Arabian Nights Cafe

Very nice lunch this week. I ordered the chicken shawarma plate (spicy). It was very flavorful. Great service, too.

This cute little place ranks up there on student food. Going to Portland State for a conference, event, or a class? This is definitely where you should hit up on your lunch break. I ordered a chicken schwarma wrap and tried some of their mango juice. The owner sprung a little taste of their falafel on us too, and I was treated to a taste of my partner’s ayran — the salty yogurt drinks in the cooler. It was all quickly made and a decent quality for the price. I really appreciated the owner’s patience as I took a long time deciding what to order. Definitely will come here again!

Amazing!!! Omg, we ordered tabbouleh but they ran out, so the chef made something even more amazing! I wish I knew the name :) Everything tasted sooo good and was moist!

One of the best restaurants I visited in downtown Portland great food and great customer service I tried the falafel sandwich and it was the best… highly recommended

I’m arabic and i know what arabic food should taste like. Their grilled meats are so bland! They need spices! And the rice tastes like eggs for some reason! The 2 stars are for finishing my food quickly and for their delicious baba ghanooj.

When I showed up to Arabian Nights around 40 minutes before closing I could see the irritation on the clerk’s face. I asked for a combo plate of beef and chicken kebab and was told that only chicken and lamb were available which I was completely fine with as lamb would have been my second choice. My friend ordered the falafel sandwich. Her sandwich totaled to around $ 10 and mine was $ 14 which is definitely on the high end of what I’ve paid for these types of dishes so my hopes for good quality were high. This was a Sunday night and I could see that the clerk wanted to go home so my friend and I sat outside so that he could start to clean up and prepare for closing.
My meal was served with a large bed of yellow and white rice and a good amount of chicken and lamb chunks. It was also served with a side salad and tzatziki sauce. I usually stay away from the pita bread and rice but as I was on vacation I was excited to finally indulge but to my disappointment there was no pita on my plate. I went up to the door to ask for some and found that it was locked, before closing time. I knocked on the door and the clerk looked displeased as he made his way over to unlock it for me. When he did I asked if pita came with the meal and he shook his head which seemed both rude and a bit ridiculous as I had paid $ 14 for my meal.
I went back to eating my dinner and found that the salad had a very bitter taste to it which was a disappointment as I always look forward to the salad in my Mediterranean dishes. While there was plenty of meat, many of the pieces were too tough to cut into and lacked flavor. The tzatziki was too bland to make up for it. I ended up eating a lot of the rice to fill my hungry stomach. As for my friend’s falafel sandwich, I didn’t try it but she said I wasn’t really missing out on the pita as hers was very thin and wasn’t soft or doughy as pita usually is. I tried some of the pita and definitely agreed with her.
After reading the reviews and finding most of the kebab food trucks to be closed I was really looking forward to some kebab from Arabian Nights but I must say I was led astray. Having had some great kebab in my life I was quite disappointed with the quality of food and service here and would not make a point of going back when I return to Portland. I’ll have to find a good kebab food truck next time I’m in Portland.

Yum! Clean, good food. Reasonable price. I had the skewered ground beef on a bed of white and yellow rice with a white sauce (sour cream/​yogurt maybe) and a little salad of lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes which I added to the dish. Super yummy!

This was my first ever Chicken Shawarma experience and I am blown away! The dish comes with two different types of long grain rice, a salad garnished with lemon and herbs, and cucumber yogurt. I work near this restaurant and have it AT LEAST twice a week now. The chefs do it all and are extremely nice and talented! I have had nothing close to it in my life.

Just when I thought I had found every Arab restaurant in Portland… I found Arabian Nights! My husband and I had meat pie and lentil soup. Both of them were delicious. I was eyeing the food around me at other tables. I can’t wait to go back

They have good food with reasonable prices, close to PSU, Arabic TV and songs, and the service is ok. I love the Kofta Kabab to the point that i pass by the restaurant almost everyday.

Lamb shank with rice is good, but it came late. Hummus is good, but the grape-​leaves weren’t so. They were so smooth that each falls from my fork each time I eat one. I’m sure they were canned. The soups also came late. I don’t know if I’ll come again.

It it a divey hole in the wall where you wish it was a little cleaner, and the utensils are plastic and your food may be on a glass or a paper plate, and service can be a little slow and they are definitely immigrants? Yes. Is the food good? YES. The pitas are always fresh and hot from the oven and very doughy and poofy. The baba ghannouj is very smoky, and the grape leaves very tender because he marinates them for extra long. And the chicken schwarma, or the lamb kabobs, yum. Our go to place for take out

I love this place so much. In fact, it’s pretty much my favorite part of my apartments (which are located upstairs and are essentially student hovels). When we moved in our apartment after a three day drive, these guys were chatting with us between breaks and cheering on our grueling unload. In return, we ended up there just before they closed for AMAZING shwarma. It’s really convenient for us, and we eat there at least once a month. They treat their customers well, and I’ll be sad to move from my hovel and not have this convenient little gem right below us. We’ll definitely be back often, though.

An arab in Portland? You crave some Arabian food? Go To Arabian nights. They have a lot of Arabian dishes and they are yummy :)))

Sorry Arabian Nights Café, but your place is downright filthy. Had me thinking of scenes from Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares where he goes around finding dead rats and wiping poo-​like goo off the cooking areas. Should have gotten out of there while being semi-​ignored at the register, but I feel so rude walking into a place and then leaving like that.
Well, wish I had just walked out, because the falafel sandwich was small and sad… definitely not worth $ 5.99.
Please believe the reviews that say this place is dirty, that you might be ignored at the cash register, and that you’re more than likely to get some sad looking version of what you ordered and be overcharged for it. If you get the feeling you should turn around and leave after you walk in, do it. They’ll probably be too busy ignoring you to notice anyway. :P

The soggiest, saddest fattoush salad I’ve ever had the misfortune of being overcharged for.

If you like being discriminated please come here. I could seriously could care less about someones race, because I’m not racist. Apparently being a white female offended the guy working at the cash register.
I was standing at the cash register and was completely ignored, he handed two menus literally over my head to the girls behind me, took one look at me and walked away.
What?! Are you kidding me?
Go to Habibi, they have amazing food, good prices and the staff is dare I say friendly?
Seriously, go check out their Unilocal page and see all the reviews.

Great food, delicious flavors, yum! It’s in a great location with nice décor inside. The people upfront are always very kind and informative.

We just got the super falafel sandwiches. They had no fries on them, and are super small. Not worth 9 bucks. Go to Nicholas instead.

I came here thinking the reviews were right about it being worth trying. I am middle eastern and have been to many middle eastern restaurants in Portland that are great. This isn’t one of them.
Came here for lunch with a work colleague. Cobwebs hanging from the window, tables dirty, and nobody at the front counter. Finally when someone comes to help I ordered the chicken kebab plate, pretty simple plate to make in the culture.
After we order, the man is just beginning to turn on the stove and take the ingredients out of the counters. After waiting almost 30 minutes. He brings out my plate. The rice was alright, but the chicken was simply sliced chicken breast grilled on a man, and smothered in spices to the point where it was just crunchy. I couldn’t even finish it. We come in to pay and the man that is working by himself is on his iPhone face-​timing with a friend. As were paying he says its his first day. Won’t be coming back.