Jaffa Bakery

Oh wow. That was Jaffa? It’s a place I had been meaning to try for probably a year and a half, and I ended up only going here because Banh Mi is closed forever. And I was in a hurry. Chicken kabob (said fajita on their menu?), falafel, mashed potatoes, and veggies.
Bland food in a grimy food court. Guess I should probably give their other location (s) a try?

YUCK!
I went into that shady looking basement since a friend recommended the place… Why he did that is beyond me. What a horrible service and bland food. I had a chicken sandwich that tasted like a rubberband. The super slow blond girl at the register was, well, SLOW! It took her 5min to wash a blender before getting me started on my order. Who prioritizes blender washing over serving the 3 people waiting in line on their tight lunch break? And its not like anyone was ordering smoothies, we were there for sandwiches.
The ordering process was also a fail. I had to guess what comes with my sandwich, and what would be not included in the particular sandwich. She assumed I somehow knew? And their menu is not very helpful either.

Alwadi Al Akhdar falafel mix is easy to identify. Nothing special at all really, I was craving falafel and it fit my needs for the moment. I can make better baba ganoush and tabouleh any day. Falafel was a bit dry and flavorless but for the price and need to fill a void, I can’t bitch much. Mental note, If Im craving falafel again I’ll hold off my craving and make it proper myself.

When I was just a wee little nugget, my mother could never ever get me to eat deli meat turkey. I proclaimed it to be «fake turkey» and would only ever eat roasted Thanksgiving-​esque turkey, dubbed «real turkey» by yours truly. This was the stuff of tantrums. I have not relented, and will sometimes make an entire turkey breast just for sandwiches.
Somehow, I found Jaffa, the «real turkey» mecca of my dreams. So it’s in a blah basement. So there’s no natural light, and today there was no Diet Pepsi. So the food’s actually a little on the pricey side for a fast lunch in a dank underground lair. None of these things matter in light of this delicious turkey. I will so be back.

I’ve been up since 5 am dealing with food poisoning that I got from Jaffas. Now I’ve been here twice. This first time was back in November’ish and it was actually really good and I didn’t have any problems. Then I went again with a couple co-​workers and the one person behind the counter was an airhead. I really don’t know what he was thinking but he should be fired. I got the turkey plate and he plated me half a scoop of everything. I kindly asked for a little bit more veggies and he sloppily did so, dropping some on the counter and then tossing it back with the other veggies and then back onto my plate. WTF? Then when we get to the turkey, they usually ask white or dark meat… he didn’t bother and just started piling on any kind of meat. Whatever, I was going to ask for both anyway. Then I asked for a little bit of gravy and he took the scoop from the rice and used it to scoop the turkey gravy and then put the uncleaned scoop back into the rice. uh, HELLO? What the crap is with this dude? I ate it anyway. Bad idea. I should have spoken up about cleanliness and hygiene at the workplace to him. I’m giving it two stars because the first time it was really good but second time was a bust!

this was my second time ordering (via grubhub) from jaffa grill. i don’t know what happened. everything was so different, it didn’t seem like the same restaurant, and that’s NOT a good thing.
the first time i ordered the combination meat plate, hummus, and falafel. everything tasted super fresh and the hummus was to die for. it was amazing.
this time, i stuck with the same order (since it was so tasty the first time!), and i was horribly disappointed. the kefta was prepared totally different and resembled a squishy greyish meatball. the chicken was so dried out and hard that i couldn’t eat it. the turkey was ok i suppose, still a little dry. the rice was undercooked as well. the hummus tasted pretty good, but consistency wise, was VERY watery.
i’m hoping that maybe they were just «off» today. i really would like to enjoy the fresh, tasty food that i had in the past.

Besides being in a dungeon, I really can’t complain about this place. The falafel sandwich is good, not great. The chicken sandwich was also good. The service is sweet, although confused on how to use a KGBdeal. I wouldn’t really come here that often because I like windows, but it’s not bad if you want decent, cheap food. I wanted some baklava but you know, the calories from the falafel fit my quota for the meal. Anyway, I am sure it was delicious.

