Al-Khaymeih

Ahlan wa sahlan. Amazing lebanese food but taste not quite consistent. Most shawarma places that I frequent have trouble getting the chicken shawarma just right but Al-​khayam gets it right on their good days.
The garlic sauce is authentically pungent and flavorful. If you like yours watered down and enjoy a ‘healthier’ watered down version of the true flavor head on down to ‘sameer amees’ for that Americanized version of arab style Mediterranean food.
But if you wish to experience it like you’re living it up in Beirut than this is your joint. Sahha-​tain.

Sadly I’m going to have to lower the rating on one of my previous favorite restaurant. They were shut down last year for a period of time, my husband and I patiently waited to taste that shawarma with garlic sauce. Ever since they reopened, it has not been the same. We have tried to go there 3 times since then. The first time, the food was dry and flavorless. The rice was hard and crunchy, you could tell it had been cooking for a while. The second time, they wouldn’t seat us 15 mins before closing … Ok I guess that’s understandable. Tried to go there in mid July. Arrived at 9:25pm, the sign says they close at 10. They wouldn’t seat us again… Said it was too busy, but I could get something to go. I looked around there were two tables of customers… Two tables. That doesn’t seem «busy». Especially in mid July during Ramadan you would think they’d want to welcome customers to come in later. We still go to albany park for middle eastern food, but have not tried Al-​Khaymeih again.

One of the better choices for kebabs and falafel in Chicago!
Grilled meats are cooked to order, not pre-​cooked and then heated like in some places (i.e. Reza’s). The same applies to their falafel, which is perfectly fried. Good hummus and salads. Their rice needs some work and the service is just ok.
Definitely worth the trek if you’re in the mood for perfectly grilled meats!

They have great kefta here and affordable prices!

This place typifies the essence of great Middle eastern food. We had to do a catering and we ordered falafels and kabobs. The falafels were fresh and delicious. The beef kefta kabobs were addictive and tasty. I will definitely go back and sample more of the menu. Chicago’s Finest!

Please wear gloves! Why do middle easterns restaurants never use gloves! I left one place next door cause the cook was not wearing one, and came here thinking this is more
Classy but no, they just do not wear gloves, when someone roll you wrap with his bare hands, not appetizing at all. PLEASE WEAR GLOVES

NO LONGER CLOSED…
…but might as well be.
This is not the Al-​Khaymeih of memory. We ate here tonight and the service was horrendous: only one girl for the whole restaurant, and she was utterly clueless (didn’t give us plates, didn’t give us glasses when we showed up with wine, couldn’t tally a bill). The manager/​owner came later, but he was so inattentive that patrons had to walk up to him to ask for water.
But honestly, I wouldn’t have judged the old Al-​Khaymeih for crappy service, so why the single star? Well, I think the long closure has made the chef a bit rusty. Actually, rusty may be too generous. The chicken was so overcooked that you had to dip it in the falafel’s tahini sauce to choke it down (fortunately, the falafel was also overcooked, so there was extra sauce). Astonishingly, it was served with a whole chunk of a quarter of an onion, grilled exclusively on one side with the skin left one. We diners just blinked at each other in disbelief.
Oh, and they over-​microwaved the grape leaves. Yep.
To the Al-​Khaymeih of old: a tearful adieu. To the new Al-​Khaymeih: goodbye, and good riddance.

This was my third visit to Al-​Khaymeih. The first two visits were good. We had a groupon for a place down the street, but upon encountering a two-​hour wait there, recommended AK to my friends.
This place has slipped like an avalanche! Previously, they had a 4 page menu of good eats. Now, it’s a one page laminated menu, with food on one side, and deserts and non-​alcoholic drinks on the other.
Upon perusing the menu, they have no (ZERO) vegetarian entrees, which is quite strange considering the awning in the front touts Middle Eastern and «vegetarian cuisine».
I figured, what the heck, I’m sure they can put something together for us, as 2 out of the 4 of us were vegetarians. We ordered hummus and baba ganush for appetizers, leaving only the falafel as the only other veggie appetizer available, and I just wasn’t in the mood for that.
So, the waitress comes over, and we comment on how the menu has changed, are their new owners? Are there any vegetarian entrees? This gets us a blank stare. So, we ask what they can accommodate for us — veggie skewers or anything? We’re met with another blank stare, and she tells us no, she can’t do that, that says she’ll give us a few minutes, and walks away.
When she comes back, we proceed to order grilled vegetables on rice anyways, since they have that as the side item of the other entrees, and it obviously wouldn’t put them out, since they already make that. She tells us it’s not on the menu, there’s a bit of back and forth, and off she goes with our order.
The food was pretty sub-​par now — even the carnivores in our group were not happy with the chicken (very dry). And, they proceeded to charge us $ 13.00 each for 4 grilled tomatoes, 4 green peppers, some onions, and rice. This is more money than any other meat entrée. W.T.F.
So, goodbye Al-​Khaymeih. Never again. (And fix your damn sign!)

