A new restaurant has risen from the ashes of another. After a period of closure and renewal, the…read morespirit of Aly Baba Restaurant is reborn as Zico's, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes to offer an elevated dining experience. After being awarded the Triad Yelper of the Year 2024 Award at the Yelpies Award Ceremony last year, an event that honored the highest-performing Yelp Elites, I decided that this year, as an All-Star Yelp Elite, I not only wanted to be the first to discover new restaurants and bring them to the attention of the public, but also to uncover those found in hidden paths that for one reason or another have not reached the public in its totality. And Zico's Restaurant in Salem, Virginia, is the perfect example. Zico's is conveniently located in the corner of 4th Street and Roanoke Blvd in Salem, Virginia. Immediately after hearing of the change, and attracted by its new name and logo, I drove to this location to experience first hand Zico's cuisine. The restaurant has a nice size parking lot right in front of it. Its owner and chef, Zico is a native Egyptian, with a warm and friendly personality, who specializes in authentic Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and Italian cuisines, as well as Pizzas. As I entered its door he was the first one to give me a warm greeting and welcome me to his restaurant. It had one red brick wall, imitation hardwood floors, simple ceiling lamps, and a very interesting movable large TV screen with a beautiful outdoor Cafe scene. The background music perfectly complements the relaxing and cozy environment. In the main dining room it has very elegant and comfortable booths all around, and in a separate banquet room it has tables and chairs all lined up. The menu has an excellent variety of items representing the different cuisines. I ordered a Beef Shawarma Platter that came with a salad and Pita Bread with a special in house salad dressing and cream for the Pita Bread. The salad was so fresh and moist that it was a pleasure eating it. The Beef Shawarma was cooked with a special sauce made with cooked onions, green and red peppers, and some seasons that gave it an amazing flavor, one only equivalent to high-end restaurants with sofisticated and award winning chefs. The rice was also a good quality rice with wonderful flavor. I enjoyed the food so much that till the last grain of rice and savored evey minute of it. For dessert I ordered their only in-house made dessert, the Tiramisu. It was amazingly delicious. Like no other that I ever had. What an extraordinary dining experience. I have dined in the best restaurants and yet this restaurant's cuisine is exceptionally outstanding to the point of exceeding even the highest expectations. I highly recommend it and am looking forward to returning to try it's Italian and Greek cuisines.

You HAVE to try Zico (or Aly Baba, as I knew it!). The food…read moreis consistently top-notch. I highly recommend the kofta, which is perfectly seasoned and cooked, the incredibly flavorful shawarma, and the magnificent mussakaa--it's rich, comforting, and authentic. Beyond the delicious food, the standout feature is the service. The owner is the friendliest you will ever meet, always taking the time to make you feel welcome. It's that kind of genuinely warm, inviting atmosphere that keeps me coming back again and again. Whether you're a long-time fan of Aly Baba or discovering Zico for the first time, you won't be disappointed! This is a must-visit spot.

Best Gyros.....Probably the best! The food and service is fantastic! I recommend this place and…read moregive 5 stars

Meh- Went for dinner on a Friday night about 5:00. Quite empty and still dirty (tables not bussed,…read morefloor still had food on it, food under tables) from lunch crowd. It's a fast food cafe- trying to not be one. Read the menu in the corner, move along a half wall to the register and order, it's brought to you. Wife ordered a falafel and quinoa bowl with roasted vegetables. I ordered a lamb gyro with tomato and cucumber salad. Both plates tasted like they had been prepared for lunch and we were served leftovers. Falafels were large, but very spicy. This was not mentioned anywhere. Vegetables were very mushy and mixed in with quinoa, almost unrecognizable. Pita was a pita chip, hard and crunchy. Wife did not finish it. Gyro was what I consider a half sandwich- half a dense pita filled with a few shreds of lettuce, a few tomatoes and some dried, char-tasting lamb. I still have the taste of charcoal in my mouth. If there was tzatziki sauce on the sandwich I did not taste it or see it. The sandwich came with an embarrassingly small amount of ridge potato chips, and my tomato-cucumber side salad. The salad was the only truly tasty item- everything else was relatively cold and blah. The owner (I assume the mature woman was the manager or owner) was friendly enough as we walked in, but never spent any time with us developing a customer relationship- although she talked to three singles. The cashier took my order and told me I was not correctly pronouncing something. A $40 meal that left us saying ,"We miss Athens Grille." Doubt we will return, not recommended.

