Couscous recently remodeled, and now has a seriously excellent weekday lunch buffet. Â At $8.95 we opted for all you can eat. Â In the past I've enjoyed their tasty falafel in pita sandwich ($3.50), or cauliflower and potatoes pita sandwich ($3.50) and been content. Â The daughter is a big fan of the breek with potato ($2.50) appetizer. Â
My partner and I are vegetarian, so no critique of the carnivore selections, but our friends enjoyed everything. Â I've eaten here multiple times for lunch and dinner, with family, friends and out of town visitors. Â The ongoing question is how do they keep their prices so low? Â
Oh yea, the vegetarian (actually vegan) selections on the buffet:  crisp mixed salad, endless hummus, falafel balls, grilled veggie kabobs, baked eggplant with tomato sauce, sautéed veggies, yellow rice, Joe's mujadearah (lentils, cracked wheat with crisp fried onions), and veggie couscous.  The cook even brought us some seasonal grilled spaghetti squash with tahini sauce.  The buffet changes daily, so we'll be back.
Great food prepared fresh!
The place was recently renovated so it's great to dine in at, but carry out is also fast and delicious.
I get the Chicken/Spinah Tajeen with a side of babaganoush, but I've tasted other foods when my friends get them and they all taste fresh and authentic!
Great place!
Mediterranean meals have been a staple for us lately, and we always come back to Couscous. The flavors here are genuine and the ingredients are fresh.
Plus, the lunch buffet at Couscous makes the restaurant six stars in my book. As I made my way up to the buffet station for the first time, I realized there were neither steam trays nor Sterno lighters. On the table tucked away in the back, there were only family-sized 9" x 13" baking trays and pasta pots filled with delicious, authentic food you would expect to find in Marrakesh or Istanbul.
Cooked in small batches and with a lot of heart, the word "buffet" does not do this meal justice - places like Balsan or Nia or Maggianos can call this "family style dining" - except we are talking about $8.95/pp and lunch.
3.5 Stars? Seriously, one of the most underrated restaurants by Yelpers.
Pretty good falafel. They're seasoned well, and for $3.50, you can't go wrong. The falafel sandwich is usually a bit dry for me though, so i always ask for extra tahini on the side. I also wish they have a hot sauce with your order. Other than that, the hummus, babaganoush and baklava are also really good. Definitely my go to for a cheap quick dinner
Review Source:Dear lord, please let Couscous be our new monthly work lunchin' destination instead of Pompei. For a fast, cheap meal, Couscous trumps many of the other places on the Taylor strip by providing semi-healthy, and uber-cheap food in a super cute setting - and it's quick.
The decor has since been updated, and it's actually quite cute inside, if not a little cramped. Ikea chairs, art on the walls, it's a go. As for the food, well, the small fattoush salad and an order of hummus with chicken is a pretty great combo. The chicken shawarma was a little heavy on the tahini sauce for me, but still really great and absolutely packed into a pita for $4.50. Lunch for 3 came to $22. Booyah. Next time I'm all over the falafel.
Please please please no more Pompei! It makes the #2 happen.
My go to place for Middle Eastern food when I cannot make it to the Nile in Hyde Park or Semiarmis up north. Super affordable menu and tons of vegetarian options. Just had their vegetarian kabob on Thursday. The charred/grilled sweet peppers and eggplant were delish! The hummus is very creamy. I added one extra star for the grape leaves because they are very tasty and can be ordered cold or warm.
However, I cannot give Couscous 5 stars because I am partial to the Nile's chicken schwarma. Looking forward to continue supporting this mom and pop shop.
The interior of the restaurant looks clean and somewhat modern. I went for an early dinner on a Monday night so there weren't too many other customers. More people did arrive as I was leaving though. The service was very friendly. I was happy to see a vegetarian section on the menu. I ordered a falafel sandwich with lentil soup as my way to gauge the cuisine. Â The food was ready exceptionally quick. I enjoyed the falafel, it wasn't as crunchy as I'm used but was still tasty. The hummus was my favorite part. The lentil soup was also tasty but I would still chose Sultan's or Middle East Bakery's lentil soup over this one. If you're in the UIC area I'd recommend this establishment. I will definitely be returning to try some of the other dishes.
Review Source:SERVICE: slow and unfriendly. Had to get our own water and sodas. Had table of 8.
FOOD: cheap/ affordable
TASTE: hummus was good, everything else was SUPER salty!
