Ali Baba Cafe & Hookah Bar

Excellent Mediterranean food at reasonable prices. They use authentic ingredients from the Middle East and it comes through in the flavor — especially the falafel. Great gyros too. Service was great and this place has a cool vibe. Make sure to say hi to Isa.

Found this place On my usual and almost daily haunt for a quick bite to eat with my sister downtown. This place cropped up on our search and we decided a little walk sounded like a great way to enjoy one of the last warm days of fall. I’m so glad we expanded our search radius because this place is such a hidden little gem. I had the chicken falafel and it was delightful! Great portion size, enough to fill you up but not too much to send you back to your office in a wheel barrow. The staff was very friendly and quick at fulfilling our orders. It’s pretty intimate in size and feels pretty casual. There’s enough on the menu of you want to stop by for a full course meal or stop in for a cupper and catch up on some emails. I’d have given 5 stars, but as great as it was I wasn’t quite «wowed.» Perhaps I will be next time, I’m definitely going back!

If you’re expecting authentic middle eastern food from this restaurant, then please look elsewhere or better yet check out my reviews and see where are the authentic middle eastern places are at in the Indy area, I tried the shawarma and falafel, it was just ok but definitely not something I would go back again to buy. Ali Baba obviously main advantage is its location, being the only middle eastern restaurant downtown, it is acceptable when you don’t have a car and short on time, otherwise there are MUCH better places to eat at around the city.

Biking around downtown, the smell of this place caught my nose. My friend talked me out of eating the PB&J I packed for lunch and to eat here. I like it. I don’t love it. The lunch special prices are really good, the gyros meat is soft, flavorful and too greasy. The tatziki sauce was not over powering garlicky or cucumbery (trademark pending on that word). I would prefer regular fries with a squeeze of lemon ad greek seasoning as opposed to the coated fries they serve. I really liked the baba gnoush (sp?) even though it was on the smoker side. Falafel are fried crispy almost burnt but good flavor. The hummus wax smooth but maybe a bit too much lemon.
Service was good, seated right away, plenty of attention and refills, she just wasn’t super friendly, but I’m fine if your good at your job and not rude.

Great gyro! Even a bit better and more authentic than the famous Trojan Horse in Bloomington which I still love. Greek owner/​manager is always around to make sure service is great. Full portions are huge and such a great value especially in downtown Indy.

I like Ali Baba’s. Their hummus and spicy gyros are good. The location is great! It’s right down the street from the monument. I remember having dinner there before the Circle of Lights ceremony and that was perfect since we just walked down the street afterwards to the music and festivities.
It’s a casual place so it’s better for lunch than dinner. Their décor is minimal but still exotic.
Service has always been great and friendly when we’ve gone. And their meat is halal yay.

Alright. Portion sizes and prizes are ok. Food in standard Mediterranean/​Arabic in more of a luncheon rather than sit-​down setting. Only comparably priced food downtown, so worth it when looking for a budget option.

Great place for lunch at reasonable prices. Love the Express Lunch specials. I had the ½ falafel and Greek salad (you can get fries instead of the salad) which included a drink, for $ 7.50. What a deal!
Falafel was good, not the best I’ve had but certainly worth trying. I almost liked the pita and tzatziki sauce more though. Greek salad was excellent — loved the dressing. Just wish there would have been more black olives!
I didn’t think the service was too great — might have been a little understaffed because we never saw our server after waiting a while to place our order. I had to flag him down to get a drink refill.
The deliciousness of the food outweighs the service in my opinion. It wasn’t awful, but definitely could have been better.
Overall, delicious and unique lunch option downtown. I like that they have delivery, take out and now, a food truck. I’ll definitely be a loyal Ali Baba patron from here forward.
For next time: the spicy gyro.

I think this place is very good. My fellow diner wasn’t particularly impressed, but I enjoyed the food. Nice, clean atmosphere.

Fast, consistent, extremely reasonable price-​wise, and sooo good. I’ve always had a good experience here. I couldn’t help but notice some people critiquing the customer service aspect, and I assure you, they are fantastic. I think the people saying this just want an excuse to complain and/​or have never experienced working in a restaurant. If anyone seems «unfriendly,» which I’ve never once witnessed, perhaps it’s a simple matter of being busy! The staff and facility is small, but everyone working here is considerate/​attentive to all patrons no matter what. What do you expect during lunch rush? Especially downtown? Mamduh (hope I’m spelling that correctly) and his beautiful mother and sister are reason enough to come. Such friendly, warm people. Always.
I constantly recommend this place to people, especially since it’s one of the few non-​chain, non-​American, local places to eat in central downtown. Why is all the good foreign food in the middle of nowhere in Indiana?! Order the baba ghanouj and fattoush salad. So fresh and definitely homemade. Only thing I’d like to see is some more foods native to Jordan, which is where much of the staff is from!
I love it here. ¹⁰⁄₁₀

Shawarma and Gyros so tasty that they haunt my dreams. The first time I had lunch at Ali Baba Café I actually considered going back there for dinner or takeout because I felt like I hadn’t gotten enough earlier that day.
The service is good and they always take care of my friends and I in a timely and polite manner. I bring people to this place all the time or lunch meetings.

