Aladdin’s Cafe

If you’re looking for a well kept secret in NE, I seriously suggest you try Alladin’s Café for some delicious and *fresh* mediterranean food. Weird location, but decent ambiance, excellent service, and fresh made awesomeness. I suggest the red wine and the tabouli. The lamb was wonderful too, and the hummus was smooth and flavorful.
I’ve driven by this place for years, finally went in and was not disappointed. The food and service was top notch. We were served by the owner Diyana. She was pleasant and attentive. We will definitely be returning.

Very small proportion compared to price, you can get a better deal at any other restaurant, specially for this part of town.

Absolutely delicious with a friendly service and homey atmosphere. Aladdin Café will become a regular spot.

People here are hospitable and provide welcoming environment. The tea we tried was very unique and tasty. Our host lady was kind and made us feel very welcome! Definitely will return! Food was definitely a go!

This place is always so oddly empty when I come here but I dont know why. The food is great, the value of is on point, and the service is friendly. I come here once a week at a bare minimum. You should try this place out. Its a great start to learning Mediterranean food, and theres no wait to get seated! Love these hole in the wall type places.

What a great spot! Excellent service and the food is incredible — very fresh with tons of flavor. I highly recommend getting a shwarma plate since it comes with hummus, tabbouleh and a nice pile of very well cooked meat with sauce. Their bread is fresh with perfect texture and flavor. My personal favorite though is their lentil soup which is incredible… I wanted to drink a vat of it and I might find myself driving over there from Beaverton just to do that!

I thought that it would be perfect to go to Aladdin’s Café since I was at my friend’s house and was playing the oud, an Arabic instrument. It was rainy but we decided it would be an adventure to walk there. We checked the their hours online to see if they were open and then we walked many blocks through the rain looking forward to the warmth of Middle-​Eastern hospitality. When we arrived they were closed. The restaurant hours were posted on the door and it said «11−9». It was 7 PM. There was no other sign indicating why they were closed.

I had heard good things about this restaurant so I decided to give it a try. Aladdin’s Café has an unpretentious interior and lacks the ambiance of many of the other Middle Eastern restaurants I have eaten at. However, the lack of ambiance was more than made up for by the excellent food and warm, friendly service.
I went to Aladdin’s with my good friend Elizabeth who has spent more than twenty years as a chef and line cook. We are both fairly critical diners, but she was also impressed with the food and service.
We were greeted by a young server upon entering. She brought us menus and water, as well as answered a few questions we had about the various dishes. Since neither of us had been there before, we decided to get the meat mezo combination which included two large kaftas (the size of bratwursts), hummus, baba ganoush, tabouli, four falafels, two stuffed grape leaves, large serving of rice, and unlimited fresh pita. .. . all for $ 23.99!
We came to the restaurant very hungry and we left over full. .. . and we had enough leftovers for another meal at home. This was an enormous amount of delicious food for two people.
As for the food, it was exceptional. Unlike some Middle Eastern restaurants that serve fairly bland dishes, the food at Aladdin’s is very flavorful and well-​spiced. You can tell everything is made from scratch with fresh ingredients.
Here are my impressions of the food:
Kafta: very good and well seasoned.
Hummus: good, nice and creamy with enough tahini and lemon to make it interesting.
Baba Ganoush: excellent, one of the best versions I have ever eaten.
Tabouli: bursting with lemon and other spices…perhaps the best I have ever eaten.
Falafels: slightly overcooked, but much better seasoned than than falafels at other places.
Stuffed Grape Leaves: some of the best I have ever eaten, lots of lemon and spices.
Rice: nicely seasoned and perfectly cooked.
Pita Bread: freshly made and still warm from the oven.
Additionally, the service was very good. The server was friendly and attentive without being cloying. The manager stopped by the table twice to check on the food and service: he was warm and professional.
If you are looking for fresh, well-​prepared Middle Eastern food, I don’t think you can go wrong at Aladdin’s Café. I highly recommend the meat mezo combination platter. It’s a terrific assortment of food at a great price.

