Alibaba Retro Restaurant

A unique, eclectic, and cozy atmosphere transcending time. Such excellent homemade flavorful food with generous portions !
In addition welcomed by the entertaining and kind owner Pani Basia, who’s voice is beautiful and nostalgic of Polish retro music (60’s-70’s) .
This restaurant is truly a unique and personal experience for families and friends. We loved it and highly recommend it .It is Chicago’s most hidden secret !

I stopped in here on a Wednesday night with my parents and we were the only customers. We were greeted by an older woman who was the only one there except for a cook in the back. She took awhile to come take our drink order, but when she finally did, my Ali Baba Margarita turned out to be pretty good.
Our appetizer was fried feta cheese over vegetables, and it was AMAZING. Next was the soup/​salad course, and my cream of potato soup was really nice. For the main course I had beef and chicken kebabs which were cooked to absolute perfection. The vegetables were great too.
The food was very reasonably priced and there was a lot of it. The three of us were so stuffed we didn’t have room for dessert, and the final bill was barely over $ 40 with an Entertainment coupon, and would’ve been under $ 50 even without it.
The décor was nice and really interesting, and though our server wasn’t fast she was very friendly. She told us that they have live music on Friday and Saturday nights, and let my mother (who uses a walker to get around) know that she can park in the back next time since it’s more convenient. There’s not any street parking so we had to park around the corner about half a block away, but the next time (and there will be a next time), we will park in back as we were offered.
This place has delicious food, great atmosphere, and very reasonable prices. And apparently it’s the best-​kept secret in the neighborhood because it should be overflowing and it wasn’t. The only thing that keeps me from giving them 5 stars is that the service was a little slow, but it was definitely worth the wait.

I’ve been there few times with family and friends.
Delicious food, warm and cozy place for the party.
The manager and owner is so friendly and great in multitasking!
Can’t wait to go there for another party!

This restaurant is veeerrrry rarely open, and would appear to be a front for some other activity. I purchased vouchers from
about ten months ago, and have been yet to be able to use them here. Twice I’ve been told that they «are hiring and will be open full time next week.» They open on weekends sometimes, but it usually is a private party. Last time I went in on a Friday, there were pizzas on the table from another establishment, and it was clear it was a private function. It is a similar situation with Sandy’s, another restaurant around the corner on Higgins that is never open… maybe they make too much money on the occassional birthday party.

I just got off the phone with someone from this restaurant in response to the review I wrote 6 days ago, about the situation I had with a delivery order one week ago. The man went through-​what was clearly rehearsed and probably written down before he called-​an explanation as to why they didn’t have the food I requested. Note I say an explanation, not an apology. Not once in this phone call did I hear an apology.
This explanation lasted about 2 minutes, which I tried to interrupt a few times with a polite «Excuse me.» Finally he stopped and I asked why he was getting to me a week later, if he was so concerned about explaining the situation to me. He once again went through his explanation, this time a little more in depth, which by this point I didn’t really want to hear it.
If the guy was this concerned he should have contacted me sooner, and maybe as a reply my original review on here, and not disrupting my Saturday evening a week after I tried to place a delivery order. I had pretty much forgotten about it, but now I’m thinking about it again. I am also annoyed that he didn’t let me say what I wanted to say: I couldn’t interrupt him to ask more questions. I thought ‘the customer was always right’…and that in theory, what I had to say should have been more important to him than covering his own ass to me over the telephone.
If he was so concerned about me giving his restaurant a poor review, he should have cleared it up ON HERE so other people looking at reviews could make their own judgement. I’m thinking that if he calls me again that’s borderline harassment…
I’m also wondering that since I didn’t give my name or my number when I tried to place my order how he got my number.
Now I certainly will not be trying their food because their customer service sucks.

Do not go rhere! They screwed our New Years party this year– place is old, unfinished, sloppy meals. We were hungry all night even though we had paid for the dinner. Total screw up! Horrible service…

Bad food and bad service. The place looks trashy as well. Just wasting your time and money going there.

Great Persian and Polish food that is different and very reasonably priced. More, the people were ultra friendly and service was excellent. Loved the caucasus eggplant, baked feta and peppers, potsto pancakes and superb mushroom soup. We ate vegetarian but other diners were raving about the goulash and kebabs.
The servings were large, so we had lots of leftovers and re-​heated, they also tasted great.
We discovered this place using Unilocal, when we’d just dropped someone at O’Hare. The ride back to the city, because of traffic, was going to be 90 minutes (a few days before Christmas) so we decided to grab dinner first, here. What a great find!