My experience here was HORRIBLE. There was only 2 other couples besides our table of 8 and service was incredibly frustrating and slow. Some of our friends arrived late and we ask for another table to add to our glass table and she asked "Are they gonna eat?"... UM..DUHH!! anyways, she never gave us the table. We also asked for 2 soda cans and she either forgot or we are suppose to walk up and get our own? We served our own water and drinks the whole night. Had to get our own extra napkins as well. SERVICE SUCKS HERE!!
the lady spent a Lot of time wiping down tables that were already clean and when she's not cleaning, she will disappear into the back and forget that she has customers...this place was ridiculous.
We ordered 3 hummus dishes and she brought out one basket with 5 slices of pita bread. REALLY?!?? we had 8 pple!
We asked for more and she asked "Of what?"...we asked for more bread and she goes to explain that it is all it comes with. We then explain to her that we would like to get more bread because we ordered a lot of hummus and she just stands there and says "I'll see what I can do". In the end, we got charged for a bunch of things labeled "FOOD" on our receipt. The receipt listed everything we ordered as "food" so we couldn't tell if things were added by mistake.
The food was salty, it was affordable but I think I would rather pay more for better service and good food. The hummus was delicious but I didn't find anything else we ordered spectacular.
In the end, the service ruined our experience there. The owners were slow, rude and disappeared way too often. For a group of 8, we didn't expect such service since they didn't have anyone else in their restaurant but we were ignored just like everyone else.
I tried Couscous a few days ago with a coworker. I hadn't had a kabob in so long, I'd nearly forgotten how good they are. Lunchtime was pretty quiet with only three or four other single diners in there. Service was pretty fast and friendly. The menu was well organized and easy to understand. I got the vegetable kabob and my coworker got the cauliflower and potatoes sandwich and we split an order of grape leaves. We had no complaints about any of the food with the exception of there having been so much that I had to get a carry-out box to take the excess with me.
I would definitely return.
As soon as you walk into Couscous your mouth waters, the smell is intoxicating. There was a week where I had Couscous three times in one week. It was heavenly, the food is magnificent, as well as the service. The hummus with beef and lamb shawerma is my weakness. The combo comes at a price that you can't find anywhere else, not with the same quality at least. The dolmas are a perfect appetizer, they are savory and lemony. Absolutely love couscous and the people who work there.
Review Source:The hubby and I recently discovered that a lunch date is far cheaper than a dinner date. Â Enter Couscous and their $15 experience. Â We arrived just after two larger parties were beginning their service. Â It seemed there was only one person waiting on tables in the dining area and about two cooks in the kitchen. Â
The wait for service was almost 15 minutes due to the larger party taking up the wait staffs time, then another 10 for our waters and our order to be taken. Â This could have been fairly annoying if we were looking for a quick in-out lunch.
We started with a combo platter. Â A healthy serving of hummus and baba ghanooj, two falafel balls and a bowl of pita bread. Â I can't complain for just $4.50 it was a hearty appetizer and the falafel was some of the best I've had. Â
The hubby went with the Chicken Shawerma; chicken served in a pita bread with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, topped with tahini sauce. Â I ordered the Shish Taouk; marinated chicken served in pita bread. Â They both looked exactly the same so beats me what the difference was. Â It was okay.
I was a little disappointed that the restaurants decor was so modernized. Â It had an Americanized cafe feel to it rather than a ethnic Mediterranean vibe. Â Nothing really memorable here.
There was a death in my boyfriend's and my relationship today...the death of Couscous.
A usual go-to place when we can't decide what to eat, we ate at Couscous about a week and a half ago. Â I ordered my usual lamb/beef shawerma which comes with tahini sauce, rice and a side salad. Â My boyfriend was finally able to try the stuffed cabbage now that they had taken it off the menu and I asked if they had it. Â We also ordered the "combo plate" for our appetizer which comes with hummus, falafel and baba ghenooj.
Our combo plate did not come with baba ghenooj, but two giant mounds of hummus and two falafel. Â When we asked about the baba ghenooj, the waitress kindly told us that they had run out.
When my main dish came, there was no rice, but instead, more hummus. Â When asked, she said again, that they ran out. Â I also had to ask for the tahini sauce, which wasn't tahini sauce, but instead a salad of cucumbers and tomatoes drowning in some type of tahini sauce mixture.
When my boyfriend's dish came out, there were about 7 or 8 small rolls of stuffed cabbage. Â He was excited to eat it, but as he took his first bite, the only words he muttered were "holy s**t." Â I, being the optimistic one, took that as a "holy s**t" that's good, but no. Â That was exactly what a "holy s**t" was. Â When he asked me to taste it, all I tasted was sourness...and not a good lemon-limey sourness, but more like a they doused-the-dish-in-lemon-juice-to-cover-up-Âspoiled-food sour. Â My boyfriend immediately called over the waitress and expressed the unpleasant taste of the stuffed cabbage. Â The waitress simply replied that it was "lemon juice." Â Disgusted, the bf asked the waitress to take the plate away. Â Now, I think it's custom for restaurants to offer a different dish if the patron is displeased, but instead, the bf had to ask if they had the lamb shank, which they were out of.
