Aladdin's Eatery (Shirlington) [CLOSED]

What's for lunch/dinner?  Aladdin's Eatery.

The travesty of frequenting places you enjoy is that you may miss the tastiness right next door.  That's what's been happening for us by going to Shirlington for Carlyle and Capital Brewery. Just a few doors down has been a terrific Mediterranean place: Aladdin's Eatery. We ordered way too much...but it's research, right?

So, we've been twice now and this location is extremely delicious.  They have such a variety of things that this place can easily answer the question of "What do you want to eat?"  Because if you don't want wraps, then just the meat and rice. If you don't want that, get a salad. Not if that? Pita pitza.  Or go for a smoothie. Real  good.  (Almost as good as the ones M makes at home. Both use yogurt. Very tasty.) Or a dessert. The tiramisu is delectable. They use a non-alcohol liqueur substitute. Whatever it is, it is makes theirs even more delicious.

First visit

Appetizer - Vegetarian Combo
A sampling of all your favorites! Hummos, Tabouli, Baba, Falaffel, and Dawali.

Obviously, L has not had GOOD falaffel. Awesome. And the tabouli was delectable. Actually it was all quite delicious. This could be a meal in itself, if you really want to eat all that hummos and baba.

L - Aladdin's Favorite Combo
Beef Kafta, Shish Kabob, and Chicken Tawook served on a bed of seasoned white rice with vermicelli. Served with mixed greens, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and your choice of dressing.

 A LOT of food here.  Each meat was very good and well-seasoned for our tastes. The side salad was fresh, but the one complaint -- didn't like the dressing option. Basically a boatload of oil with seasonings at the bottom and no good way to get it out well-suspended. Nonetheless, the meal is a good value and can be shared.

M - Taza Chicken Salad
A flavorful mix of freshly chopped spinach and romaine, squash, zucchini, grapes, dried cranberries, tomatoes and chopped marinated grilled chicken, tossed with our Honey Dijon dressing and topped with pine nuts and feta cheese.

Again, a BIG salad with very fresh veggies. Can't go wrong and, again, is probably too much for one. Split this and an appetizer and two can eat well.

Second visit, two rolled pitas: the Shishtawook and the Dawali Rolled. Both very good. The turnips in the Shishtawook are an interesting twist, but it works. And they toast the pitas, which we both like.  This place will be frequented.

More visits: Their baklava is tremendous. It is NOT Greek-style, but made with a honey/candied "shredded wheat like" outside with candied pistachios in the center. Absolutely fantastic.

Cost
$$ ($30-35.  The issue is that while the plates and a drink are around $10 each, you'll get a dessert or smoothie or appetizer or something because it's just that good.  All of the sudden, bang! you're at $30+.)
BEWARE THE $6 SIDE OF RICE...

We did finally squeeze out a $25 visit with plenty of food, but that's the best you'll probably do for two.

Cleanliness
Notably clean

Service
Good service. Attentive waiter who was relatively patient with us (both times) -- Wally, you rock!

Pluses 
Fresh food
Big portions
Wide selection
Friendly staff
Nice atmosphere
Outdoor seating
Tasty tiramisu
Fantastic baklava
A good place for a salad (finally!)

Minuses
That dressing - can they do something about that?
$6 side of rice - are you kidding? it's real good, but seriously...

Overall value
For the area and the quality of the food, it is a good value for the price. It is not cheap, but it's less than Carlyle and just as tasty, which makes it easier to have an excuse to go into Shirlington.

Dor-Stop (Pittsburgh - Dormont off W. Liberty)

We love breakfast, and (obviously, given our last few posts) we love diners. This place is just awesome. Very tasty food that it seems the people cooking actually care about what you are putting in your mouth. It's refreshing when you can tell that while dining.

If this place isn't a Pittsburgh institution, it should be, and after 20 years, it should be.

M had their hot meatloaf sandwich. L generally shies away from meatloaf. It was divine ("though, not as good as my Mom's." -M).

