Ordered the Chicken Biryani platter, it was tough and dry. The beef/lamb gyro platter was ok, but lacked flavor. The lentil soup was very bland as well. The tzatziki sauce (cucumber sauce) was watered down and tasted nothing like tzatziki. And if I hadn't have been starving, I would have requested a refund. Quick, friendly delivery from EatStreet, though. read more

Ate here last night. Truly impressive hummus. The pita bread was warm, fresh and fluffy. I had the falafel and roasted cauliflower pita wrap with hummus added to sandwich. Oh my my, I really loved this sandwich. I was tempted to lick my plate. My fiancé got the chicken kabob and he liked it. He only wished he had ordered extra hummus to dip it in. The lentil soup was also great. Would definitely recommend. read more

We tried this place a few weeks ago and it satisfied my families need for Greek food! We enjoyed the selection of food on the buffet and it was all seasoned well. The only negative was they didn't have Lebanese tea and didn't seem to know what it was. Every Greek place we've ever been to has offered the delicious tea. We WILL be returning anyway! :) read more

Even though I have been away from Lawrence for 3 years I still sometimes crave the falafel and hummus pita. A local restaurant with you not-so - everyday food. The salad dressing is different, but I find I crave that too! They do carry-out too and the prices for what you get are very reasonable. When I go through Lawrence I always make sure to get my pita! read more

I'm a pretty big fan of Aladdin's. All of the food I've had has been consistently delicious. I usually order the chicken schwarma either as a sandwich or plate. You get a choice of lentil soup or salad with your meal and it depends on the day as to which I'll order. The food is pretty authentic and the restaurant is family-run, but most of the servers are student-types which is helpful as you then avoid any language barriers. I've always had prompt, friendly service and the restaurant is quiet with lots of booth seating. There's a patio out front for nice days and plenty of parking in the back lot with a back entrance which is convenient. Carry-out is a good option if you work downtown. They're quick and the prices are reasonable. When I'm in the mood for Mediterranean / middle eastern food, this is where I go. read more

Nice little place to grab lunch or dinner. Order their Aladdin's Gyro with lamb. It's topped with a nice creamy cucumber sauce, lettuce, tomato and onion. I think they serve rice with a uneventful but decent red sauce and a TART Greek salad. Yum. Their hummus is great. The appetizer combo is a fun dish to split if you're not sure what to order. read more

I have eaten here a number of times through the years and returned here after having been away for a couple years and it was as good as I've ever had. The dolmas (stuffed grape leaves are great) and the Turkish shawarma was great too. My fiancee was pleased with the number of vegan options that are available too, as she had the falafel and cauliflower sandwich with a lentil soup. Lastly, the pita bread they use at Aladdin's is some of the best I have ever had. read more

I've only been here once, but I enjoyed this place quite a bit. The service was friendly and attentive, which was nice given we came in at around 2pm. My friend and I got the rose lemonade, baba ganoush, and falafel. The food was delicious. I can't even critique anything about it because it was fabulous. The server warned us that the rose lemonade was sweet, but WOW was it ever. Still good, and the warning was nice. I couldn't finish mine by the end of our meal and she got me a fresh lemonade to go with no extra charge. The only negative thing I have to say is that the bathrooms were not super well maintained. Excellent food and service. I look forward to coming back again and hopefully updating my rating to a 5. read more

Was craving Mediterranean food so I headed here on a Sunday afternoon. I arrived right at the end of the buffet, so there was not much left but it seemed like a good spread and worth the 11.99. I ordered the rose lemonade, which was sweet! I had not had rose water lemonade for some time so it was a flash from the past. Because I wanted something freshly made I ordered the Jasmines vegetarian combo. It came with choice of soup or salad, so I chose the lentil soup. It was more blended then I expected it to be, but the spices were good. The vegetarian combo was a lot of food- definitely enough to take home for leftovers. Also, it tasted like the pita were handmade, yum! Worth trying! Baba ganoush definitely hit the spot! read more

Aladdin Cafe - Pita on upper right, jasmine vegetarian combo in front, rose lemonade to drink. - Greek Near Me - Lawrence, Kansas

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Our group of 8 enjoyed another great dinner at Aladdin last night. We ordered hummus to start and it was great at usual. We brought our own wine and they kept the white cold in their fridge and brought it back out when we needed it at no corking fee. That is a real plus. Everyone ordered something different and we were all happy. We sit in the back and make a real meal of it. I am a vegetarian and there are alot of options for me. The Baklava was good. We go to a different restaurant every Friday and try to make it to Aladdin about once every 6 to 8 weeks. A great meal at a great price, especially when you have no bar bill read more

Great food and large portions. My main complaints are 1. They charge full price for a toddler eating off of the buffet. Seriously, my two year old can eat 12 bucks worth of food? 2. Waitstaff varies from decent to shotty at best. read more

