A Thousand Tales is a wonderful dining experience. The space is much larger than I expected, with a…read moremain dining room, an attached bakery cafe and what looks like a banquet room in back. Located in a strip mall, there is ample free parking. Staff is unassuming, professional and helpful, willing to help with any menu questions. We came for lunch to celebrate a birthday and it was an excellent choice. The menu has a lot of clean eating options, including vegetarian and keto. We opted to share a lamb pizza, a tomato and cucumber salad and a meat tray. All were excellent, plenty of food. The pita was excellent. The tea at the end was lovely. Prices reasonable, good food good portions. Absolutely worth checking out and adding into the rotation of where to go.

I've visited A Thousand Tales in Mt. Prospect three times now since this review. I had two positive…read moreexperiences and one bad experience with the service. Upon my first visit on a Thursday for lunch, the waitress Nur provided excellent service to our table. She was patient, pleasant, and provided answers to our many questions. Just loved her service with a smile and uplifting energy. My friends and I ate hard and everyone enjoyed their food. I tried the lentil soup which was wonderful and I had the mushroom guvec with rice on the side that was delicious. We were served tea as an after dinner refresher which was nice. We noticed the bakery on the way out and they had so many treats ready to be ordered and taken home. The second visit was terrible. I came for lunch on a Tuesday and it wasn't busy. The lahmacon is offered as a lunch special and I asked if I could have the cheesemacon for the special. It's the same version with just cheese and no meat. My waiter Jamal straight told me no. I found that very odd so I inquired further because they are the same price on the menu and it's without meat. The answer still didn't change. I simply had a few more questions about other menu items and Jamal seemed agitated by then. He was not even trying to be nice. I ordered two entrees. I paid full price for the cheesemacon and had a pide with kashkaval cheese. Jamal brought my food and NEVER came back to my table. I watched him provide service to all the other tables during that time. I was fine and didn't need anything, but I didn't deserve to be treated that way for being pleasantly inquisitive. I really felt bothered by this because out of all my years of eating out, I never felt that a server treat me poorly personally for being myself. I've had bad service before just because the service is bad overall and that is different. I like the food so I reluctantly returned for a third time and had breakfast. Service was standard and the food was good. My mushroom omelette was fine. The traditional french toast was solid. This review should be one star but it is four without Jamal.

Still the best in Chicagoland. Love the food and the folks that run it. Best lunch special,…read moredelicious rice, amazing baba ganoush, and do not forget the GARLIC SAUCE!!!!! Btw: Congrats on the new location in Wilmette! See you soon!

Food was amazing! Got the chicken kebab plate and shawarma over hummus! Yummy food will be back…read moresoon!

When we first walked in the restaurant, it doesn't feel like it was designed for dine in. There…read morewere about eight tables inside they had nice comfy cushions on the chairs which I loved. My husband ordered the chicken kebab meal for $11.99 and it came with a bottle of water or a can of soda. They don't have Fountain drinks here. The portion size was big and it was served in a Styrofoam container, even for dine in which was kind of sad because my food was beautifully plated. Not sure why his wasn't...? The falafel came with delicious pickles, two tahini, sauces, and some tomatoes. I think these are the best falafel I've ever had. They stayed together nicely and they were moist and delicious. I definitely recommend you try these. My soup was excellent. I love lentil soup and this one was seasoned well and the cup was a decent size. I love the pita bread here because it's very thin and holds up well when you make a sandwich. This is great for people who are watching their carb, but still want to have some bread. We had service with a smile and the lady who took our order, brought everything out to our table, and she was really kind and professional. You pay for the food when you order it. The menu seems to have a lot of great items so we'll be back again to try other things. I highly recommend you give this place a try and check out our photos of the menu as well as the videos of the food we ate!

Had a very enjoyable experience this past afternoon…read more Was on my lunch break and decided to stop in/eat. The cashier was extremely kind and happy to assist explain the menu. I opted for the chicken shawarma plate, and it was great. Creamy hummus, a light/fresh salad, a good amount of perfectly cooked/seasoned rice, and the fresh shawarma chicken rounded out this great plate. It comes with pitas which was nice for making small sandwiches, and also came with an interesting hot sauce/garlic sauce. The price was fair around 12$, it came with a lot of food so I definitely got my moneys worth, and overall just pleased with the friendliness of the staff. Looking forward to coming back!

I first visited Al Bawadi Grill at their Bridgeview location, and it was an outstanding experience…read more The food was delicious, and the service was exceptional, which is why I kept coming back. I've since visited the Niles location several times. The food has always been consistently excellent, but unfortunately the service has never matched the quality of the kitchen. Today's visit was by far the worst. It took over 10 minutes for our server to come to the table to take our order. Throughout the meal, I had to repeatedly flag her down whenever we needed something. To make matters worse, she seemed to disappear halfway through dinner--I'm assuming she clocked out--because we had to get another server's attention just to receive basic assistance. The food, however, was fantastic. I ordered the Al Bawadi Seafood Mixed Grill, and it absolutely delivered. Everything was fresh, flavorful, and cooked perfectly. That's what makes this so frustrating. This restaurant serves some of the best Middle Eastern food in the area, but when you're paying premium prices, you expect service that matches the quality of the food. I still recommend the food without hesitation, but the consistently poor service at the Niles location is making it harder to justify returning.

