Aladdin's Eatery

Being a vegetarian and also occasionally vegan (no animal products), I find it hard to get a good meal eating out. Many restaurants menus are replete meat, even the salads! Often the soup of the day contains some sort of meat. The lonely few vegetarian options are loaded with cream and cheese.

Enter Aladdin's. It's a franchise offering healthy Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food. The menu opens with Vegetarians Delight, describing the health benefits of limiting your diet to fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, and grains. A large number of the menu items are vegetarian and/or vegan; however there are several chicken, lamb and beef dishes.

Upon entering, you may question the healthfulness of their food. The first thing you see is a large display case of rich, beautiful desserts. I don't partake in these but have heard they're heavenly. You'll also notice Aladdin's is a simply decorated, casual restaurant that also offers takeout.

So Many Choices

I like to start my meal with the lentil soup. It's a combination of lentils, celery, onion, and potato cooked into a dark stew that's rich and satisfying. The V-nine is a very simple soup with large chunks of vegetables in a tomato base soup that's similar to a broth. I found it too light, lacking in seasoning and not as enjoyable as the lentil. I'm told the vegetarian chili is very good though I've yet to try it. It's hard for me to order any soup but the lentil which I love.

As far as salads, my favorites are the Aladdin's and the Spinach. It's a nice combination of veggies and greens. The almond salad is okay. I didn't care for the dressing too much. The falaffel salad is really a full meal. Four flavorful fried falafels top what is basically the Aladdin's salad and is filling. The Lebanese salata, on the other hand, is small and has no leafy greens. It's a combination of tomato, cucumber, green peppers, onion and lots of parsley. Finally, the side salad is mixed greens with the salata on top, which to me is better than the salata alone.

My husband and I have visited Aladdin's several times and have so far been able to try a different entrée each visit without repeating. I must say, we haven't yet had anything we didn't like. The Vegetarian Combo, which is listed under appetizers, can be a full meal for two people along with soup or salad. It's a great dish that let's you try many vegetarian dishes in one. It includes the traditional hummos (chickpea puree), tabouli (mostly parsley with some tomatoes, onion and cracked wheat), baba (charbroiled eggplant puree), falafel (fried chickpea and fava bean dumplings), and Dawali (grape leaves stuffed with rice, chickpeas and tomatoes). They're all yummy but I could probably do without the tabouli and Dawali. The tabouli has far too much parsley and the Dawali leaves are bitter.

The vegetarian rolled pitas are a tasty choice. A large, thin pita is stuffed, rolled into a burrito form and toasted till it's crunchy. The hummos garden rolled and falafel rolled are tasty but the pita is a little too hard and grating on the roof of my mouth. They're also somewhat small compared to the pockets.

This leads me to one of my favorite items and also the best deal, the salad pockets. They are simply huge and priced only slightly higher than the rolled pitas. It's an enormous pita stuffed full with goodies. My favorite is the Mujadara pocket, filled with lentils, rice, greens, and toasted onion strings. It's so delicious and a complete meal that's very filling. There is also a very good Mujadara plate entrée that is basically a large plate of the Mujadara pocket fillings minus the greens. You can't go wrong with any of the vegetarian pocket varieties. There isn't a lot of substance to the garden pocket but great if you want something fresh and light. I prefer the hummos pocket which is very similar but with the addition of hummos.

If you are vegan, all the dishes with cheese can be had without. Also, the pita has whey in it, which I was told by a new waiter on my third visit.

It Won't Empty Your Wallet

Aladdin's is not only healthy and delicious but also very reasonable. The soups range from $2.75 to $3.45. The salads are under $5. Most entrees run around eight. The best deal is the salad pockets which are all around $5.

I highly recommend trying Aladdin's whether you're vegetarian or not. It's delicious food that won't leave you feeling heavy and weighed down or leave your wallet too light.