup and the fresh veggies and Hummus plate. They make the hummus fresh to order. They have several hot teas to choose from along with all natural smoothies. All their items are freshly made and delicious! 5 stars!
(5)Susan L.
Can this town possibly have more strip malls? Apparently it can because it ripped down Ken's Flower Shop and put up two, count em, two more strip malls in its place. Ok, done ranting. Aladdin's is a recent addition in the Franklin Park area. My parents are fans of it for the their exact motto: "Serving the in-crowd without the crowd." (picture of the sign is on the way). How great is that? They tout the fact that they are never busy. Love it. Aladdin's is lucky it doesn't face much competition in the Toledo area because the food is plain average. My dad likes their vegetable soup, which was pretty good, but everything else was meh. I had a major issue with portion size. The combination platter came with maybe a total of 5 pieces of meat (1 chicken, 2 beef, 2 lamb). The shish kabob platter also came with 5 lonely pieces of meat (no peppers, onions, tomatoes, etc). Taste was okay but they could at least throw in some pita and hummos to go with it. My mom took a stab in the dark and ordered one of the pita pizza things. She got the Aladdin's, which had chicken with honey mustard. Bizarre dish, considering it holds the name of the business. You'd think it would be more Mediterranean-y. It tasted as weird as it sounds. Honey mustard was really spicey and completely overpowering. We basically picked off the chicken and ate the pita around the sides. To top off the whole experience, the service was slow. We think they got bogged down with carry-out orders. We waited a good 30 min for our food. I'm giving Aladdin's 3 stars because it has potential. The owner/manager is ridiculously friendly and it's clear he's putting his all into this place. It has a nice local feel to it and it's a great alternative to the crowded mall restaurants.
(3)Scott L.
We have eaten at Aladdin's several times over the past year and have never been let down. Pros: The food is fast, fresh and the staff are always nice. They seem to go out of their way to ensure you have a pleasant dining experience. Con: The desserts look better then they taste.
(5)stephanie t.
i'm not exactly sure why this place isn't packed. the food is delicious and fresh and healthy! as a vegetarian i was happy to see that they have over 40 vegetarian options plus freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices and smoothies. the service was friendly and fast and it is so reasonably priced. i will definitely be making return trips.
(4)