One of our favorite places! Service is always great and the food is wonderful. It's charming &…read morepleasant with a cute little bar area as well.

Very disappointing birthday dinner. The salad was limp, bitter and the grape tomatoes were mushy…read moreand soured. The avocado dressing was not as flavorful as in the past. The bread was cold. The steak was full of gristle and far too salty. The broiled flounder was white, seemed steamed instead of broiled. Attentive service, but please don't snatch away the dressing cup before one has finished their salad.

We just found Frank's At Brambleton a few months ago, and we've returned several times already…read more The food is always good, and the service is excellent. The place is BUSY all the time, which means that it's GOOD. The staff is pleasant and our server and my wife and I were making each other laugh the whole time. Love it!!!

Very decent pizza, loved the topping options, will request well done next time. Like that they have…read moreeggplant parmigiana.

Food is pleasant surprise. We were able to have a delicious meal that was dairy and gluten free…read more Add a tomato free pizza which was very flavorful = happiness. Service was excellent. Recommend checking this place out.

Ordered delivery for a quick meal, so unfortunately, I cannot speak to the ambiance of the…read morerestaurant or the inside service. That being said, I ordered the baked tortellini, which came with some garlic bread and a side salad. I didn't try the salad due to the recent outbreak, but the garlic bread was delicious and the tortellini was alright, but very cheesy. They use their own delivery drivers, so it didn't show up on the grubhub app, but I called to make sure the order went through and they were very helpful on the phone. I do think that the driver was smoking in the car, which lent my food a slight taste/smell of cigarettes, but I'm not removing stars due to that. Food: 3.5 stars Service: 4 stars Vibe: n/a

There are times that you discover restaurants that you wish you had known since they first opened…read more You really feel at home in its clean and laid back environment. They treat you like if you're part of their family. And their food is like the one Gradma used make when you were growing up. What better compliment can you give a restaurant! After being awarded the Triad Yelper of the Year 2024 Award at the Yelpies Award Ceremony last year, an event that honored the highest-performing Yelp Elites, I decided that this year, as an All-Star Yelp Elite, I not only wanted to be the first to discover new restaurants and bring them to the attention of the public, but also to uncover those found in hidden paths that for one reason or another have not reached the public in its totality. And Uncle D's Take Out, in Roanoke, Virginia, is the perfect example. And it's not just for Take Out anymore. Word of mouth is still the most effective way of making your business known. And in this day and age of modern technology a review in the form of words and photographs is as effective or even better. As I was searching on my cellphone for a place to eat, Uncle D's caught my attention. Mostly positive reviews and very captivating photographs of their food. Yet the words Take Out and very few photos of the interior of this restaurant somewhat detracted from the desire to go visit it. Yet in the past I've found that oftentimes restaurants with high take-out orders are also the ones who have a high level of in-house customer followers. So I decided to go dine in and what I uncovered by experience was amazing news: Uncle D's is not just for Take Out anymore. Dining in is a wonderful experience in and of itself, alone or with family and friends. Located in a contemporary looking strip mall across from the Oak Grove Plaza Shopping Center, where popular restaurants like Wildwood Smokehouse and Highlander Pizza are located, you can find Uncle D's next to The UPS Store. Parking was very conveniently located and as I walked to the restaurant their sign high above spoke quality in its design and in the food of which it represented. Inside I found a nice size, clean and colorful little restaurant with Golf items decorating its walls, reflecting the importance that golf played in the owner's life and the love that he has for this sport he has now placed in this restaurant. I was greated by a friendly gentleman with a warm welcome that immediately made me feel at home. He talked to me about the restaurant and it's most popular items in the menu of which I had on the table where I was seated. A really nice and friendly lady, who was the cook, looked at me from out of the kitchen with one of those looks that only grandmas know to give in anticipation of watching you eat her food that she had prepared with much love. I ordered their Grandma's Pot Roast with a side house salad with Ranch dressing, mashed potatoes with gravy, and added a side of Fiesta Corn. To drink a picked a can of Coke which I drank with one of those straws that bend for the convenience. The food was served in a reasonable time. The salad was made with fresh ingredients, was a nice size, and tasted wonderful with the Ranch salad dressing. The Pot Roast was amazingly delicious, soft, moist, and very full of flavor. The amount was more than enough to fill me up. I could go on and on but a picture is worth a thousand words. I invite you to view my photographs accompanying this review to get a better sense of it all. For dessert I has a slice of their Coconut Cream Pie which was also very good. If you're ever in the mood for good hometown Southern Comfort food, I highly recommend that you visit this restaurant with family and friends. For the full dining experience is definitely worth while. And experience that I will never forget.

