Basic no frills place in Burlington for kabobs. It has falafel and many vegetarian options. Ahli Baba's is a no frills place, just somewhere to get cheap food. For sure that's true in here. They don't even have any seats. A good option at lunch or later. It's open late at night. The place is pretty cheap looking inside, and there's only these tables without any chairs, so if you eat in here you'll be standing. Another good reason to get it to go. The menu has typical Middle Eastern stuff. A lot of pitas to get. It's $9 to get the Falafel Pita. A pretty typical looking one. Pretty big though. Comes with the usual toppings on it. There's cucumbers, tahini, and tomatoes. A few other choices for vegetarians are on the menu. These include the Pakora Pita and Samosas. Among the other menu choices is the Breakfast Burrito. These are served all day, so get these any time. Certainly it looks pretty sketchy in here. It's not bad food though. There's plenty of choices for vegans and vegetarians. read more

Ahli Baba's Kabob Shop - Falafel Pita - Middle Eastern Near Me - Burlington, Vermont

Don't let the construction on Main Street keep you away! Popped in for gyros and wasn't disappointed. The Chef and Greta made us up one of their house gyros, a special Cali inspired gyro, falafel and eggplant croquettes that were perfection. The lemonade was a perfect blend of sweet and sour for a hot day. Ended up leaving with delicious, fresh, affordable takeout and a good experience. Definitely will be back! ***UPDATE*** After we had left overs the 5 stars is confirmed. The falafel was never greasy, always tender on the inside and crispy on the crust. Delightful while enjoyed warm or cold. read more

Owner acts like you have two brain cells but food hits. Could be nicer to paying customer who leave a tip regardless.

This place is great! The service is quick and the food is reliably tasty. Staff is super friendly and informative. Love this local spot and their lemonade slaps! read more

This is a Burlington staple for me. Whenever I'm in town around lunch time, I stop by. The space is small, open, and clean. The service is friendly, and helpful. The food is simple, fresh, well prepared, and reasonably priced. A perfect quick meal while I'm on the go. read more

Fabulous Kabobs & Gyros! Great Service! Gorgeous Atmosphere! Smells delicious inside as an added bonus. We'll be back... read more

I would not come back here. The falafel was super bready and dense (seemed like someone screwed up the batter and had to add a bunch of flour?), the pickles were weirdly sweet, and the seasoning in general was just not there - no discernible acidity or even salt in the tahini sauce. read more

Great chicken kabob served up by Picard. Super friendly along with great food. Recommend to anyone in downtown looking for a quick bite to eat read more

Amazing food , good service. and fast and best kabobs ever. Friendly service. Will be back again.

Always hits the spot. Went tonight with some friends and was treated with nothing but kindness from both Matthews behind the counter. Exceptional service and amazing food. Fresh and delicious. Can't speak highly enough about this place. 10/10 read more

The falafel and eggplant sandwiches were delicious. The chef was very friendly, great at explaining the menu, and willing to make modifications. Everything was fresh, yet still quick on delivery. The fresh lemonade was perfect on a hot day. Our kids are huge fans of it all! read more

Not going to lie I was ravenous when I had the falafel pita but cannot even begin to express how delicious it was The man working at the counter was so wholesome and the food was so good read more

The Cajun chicken queso pita was excellent. The staff were super friendly. I recommend and will be back soon

great service, great food! Will definitely recommend for anybody looking for something delicious that taste like a home cooked meal but still doesn't take long to make and well how are you feeling full read more

The food was good and the free lemonade with the review was a good start this is a good little food place! Service only one person but that's ok. Ambiance was okay but for a small place it's good. read more

I love coming to Ali Baba's. I work downtown late and they're open,quick and super friendly every time I come in. Their food is filling and doesn't leaving you filling gross or heavy. The hibiscus tea is my favorite add on with a sandwich. Love these guys!! read more

Connor and Matt were the best! They both made the best food ever! All of the staff were awesome and they were amazing!

