Turkish Restaurant Aladdin @ Faliro

Last weekend, we visited a Turkish restaurant in Faliro, on Zisimopoulou street. It is called Aladdin.



The name and the decoration is a bit 'Arabic', but I don't think it is no more than Turkish. The menu items are in Turkish and dishes are what we find in Turkey.



When we arrived Sunday afternoon at around 2, the restaurant was full (the photo above was shot toward the corner where there was not much people on purpose; so do not be misled). As the other restaurants along Zisimopoulou we saw were quiet, we guessed that it was a very popular place. So reservation is recommended on weekends, especially you are visiting in a group.

The service was slow, because of so much people and lack of service staff. The staff kept on forgetting things (forgetting water, forgetting a fork, forgetting to collect money...).

The fresh pita bread was obligatory order. These pitas were very nice. In general I prefer bread, but I welcome something different from time to time.

The starters (about 10 kinds) were offered on a large serving tray and the guests can choose whatever they want.



Hubby wanted aubergine rolls, but he was told that it was gone (later I discovered it was being served at another table), so I took only Ezme, a paste like salad, mixture of tomato, chili paste, onion and herbs.



And after a very long break (due to slow service), our main dishes arrived. I ordered Adana Kebab (kebab with chili). The meat was served with bulgur pilaf, fried potatoes, onion salad and grilled tomato.



The meat came sizzling hot and was very juicy (mostly fat, but who cares?). Heavenly. I loved it.

Hubby ordered a kebab called Ali Nazik.



This was a dish I have never seen. The meat was morsels of chicken and slices of doner. They were put on the bed of smokey aubergine and yogurt mash and on top was tomato sauce. Hubby liked it very much, although I preferred my Adana kebab. It would have been better if it had some garnishes. Maybe we have to tell them to bring some salad at the same time with the meat, as the salad usually seemed to be served only as starter.



So in general we liked to food very much, but disliked the service. Probably we should avoid going there on weekends.

Bill, please!

Bread x 2 = 1.20 Euro
Ezme 4.50 Euro
Adana Kebab 9.10 Euro
Ali Nazik Kebab 9.90 Euro
Bottle of Water 1.80 Euro
Kaizer Beer 2.80 Euro

Total 29.30 Euro

Aladdin
Ag. Triados 1 & Zisimopoulou
Palaio Faliro, Athens
Tel. 210 985 0330