Chickpea

I write this review for the benefit of Chickpea fans who need a new mom and pop middle eastern place.
It’s called Sultan’s. Go 8 blocks directly up Hoyne to North Ave, or go 8 blocks up Damen and take a left on North Ave.
Sultan’s has been around for more than 10 years, and its success is currently being imitated by several corporate middle eastern knock-​offs like Roti and Olive, which have essentially co-​opted Sultan’s Chipotle-​ish middle eastern fast casual model.
Like Chickpea was, Sultan’s continues to be a true family-​owned establishment in every sense. There are only two locations, the food is prepared with care, and the prices are very reasonable. They don’t, or haven’t, wanted to go corporate and their loss in so choosing is our gain as customers.
Lastly, they are also BYOB, which makes Sultan’s one of the cheapest date spots in city and certainly in Wicker Park /​Bucktown and Lincoln Park respectively.

Total rip-​off.
Don’t go here. I spent $ 21 for a shawarma plate and Kafta plate.
When I got home, to my surprise, I got the skimpiest shawarma — the meat portion was equivalent to one steak taco. It was beyond belief how this is supposed to equal a dinner.
Additionally, I asked for hot sauce and was told it would be a $ 1.

I can’t say enough good things about this place. Let’s start at the beginning.
I was waiting outside the front door for my date to arrive. It was rainy out. The owner (the husband half of a husband and wife team) insisted I come inside and have some tea. As I waited for my date the wife sat with me to ‘keep me company’, and told me all about the restaurant… how her son had painted and decorated it, how all of the recipes were her grandmother’s originals. They are a lovely and charming couple.
The food, like the service, is fabulous. I had falafel, hummus, pita, and hot tea. Everything was so fresh and reasonably priced. I love the fact that you can serve yourself hot tea and water.
Please go try this place. They’re a friendly, neighborhood restaurant, and if you ask me Chicago can never have too many of those.
PS– Cash only. And BYOB!

It’s a cute spot, that could use a little more love. It’s a very colorful and cozy spot — like you could be eating at someone’s kitchen. I got the Mama’s Saturday Special — Mussakhkhan, which is the Palestinian National Dish. This was unique and quite delicious. It was a little pricey more than my average Middle Eastern meal. The service seemed kind of slow, and the staff was on the quiet and tired side. It’s good to know of a spot in the neighborhood, but I might try to look elsewhere first.

Excellent authentic flavors and unique home cooked meals are what you can find at this little Palestinian restaurant. I used to live in Israel and I visited Palestine and this food comes really close to the wonderful fare you can find both on the street and in in mothers’ kitchens. The home cooked specialties, which are often a type of stew or hearty entrée, can be hit or miss (but I always order them anyway). Often the sauce, rice and spices are perfect but the meat is over cooked. On my last visit I ordered a lamb entrée called Kalayiet Bandoora. Chunks of lamb are suspended in a velvety tomato sauce punched with cinnamon and other spices. I loved the flavor but many of my lamb chunks were too tough to eat.
For carb conscious diners they have excellent alternative to a chicken shwarma sandwich, Shawirma Dajaj. It includes Chickpea’ss wonderfully seasoned and moist chicken shwarma on a bed of pickles (very authentic), red cabbage salad, crudities and thoom sauce. You honestly don’t miss the pita bread in this dish. Thoom is a wonderful gift that Chickpea has brought back from the region. It is actually a mezze (dip) that is made from whipped garlic and oil. The ingredients are simple but the secret is in the execution. This one of the only restaurants in Chicago that has thoom on the menu.
Chickpea has a very laid back feel. The restaurant is cash only. It is essentially counter service and you can seat yourself either inside surrounded by Arabic movie posters or find a spot outside in their secret patio. I always go for the patio. If you get mezzas and apps before your entrée, which of course you should, you are looking at around $ 40 per couple. The hummus is a must and watch out for the green sauce on top, its spicy.

