Ali Baba

Tasty and decently authentic Middle Eastern food, for sure. I really like the falafel sandwich and the hummus here is pretty great. I like that sometimes they flavor it with some Siracha. fun twist!
I’ve always had consistently good food here and find it very affordable and easy. A good stand by.

I’ve been toying with the idea of writing about Ali Baba ever since I first signed up with Unilocal.I’ve had a love affair with this place that began when they first opened, right before the 2009-​10 school year. But, I figured that it’s much fairer to review a place (even a beloved favorite) while a recent meal is still fresh in one’s mind. I visited last night in order to facilitate such a review. (And, I was hungry for falafel.)
I’ve tried many, many dishes at this restaurant. When I used to live only a few blocks away, I visited so often that my boyfriend told me I should start paying rent to the owners (har har). I’ve tried all of the dips, most of the veggie sides, and most of the entrees/​sandwiches. The menu ranges from your typical hummus, falafel, and shawarma to more unique items like mama ghanoush (like baba ghanoush, but with zucchini instead of eggplant) and chicken schnitzel.
Bar none, the best is their falafel sandwich. The falafel are crispy on the outside, hot and light inside, swaddled in creamy hummus (seriously, how DO they get their hummus so creamy?!) and topped with lettuce, tomato, tahini, and the ubiquitous pickle. Listen, because this is important: unless you have something against pickles, NEVER skip this necessary component. It rounds out the sandwich, making sure it hits all the right notes: sweet, spicy, salty, sour. Plus, I always ask for a little cup of their chili sauce on the side to pour over the sandwich as I go, and that, friends, is perfection in a pita.
You get a lot of food for your money here. You can get a sandwich combo for about $ 6 that includes fries (spiced with paprika, yum) and a soda, or you can spring for a platter, which will run you $ 8 – 10, but includes an entrée meat (or falafel) with two pitas and two sides.
And I would be remiss if I did not mention the service here. While I’ve noticed some other Unilocalers have complained about the amount of time it takes (and yes, I will not deny that it can be slower than one would expect), I would rather have a meal that takes five extra minutes to prepare but is served with a smile. The staff here tends to be very friendly, and if you stop in frequently, they will remember you.
All in all, this place serves up dependable, flavorful food at a decent price, and fills a needed spot in campus dining, as an alternative to the usual chicken and subs.

The food here is pretty damn solid. Its other stuff that gives them the 3-​star rating.
First of all, the pricing on their menus is inconsistent. Their website, the board on the south wall and the board above where you order are all various prices. Deceptive or just lazy, I can’t tell.
Additionally they are slow. Like terribly slow. There was one other person when I was in there and it took 20+ minutes to get our food. That’s just absurd. It should take about 2 minutes to put together the food. He kept disappearing into the back several times doing what, I don’t know. Only one guy on staff (which should have been enough), but I think he was either just lazy or stoned. Lavash takes less than half the time to do yet better food.
And why in the world don’t they have just plain lamb schwarma? I don’t want turkey. I don’t want a mix. I want lamb.

Ali Baba is the Middle Eastern restaurant I have been searching for. falafel and schwarma are street-​cart food, so I generally consider them more in line with fast food, unlike Alladin’s or Mazah which seem to focus on a dine-​in experience. I’d feel weird walking into Mazah and ordering something to go, but Ali Baba seems like the type of place that would be normal at.
I ordered the turkey schwarma sandwich. which is a little strange, simply because I’m used to my lamb being just lamb, not lamb+turkey. maybe cbus-​ers can’t handle straight-​up lamb, who knows. anyway, it was delicious. the toppings were fresh and well-​balanced — not just a heaping pile of lettuce — plenty of tomatoes, sauce, and other veggies. I think they were out of pickles when I came in at around 9pm, so my sandwich was missing that important component. but you know what, that’s okay. because it was still delicious. and I will definitely be back for more. I’m eager to try their falafel.
the portions here are definitely generous — everyone I was with got the platters and they were huge. you get two sides, so you can expand your middle eastern palate. or you can just go for the standard hummus — which by the way, is awesome here.
baklava slices are gigantic, not as nutty as I like, but still tasty. they have a handful of varieties too, which is exciting.

Before I moved here I lived in Westwood, a neighborhood in LA nicknamed Tehrangeles. Suffice it to say, I have some knowledge of Middle Eastern food (enough to discriminate Lebanese from Iraqi from Persian) so I hope my enthusiastic endorsement of Ali Baba carries some weight for you.
I enjoy the order at the front layout, the sparse presentation of seating and the free wifi (even though I rarely use it). I also love the food. My favorite thing is the falafel, which is never oily or soggy, but always crispy and delightful. I often order the platters because I like the sidedishes (I seem to always get either the eggplant or cauliflower along with the hummus) but the pita sandwiches are just fine too.
My only gripe with Ali Baba is that the service can be spotty and can lag badly despite the assembly-​line-​esque way meals are put together. I try to go when I have an hour to kill. When I’ve only half an hour or forty five minutes to spare I ended up cutting it pretty close. I also wish the televisions were more audible or at least had closed captioning on.
Regardless of those little quibbles, though, I am a big fan and whether you’re dining in or taking it to go, you won’t go wrong getting food from this place.

Stopped in for lunch today after hearing great things about this place. And it looked like half of OSU’s grad student + staff + faculty population had the same idea. The line was fast moving (okay, some of the uninitiated were holding things up) and the half dozen staff behind the counter worked feverishly to feed everyone’s pressing schedules.
I have to confess that I haven’t had much of the menu. But what I did have, the lamb/​turkey shawarma sandwich, was so freaking delicious that I’m no longer going to make the trek up to Pita Hut. Part of the beauty of a Mediterranean sandwich is how it is built: fluffy warm pita, cool fresh salata, warm juicy meat, and just enough tahini, in every bite. I can’t wait to have a falafel sandwich with a nice layer of hummus and hot sauce!
Campus dining just got tenfold yummier!

I’ve been here here a few times. They just opened up where Jimmy Guaco’s used to be.
The food is delicious. There is a nice selection of the standard Mediterranean items, though they seem to focus on the Southern section, that is, more Middle Eastern. You can tell this also from the paintings of camels and pyramids. No pyramids in Greece!
There is a big deli-​style display counter with all of the items. The shawarma roasters are spinning against the wall. It looks like they plan on opening an olive bar soon. I can’t wait.
I have eaten the grilled lamb pita, which was a little tough, though seasoned well. Nicely packed with onions and other toppings, so it was good.
The chicken shawarma platter was huge; a great value for the price. For sides I got the rice and hummus. The chicken was cooked well, with lots of spices and flavor. I would order this again. This sort of food fills you up without making you feel sick, like a burger or fried fish would do. The hummus was delicious.
The third time I got the chicken shawarma sandwich and tzatziki sauce. Again, it was well cooked and packed with food. You can tell they put a lot of work into making everything really good.
They have a varied selection of baklava. I’ve tried three different kinds, and it’s all good. I prefer it to the baklava at Buckeye Donuts next door.
A decent amount of rather good pita is included with everything that should include it.
The staff is very nice. A few times they included an extra piece of baklava, which is great, because the baklava is not large. The amount of work that goes into making that stuff is pretty intense though, so I don’t mind.
The interior is nice. Clean and modern, but not fancy. The paintings on the walls are a little less classy, but they work just fine. One drawback is that you have to bus your own table. Seems a little low-​class for what they are going for, but not a huge issue because I usually leave a clean plate.
I really enjoyed this restaurant. I’ll definitely be going back. I just hope they don’t get discouraged: opening a restaurant in a college town during the summer is never easy!