1) If the restaurant has run out of so many different items that they have to switch it out with other items, then TELL THE PATRON FIRST. Â When the appetizer didn't have the baba ghenooj and she told us AFTER she had brought it out, we overlooked it. Â BUT, when she did it AGAIN with my main dish, then I found myself becoming quite upset.
2) Do not try to tell the patron that what they are tasting is wrong. Â She kept insisting that it was sour because of the lemon juice, but there's a distinct taste when something has gone bad.
3) Offer something in place of the dish being returned. Â I was somewhat appalled when she just took the dish and walked away without asking if there was anything else he wanted or offering a different dish.
We've been there quite a few times since the last time I reviewed, and each time, it has slowly gone down hill. Â This last visit, was just that--the last visit. Â Granted, the owner was kind enough to offer us free dessert to go and took the stuffed cabbage off our bill, I was genuinely quite sad when I knew that this would be our last and final time. Â But as my boyfriend said, "there are other Mediterranean restaurants around."
To think that I took 3 years to get to this review! Couscous is an excellent little joint - no fuss, hole in the wall. But some of their dishes always hit the spot! I'd highly recommend the potato and cauliflower sandwich (spicy!!), falafels, and the baklavas.
If you're counting calories though, this might not work for you. They're liberal with the frying oil in certain dishes, and you'll start thinking about enrolling for that boot camp :)
I only speak for what I experienced. I tried their lamb kabob and kufta kabob. Both failed. The lamb was so chunky that it could elicit suffocation. The meat wasn't thoroughly cooked, and it got stuck between the teeth easily. The kufta kabob I ordered was lukewarm right when it's served. The sour dressing tasted so extreme that it almost covered up all the other flavors. The meat patty was tasteless. The pita bread broke easily. What can they not screw up?
They don't like credit cards, by the way.
Oh, it may be slow. Â The gentleman cooking everything might also be taking your order. Â But this is the best hummus you can find in Chicago. Â I haven't had anything half so good since a business trip to Kuwait. Â And it has a certain charm to it as a one-man show, I think.
Also fantastic: the vegetarian platter. Â It's huge--you might want to share. Â It's got so many different little delicious, incredibly well-made things in it, that you might not want to share it after all, though.
The food does tend to be pretty salty, but in a delicious and authentic way.
Couscous.
Definition: Salty, Overspiced, Terrible Service.
My best friend took me out for lunch on my birthday, and we decided to go to Taylor Street. Because we both attend UIC, it was the closest place to go to that had good food. I was all of a sudden in the mood for Middle Eastern upon seeing this place, and we were both ecstatic about the meal.
Immediately after walking in, we both stood at the door and waited about a full five minutes before sitting down because the waitress was  MIA. The both of us are servers at different restaurants, so we usually take the initiative to help out the server when they are not around. This was lunch time on a Friday, and there were only about 5 other people in the restaurant besides us.
We looked over the menu and it took us no time to decide what we would get (which is rare-- we usually take forever to order). We also waited a really long time for the waitress to take our order, we closed our menus to let her know, but she was busy cleaning the empty tables instead (and took forever). We flagged her down, and she took our order. She gave us two small glasses of water, and we requested lemon (which did not come out until our appetizer, baba ganouj--which was really good, had arrived).
She informed us that one of our orders only had a half-order left, and asked if it was ok to replace it with something else. I forget what it was called, but it was a quiche- like dish with a load of rice and a salad. We asked her if we could have something else in place of that and she gave us an attitude and denied us, instead of saying something like "I'll see what I can do".
The food came out and I had a vegetarian dish consisting of fried potato strips and falafel. Everything was sprinkled with a ton of seasoning, which made the dish extra salty. The falafel was overcooked and really tough, probably due to the excess binding ingredient they used for it. The fried potatoes were also extra soggy, and over seasoned as well. My friend's dish was wonderful, and I enjoyed his dish with him.
Our water was running very low in those small glasses it was given to us in, and instead of consistently asking for more water, I requested a pitcher. The waitress immediately seemed puzzled, which confused me, since I saw a pitcher of water on the table behind us upon coming in. She asked me again..."a pitcher of water?" and I replied "Yes".
After we were finished, we asked for a box and the check, which took a really long time for us to get. For some reason, she needed someone else to ring up the check for her, which was fine, but there was no apology, or anything.