I went here as part of a group for a birthday dinner. I didn’t really know where we were going, but I can’t say I was too excited when I saw the place from the outside. My opinion didn’t change much once we got inside and were seated. Atmosphere is not it’s strong point! It wasn’t especially crowded, but I should have noted that most of people there were middle-​eastern…
Food: Incredible.
Hummus — not a real potent flavor, but has some nice, subtle differences from most standard hummus. I liked it very much.
The Baba ghanoush and Tabouleh were some of the best I’ve had.
For dinner, we more or less did it family style, so I got a chance to taste a lot of the food.
Kabobs — The Kefta was absolutely incredible and my favorite. The beef was very nicely flavored and cooked, but some of it had a touch too much gristle. The chicken was tender and well cooked, but might have used a bit more seasoning.
Shawarma — Both the chicken and beef were excellent, and I’m usually not a huge fan chicken, but it was well seasoned and tender
I still think it could use some more style and attention on the inside, but they certainly hit it where it counts.

I never thought I would say this, but love Al-​Khaymieh even more than Noon-​O-​Kabob. I can’t think of one negative thing to say about it. The flavors, portions, prices, service are all superb.
You will never go hungry here. Every meal starts off with chips, sauce, and beets — an interesting way to tide myself until my food arrives (which only takes a few minutes anyway). If I’m feeling really hungry, I get order hummus, which is some of the better I’ve had in the city. Their kabobs are to die for — I crave the ground beef all the time, and the chicken and steak are also quite good. They come with perfectly buttery rice and grilled tomatoes. Yum.
You get so much for your money. I will often order a ground beef kabob platter (comes with two whole kabobs of beef, rice, grilled tomatoes, and salad), and easily have half left for another meal. At only $ 9, that’s a pretty cheap way to get two fantastic meals. It sure beats a sandwich. I would easily pay half again as much for everything here and not bat an eye.
The décor is simple, but clean. And they are never lacking tables. I typically have the same waitress, and she does a good job of being there when we need something, but not interrupting all the time.
This was the first place I took my parents when they visited, I go back several times a month, and I recommend it to anyone wanting good Middle Eastern Cuisine on the cheap.

Completely ignored for an outrageous amount of time as we stood waiting to be seated. Not even a slight acknowledgment. Noone would not even make eye contact with us.
There were 3 servers, all did the same and there were some open tables… no excuse. Needless to say, after an uncomfortable amount of time waiting, we left.

Another An P recommendation. Yes, the falafel was unbelievable. Yes, you should eat here!!!
My only small complaints: 1) I ordered the red lentil and they brought me the regular lentil instead – which was a little bland, 2) the grape leaves were maybe a little over salted. Still tasty, though.
I also *highly* recommend the incredibly inexpensive baklawa from the grocery next door. The perfect way to finish your meal!

Holy smokes! IT’S OFFICIAL: Welcome to the World’s GREATEST Falafel!!!
I have been a lifelong Albany Park resident and love all of the treats that the neighborhood has to offer. There is no shortage of Mediterranean food out in the hood by the corners of Kedzie and Lawrence near the end of the Brown Line. Also in the Mediterranean sea of food in the neighborhood you will find plenty of kebab spots and hookah bars, but I had never made it out to Al-​Khaymeih.
As it turns out, my friend was hankering for a late afternoon snack and we decided to go to Al-​Khaymeih, I let him know Unilocalers sweated this place and it would be a damn good idea to check the joint out. DAMN good idea it was, we sat down and found out it was BYOB so we made our order and rolled out to Andy’s Fruit Ranch and grabbed ourselves a sixer of Three Floyd’s Gumballhead.
Having some Gumballhead in glasses, our baked pita and hot sauce dish came and the baked pita was crisp and the sauce was gushing deliciousness. Our water glasses were replenished magically and I didn’t even notice them popping a pitcher on our table. After our pita chips were complete, in rolled my hummus and falafel dish. The hummus filled the middle of the plate with a nice combination of orange herbs and a dab of oil. The falafels lined the edges of the plate and were tempting me.
My buddy got a chicken kebab that was glimmering in an orange sauce with a bowl of veggie soup and some rice. As I picked up my falafel and dipped it into the hummus, I bit into its crispy magnificence and ran my incisors into the magic sponginess of the chickpeas inside! Never in my life had I bitten into such falafel mastery and never again would any falafel this side of the Atlantic Ocean be able to hold a candle to Al-Khaymeih’s beastly wonder.
As I exchanged a falafel for a giant bit of kebab, I regretted giving up even one of my many mounds of falafel. The exchange worked out well as I bit into a marinated delight, but no more exchanges would happen after this: those falafels were MINE!!!
We did not have a bottle opener all night but made do as the waitress taught us to pop our bottles open with a fork. Who’da thunk forks work as bottle openers?! Al-​Khaymeih has established itself as best in class with its sick-​ass food, clean interior, leather couches for waiting, exceptional service, and cheap prices. This place owns on so many levels if you have not gone here you may as well be wearing a dunce cap.
Seriously. Check it out, IMMEDIATELY!