This place is awesome!
We hadn’t been there in a while, so we went for a family style lunch.
The food is amazingly fresh and tasty.
The service was was really fast, even though they were busy, and everyone was super nice, especially the manager Joe.
It’s décor is rrrreally sweet, and the middle eastern music makes you feel relaxed.
I almost feel bad that I don’t go there often. That will change.
I definitely recommend it!!!

I wish I could give Chickpea more stars — SERIOUSLY. I’ve lived around the corner for a few of years, but didn’t visit Chickpea until last fall. Since then, it’s been a go-​to spot in my neighborhood. The dining room is really unique and the food is excellent!
This week, my boyfriend and I ordered Chickpea for pick up via GrubHub. Within a few minutes of placing our order, I got a phone call letting me know that they were out of the Fasoolya. BUMMER, but I asked if they had any other stew options (because I crave stew in August?) I could replace it with. They told me they could do a chicken stew — perfect! — and that it would be ready in about 25 minutes.
When we got there to pick up our order, it wasn’t ready yet. No big deal. We waited **maybe** five minutes, but for our «inconvenience» (really not inconvenient at all), they threw in a container of free baklawa — awesome! (Because, free. But also, really good!)
To top it all off, as we were walking back to our apartment, one of the guys caught up to us — our falafel hadn’t made it into our bag! He ran about 2 blocks to catch us, and we were so glad he did! Their falafel is delish!
All that said, the guys at Chickpea really went above and beyond customer service wise this week. And the food is consistently AMAZING. I could go on and on about this place. And yeah, I’d give it way more stars if I could.

For years this has been my go to place for falafel. Cash only!
I cannot believe I have never reviewed this place! Ok, well the falafel is amazing and the (can’t remember the name) whipped garlic dip is totally mind blowing and as my server put it «will keep the vampires away.» Yeah, you better go with friends or people who love garlic if you are going to get that stuff — but do!
Not the cheapest falafel place in the city, but the best in my view.
Cash only and Level Up (pay with your phone app). Level UP is pretty good if you are in West Town. Not sure about the rest of the city.
I love the middle eastern movie posters, and always wonder about the focus on films like Escape from LA. Always worth the visit.
Oh, and sometimes the guy at the register is nice, and sometimes not. I really never care since I come for the food. The very small kitchen and the very small kitchen staff means that sometimes the food is slow coming out, and sometimes it is out in 45 seconds. Again, this is not McDonalds, so this never bothers me.

I’m glad I came into this place BEFORE I read the reviews… I stumbled upon it, because my roommate walks by here on her way back from the bus. All of the negativity seems to be about carry out and delivery, and I can’t vouch for that, because I live close enough to this place it would be just lazy to order delivery. I’m glad I’ve had only the dine in experience, however, because I really enjoy this place. It has a funky atmosphere, BYOB, and good, authentic food. I have ordered the shawarma dajaj, which if you have no idea what that means (like I did before I saw the explanation on the menu) is roasted chicken with a delicious thoom sauce, cucumbers and tomatoes, red cabbage, rice, and pita. My only complaint about it is I wish there was a little more chicken, because I could eat that stuff all day.
Overall, any place where I can order a solid meal and enjoy a glass of wine for under ten dollars works for me.

Stopped in after Do Division and sat out back on the patio with our 6 pack of beer (BYOB). I wasn’t sure what to get, so the guy working the register suggested I order the sandwich that was on the ’50 best sandwiches’ list. I was so thankful for his suggestion because it was awesome! So flavorful! I can’t remember what it was called, so you will have to ask. My boy ordered the shawarma and noted it was not the best. I definitely won the food battle that night! After our two sandwiches and an order of hummus, we were full and headed home happy.
One suggestion: Don’t sit out back. Depending on the wind, it had a hint of rotting garbage. Not so appetizing.