This little gem of a place NEEDS to get recognized! GREAT service and GREAT food! I brought my son and sister here for a Groupon dinner. It is a fusion between Mediterranean and Slavic Cuisine.
We started off with an appetizer of Caspian Eggplant, which my son was a little skeptical to try but once he did, he could NOT get enough! I also had an order of Yogurt Salad come for our meal. My sister ordered the Beef and I had the chicken Koubideh. AMAZING! My chicken had great flavor! We were so full we could barely roll off our seats! But it wasn’t the sluggish greasy feel, it was the OMG I had such great food and I couldn’t stop eating I’m SO FULL!
I’m so surprised that this place has been around 2 doors down to where I pay my rent, and I NEVER KNEW! I can’t believe there weren’t more people though, the prices are so reasonable and with my Groupon, EVEN BETTER! THANK YOU GROUPON! We will DEFINITELY be back!

This place has the best filet mignon kabobs ever! and they delivered and were the best prices around! Delicious rice, delicious lamb kabobs, great dipping sauces, good hummus, but strong baba ghanooj, awesome cream of mushroom soup and all included in dinner plate!
You cant go wrong. Friendly delivery, friendly service, great food, great prices.
PS im still thinking about the filet mignon kabobs!

In a part of town that is littered with fast food places, dusty dives, Italian cafes and Polish buffets it is refreshing to find a cozy middle eastern restaurant to remind your taste buds that they are still alive.
If you make an abstraction of the eclectic décor and are lucky to be served by the owner and chef, rather than by a less flattering and borderline senile waitress, you are in for a treat. The food is excellent and plentiful and there is no shortage of choices on the menu. I’ve had the lamb and chicken kebabs and the filet mignon kebabs, which were succulent and done just right. The humus and the baba-​ganoush were also delicious. It is still a new place, where the owners are testing the waters of the restaurant business, but with a few changes I’m sure they will pull through and solidify a much needed oasis of taste in the area.

This food was beyond amazing. I was extremely taken by the flavors in the food and how incredible it all was. Definitely would go to again!

Cool little spot on Harlem just north of HIP. Food details first and miscellaneous details after.
Food:
Me and my girlfriend both ordered the boneless chicken kabobs and chose salads instead of soup. We were not disappointed. The portions and quality greatly exceeded my expectations. The salad was more than just a couple pieces of iceberg lettuce packaged in a tiny styrofoam container that I was accustomed to. Some iceberg of course, but also leaf lettuce, arugula, spinach and other delicious things. For the entrée, the chicken was top notch. Good quality, cooked just right, and it had this incredible dipping sauce. I wish I knew more about food so I could tell you what was in it, but I can tell you it was so good I’d eat it all by itself, no chicken necessary. We got rice with it which was a little bland and overcooked (a small part of the 4 instead of 5) but it wasn’t enough to distract from the deliciousness of the chicken and that sauce.
Other:
I decided to try it out due to the deal and I’m glad I did. Unfortunately, I didn’t pay close enough attention to notice that the deal was for dine-​in only (I carried out, they deliver as well but I live close) but the owner was cool and put the $ 15 credit towards my current order even though I offered to come back and dine-​in some time. At least who I assumed was the owner. His assistant/​hostess didn’t know how to handle the Unilocal deal I had on my phone so she called the chef out front. Very nice guy (sorta looked like a slimmer Sacha Baron Cohen at first glance) who was pleasant enough to talk to me while taking care of the bill. I think he has a Groupon deal going as well. Will comment more on the ambiance/​décor after my next visit, didn’t pay much attention this round.
The other part of giving it 4 instead of 5 was the hassle of trying to order that first time which is easily remedied if dining in. The menu on their site was very hard to read (the reason we both went with the chicken) and the hostess/​assistant that took our order on the phone was hard to understand/​communicate with.
I’m looking forward to dining in and trying out some of the other items on the menu my next time around and possibly upgrading the rating to a 5.

I was in Chicago visiting my relative and we decided to go for Persian food and Alibaba was the place we decided to go to. I must say when I first stepped into the place I was very impressed by the absolute cleanness of the establishment. The owner Bobak was a delightful and very attentive host, very accomodating and very generous. The food was off the hook… I enjoyed a delicious baba ghanouj and a lamb kebab sandwich. The lamb was very tender and very tasty… Even the tea was delicious. The price range is moderate… and so you get some bang for your buck. Believe me I know Persian Restaurants because I am from the Los Angeles area where there are a plethora of Persian restaurants and this one meets my standards. Everyone go and eat there it will be well worth your while and your palate will love you.