I cannot recommend this restaurant enough. If you are looking for delicious food in a beautiful…read moreroom with excellent service, you've come to the right place. Our server was so kind and never let us make the mistake of ordering the wrong thing. She gave us her recommendations every step of the way and every single one was perfect. What we got: Mint lemonade: 5/5. SO refreshing and delicious. Perfect sweetness and the little bit of pulp you get is great. I only wish there was more of it! Chicken arayes: 4.5/5. Crispy, cheesy, garlicky. Need I say more? Get some extra garlic on the side if you wanna take it up a notch. Fried halloumi: 4/5. These are like a soft mozzarella stick, so tasty. Definitely eat the pickles with them. Lamb chops: 4.5/5. 4 tender lamb chops seasoned beautifully. Definitely recommend the red rice over the yellow if you can handle a little bit of heat. Kanafeh: 5/5. Whoever thought that cheese, sweet syrup, phyllo, and pistachios would go together is a genius. Definitely don't leave without getting this dessert. The salt of the cheese perfectly balances out the sweetness. No notes! And get some peppermint tea to go with it too. And the portion sizes are huge! Definitely get your money's worth here. My only issue is this place is right by my job so now I'm gonna go broke getting food here all the time. But that's a problem I'd love to have!

As soon as I walked in, I felt welcomed. The gentleman at the register was so nice. He helped me…read moreorder. I got the chicken and beef gentleman shawerma and a bit of the lamb. He brought out some soup. WOW. It was awesome. What a start. The place is not very big but hugh in hospitality. I got my meal. Holly cow. Huge serving. It was enough for 2. I put a hurting on my plate and just couldn't finish everything. If I lived here, this would be my go to for sure. I'm so glad I was able to find this gem. I will definitely be back. You need to come here and stuff yourself with great food. I recommend highly.

Excellent, friendly service. My chicken shawarma wrap was the best I have had in the US. Very clean…read more(including bathroom). Highly recommend! Wish I lived closer so I could go more often.

Stopped by for a quick and healthy lunch, Pita Pita was a great choice. My brother and I both opted…read morefor the Mixed Chicken Grill lunch special. It consists of Chicken Shawarma, 2 pieces of Chicken Tawook and a Chicken Kefka. A salad, Pita and rice were the side dishes. All the Chicken entrees were delicious, with my favorite being the Chicken Kefka Kaboob. The food came out quickly and piping hot. The staff was pleasant and welcoming, even though they were quite busy. We will be returning again for another healthy meal to try out more offerings.

I ordered from here recently for the first time and honestly wasn't impressed…read more For my meal, I ordered the chicken shawarma bowl ($13.00), and to my surprise it was on a B1G1 free special. Therefore, I got two bowls with chicken shawarma, muthawama, rice, salad, and hot sauce. Sadly, despite all the seasoning on the chicken, it was pretty tasteless. It was well-cooked and a good texture but didn't taste like much. The muthawama didn't taste like garlic whatsoever even though it is supposed to be a garlic sauce, and the lemon flavor took over the entire bowl. I wish I got hummus instead, but honestly, I don't even know if that would have saved the bowls. The rice was okay, but pretty mushy and had a bland flavor, as well. Even more disappointing is that in the middle of eating the first bowl, I dumped the tahini sauce inside and almost threw up after trying it. It ruined the entire rest of my bowl because it tasted old and disgusting. Seriously, I've never had tahini taste that bad in my life. Because of this, I threw out the rest of my bowl because I literally couldn't eat it. I ended up throwing out more than half of both bowls because it just wasn't very good. Who knew I'd actually be regretful that it was B1G1 free since it was a total waste of food. Overall, I wouldn't order from here again. After eating it, my stomach was upset, and nothing was redeeming about my meal.

Hands down, this is the best food in the court!…read more At this point I try to come here every time I'm at Woodfield. My favorite is the Steak Shawarma, with the spicy green sauce. Definitely a must to get the fries with all the seasoning. The best part of the shawarma is that there's no need to pick your toppings and feel like there's too many options. It's already set for you and they make it fresh. The only small negative is that last time i was here, one of the people working was a little hard to understand. I wasn't annoyed or anything, it just took a little while to get the order down. Definitely not a dealbreaker and well worth the added time! Don't take my word for it, try it now!

I wanted Falafill to be better than it was…read more.. As a Mediterranean food enthusiast. I was very excited to see this as an option in the woodfield mall. The line was pretty long which gave me an indication that it was popular/good. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful. I ordered their Falafel bowl, with rice and a bunch of their available options. You are allowed to select 4 and then every topping after that is $1 per topping. This seems a bit extreme as they are NOT generous when adding your selected ingredients. I was expecting a much larger portion, but understand they are a business and have to manage their margins. The food itself was fine. The falafel were just ok, and had been sitting in a container, lacking the crispiness and freshness I am used to normally. For the extra options, everything tasted fine, I just felt skimped on the portions I was given. The highlight for me was the hot sauce that they offer. It was extremely flavorful and had a nice level of heat. I would buy that by the bottle if It was available. I think Falafill is worth a try, but you just have to manage your expectations. They do not come close to the traditional mediterranean restaurants I am used to visiting, but for mall food it's pretty good.

Where do I begin...the venue. The lamb and turkey presentation. The rich desserts. That creamy…read moretomato soup was to die for. Imagine I've never had tomato soup and was not expecting to even try it. What a pleasant surprise! Delicious. Both drinks offered were tasty also. The portion sizes were filling. All the servers were very pleasant and helpful. The added tour of the market was a great addition to the pleasant meal. The room was very spacious and quite adequate for the amount of people who attended. I must mention the delightfully Turkish delights. Yummy Great family owned business.

The grocery offers different ethnic, central asian faire. They are cooked foods that are delicious…read more I love trying different kinds. They have dubai chocolate. They also make their own yogurt.