Ordered take-​out from Chickpea last night and they said it would be ready in 10 – 15 minutes. We just got back to Chicago from a day of traveling and just wanted to pick up dinner and get home, but when we got to Chickpea, the two guys working seemed to be bored as hell and completely forgot about our order. They actually said, «Oh crap, that’s the girl who ordered over the phone 15 minutes ago.» So we had to wait another 10 minutes for them to rush back to the kitchen to quickly make our food. This was unacceptable. They didn’t even offer a discount and their apology was pretty weak.
The food itself was just OK. The falafel sandwich seemed overcooked and dry and my chicken schwarma sandwich was also dry lacked flavor. The only highlight was the hummus, but $ 4 for hummus seemed kind of steep.
We won’t order or go back to Chickpea. They used to care about the quality of their food, but it seems like their pretty lazy now and could give 2 shits about their customers happiness.

The food is great. I had a chicken shawarma plate which was very delicious. Normally, that would be enough for me to give at least 4 stars, or even 5, because I’m not that picky about other stuff like décor or great service or noise or whatever.
Can’t give anything more than a 2 here though. Especially because the problem is so fixable. We got the worst service here I’ve experienced in my life (and I eat out a lot). Not only was everything extremely slow — the restaurant was empty and we stood for 10 minutes before someone came out to take our order — even though they could see us there waiting — but the staff there acted like we were bothering them by entering their establishment. Excuse me, but you exist to serve us. Don’t act like you are disgusted by my business!
The guy who brought out our food scowled at us the entire time. When I pointed out that he had forgotten one of the items we ordered, he huffed, walked back the kitchen, and finally, after a bunch of time had gone by, came out and plopped down the food with a sound of disgust. He didn’t even put the food on our table, but the table next to ours (even though there was plenty of space on our table). What the hell?
Meanwhile, as we were eating, several other people came in and also had to wait a ridiculously long time before they were acknowledged at all. One guy walked out.
It sounds like I’m not alone in my experience. How can you exist in a service industry with this kind of attitude? Why even bother having a restaurant — with good food?

Bad. Bad. Bad.
Lentil soup: I cannot wrap my head around how they made this so bland. Plain boiled pureed lentils have more flavor than that soup! We added hot sauce, lemon juice, salt and pepper to our bowl, but it made little difference… just awful.
Falafel: Hard. Over-​fried. Greasy. Tasteless.
Hummus: Fine, I guess. but worth the money? No.
We will stick with Sultans, thank you very much!

I don’t understand where all the good reviews are from? You people are either simply lying or have never had real middle eastern food before. Service is totally terrible, at least everyone agrees on the coldness of the «hosts», they barely barely acknowledge you.
The food is terrible and overpriced. So this was my second time here in 4 months. The first time was so bad I couldn’t believe it. Tiny portion of dry beef shwarma in the middle of subpar houmus for like $ 8. Outrageous. Fine, maybe they had a bad day, I’ll give it another shot. Chicken shwarma plate with a few slices of tomato and a sliver of pickle was $ 8. Shwarma was yet again dry and there was literally maybe ½ a chicken breast worth. Place is absolute rubbish. Do your self a favor and go to Falafel & Grill instead. Never coming back here.

Wow. Cool movie posters in Arabic. Just wondering around on Chicago and your place looked inviting so I came in. Sorry to bother you. I had no idea customers were NOT the goal of your establishment. Just wanted some shwarma ’cause I was hungry. But, I had no idea that,‘Hey look over the menu, I got some things to take care of in the back and I might be awhile’, was really a proper greeting. But then again what do I know? I am just a little someone who was hungry and wanted to eat and I was under the assumption you served food. To people who were willing to pay for it.
P. S. The schwarma was pretty damn good. Tasted like meat flavored cinnamon and I love cinnamon.
P. S.S. There was another customer outside looking at the menu when I walked out. She asked me about your food. I told her it was really good but as I customer I felt really like I was an inconvenience to you. Guess what, she went to the restaurant next door. Karma is what it is.