The Yelp listing indicated beer and wine. No beer or wine served here. I ordered chicken gyro and recived the gyro meat. That meat appeared to be precut into strips and then reheated. The food was OK for a college town restarant. read more

Aladdin Cafe evidently is closed maybe for good. Their website didn't state that, but we found door locked, lights out, and Neon OPEN sign off on a Sat. night. Employee at a nearby store said they head the IRS has them for tax evasion. read more

I've been here a few times, and they've yet to disappoint. Excellent lentil soup. On both occasions, I've gotten a chicken wrap of different variations and they were both wonderful. I can't remember the name of the dessert I had, starts with a "b" and it was a nutty filled pastry, very delicious. Also, there are plenty of vegan/vegetarian dishes as well. Highly recommend! read more

One of my favorite restaurants in Lawrence. Love the friendly service and abundance of vegetarian options! read more

Aladdin Cafe - Loving this weather and Aladdin - Greek Near Me - Lawrence, Kansas

The Sunday buffet is awesome. The hummus, chicken curry and falafel balls immediatley cured my hangover. read more

My companion and I had the lentil soup and Greek salad with an order of hummus. The pita that came with the hummus was cold and chewy. The dressing on the Greek salad was not to my taste, but the soup was OK. I will go back to the Mad Greek next time i want Mediterranean food. read more

One of my favorite restaurants in Lawrence. Food - The food is absolutely heavenly.. The bread is fresh and all you can eat. The hummus is the best I've ever had. The gyro meat is mouth watering. And best for last, the lentil soup IS SO GOOD!!! I don't know what is in it, but it is magnificent. Customer service - It is downtown Lawrence... Most of the waiters are sketchy looking hippies, but nice hippies. Then there is the owner who waits on tables most of the time. He is nice or impatient depending on the day. He does seem to get angry when you get your 3rd or 4th appetizer of all you can eat pita bread. It's all you can eat.. Get over it. -1 star In the end though the restaurant is a great place to eat. Would definitely recommend. read more

Lovely little restaurant with amazing service and fresh delectable Middle Eastern offerings. Try the daily special! Ours was chicken split plate with roast chicken breast on deep robust pesto and creamy potato garlic sauces and nice rice and sweet grilled vegetables. The most creamy and flavorful hummus with warm toasty pita in Lawrence! read more

Aladdin Cafe - Split chicken delicious plate - Greek Near Me - Lawrence, Kansas

This is my favorite restaurant. My fiancé and I came here on Valentine's evening. It was pleasantly quiet. We had falafel, hummus, sumac chicken, shish taouk(sp), sage tea and everything was absolutely delicious. Thank you. The only thing I missed was the Arabian music channel wasn't on. I can't wait until the weather warms up and I can sit on the patio again. read more

The lunch buffet is excellent! There are super fresh salads, wonderfully seasoned variety of vegetables, hummus, baba, chicken, tilapia, and lovely rice pudding. read more

Took a very picky group of eaters here on a Saturday afternoon. Lots of seating available and even room for our baby stroller near our table. The menu is vast, but especially awesome thanks to its whole Vegetarian selection! On a whim, I ordered the "Raja Dip" - a blend of parmesan, feta, cream cheese, and walnuts paired with fried (yes!) pita bread. HOLY @#*&^!! We nearly licked the plate after we inhaled this stuff. THIS IS SOME SERIOUSLY GOOD FOOD. I complimented the chef after on the dip and he said that he created it on a whim after throwing some ingredients together. I also ordered the lentil soup and vegetarian sampler platter. Both were exceptional, though I must admit that I didn't have much stomach room left after eating all that dip. STILL THINKING ABOUT HOW GOOD IT WAS. The rest of those at my table all finished their food with big smiles. Looks like we had a winner - no one person was disappointed with their dishes! The service was great here, too, and the atmosphere clean and inviting. Heard there are one of these in KC - looks like I need to make a special trip and order some more raja dip! read more