I came by an hour after close on Monday and the black guy there said he was closed but he would turn on the frier for me. he served me the most awesome tenders and fries 5***!!! read more

The food was great, that's not the issue. The workers outside with a dog smoking and bringing the dog in and then preparing food. Dog chained up inside. Poop puppy and hygiene. read more

The food is good and the atmosphere is the same as always but as i started to check the bill on the ipad, the employee reached over the counter and pressed the 25% tip for take out in the ipad and said, "thought I'd just help you." There was no sit down service, not a huge order. It was so off putting - and i usually tip well. Seriously, Wth?! I've never had that happen - yes, gratuity added on a check, yes. He looked like he was under the influence as well. I'll go back but this was an odd experience. read more

Great food, but the owner has such a bad attitude about business, you would think he does not want to be in business. You order from him and then he shames you because you're wasting his time because he wants to get out of there. Such a shame because they have really great food, the attitude ruins it though read more

good food, clean store and nice staff at a reasonable price, can't ask for much more at the price point.

Awesome food, lots of vegetarian options, great for late night. Service went above and beyond when I went there! Ambiance is okay. I love the music they play there but kinda miss the old album-cover wall art they used to have. read more

The two guys working on Thursday night after 1am when every other restaurant is closed are fucking great. Fast and friendly.

Terrible food, and terrible prices. The falafel and pakora were absolutely undercooked and raw on the inside. The chicken was over cooked and overall everything was bland. Not sure how this place survives. The workers however were very nice and offered us a refund. The Arnold Palmer drink was fresh and probably the only good thing. read more

Ahli Baba's Kabob Shop - a person holding a drink - Middle Eastern Near Me - Burlington, Vermont

if I could give a zero rating I would, i NEVER write reviews unless I absolutely have to. The worst gyro I've ever had, if you want shredded lettuce and onion on a dry pita this is your place. the meat is so dry and hard that you can't even swallow it. customer service sh*t too. I will not be returning. this place used to be fantastic 5 years ago, I was so excited after living in az so long and returning to vt, I got two in excitement... and they were so so gross. read more

We flew in late and didn't want pizza or McDonald's so we found this place among the college kids. Open late! Had a gyro and gravy fries and left perfectly happy. Small spot so you grab a stool to eat. Phish and Grateful Dead posters on the wall. They had bottled water and canned coke and the people working had entertaining t-shirts. read more

It's a no frills Kabob shop, which I like, but the food just wasn't up to par. I ordered a couple Gyro's while I was in town to view the Eclipse. The sauce was super strong (a little on the bitter side) and it dominated the whole experience. There was just too much of it. It's a month later and I effectively remember eating sauce on bread. It didn't have a typical Gryro taste, which is fine, but what I got just wasn't appealing. The service was good and it was prepared quickly, but I wouldn't go back given my first experience. read more

This place is absolutely disgusting. I've never had a late night drunk food enact such an instinct to not eat something in my life. I am trying to get through this, but I can't. And I am not a picky eater, I eat 7-Eleven taquitos religiously- they're disgusting and I love them. This is completely something else. You go to swallow, and your body says, "please no." Eating the paper bag it came in would be better. Update: I'm trying it now and it's 50/50 read more

Ahli Baba's Kabob Shop - Middle Eastern Near Me - Burlington, Vermont

One of the few late night food options in Burlington, with vegetarian and vegan friendly choices on the menu. For folks like me who keep a whole-foods and plant-based vegan diet with no added oils, the choices are limited. I opted for: * vegetarian curry pita (pita was a commercial brand, and I read the label to confirm as dairy-free and egg-free) * greek salad minus cheese and dressing Sandwich was decent. Curry wasn't too spicy nor too runny. Choice of pita could have been better, even if just the option to get a whole wheat pita. Shop is mall with limited seating. But it's a popular place, offering good smells! I'm tempted to try the sandwich shop one door down to see if that might offer more suitable choices on or off the menu, but I'd come back for a late night meal if I ever had that need in this area. read more

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I really enjoy the food from here! And highly recommend it! The employees have always been friendly! And the vibe of the place is nice as well! read more

Horrible. Mushy undercooked falafels. Wow. So bad. And overpriced. What else could be wrong? Oh mystery meat gyros and over salted fries

Yum! We were there visiting family in October and returning today!Vegetarian Wraps at the best!

