Aladdin Cafe

Don’t be ordering the Greek Salad!!! Rip-​off for a big styrofoam container of nothing! What a joke, I cannot believe you gave me that little bit of tiny chopped up salad today! The picture of your Greek Salad doesn’t even come close! I am not going back! Take it off the menu!!! Stop ripping people off and wasting Styrofoam!!!

It’s hard to like a sit down place that doesn’t even have a bathroom (which is illegal). It makes you wonder what other rules they ignore. Asked for a glass of water after buying two meals and they told us to buy a bottle. There’s a lot of places more deserving of your business nearby. Food was whatever. Pass.

Not gonna lie, i hate leaving bad reviews and normally tend to just stop going to a place if i don’t like it, but i’m disappointed enough to write this. My husband and i came over today to get some falafels, the restaurant its on our way home so we stopped by without checking reviews.
We ordered an order of falafels with hummus and pickles.
Each order came with 3 small falafels and a spoonful of humus and like three slivers of pickles, this cost us almost 5 bucks for each order. I mean 3 falafels for $ 5?! I thought this will be amazing falafels, but they actually microwaved them in for us, they were soggy and not very good. I have never had a microwaved falafel so expensive before, and it wasn’t even crunchy!
Don’t waste your money.

Quite disappointing. The owner looked unhappy and the guy making the wrap was super stingy on vegetables. I had to ask for my wrap to be heated and it still came out kind of cold. Ingredients didn’t look very fresh and the pita was super dry. I’ll be going elsewhere next time.

Not sure why the reviews are low, the food is actually fairly consistent… I live nearby so I frequent this spot often, but I always order one of 2 things here.
The Donair — it’s not necessarily the best in town, but it’s fresh and wrapped like a Mediterranean burrito which makes it different than a lot of other places. Fresh ingredients and the meat is tender, definitely one of my goto’s for a Donair.
Shish Taouk — this is the main reason I come here. 2 chicken skewers on a bed of rice, with salad and hummus. Ask for tabbouleh salad if you want the real deal. Takes about 15 minutes to prep but that’s the least of your worries when you see how tender and well marinated this chicken is!
Great bar seating as well for prime Robson people watching!

The service was off-​putting. I paid over $ 10 for a beef shawarma plate that was tasteless. I couldn’t taste any spice in the rice. The beef had its juices cooked right out: dry, cold and chewy. The salad was drenched in vinegar to hide its lack of freshness. The pita was cold and dry. Just sad.
I should’ve looked at Unilocal first.

I’ve got to disagree with most of the negative reviews, I think the shawarma wraps here are pretty delicious.
Firstly to address some of the common negatives on here: Unfriendly service: agreed, but I don’t really care either when buying wrapped meat to go. It certainly isn’t going to ruin my day. Falafel: No idea if it’s good or bad.
Onto the delicious Shawermas. You get a really generous amount of meat and decent additions/​toppings. Someone mentioned odd tasting dill pickles. That’d be because that isn’t dill pickles. There’s a different type of pickle as well as traditional pickled turnip (the pink one). Both zesty and delicious (neither of which are dill pickles).
Yes they’re a bit moody, but my happy stomach outweighs my hurt feelings.

Personally I give this place 3.5 stars, but I can understand how some people would give it 1 – 2 stars. I do agree that the guys that work the counter are not the friendliest and if you come across as slow or uncertain they could be interpreted as being curt and/​or rude.
Also, don’t ask for water in a cup. They don’t have such a thing; if you want water bring it yourself or buy it in a bottle (the cooler is right behind you).
Seating is quite limited so expect to eat on the go or take-​out.
So why 3.5 stars? Because I love their chicken shawarma wrap: decent portion of chicken, pickle, onions, tomatoes, hummus, tabouli, and hot sauce. I can finish it in exactly the time it takes for me to walk back to the office. And it makes me happy. EVERY. TIME.

I’ve been getting takeout from Aladdin for a couple years now but after today I will never go back. Halfway through my meal I found a large piece of broken glass. Thankfully I noticed the glass in the container so it did not end up in my mouth. Otherwise the outcome could have been very bad. I am absolutely appalled that this could even happen. Would not recommend eating here at all!!! Eat here at your own risk!!!

I would not go to Aladdin café ever again nor recommend to anybody. I passed by and thought this would be an good place as there’s always a lot of people in there, but it just led to disappointment. If only I read the reviews earlier.
I like falafels, but as other people have mentioned, find it appalling that they microwave the bland falafels. I paid a whopping $ 10 for the «Falafel veggie platter»! I expected something really great. But no. This leaves it nutrition deprived and not tasty at all.
The vegetables were not fresh at all, and the rice was cold. The microwaved falafels, explanation not needed. I did not feel nourished at all.
To add insult to the injury, their customer service is non existent. I gave them THREE chances, and on all occasions the 2 guys there never smile and looks like they’re not happy to be there. I told the guy that I wanted falafel platter very clearly and he didn’t understand. I thought he was coming off drugs or something. Horrible.