My wife had heard good things about Aladdin Café in downtown Lawrence (Mass Street), so we figured we would give it a try while a friend was visiting from Colorado. She had never had middle-Eastern food before and was enticed by the unfamiliar smells emanating from the kitchen. As we entered there were two parties seated out of probably 20 tables throughout the restaurant which is sparsely decorated with a small store containing a few middle-Eastern products in the rear next to the kitchen. We stood there for close to five minutes while the only server in the place yukked it up with a table of three men whom apparently could not make up their minds and could obviously care less that we were standing there like bumps on a log. She finally ended her conversation and came over tho seat us. With no bar or alcohol on the menu, you are able to bring your own wine or beer (no corkage fee), so I had done my research on Yelp and brought a nice bottle of wine, a $10 Syrah that would easily cost $30 in most restaurants. This is a nice option and it was the first time I had the opportunity to partake of such a custom, definitely keeping the bill from getting out of hand. The server brought two glasses along with our water and a corkscrew. It would have been nice if she had offered to open and pour the wine for us, and she would have been tipped accordingly, but that was not the case. I opened the wine, poured, and waited for our server to take our order. Being our first visit, we decided to try the Agrabah Appetizer Combo, a combination of hummus (blend of chickpeas, tahini, lemon, and garlic garnished with sumac, parsley, and hot sauce), baba ghanouj (roasted eggplant blended with tahini sauce, lemon juice, and garlic), genie dip (roasted red pepper mixed with chickpeas, garlic, and tahini), falafel (deep fried patties of fava bean, chickpea, cilantro, garlic, and onion blend), dolmati (VERY small rolled grape-leaves stuffed with rice, tomatoes, and herbs, simmered in tomato and lemon juice), feta cheese, and Kalamata olives ($7.99) served with a small plate of pita bread. After 20 minutes and no appetizer, I thought our server, who disappeared much of the time we were there, had forgotten, so we tracked her down to ensure our combo platter arrived well before our meals. The hummus, genie dip, and baba ghanouj were plopped on the oval plate alongside two small falafels and two small dolmati. Considering the price and that were were three, I would expect a bit more, considering the fact that the dolmati and falafels were so small you could pop one in your mouth and still have room for an entire White Castle. My wife had the Falafel and Baba Ghanouj Sandwich (Vegan - roasted eggplant spread and falafel served with tahini sauce on pita bread - $7.99) which came with rice. My wife wanted French fries instead of rice, so the server told us it would be a $1.00 up-charge, not unreasonable, but when the plate arrived there were hardly any fries, maybe six or seven medium size pieces and not nearly enough to satisfy her hunger or justify an extra dollar. The sandwich had much more lettuce than fillings, a couple small falafels in a medium size pita and at $8.99 including fries, no bargain. My wife is not a big eater and was still hungry after finishing her food, not a good sign. I decided to try Aladdin's Gyro, a combination of grilled lamb and beef ($7.99 - chicken also available) with lettuce and tomato and topped with tzatziki, a creamy Greek cucumber sauce. I also ordered the fries and after tasting our friend's rice and was happy to pay an extra dollar for a few measly French fries. Her rice was bland and white with a dollup of canned mystery tomato sauce on top, a tasteless side and nothing like the wonderful saffron rice I had eaten in the middle-East in the early 2000's. The few small slices of gyro meat inside were overwhelmed by the massive amounts of cheap lettuce and a few pieces of tomato. I have had gyros with three times the meat in Greece and the U.S. that were less than half the price, so do not expect good value when visiting Aladdin Café. I am not a huge fan of middle-Eastern cuisine, but the offerings at Aladdin were enough to allow some variety. The service was inadequate, the food mediocre and NOT plentiful, and the ambience non existent. It is unfortunate because we live just a few blocks away from Aladdin and it would be nice to have a few exotic options in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, the only thing exotic about Aladdin Café on Mass Street are the prices and that is not a good thing. CombatCritic gives Aladdin Café 4 Out of 10 Bombs ... BOMBS ARE GOOD! read more

Here's a brutal truth: for all of Lawrence's alleged hipness, this is a pretty bad place for true "foodies" (forgive me for that term!). I don't really want to bash restaurants on Yelp!, but I wouldn't really recommend any of the Thai, Mexican, Indian or other "ethnic" (i.e. they don't serve a burger) restaurants on Mass. I mean, come on, our Greek place sells spaghetti! That's what makes Aladdin Cafe such a great place to grab lunch, and it truly baffles me when I hear people bad-mouthing this place. The food here is good. It actually has taste! The lentil soup here is good stuff and the salad has a nice tang to it. I tend to order the Petra Chicken platter a lot; the chicken is spiced well and it comes with hummus for the pita bread, which by the way, is also really good. The cauliflower and falafel sandwich is also really good if you're looking for a vegetarian option. Aladdin Cafe isn't the world's best Mediterranean food. You could probably get better food from places in Wichita or KC. The vegetables are almost consistently underdone (which I actually kind of enjoy...), the grape leaves are kinda mediocre, and the red pepper dip isn't very good. The service is questionable at times and I hope you enjoy the middle eastern version of MTV playing all the time. But Aladdin Cafe doesn't compromise on flavour to appease the palate of the less adventurous folks in Kansas. Aladdin Cafe is an oasis in the culinary desert of Lawrence. read more