L had their apple walnut pancakes. So fresh, so tasty, so apple-y! Everything tasted fresh -- the potatoes, the eggs, everything.

It was packed! The waitress was nice even on a very busy day. And the layout is very tight, so this has to be stressful for the waitresses.

We met a couple their with the family and kids. They said they loved going to eat here as often as they could. With kids, it's pricey. For DC'ers, it seemed regular dining pricing ($20-25 for two with tip). We're reminded: A) How lucky we are we can eat out and try all these new places, and B) How different pricing can be. For me (L), that gets lost in writing these up. While this is for us, we shouldn't take this for granted. They were very nice people, too.

Cost
$$

Cleanliness
Notably clean, but very tightly packed

Service
Good.

Pluses
The food
Nice people

Minuses
Tightly packed seating
Street parking

Overall value
Definitely a bright spot and the positive online ratings are well deserved. We would definitely try to get back next time we're in Pgh.

Eat'n Park (Pittsburgh - Dormont/W. Liberty)

M's favorite Eat'n Park. LOVES the SuperBurger because of their "sauce supreme." While I fully doubt the sauce master cannot recreate this, "the sauce to sandwich ratio cannot be replicated. It simply is not the sum of its parts. It's near magical." (Note: any of you readers really have no idea how spot-on M is in recreating nearly any sauce. -L) Granted, M is right -- there is no place we've eaten at (and that's a LOT of places) that does the "sauce supreme" on their burger and that alone does make it special. And it's a darn tasty burger!

The other nice thing about Eat'n Park -- and I'm speaking to you who miss the "old" Shoney's -- you'll LOVE Eat'n Park. They have a breakfast bar. And it's good. There's history we won't go into. Keep in mind that this blog's for us to remember places... Ah, memories.

Cost 

$$

Cleanliness
Clean-ish. I'm sure some days are better than others.

Service
I'm sure some days are better than others.

Pluses 

The one-and-only SuperBurger.
Breakfast bar.
Nice diner feeling.

Minuses 

Service and cleanliness are spotty.
Can definitely be on the spendy side.

Overall value

Nostalgia, my friends. If it's just another eatery to you, then you likely can find other places, but there's something about this place for us.

Primanti Brothers (Pittsburgh - Strip District)

Don't quite get the fuss. Okay -- so cole slaw and fries are all IN the sandwich... *blink-blink* Curious if they've changed the cole slaw over the years to be less !!cole slaw!! and more cabbage and mayo.

 

The prices are pretty reasonable (approx. $6/sandwich) and the meats were fresh, tasty, and plentiful. So kudos to them for that. But again, what's the fuss? We've tried it, and at the original shop (though HIGHLY renovated to more than double the size and very tourist friendly), so we can now say, "Yeah, we've been there, too". But, we're not going out of our way to go back.

The murals were awesome and framed newsprints from famed sports icons took M back years.  The remodel was beautiful but removes the "old diner" flavor.

Cost 

$-$$

Cleanliness
Pretty clean. It's a diner-style place; hole-in-the-wall. Immaculate in that case. We sat at the bar so we saw first-hand the main cook area.

Service
Uncool. We should have stayed at the bar in the other area. This isn't The South, so expectations shouldn't be high. See sentence 2 in "cleanliness", though surprising for a tourist joint. 

M says back in the day, there was an old man yelling and there was a diner-esque charm to that -- "I'm eating down with the WORKERS." That charms gone -- sterilized.

Pluses 

Large portions of meat.

Fresh and hot off the grill.

Mostly open kitchen.

Quick service.

Minuses 

Cash only.
Sterile feeling despite local color and visual character. Maybe we should have sat on the other side (bar side)...

Overall value

Price-wise, it's average to good. It's an experience. For us, there's nothing calling us back.
MAY go back for the breakfast special, but Lidia's breakfast special (on the Strip near the new Wholey's) looked very intriguing.