I came to get a grab-​and-​go beef shawarma, which was disappointing.
The beef was tough to eat. The lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and onions were not old but definitely not the freshest either. The dill pickles tasted really old, either they’re old or they were of bad quality. The tzaziki and hummus were stale and over all the taste was meh… salty, lacked layers of flavors. I don’t know why but my shawarma was very oily.
Service was fast and minimal. If you’re asking for smiley friendly staff, you’re asking for way too much.
This place has a large window so if you decided to sit inside and dine on your food, it’s not a bad place for people watching.
Total cost of purchase was $ 8.18.
Most likely won’t return.

DO NOT GO. They are consistently the worst at any form of customer service and this isn’t even like the regular stuff it’s common decency. The owner and people are rude, the food is average at BEST. The prices is high for the below average quality, the flavour is bland. I decided to give it one more shot and it only confirmed my dislike for this place. Honestly the final straw, and this didn’t even happen to me, the guy behind me ordered a shawarma, owner made him a rice plate instead, and when the customer told him he ordered a wrap, the guy shooed him away and refused to make the wrap! The customer left awkwardly. WHAT THE HELL!

I LOVE this place! I go once a week and I always find the staff to be pleasant, polite and welcoming every time I come in. My staff workers know what day it is because I leave and come back with a chicken shwarma wrap. I love this place so much!

I come from middle east and I eat shawarma at least once a week. I can assure you that this place serves the worst shawarma you can get and they show no desire to please you.
I ordered a shawarma platter and a falafel wrap for my GF.
First, the cashier who is a light skinned man with gelled hair, was rude. He didn’t answer my question properly when I asked what their chicken platter includes other than chicken.
Second, I saw they used their microwave to heat up the falafels which tasted worse than the ones you get form grocery stores. Also the portions are very small.
Third, the chicken was just normal. It tasted fine but their salad didn’t seem to be fresh.
Fourth, the plastic forks and spoons which are placed in glass bowl had stains on them. I had to wipe mine with napkins!!!
Overall, if you are looking for a place to waste your money on low quality food while experiencing terrible customer service, Aladdins Café is always there for you.

Poor quality of food. Vegetables old and tasteless. Rice is not middle eastern. Service is horrible. Received a yogurt liquid instead of hummus had to show them their own menu to prove the dish came with hummus. Instead of receiving a side of hummus, he scooped it next to the yogurt… grossssss!!! Not good!

My review is based on the double shish kabob plate (I have not tried anything else)
1) Staff is not friendly at all and border line rude. I ordered take out and politely asked for a plastic bag once my plate was ready. I got the stick eye. No napkin or plastic cutlery were given.
2) The taste of the kabab and rice was good (pretty average, no complaints). Humus and salad not good at all. Humus was sour instead of garlicy.
3) I paid $ 12.99 (before tax and tip) and compared to the price, the portion was ridiculously small. There was a tin layer of rice (exactly 4 plastic spoons) and two small kebabs, 1 table spoon of humus, and 2 spoons of salad, and ¼ of a pita bread. I am NOT a big eater but I was still hungry after it finished my meal.
4) the picture of the meal in portion looks nothing like what you get.
Over all this was my first and last time I go to this place.

Having gone to Ottawa which has Shawarma Palace aka the best Shawarma of my LIFE, this place comes to a «not close but definitely the best I’ve had so far in Vancouver.» Haha.
Chicken shawarma platter was ten bucks and was pretty worth the price. Fresh side salad, tender shavings of chicken shawarma, seasoned rice, pita, and a choice of garlic, tzaziki or hummus…
The restaurant is clean for a grab and go or quick sit — they offer hooka bongs to smoke Shisha, which is pretty cool.
The staff are not amazingly friendly — if you have questions about the food they come across annoyed to answer. Almost as if they expect you to know what you want when in reality if it’s your first time going how can you even know that when you don’t know what’s available to you?
Anyway — good shawarma, it’s just too bad that I had the best in life already in Ottawa. Whoops! He he #sorrynotsorry

The other day my lunch date (co-​worker) was craving shawarma’s so we figured we would give this place a try. I remember passing it just a few days prior while on a mission for my office. I really like gyros & doner’s so this wasn’t going out of my so called food comfort zone. Not that I have one but I do have limits.
The place is tiny. Very tiny and I warn that eating in isn’t that easy because of the lack of space. It is downtown so the rents are probably very high, even for this postage stamp location. What they lack in space is made up for in food. I had the chicken shawarma and was not disappointed, although I had ordered the plate BUT the mix up was my lunch dates and not the café’s ha ha. I liked that it wasn’t heavy in garlic type spices, as I have a sensitivity to them, but it still had a load of flavours that were very nice on my palette. It was a little on the pricy side compared to what I am used to out here in New West but compared to some of the other offerings in Van, it wasn’t too bad.
At the end of the day, I will be back but I am not sure I would eat in as that is near ipossible to do in any comfort.

Possibly the best looking mediterranean joint with its super high loft-​style, floor to ceiling glass, really makes a big difference: not just for the eye candy but makes ppl poke to their head in and checking it out, I noticed that quite a bit. It’s rare to see a nice one when thinking of the grudgy ones along Granville lol
One neat place is they have a separate section displaying their desserts as soon as you walk in, almost to tempt you. They do have a few bar-​like tables to eat. And it’s really bright!
Good portions, & display the turning meat stations right at the front, where the smell should be.
Friendly fast service, with the lineups moving pretty fast, good on these brothers who look alike.

Tasty food, yummm!
It’s a small place and the seats are tiny but the food is super tasty!