My experience here was not good. The food was good, but considering the long amount of time I have to wait before getting it, I probably wouldn't come here if I had a limited lunch break (not blaming the cooks--they had nothing to do with the wait). I understand that things do happen in the food industry that the servers cannot be responsible for, but considering the circumstances, I was quite convinced that she was either a new waitress or had trouble with social interactions. Attitude fix, please.
Couscous serves falafel sandwich that is much tastier than its $3.50 price tag would lead one to believe. Â In fact, everything on the menu is very cheap, and I haven't ordered anything I haven't liked.
I suggest getting carryout rather than waiting for the consistently slow service, unless you have the luxury of taking two hour lunches.
I love Cous Cous, here are my favorites:
Beef Breek,
Hummus,
Falafel (THE BEST!)
Fried cauliflower and potatoes,
Jerusalem salad,
Lamb or falafel shawarma,
Dolma,
Kallaya,
Stuffed Lamb...
And let me remind you...these appetizers are usually $2.50 a piece like the breek, small plate hummus...like $2.50-3.50...so its cheap and good for me. The sandwich sometimes just fills me up and its like $4.50 for Lamb and beef and its stuffed with a lot of meat and veggies.
The old man is usually the only one that's there cooking and he's super nice, but expect to wait a little bit coz he's the only one cooking and he cooks to order.
Bottomline, CousCous is a great deal =)
Well, the two stars is a push and I only put two because the hummus is pretty amazing!
Went on a Wed night with a friend and the place was empty yet the table next to us wasn't cleared. The service was pretty bad considering we were the only ones in there. The inside was kinda trashy, they only served soft-drinks. She gave us the menues and asked if we were ready to order...um noooo we're not ready to order.
Food: Just okay - the veggie kabobs were blah and the falafal's were mediocre at best. The stuffed-grape-leaves were just okay. The portions were HUGE though and very affordable.
Still in search for some damn good falafal's in Chi-town!! Help me out yelpers!
The food here was mediocre at best. Â The hummus was underwhelming, served with microwaved pita that had seen better days... the breek was interesting and it probably stands out as the only thing I'd order again, if I even go back. Â For the main course, we both had sandwiches, both of which had way way way too much sauce on them and both of which had meat that just seemed a little past its prime.
Top it all off with slow/less than attentive service and a dirty decor, sprinkled with fruit flies and this is not a place we'll be headed back to any time soon...
The food was quite good: hummos, baba ganoush (sp?), falafel... all better than average. Â The service was rather poor given we were one of three tables, but nothing spectacularly bad happened.
Also, it would be pretty easy to eat there in a group for cheap if you ordered lots of smaller plates.
Couscous has consistently been one of my top picks on Taylor Street, next to Thai Bowl. The owners always seem happy to serve you, even if they're sometimes a little slow at doing it ;-)
One great thing about Couscous is the abundance of vegetarian options. The falafel is definitely good (as good as Sultan's? Questionable.), and you can get a full pita sandwich for $3.50 + tax. if you're sitting down for a meal with a friend, you should definitely start out with an extra order of 6 falafels. The hummus and baba ghenooj are yummy, and the foul modammas is pretty tasty once you've acquired the distinctive flavor of the fava beans.
The vegetarian entrées are where it's at. The are several combos and platters to choose from, as well as mujadearah which is lentils cooked with either rice or bulgur served with crispy fried onion strips. The mujadearah itself is a bit dry, but luckily comes with some nice juicy jerusalem salad (is that a weird thing to say?). The fried cauliflower they have here is usually pretty good, but this seems inconsistent.
There are so many dishes to choose from - I'd recommend going with a friend and sharing a few. And then split a baklava for dessert. Mmm....
I'm having a really difficult time with this review. Â On the one hand, I had a perfectly nice dining experience (helped immensely by the company). Â On the other hand, it could have been so much better.
We'll start with the good: Â the appetizers were amazing. Â The combo plate was perfect for 3 people and everything on it was delicious (hummus, falafel, baba gannoush). Â The foul modomas (?) - a dip made of fava beans with a lot of garlic - was also delicious and the portion size was huge. Â Also, BYOB with no corkage is always a good thing!
Dinner was ok. Â I was a little underwhelmed to be honest. Â I had the lamb couscous and it was under-spiced. Â Still tasty, just frustrating compared with what I know it could have been! Â Huge portion though - I'll have lunch for 2 days! Â
Service was abysmal!! Â There were never more than 3 active tables and we COULD NOT get the waitress' attention!! Â We weren't ready to order entrees when we ordered our appetizers but because she never came back, we didn't order entrees until after we had finished our apps. Â It was a long meal!!