Between Semiramis and this place I have no idea which is my favorite. I went with family, and as a group of 4 we went with the $ 55 «sampler». There were 14 or 15 different things to try!
I am so glad they had the sampler because that’s what I want to do at most restaurants.
The salads were all just ok. The hummus and baba ganoush were not good. There was a different kind of baba ganoush that was out of this world. The Lebanese corn dogs as we called them were great as well.
The service was just ok. It took forever to get our check.

We wandered in here on the tail end of our Albany Park neighborhood tour; a little tired, very warm and ready to eat. The menu is huge, plenty of vegetarian options to choose from and very reasonably priced.
After perusing the menu I decided on the small appetizer portion of hummus ($ 2.95) and an order of tabbouleh ($ 3.95). Holy hummus and tabbouleh were they generous with the food! My serving of hummus seemed normal, but I got a humongous bowl of tabbouleh. I ate until I was stuffed and it looked like I’d barely made a dent. I took the tabbouleh home, having enough for another meal and a half.
While we were waiting for our food we were given some snacks, the Lebanese version of getting chips and salsa if you will. The plates had pita chips and some sort of hot sauce along with what tasted like pickled radishes (maybe horseradish). I didn’t try the hot sauce, but the chips and pickled radishes were quite good.
Service was ok. The one odd part was that we didn’t get enough menus for the table so some of us had to share. It wasn’t a big deal, just odd since it wasn’t all that crowded. The acoustics aren’t the greatest, I felt like there was a lot of «what?!» going around the table.
I briefly saw something on the menu for $ 55, I didn’t read what it was, but given how much food I got I’m convinced that this dish has to be delivered via fork lift!
Bottom line: Amazing food, reasonable prices, and generous portions — bring your appetite.
PS It’s BYOB

Those grape leaves exploded in my mouth! Sorry to everyone at the table who had to witness the visual carnage at the April neighborhood tour!
I’m not the world’s biggest fan of working. I mean, it beats not working; but only by degrees (those degrees being having less than no money). I need reasons outside my job to drag myself in. When I was working at Oakland Mall’s Borders after college, my reason for showing up was a Lebanese Restaurant on the level below us for lunch. Despite being in a mall, it was honestly one of the best places for Mediterranean in Detroit (with its huge Greek and Middle Eastern populations).

The thing that was amazing about this restaurant was that they did not mince flavors. If they gave you a dish, you better believe you would taste every ingredient. Every wonderful, mouth-​blowing ingredient. From the soup to the pitas, there would not be a single taste bud left feeling unloved. Al-​Khaymeih does the exact same thing.
Even the humble feta cheese sandwich (basically a Greek salad wrapped in a pita) had enough flavor for three meals. The soups are both vegetarian — and both jaw numbing (even if I don’t know which one I got after some confusion). They’re also almost large enough to be a meal in themselves. And everything here is portion controlled nicely. Both small and large (really medium and huge) are inexpensive and filling. If you’re not busy shoveling food in your mouth until you burst or implode from taste (like, maybe, me), it’s possible to be full for under $ 10.
A secret about knowing a good Lebanese restaurant is pickled radishes (even if it was such a secret I thought they were beets until Saturday). If a place serves them as an appetizer, you know you’re getting the real deal and not some Greek-​influenced Mediterranean fusion travesty.
And this is the real deal. With the added bonus that it’s not in some suburban strip mall and actually steps from the brown line Kedzie stop. Which is good because I think I actually need to go back and pick pieces of my tongue off the floor.
Mmm…flavorsplosion!