Up from the Canal i came, a litlle cold, & a tired, i thought Turkish coffee, a little pick me up & warm up.
I’ve NEVER taken a bathroom pic, but grab your own roll, and what is that Plactic relic? A Turkish piss pot? No wonder that the floor was sticky.
You know what they say about restaurants and their bathrooms!
I loved the Sage Tea!
I sampled the hummus, Meh, I’ve had peanut butter with more garlic lol
It’s more a take out, the service was friendly enough.

Another Middle Eastern resturant trying to make it’s way into the business industry.
I was walking by with my friend and decided to stop and have shawarma. As expected, the shawarma were oversized — American shawarma’s. And they are not even close to back home’s ones — I’m guessing since they are not hang and cooked on the shawarma machine.
The other side orders were decent. The staff were friendly.
I’d go there, but probably try something else unless if they do change the way they cook shawarma.

I like falafel, and I like the way Ali Baba does falafel. They also have good baba ghanouj (spelling?). It’s not the best, but it is good. I went with a buddy who ordered «hot tea» so I am not sure what it is actually listed as on the menu. When he tasted it his initial reaction was simply that the tea was interesting but by the time he finished the cup he was in love and ordered more. They also have the flaming cheese on the menu. I forget what it is called now but it’s fried cheese that they light on fire in front of you. You cannot go wrong.
They also have a hookah bar. That’s not really my scene so I can’t offer too much insight, but it’s there.

Stopped in for a Thursday lunch. Even at noon we were able to be seated right away, which was nice.
I enjoyed one of the lunch specials, a spicy gyro with fries. It included a drink and with tax the total bill still only came to $ 8! Quite a deal.
The food was delicious.
The service was sub par. Our food was delivered without drinks and I had to get up from the table and ask for those after several minutes of munching on my fries. Getting the bill and paying took longer than it should have as well.
Overall, the value was great. I’ll probably return for lunch again.

This restaurant is located a block from the circle. It offers a decent variety of Mediterranean foods which are well made and affordable. I usually get the chicken shwarma however I have tried pretty much everything else. Their kebobs, spanakopita also Greek hamburger are very well made. Sometimes when they are busy the service gets lousy but I guess it’s ok given the food is cheap and delicious.

We went here for dinner while we were in town for a convention.
The food was okay.
The main problem was how incredibly rude the staff was. We also didn’t even get some of the food that we ordered and then they acted like they were doing us a favor when they took it off the bill.
My girlfriend ordered a recommended dish and then a few minutes later her friend ordered the same. Her friend got the dish, which turned out to be quite good. However, when the rest of our food came out, they simply made my gf a different dish because they ran out and they didn’t bother to even ask or say anything until after it came out and we’d already waited almost an hour.

So tasty I had a gyro here for lunch and went back and had kebabs for dinner.
Everything I tried, I liked. We came in with a party that filled up the back room and overflowed into the front room. They didn’t even bat an eye, just started asking people to raise hands (who wants chx kebabs, who wants lamb, etc.) Totally handled all 60−70ish people like pros.

The food here is delicious. I am a spanakopita fan and theirs is the best in Indy, truly tastes homemade.
The problem with this restaurant is the ambiance. It almost feels like a hall, somewhere you don’t hang out for long. The huge tv is a little out of place.
However, all that said the food is worth it. Better yet, just get your order to go and eat at the circle.

Meh just about sums it up. Maybe meh.5 as in 3.5? Corrine P’s quote sums it up: «I will definitely go again, but I wasn’t completely in love.»
I’ve been to Ali Baba multiple times, most of these visits were from my time of working on the Circle out of convenience and urgent falafel cravings. So, why a three star experience and not a four or five?
–baba ganoush = oddly smoky in flavor — too smoky
–falafel leans on the hard/​burnt side, oddly enough I think the pita has this one more down pat
–it’s a much inviting restaurant during the week at lunch time. There’s something comforting about a restaurant not being dead empty
–service is meh — our drinks were never refilled during our 45 minute visit
–prices fall between $ 8-​$ 10 for a lunch meal
–Turkish coffee is available
–hookah can be smoked on the sidewalk out front