Perfect hole in the Wall Street food place. Dinning room is not very big. I had the Cajun chicken kebab and my girl had the steak. They were both awesome. Cajun fries were really good too. This place is a hotspot for the bar-goers and alike in the area. If I lived here I would eat it really often. Well done. read more

Just wanted to come back on because fair is fair the last GYRO I got (because I refused to give up on this place) was LEGIT.

I have been going here since high school an in the last month my food has been wrong 3 times an gotten a hair in it. When I called to speak with someone about it , Stella the owners daughter answered an she told me to stop going there if it's such a problem. No sorry no trying to fix it just giving excuses an rude ones. I will not be going again which sucks cause they were great! read more

Of the whole order, the dressing on their salad is what impressed me. I know...weird. Right?

Sorry but this was not worth it, I never leave reviews but I be loving some gyros and y'all just can't do it. Maybe it was cause it was late night but still y'all gotta do better, meat looked like it came as a slab that was just cut up and thrown in there. Service was good but I can't appreciate service if the food is not up to par. Y'all gotta look into how gyros are made. read more

Man who served us was incredibly rude at VT Renaissance Fair when all we asked for was for the gyro to be cut in half. At first he flat out just said "No." then said "aren't you two friends, you can share." I only tipped because his daughter was nice. Falafel was some of the worst I've ever had too, super dry. They will not be getting my or my friends business ever again. read more

To the extent that I have some, I'll get the bona-fides out of the way. I was born in West Beirut, raised in Detroit, live in LA and have been back to Beirut recently for Lebanese food. I was raised on Lebanese food and have contributed to LA-Yelp heavily on this topic. Thus, when I recently went leaf-peeping to Vermont and poutine-hunting to Quebec City, I was happy to see that Burlington, Vermont had a Middle-Eastern restaurant. I read the reviews and did not expect too much based on them. Ahli-Baba (odd attempt at phonetic spelling) has a good location on the beaten path, very close to the Church Street marketplace. It is open late and tends to serve a college-age crowd who want a late night sandwich and do not want another burger. The place either suffers from an identity crisis or is trying to be the one "exotic" place in Burlington. Is it Lebanese? Is it Greek? Is it Indian? I guess its "other". I can almost understand the Greek-Arabic connection as somewhat "Mediterranean" or Byzantine or Levantine. But the Indian connection is lost on me. There are Arabic-Lebanese plates such as falafel and shawerma. There are Greek plates such as Gyros and Indian plates such as samosas (I forgot what Ahli Baba called them here). I tried the chicken shawerma. This was not really shawerma, as that requires a rotating spit where layers of spiced meat are sliced off the spit. This was chunks of white meat chicken (likely pre-cooked) that were then quickly heated on a griddle. The chicken was slathered with what they called a "barbecue sauce". No shawerma that I've seen anywhere else had a barbecue sauce. Its usually a dry rub of spices that are cooked into the meat, then a sauce can be used on top (sometimes garlic or tahini) but this was a tomatoey, spicy sauce. Thankfully the sauce was not sweet like American barbecue. That does not work in a savory sandwich like shawerma. The shawerma was then wrapped up in thick Greek-style bread. This is another melding of Arabic with Greek, as Arabs would use a much thinner pita bread for the wrap. The standard lettuce and tomato toppings and a creamy white sauce were added. The sauce was not very garlicky, but it had a touch of it. Its a messy sandwich, as the Greek bread is really not meant to hold these ingredients in place like a pita might. All in all, it worked to satisfy a late-night craving for a chicken sandwich with some spice. A shawerma? Eh. But it was palatable. The place is open late. They've got Orangina in the cooler and loud, headbanger music playing (at night at least). If someone opened an authentic Lebanese place in Burlington it would not harm the business at Ahli Baba. This is not a Lebanese food crowd. The Ahli Baba clientele falls under late night, x-other. Solid 3 stars. If it were somewhere else with some competition I'd say 2.5, but I like that someone up here is trying. If I were in the area and got a craving, absent any competitors, I'd likely come back. And since I think Burlington is a nifty town, I'll likely be back. read more

Ahli Baba's Kabob Shop - Middle Eastern Near Me - Burlington, Vermont