I just waited 40 minutes for a to-go order that was not a complicated order, when the store was not incredibly busy. It did not seem like it was the server's fault but more so the kitchen's. The server however did not offer water while I waited forever and was not very apologetic once I got my order. She did apologize but it was more of a "I can't do anything" apology and not an "I'm sorry, please take a piece a baklava to make up for your shitty experience that I am fully aware of" apology. I gave 2 stars bc the food was hot (like they made it the last 10/40 minutes I was there). I would recommend driving to the KC location on 39th. The food is exceptionally better and it will take the same amount of time. I will not be going back to the Lawrence location. read more

I went to this place several times. The Kabob dish is very good. The gyro is also very good. I do not like the soup because it is too milky to me. The service is usually good. Only one time when I went to the restaurant about 3pm, the waiter seems to be unwilling to do their job. He tried to finish our communication and stayed deep inside the restaurant. I had a hard time to drag him out to do his job. read more

My first experience at Aladdin Cafe was very positive. The food was great and so was the service. I will definitely be back.

Fuck it. 5 stars. I'm so impressed to find some really good Middle Eastern food in Kansas they deserve it without me having more of the menu. The lentil soup was very good and an ample size. The chicken souvlaki "sandwich" was all kinds of right. Only part that was just ok was side of rice with the souvlaki. read more

Update: This time the owner was out working the tables. He served us personally, and was very friendly and completely on top of it. It was the first time I've had good service there. maybe they're trying to improve. However, we tried to use a coupon and he made sort of a big deal about it. Then he didn't give us the correct discount. I find it distasteful to argue over coupons in the middle of a busy restaurant, so I let it slide. The food was good as always. read more

Nice folks, unique decorations. Aladdins has good lentil soup, hummus and pita bread. Beyond these choices- it is not authentic or that great. The fattoush was made with iceberg lettuce. A salad should never be served with iceberg and especially not fattoush. I don't understand, their salad that comes with their quasi-authentic gyro is made with romaine. After asking the server if I may have romaine in my fattoush, the were nice enough to re-make the fattoush salad. read more

Came in here once before and it was pretty good. Stopped by tonight for dinner about thirty minutes before closing, and they already had all of the chairs up, and were sweeping the floors. Guess they close early on sunday if they feel like it. Plenty of other places to go in this town, so, I will. read more

The food is usually really good (but avoid the Sunday buffet). I love the lentil soup, and the hummus is spectacular. If they could hire decent servers I'd give it 5 stars, but the service is so incredibly bad it almost negates the good food. I went there recently with my boyfriend and we were the only people in the entire place, but still it took the server 15 minutes to come take our order. The staff were all visible back in the kitchen having a conversation. We almost gave up and went across the street to the Orient. read more

Delightful. I adore their lentil soup and their gyro Hummus. Seriously adore those two things. And their staff is funny and interesting, never in your face. There are some great seats by the window so one can people watch, a very important activity in Lawrence. Try the brunch on Sunday! The buffet is awesome, and you can add gryo meat to it for $1.50. Nice. If you crave a hookah afterword, tell your server and they will set you up in the hookah room for just a few bucks. read more

Yes, the restaurant is small and the knock-off MTV is laughable but this place is awesome. It has remained my favorite restaurant in Lawrence for probably about 6 years now. The lentil soup is great, their pita is fresh and delicious, their dolma, chicken platter, beef kabob, chicken pita; all good. I'm never disappointed. This place is family owned and operated which means a lot of care goes into the food. Occasionally you get a slow waitress or you get served by the owner (who is a towering bald guy who honestly looks like he walked straight out of The Mummy, I swear he means well) but for Lawrence, Ks the food is definitely worth it. I highly recommend this to anyone passing through Lawrence or to any townies who have yet to give it a try. Mediterranean food may not be for everyone but you may find, like I myself did, that you love it and will find yourself returning again and again. read more

Not great Mediterranean food. Chicken was salty, salad was dry and baklava was microwaved. I would better drive to Kansas City for good food. read more

Came here for the first time yesterday. Great option for Mediterranean food in lawrence. Reasonable prices and portion sizes. Friendly waiting and kitchen staff. Have yet to visit the one in KC, but will definitely be returning soon! read more

Great vegetarian choices. And really like being able to bring in my own bottle of wine to drink with the meal!

I've eaten here for years and the food never disappoints. Everything is fresh and not overcooked. The seasoning is always spot on. Aladdin Cafe is my family's favorite restaurant in Lawrence. The lentil soup is fantastic. I've had just about everything on the menu and it's all good. The Petra Platter is a favorite as it is served on a bed of hummus instead of rice. (A great way to get extra hummus when the piggies at your table inhaled the appetizer.) read more

I love this place! Friendly service, amazing food and quiet, comfortable space. Best lentil soup in town.

Their gyros are awesome. I used to enjoy their daily lunch buffet (only on Sundays now). Used to be one of my favorite spots in Lawrence.