Came here with a bunch of Unilocalers during our monthly neighborhood tour (thanks Johnny!). Despite our making reservations and the fact that it was 2:40 in the afternoon, service was slow. But, to be fair, it was one waitress pretty much serving the whole place, and I did feel bad for her, surely she was overwhelmed. After Johnny whimpering and pleading for about 20 minutes, we finally got the pita chips with spicy sauce, and some mystery dish, we think was horseradish, it was good. I tasted one friend’s grape leaves, and I liked them, but I did not care for the falafel which I got, because it had some herbs (and perhaps mint?) in them. The baba ghanouj I got was alright. Pricing was fair, and portions were ample.
On a side note, this was one of the nicest and cleanest rest rooms I have seen in a restaurant.

I decided Al-​K was a great place to have another Guam reunion. Paul and his gf, Sarah, had a 2 day layover in Chicago after a week vacay in Hawaii. I also invited my other fellow Guamie, Teppei. Even he just came back from Hawaii for an opera gig just last month. I HATE YOU GUYS :! The weird thing about this meet was this was this was first time we collectively hung out together.
As I vowed last time, we did the Family Combo with BYOB. As they reminisced about the 8.0 earthquake while playing video games, the servers uncorked our bottles and brought us our glasses.
I also added a falafel and hummus appetizer. As Colleen C and Erika V. attest, the falafel was outstanding. My first falafel was in Amsterdam and ever since then I’ve been looking for the best falafel, and I think I finally landed one.
Ribeye kabob was great as ever, but I was quite disappointed in the schwarmas. It was just way too dry and vinegary. So ribeye and falafels are the way to go here!

Alright, ya know what? Call the Falafel Squad, I need to be their prez.
Obviously I go on food tangents… a few weeks ago it was Ethiopian, March has consisted of fried chickpea balls in mass quantity. It could be worse, oK?!
Friend: Hi, let’s go to lunch.
Me: Ok: types «best falafel» into Unilocal: up pops Al-​Kahaymeih.
Friend: I feel like Greek.
Me: How about Al-​Kahaymeih?
Friend: huh?
Me: I hear its awesome, and they have good falafel.
Friend: Is it Greek?
Me: Ummmm, not so much. Lebanese
Friend: Haha, ok… falafel it is. See you at Al-​…
First off, I don’t get to Albany Park nearly enough… this is like a falafel and kabab mecca, and I have been missing out. I shall rectify this, immediately. Erika V, my go-​to Albany park reviewer and lover of ethnic foods… has NEVER steered me wrong. NEVER! Erika V’s profile:
So, pretty much if she gives Al-​Khaymeih 5-​stars, I’ll go. And, it was fabulous, as anticipated.
Falafel plate and hummus: oooooo, some of the best I’ve had. LARGE portions with hot, soft pita.
Stuffed grape leaves: HOT! (like just got baked). Quite good, and leftovers!
Lentil soup: perfect on a rainy day.
Mint tea: ditto.
A huge meal with plenty of food for 3 people…$ 25. Fantastic service, friendly and attentive, very sweet. Easy metered parking out front. Nice, clean ambience, room for large groups…
Props to Erika V on the rec and my friend for indulging my mildly unhealthy food-​obsession-​o-​the-​week. Colleen for Falafel Eaters Digest editor and president. (FED) ha!

I’m going to gloss over the service problems and focus on the food – it is PHENOMENAL. We had a group of six, so I got to try quite a bit. The hummus was about a C+. Everything else was delicious. I loved the crisped pita wedges, relish, and pickled radishes which started the meal (complimentary). The tabbouleh was fresh, crisp, and tangy. The falafels were incredible – straight from the hot oil but not heavy with grease, and somehow much lighter in density than most other falafels. The pita was hot and soft, although when it cooled, it became rather brittle. Even the basmati rice and the side salad served with the entrée plates were tasty.
The baba ghannouj is top five in my book, and believe me – I am a connoisseur. Textured but not chunky with the perfect flavor.
These people know how to cook meat. Steak kebab, chicken kebab, and kefta kebab were all amazingly tender, hot, and very juicy, not to mention full of flavor. Putting a bite of this stuff in my mouth was a brilliant sensory experience. I devoured all of mine, plus whatever of my friends’ they were willing to give up.
It’s too bad that they tried to drive us out. We sat down at 8:20, and posted closing time was 10pm. Around 9:15, as we were working on our entrees, they turned off the kitchen fans and appliances, the kitchen lights and some of the dining room lights, the music, and worst of all, the air. So we sat in a dark, hot, eerily silent restaurant finishing our meal. The kitchen staff departed, and the waitress and one busboy sat at a table across the room and watched us eat. What the hell?
We ended up leaving around 9:45, so we didn’t let them rush us too badly. But it sure was uncomfortable. That marred a dining experience that could have been truly stupendous. The food is definitely worth a return visit, though. They could throw it at me on dirty dishes in the pitch dark for all I care.