Accurate menu pictures, turkey and pot roast were amazing, not a bad price either. They DO have…read moreseats inside btw

Excellent Lamb Shawarma and Samosas. Lamb was crisp and flavorful. Greek salad was delicious with…read morelots of feta and veggies. Cant wait to try more things on the menu. You can tell this place is authentic and Family run. We will definitely be back.

Ambiance lends itself to taking your food out; part grocery store, part seating area. Service was…read moregood. I would not eat here again: food was not delicious. Lamb shawarma was dry and plain. Greek salad had no dressing. Tabouleh was bleh. Food was fine, just I regretted going here and paying money for it is all.

It is said that good things come in small packages, and this tiny Mediterranean and Middle Eastern…read morerestaurant perfectly embodies this saying. Since it opened its doors in 2017 in Salem, Virginia, this small but very popular, family-owned restaurant by Egyptian immigrants is known for its fresh made-to-order gyros, falafel, and Greek salads, just to name a few. Today I had the opportunity to visit this restaurant and discover the qualities that make this tiny restaurant in the middle of nowhere so popular. Because of its small size, most of its customers orders are take outs. But it also has a counter inside with around 3 to 4 stools so that customers who prefer to eat their food in the restaurant can. When I arrived, I parked my Lexus in a space right in front of the restaurant and noticed that there are not that many parking spots around. That is another reason why most of its sells are take-out orders. Customers can either call in their orders and drop by to pick it up, or park for a few minutes, make their order, and watch it being made, and then take it with them to enjoy at home. In good, warm weather, they do have two picnic tables outdoors where their customers can eat. Inside, I was able to meet the husband of the family who runs the business. He was very friendly and kind, a native of Egypt with a wife and 5 siblings. He gave me a warm welcome and took my eat-in order. The menu (which had Halal food) was displayed inside a Coca-Cola stand. To drink I grabbed a Mountain Dew from their drinks display refrigerator they have with Coke products. To eat I ordered their Gyro Special: Gyro meat served with rice and a small salad. It came with a special salad dressing and a sauce to put on the meat. The kitchen and the restaurant itself were very clean and all the ingredients used were very fresh and quality products. I sat on one of the stools, in front of the counter and watched him prepare my food. After paying for it with a credit card, I began to enjoy eating it. The salad was very fresh, made right before my eyes. The meat was Broiled right then and there, and the rice had a yellow tone and tasted unbearably delicious! As I was eating, the owner/chef put up a sign on the counter that read: "Please wait. I'm praying. thank you." I then figured out he must be Muslim and as soon as he finished praying I said to him: "As-salamu alaykum." He appreciated my nice words. While I was there, two other customers came in and ordered takeout food. For dessert I ordered an in-house made Baklava. The shape didn't look so good but the flavor did taste good. He told me that I could eat it with my hands but since they didn't have a restroom to wash my hands afterwards, I asked for a plastic fork to eat it with. Their prices were very reasonable and their portions very generous. I paid for the Baklava and thanked him for the wonderful service. The food was so genuine and delicious that whenever I'm in this area next time, I will definitely stop by and dine there again.

Great food and awesome value. Food cooked fresh. Very friendly service. Definitely recommend.read more