Abi II (Huntington)

Salt and cilantro -- two great tastes that taste great...in moderation.  We can't overemphasize the moderation. We started with yuca con chicharones. Yuca! We love it. Fresh. Abi's version...not fresh, but freezer fresh...yum...ugh. Stale, frozen, and (given fried) a slight fishy flavor.  Not what we hoped for by any means. Chicharones! So hit or miss.  Abi's version...eh.  Fatty (go figure), but it was too chewy.

M ordered los gemelos (con pollo y carne).Tasty. Filled with good, slow-cooked (stewed?) meat. Nice, thin (but not too thin, just right!) tortilla. Plentiful portion! If it can be without cilantro, it'd be even better. Served with guac and sour cream. Too much cilantro, and after a while, the saltiness came through.

L ordered chuletas (pork chops). Served with beans and rice and topped with peppers and onions and a sauce that seemed like the juices, which is good in theory.  But the chop was drowning in this mix. It was like a game of find the chuleta.  And when it was found, then there was the challenge of finding the meat in the midst of bone and fat...quite a bit of fat.  Disappointing. Oh, did I mention that the chuleta and sauce were extremely salty? The beans were good as was the rice.

Cost 

$$

Cleanliness
Clean

Service
So-so. Would have liked to have a peek-in a couple more times.

Pluses 

Chips were great. The food is more authentic than many other places. Diverse amount of dishes. Open space in the restaurant. Large portions.

Minuses 

Food quality. Salt. Cilantro.

Overall value

Below average. It's a shame because we really want to like this place, but there are too many drawbacks and several options to settle for poor quality food.

Baked and Wired (Georgetown)

Tasty cupcakes. Our friend (who find this the best cupcake place, and makes fantastic cupcakes herself) is spot-on -- the Chai cupcakes are A-W-E-S-O-M-E! And fudgy brownies? Indeed! Cute coffeehouse/bakeshop, with live music.  Fun flavor names, too (Unporked Elvis, we're looking at you). Look forward to our next visit.

Cost
$10+ for 2 cupcakes and a brownie

Overall value
Yes - Tasty cupcakes are all we ask

Cafe La Ruche (Georgetown) [CLOSED]

Visited under the advice of a friend.  Pretty much the online reviews are on target.  A little expensive for what it is and definitely for poor service.  The greatest sin though was the thrown-together nature of the food. It's a casual cafe/bistro, so we understand that the presentation may be more...leisurely.  However, there is a line. Putting a Caesar salad on the same gravy-covered plate as the main dish is one way to cross that line.  It brazenly expresses laziness on the part of the preparer. It screams, "We don't think you care about your food. You'll eat anything on your plate, you stupid American. Now, give me your money." Or, "We've only got one waitress, and we're not buying or washing anymore plates than we have to. You'll take it and you'll like it." It's a shame, too, because supposedly the desserts are excellent (we didn't try any), and the food overall was okay (though not a value). The cordon bleu was tasty. The Caesar dressing was tasty (the pieces sans GRAVY, that is). However, the filet mignon seemed more like hanger steak...and likely was. And M would not prefer any respectable place ask how we want the filet mignon. The potatoes were fantastic, though.

Cost 

$$-$$$ (borderline, so read this be at least $45-50 w/tip for two)

Cleanliness
Clean

Service
Not good. Good luck getting refills on something as simple as water. Also, we had to wait to be seated when the place was at most half full outside and almost empty inside. The place was not that busy, but we were definitely not the only ones who had to wait. It's not that the waitress was horrible (she was pleasant enough), but there was only one of her.

Pluses 

Another patron noted the place is almost never packed, so seating is rarely a problem -- though expect a wait nonetheless.

Minuses 

Lack of contentiousness.

Poor service, despite staff.

Overall value

Poor. The theme here is "laziness". The food wasn't bad but seemingly slapped together. We could spend 25-50% less somewhere else and eaten food just as good. Or spent just as much elsewhere and received much better service and a slightly better meal.