Honestly, this is the best Middle Eastern food I have had in this town. I am a bit prejudiced in that I think ME food should have particular assertive flavors in certain dishes, so those places that marinate chicken with chicken juice or make hummus with nothing beyond garbanzos, a sniff of tahini, and a mindfulness blessing are not really to my taste.
The köfte was off the charts. The dips in the large mezeler plate were all distinct, flavorful — and emblematic of what they were supposed to be. Normally I despise tabbouleh, because it’s either a sopping or too-​dry mess of flavorless bulghur with random flavors the bulghur will never absorb — because they were added after the fact. This tabbouleh has bright and deep flavors, both delicate and strong, with parsley and lemon predominating and the bulghur’s relentless insipidity taking a definitive backseat. I always *taste* the tabbouleh, but I never eat it. Tonight was different. We took more to go!
This place seems to understand that flavor is best achieved when added in layers. The service was quick, competent, warm, and genuine, and the owner was the same.
Throw on some salt to the za’atar dip with the pita if you go. It will bring out the flavors of the herbs. Great food, great service. Parking onsite, and a small market next door, should you need to weep quietly to yourself about the handmade cardamom-​pistachio ice cream you had for dessert.

Phenomenal food and fantastic ownership. Wow. Kafka and homemade cardamom ice cream.

Phoned in a take out dinner for three of us… Falafel, hummus, greek salad, chicken kabob and lamb shawarma. They had 2 to-​go orders ready to go at the same time and they were confused as to which order I was there to pick up. We went over the order together, and I was handed a heavy plastic bag filled with hot mediterranean goodness! Paid $ 48.46 with credit card and out the door I went.
When we arrived at our friend’s house with dinner in hand, we realized there was no greek salad in the bag. We checked the receipt and, sure enough, I was charged for it. When I called to ask for a refund for the missing salad I was told the only way to do this was to come back in, even though I was now on the other side of town, and that it was impossible to refund the $$ without the card in hand (btw…since when?). The gentleman on the phone told me, «next time you come in tell them we screwed up your order and we’ll give you the salad you paid for plus a free appetizer.» Sure you will.
The meal itself was fine. The falafel was my favorite thing but the hummus was more textural than flavorful. The rice was great, as was the lamb shawarma, but the chicken kabob was really dry and overcooked. Not sure I’d typically give a meal like this a second chance, but…
I’m gonna come back in for that refund, and to try the gyros… I love gyros… and I’m hoping to bump my review up by a star or two when I do.

Oh my goodness… where do I begin. Over a year ago a friend who lives close by to this place took me here and I fell in love!!! I tried the Lentil soup and some Labne. I swear the heavens opened up and angels sung. The Lentil soup was divine!!! Just enough parsley and lemon to give a fresh flavor without overpowering the flavors of this lentil type crack. I found it excellent to take a bit of the bread, put some Labne on it and then dip it into the soup… (insert angel song here) I have had that dish many times and never get tired of it. It became a joke… going over to my friends place… WE MUST GET SOUP!
so fast forward a little over a year… I moved in with said friend … going to be here for a couple months until the house I am waiting for opens up. I was only ½ joking when I said I chose this spot for easy access to my beloved soup. The day of the move, no one wanted to cook so we went and got food… soup and this time a gyro… OMG it was really good!!! they put on a bit of their garlic sauce… crack I tell you! Yesterday we went back… this time I tried the Kafta sandwich (which come with soup or a salad) and also ordered Labne (a yogurt type dip that is wonderful, creamy, slightly tangy topped with oil and a couple of olive… nom nom nom nom).
The kafta sandwich was much better than I was expecting… lots of meat… as in meat in every bite all the way to the end of the sandwich. the meat had just the right about of char. You know that sweet spot that allows you to know there is char on the meat and yet not take away from the flavor… yea… it was dead on. The meat had wonderful flavor and I was stuffed to the gills after ¾ of the sandwich, a couple bites of soup and a couple bite of the labne.
While talking with the beautiful woman there… she had us try a bit of the lentil soup with a spoonful of their homemade tabouli… I must admit here that I dont and have never liked tabouli… but I gave it a try… it was superb in the soup, so I tried a bite of the tabouli and oh goodness it was so very, very good.
The woman said they make the batches fresh… two times a day. One for the lunch crowd and once for the dinner crowd. Never is it used the next day. Because of that it was so very very yummy.
Everything I have tried there is just divine and if I had a choice I would probably eat there everyday…
the setting is nice and music in the background is just loud enough to be heard, but not too loud as to inhibit conversation with the people you are with.
if you have not tried this place yet… do so!!! put on shoes, grab your wallet and head down.
PS… outside section also for Hookah’s… we are soooooo trying that soon

