Aladdin's Eatery (Second
Visit) |
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The interior has the same “a little too nice for a strip mall
interior” but seemed much more relaxed. Our server started out well
and stayed the course the entire time we were there. After a tannic
but floral and fresh hot mint tea we started with an appetizer of
kibbie. All meat all the time. The fried nuggets of beef and bulgur
wheat were studded with onion and pine nuts and served with cups of
tangy plain yogurt and a Lebanese salad (much like but Israeli
salad…but don’t want to start an international incident). Just
right, flavor, texture, contrasts, just right. We tried a couple of the plates from the specialty list, the flavor savor special and the hummus shawarma plate. The flavor savor had a foundation of seasoned brown rice and vermicelli, which could have used more seasoning. It tasted like it was probably close when they finished cooking it but serving it cold cost you taste. The greens were nice and nicely dressed, the falafel was as good as the kibbie and their hummus remains silky smooth and tasty but I would still prefer a splash of something added. |
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Meant to savor two flavors it’s all topped with beef kafta and
chicken mishwi. The kafta consists of grilled little sausage shaped
links of ground beef mixed with onions, parsley, herbs, and plenty
of spices. If you’ve ever had a burger fall apart on the grill, it
would amaze you how well these things hold together. There is
something in the texture that suggests there is a trick to their
integrity but if you don’t mind burping the spices up for the rest
of the day, they’re good. The mishwi was disappointing for me. In my
years at Kent I had a number of chicken mishwi salads from the
Continental Grill across from White Hall and loved the explosive and
unique flavors coming from every element of the dish. This was more
chicken sprinkled with some seasoning, fine but I was hoping for
something close. The hummus shawarma had a reservoir of their subtle
and smooth hummus, topped with strips of lightly seasoned beef,
roasted pine nuts, diced tomatoes, and parsley. We took a couple of
pieces of baklava home, also not quite as good as the stuff they buy
at the Continental Grill (all the pistachio makes a difference) but
still pretty good, as was our trip over all. Much better than the
previous. |
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Change in Ranking | |||||
Original Score | Which Way? | New Score | Why For? | ||
D+ | C | Service And Food
Both Improved But Nothing Stands Out As Extraordinary |
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We just ended up here…I was coerced into another trip walking around
Joanne Fabrics…wait they now have more than fabric…and yet still
nothing I am interested in. In a way this place violates our policy
of not writing up “franchised” restaurants. I don’t rightly know if
these are franchised but I can’t imagine this remains all locally
owned. There have to be at least 30 of them. I had eaten at the one
in Highland Square years ago but didn’t believe them to be connected
until later. It is a relatively unique option in this area so what
the heck. The Akron location has a much more homey feel to it than
Fairlawn, both inside and out if I remember correctly. The Fairlawn
location is in the strip mall and the interior is almost too well
appointed. |
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I had that odd feeling of slight discomfort that comes with wearing
jeans and tennis shoes in a place where the servers are done up to
match a nicely decorated dining room. You can take comfort in the
fact that every other customer is attired just like you. It’s hard
to pull off a destination restaurant in a strip mall. Our server did a pretty good job to start with but was apparently abducted at some point during the end of our meal and we ended up at the register asking for our check. The manager at the register didn’t add our hastily added dessert to the bill in unrequested recompense. Smart. The baklava was small but consisted of layers of tasty with a hint of sweet and a load of nuttiness. We started with the vegetarian sampler appetizer including Hummos, Tabouli, Baba, Falaffel, and Dawali. The Hummos and Baba were smooth and simple in a very nice sort of way and got a boost from the odd looking hot sauce our server was nice enough to offer us. |
Warm Crunchy Fried Chickpeas |
Eggplant Based Baba |
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Different but Great Compliment to Platter |
Aladdin Salad |
The falafel were well seasoned and just crunchy goodness, and the
tabouli was lemony and herbaceous making for a pleasant number of
varying combinations as we kept stacking different layers together.
The grape leaves had some serious tang which was actually strong
enough to be a turn off, especially with the subtlety of the rest of
the plate. I prefer the Greek preparation by far. The appetizer
platter overall was definitely rated a success regardless.
We also tried a couple of house salads which
had quite a variety of flavors and textures and really would have
filled us after the appetizer platter but we had already ordered
dinner. We moved away from the vegetarian options and found that
vegetarian is the way to go here. I ordered the rolled lamb pita and
while it was stuffed with all of the things that I love about Middle
Eastern cuisine, especially those pickled radishes. The veggies, the
spices, the dressing, all stupendous.
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Disappointing Lamb |
Disgusting Tuna |
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The lamb. Not so much. It was dry, stringy and sliced in a way that didn’t help matters. It was much better once I pulled the lamb out and just had a veggie wrap. Steph ordered the tuna wrap and I was suddenly much more happy with the lamb. Whatever spice concoction they put on the fish should be illegal. Not even the remainder of the ingredients could cover the simple wrongness of this travesty. At first I just thought there might be something she found weird but once I had a bite I had to agree, it was just bad. I had to take two more bites to try to figure out what in the world was going on…was it just flooded with other things because the fish was already bad, maybe they just don’t get a lot of fish in some regions, I don’t know. I am beginning to think the Eatery might be waging a sneaky war to convert us all to gnoshers of fruit and bark solely. If it’s what you have a hankerin’ for; get it here. Just avoid any protein and everything should work out fine. I think I will stick to the Main Street Continental Grill in Kent when I get a jones for sumac and pickled radish AND meat.
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Very Nice...Almost Got Taste of Tuna Out of My Mouth |
Ratings | |||||||
Food |
Service |
Ambiance |
What's Best |
What's Worst |
Overall |
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C- | C- | C+ | A | F | D+ | ||
Veg Apps | Was It Even Fish??? |