Ali Baba’s Middle Eastern Food

Decent portions, very friendly and offers extra food for free.

Food is always good, great deals, super friendly staff, always throw in something extra. This is my go to for quick, semi-​healthy takeout as well as platters for parties.

Daily weekday lunch specials can get you 2 wraps for about $ 10 after tax. Last time I came in, they gave me a free cup of peppery lentil soup while I waited.
The sandwiches were very good standard fare (beef shawarma on Weds, shish tawook on Thurs) and I’m happy to go back again.

Just ordered a shish taouk sandwich. Tried to unwrap it to eat it and the paper was grilled to the bread — I could not remove it. When I asked the guy working what he could do about it, he said he had samosas or a piece of chicken. Then he started serving other people before he resolved my issue. Not very helpful. It’s 11:15 and I now have to find another spot to eat. ⁰⁄₅ for food, −1÷5 for service. This place stinks.

Four stars for what the place is — a walk-​in, fast food shawarma joint. I’m sure there is better Middle Eastern food out there in this lovely city, but I was pretty happy with the falafel wrap that I got. I walked out happier because the guy making our food was super nice, funny and charming (even the dude I was with said so)! Overall, I had a yummy, filling and affordable dinner thanks to Ali Baba’s. Big up!

Went here to pick up lunch, but I soon regretted my choice.
I came here simply because I was taking advantage of American Express Shop Small event where Amex was promoting local small businesses, and I heard the food at another Ali Baba location was good.
I walked in and approached the counter, but I was left waiting for a while as one of the staff was chatting to a couple friends who just walked in just after me. There was someone else behind me who was left waiting as well. The other staff/​cook behind the counter didn’t even help to take our orders.
While waiting I saw one of the cooks sharpening a large knife really aggressively before carving from the block of Sharwarma on the rotisserie — I always thought you had to wipe down your knife after sharpening it to clean it off of metal particles, especially the way the guy was sharpening the knife. It’s a good thing I didn’t order the sharwarma.
Even though there was two people working the counter and not that many customers, the staff looked rather flustered and not in control.
The cups of plastic cutlery sitting next to the cash machine looks dirty and I wanted to ask if they had more, but didn’t want to wait any longer.
The precooked Falafel I had was really hard and dry to the point it broke the plastic cutlery I was using (which I thoroughly cleaned before using). The rice was okay, but oddly some of it was overcooked while some of it was undercooked. The only props I could give was that the onions were lightly marinated so that it wasn’t very sharp and overpowering.
Ali Baba’s is a rather disappointing Middle Eastern take-​out place which maybe a decent place to go to when you are drunk and hungry late at night.