Well you shouldnt offer delivery in Chicago if you have no possible way to get it to the customer in a respectable time or slightly warm. This was the worst experience of my entire vacation. Let me get some studying done and hang out in my room on this gloomy monday. After starving while waiting an hour and 15 minutes (I could have walked there and back in 20 minutes) the food was so Ice COLD I couldnt even eat it. I have a hard time eating meat and poultry when not served at a temperture that at least makes me think the bacteria cannot survive.
if its good hot, I will never know, as I dont have a microwave in my hotel. So dont order delivery. Or just go somewhere else

Recently found this place and it has quickly climbed up my lunch time chart. When explaining this place to people one word comes to mind — Thanksgiving. If you are in the mood for a lunch that tastes just like the leftovers from Thanksgiving with or without a Mediterranean twist than this is your place.
I usually get the turkey sandwich in a pita with falafal on the side. The whole meal is under $ 10 and tastes extremely fresh. The only issue with this place is seating. Don’t think about eating with a group here. The only seating is along the wall on stools.
Nevertheless, you should definitely check this place out. You won’t be disappointed.

The bff and I decided to grab some lunch in the loop yesterday so she could get out of her office on such a glorious freak of a day. She kept going on and on about these turkey sandwiches at this one place down the street and the more she described the place the more I realized it had the thing that *I* really wanted… FALAFEL! I’d been craving falafel for literally years and never sought it out, that day was my day.
Despite the rather depressing basement-​floor-​no-​windows setup that it shares with a pizza window, the food was delicious! They packed the pita full of hummus, falafel, standard veggies and savory herb stuffs. I shoveled it in while Kathy went to town on her turkey sandwich. I took a bite, it was good, but not as good as mine. A little steep, $ 14.75 for a falafel/​hummus pita, turkey sandwich, a water and a fountain drink. But hey, what’s a $ 15 lunch between friends anyway?
Oh and a Unilocaler bonus: the lovely Mrs. Lara S. was in line right behind us.

Jaffa recently added pizza by the slice. $ 6 for a gazonga slice the size of my huge butt. Yes, I mean the slice of pizza is THAT large. OK, the pizza’s not the greatest, but it’s $ 6 for a yummy slice and a refillable drink in downtown Chicago. If the underground location looks familiar to you, it’s because this location used to be a big McDonald’s.

Lots of food, good price, but my chicken fajita and rice was a bit greasy for my taste.

Jaffa Bakery sells bagels, turkey sandwiches, falafels, kabobs, and smoothies. Good selection and cheap price, I will come here again for $ 1.60 mashed potato oh lord!

Look out, Taza. There’s a new kid in town!
Ok, so Jaffa Bakery is not exactly «new», as they have multiple locations in Chicago (though the Madison location has only been open for less than one month). And by «town», I meant purely those serving turkey-​off-​the-​bone. But guess what? Jaffa Bakery makes a damn good turkey sandwich, one that just might give Taza’s a run for its money.
For starters, Jaffa gives you a lot more options. We’re talking six or seven types of breads and a huge selection of fixings. While the bread choices were nice, it was the fixings that really impressed me. Along with the standard fare like lettuce, tomatoes and cheese, Jaffa also lets you add hummus, babaganuj and tabulleh (and some other things that I don’t know the names of but look pretty damn good) to your sandwich. The fixings are all included with the price of the sandwich, which is a little steep ($ 5.95) but very reasonable considering what you’re getting with that price. Just be prepared to have a lot of napkins on hand because the sandwich gets extremely messy when you take a bite!
While I did enjoy my sandwich, there were a couple things about it that prevented me from giving Jaffa Bakery a full five stars. One, their bread was a little too hard for my liking, though I will readily admit that it could’ve been a fluke. Regardless, I don’t like struggling with my sandwich when I take a bite so I gotta ding them for that. Also, their turkey was not as flavorful as I would’ve hoped. That might be because Jaffa is about having healthy food and with that comes less flavor (because we all know it’s the unhealthy stuff that makes things taste so good). However, the turkey was still quite tasty and thumbs up to them for doling out heaping portions of it in their sandwich.
Right now, they have a promotion where your meal is 25% off with a coupon. To get your coupon, just swing by the SW corner of Madison and Clark and you’ll find a nice lady passing them out. But don’t delay as the promotion expires on July 31^st. If you’re a fan of Taza’s turkey, I would highly encourage you to give Jaffa a try!