So there are several things that I like about Chickpea. I’m digging all the American movie posters in Arabic. I really enjoy those traditional accents that give a restaurant an authentic feel. I also enjoy the Mama’s specials. There’s just something about walking into a restaurant and feeling like there’s a mom in the back making something special for you (by you I mean us, and by us I mean me).
My mission this day was to personally install Chicago Magazine’s #46 sandwich, The Kufta Kebob on the World Wildlife Organization’s endangered sandwich list. Parking during the lunch hour took no time at all and I parted ways with one American (dollar) at the meter for 37 minutes of midday culinary education. They were happy to change my pick up order to dine-​in since I had the time.
The sandwich was served as two Kufta links on a blanket of hummus peacefully sleeping in a pillow soft pita sleeping bag for two. I generously splashed hot sauce and Tahini in preparation of this tasty delight. The grilled vegetable topping of tomatoes, onion and peppers reminded me of the summer and easily stood up to the bold flavor of the Kufta kebob. The entire experience brought me back to warmer days when t-​shorts (This is a new word invented by me. I will be trade marking shortly) were all the rage and Carly Rae Jepsen was the only thing allowed on the radio or in an elevator.

The Monday special– herb rice, tomato and onion wrapped in a cored zucchini, served in spicy tomato broth. The rice absorbs broth while you eat. So good. Woman running place called me sweetie.

I got GrubHub from here last night and it was scrumptious.
The spiced rice is amazing. Cumin, raisins, and curry — It was so good. It wasn’t sweet and had nice texture and it was spiced just right.
I had the tenderloin. It was hit or miss. One bite would be grissly and not that good but the next bite would be delish. It was seasoned and cooked perfectly though. Chicken was seasoned good, but too dry for my liking. I was not a fan of the hummus but both my husband and bestie loved it. I’ll definitely eat here again — and since it’s in my hood, we’ll actually head over.

The falaffel balls were hard and crunchy, and tasted like they had been fried twice. They also had a horrible after taste, which left me spitting out my car window on my ride home. If you are going to call yourself chickpea, then you better have good falaffel. I also had the Baba Ganoush, which was quite good, and their pita bread was also pretty decent, so i was quite surprised at how bad the falaffel balls were. I still can’t get over it. My father had the same impression.
The place was clean, the staff was friendly, and they had free pinball, so they get points for that, but until i have a better meal there i can’t go above 2 stars. I may swing back in to try something else, given that i don’t love reviewing restaurants on the first try, but when the simplest/​signature dish is disappointing, its hard not to.
Back to the drawing board Chickpea.

Finally this chickadee perches at Chickpea. Finally. Thank you for getting a sign, I was thinking I was mildly mental for not being able to find it with my taxi-​radar sense of direction. (my superpower ONLY applicable in the city of Chicago, on streets that do not run diagonal)
Chickpea from Wikipea:
The chickpea is an edible legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. Chickpeas are high in protein and one of the earliest cultivated vegetables. 7,500-year-old remains have been found in the Middle East
Lentil Soup: $ 3
–a bit on the warmish side (I like it hot!), served with toasted pita points and a lemon wedge. Very good, just needed an extra minute to simmer.
Falafel Sandwich: $ 4
–the winner of the lunchtime chickpea balls rendezvous! Thinly sliced falafel, cukes, tomaters, onions, and a lovely dollop of hummus. One of the best I’ve had… and under $ 5…holla!
Diet Coke: $ 1
–in a can. satisfactory!
The décor makes me all dreamy, especially on a rainy day. Not only do I get to scarf some Middle Eastern fare, I get to park right out front (hooray for easy meters), be welcomed by mama and papa Chickpea, be served lovely food, sit at bright tables, and be surrounded by Middle Eastern classic movie posters. Me likes, much.
CASH ONLY.
Maybe I’ll be a fried chickpea ball for Halloween? Hot.