Don’t let the location fool you. This place is the real deal– flavorful, authentic food. The proprietor is nice and has a sense of humor which he isn’t meek about tableside. The kofte kabob (which my friend ordered) wasn’t as moist as the street food I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing in Turkey, but the oven made kofte delivered. The cardamom pistachio house made ice cream was nirvana. Creamy, perfect amount of sweetness (low) and packed with nuanced flavor. Yum.

Great food!
I loved the lentil soup, I’ve been looking for places with good lentil soup and was slowly losing hope until I tried this one! The chicken kabob and rice were well done, along with the tabouli which had the perfect amount of lemon and salt in it.
You have to try their hummus, along with their freshly baked and soft bread — just yum!
All in all, I really loved the food here. It was one of the best Middle Eastern restaurants I’ve tried around the area, and trust me I’ve tried most of them by now.
I definitely would go back for more!
Diyanna (the chief/​owner) was super sweet and nice, as well.

I was hesitant to try this place given many of the conflicting reviews on here, but I’m glad I finally gave it a shot. Aladdin’s Café is a very excellent «hidden gem» restaurant in this town. It has replaced Nicholas as my go-​to for Lebanese food around town.
Went for a date-​night with my partner, and we felt like honored guests at the restaurant. She had the middle eastern beer, and I the wine, and both were great. The «family style for two» combo seemed perfect for our needs, and boy were we right. It was a _​lot_​of food, and all of it great: 4 kabobs (chicken and beef), hummus, baba ghanouj, salad, falafel and dolmades.
The falafel was absolutely amazing, a real treat after experiencing all the crappy dry flavorless stuff that other places in town try to pass off as falafel. The bread was crispy with a hint of flavor, perfect for use with the hummus and various other delicious sauces and spreadables. The baba ghanouj was pretty intense, almost overwhelming but still quite delicious. The hummus was pretty awesome too, as most other reviews have also said.
The kabobs were delicious, quite flavorful, and most satisfying, but the real star of the meal was that house garlic sauce that came with them. Hot damn, that was amazing. So good I wish I could buy jars of the stuff.
The service was pretty friendly, too. We’ll definitely be coming back.

Delicious food. Well prepared. Flavorful. Attentive staff. Family owned business. Yummy. will definitely be back.

Alladin café is a lovely eatery tucked away in Concordia, just N of New Seasons on 33^rd. The food is scrumptious, for dinner we ordered all vegetarian including a comprehensive mazza platter. The pita bread is made in house and is light and fluffy perfection. Our favorites were the veggie kabobs and the tangy baba ganoush. Excellent and attentive service. Highly recommended!

Great food — great price — service also very nice and did not take very long.
I like their kafta kebab or kafta kebab combination
The owner very friendly

Excellent!
This is a favorite Mediterranean spot for me in Portland.
I love the atmosphere, customer service and very delicious food.

The food was very good and fast. We love all of their oven baked things like meat pie and egg pie. We will definitely be back. They have so many good things to try. We also will go back for their Ramadan feast…