In sum, I won't be rushing back but if I lived in the neighborhood, I'm sure I'd frequent the place for carry out!
I can't speak for eating at the restaurant, but their carry-out was great. Â My husband went and picked up the food and he said parking was kind of sucky around there, and he was gone for a little long, so I can only assume he was circling the block or waiting inside for the food. Â Once it got home, we were happy campers. Â I've started to refer to the tahini as crack sauce, and one of the falafel was nicely soaked in it by the time the food got home. Â Mmmm.
I got the shawerma sandwich, hubby got the shawerma platter with rice and we split a falafel. Â We were both full and very happy, and the price was decent.
The service was so bad it was funny.
My friend and I arrive bottle of wine in hand (it's BYOB) and sit. And wait. After about ten minutes the server appears and asks if we'd like anything to drink. The bottle of wine is sitting on the table. I say we'd like some water and some glasses and a cork screw. The waitress disappears for about ten minutes and then reappears with said items. She asks if we're ready to order, we respond yes and she disappears again.
Not it a rude manner though. Just as if, I dunno, she didn't get it?
She returns we order falafel for appetizer. Lamb Magrab Cous Cous and the Lamb Shawerma dinner.
We wait about ten minutes and out comes 6 of the most wonderful falafel I've ever heard (which includes all over Israel). So crusty on the outside, yet moist and NOT greasy on the inside. Of course after taking two bites of the falafel out comes our entrees.
They were excellent and all food was eaten and enjoyed. Then we sat. And waited. Then we watched the sea. The sea was calm. I sat in the boat. (A la "The Old Man in the Sea)
Taylor Street in UV doesn't feel like Chicago. My husband, a former student resident in Ann Arbor, reminded me it's a "college strip". I suppose that's true enough.
And Couscous doesn't feel like a restaurant. If a ballet studio and a Cicero basement had a love child, it would look like Couscous. The wood paneling with scenes from Amish country, wicker ceiling fan, a wall covered in dusty floor to ceiling mirrors (I always wondered what I looked like stuffing my face with falafel), drop ceilings and glowing signs behind the "bar" are all ingredients to fuel hesitation at the door.
Not to mention when we walked in at 8 p.m. on a Friday night, there were only four other patrons dining and all of the other tables, save the one we selected, had yet to be cleaned. We ignored all the signs to bolt.
And I'm not full of remorse. Listen, the falafel was good. They got the basic things right. The rice was strange, flavored with nutmeg and cardamom, but we were hungry and ate it. Hubs hates hummus and wolfed down four (microwaved) warm pitas full of the lemony, garlicky yums. His buds are changing. It's a beautiful thing. Though he still doesn't fancy chewing on fat, which he had to a couple times with the beef kabob.
But this place is far better suited for carry-out. Then you can save the encounters with the "owner" who was hawking a loogie in the back, the waitress who has seen better days as she drags her orthopedic feet around the tiled floor.
It was hard to really enjoy tahini when all the while I was sure we were hosted by folks who were "playing restaurant" like I did when I was a kid. Couscous and I are both desperate; me for a good Middle Eastern restaurant in the 'hood and the former, for Gordon Ramsay.
Slow, slow, slow service. Â That coupled with the incredibly loud thuds from upstairs (maybe an apartment up there) and the really sticky floor, did not make for a relaxing or enjoyable dinner.
The food was okay, although I ordered a Chicken Shawerma sandwich with no tomatoes and instead got no cucumbers and tons of tomatoes that I ended up having to pick out.
Redeeming features include good hummus, pretty good shawerma and no corkage BYOB. Â Be forewarned though, they did not have a wine cooler for our white wine.
We were there for a late weekday lunch. Great Algerian food - and we love the price.
It's a family run place. The service could be a little slow but always hospitable.
The highlights of our meal was the fried cauliflower appetizer and the falafel.
We will return for dinner to take advantage of their BYO no corkage.
Sad to report, but my experience with Couscous was not good at all. First, we ordered take out - meaning we went into the restaurant, and pointed out exactly what we wanted from the menu in person. We did not stay to enjoy the ambiance because the dining room was sweltering. I cannot imagine how hot the kitchen must have been. (Please note that this did not contribute to the low rating).
When we picked up the order 15 minutes later (from a very friendly lady) it was absolutely our mistake to not check the order but we did not (thus two stars rather than one as recognition that this was our stupid oversight). When we did open the containers there were several  problems. First, missing falafel for which we paid. Second, a giant chunk of meat in my vegetable kabobs (RED flag). Third, our bulgar dish was made with rice, despite the fact that the woman taking our order clarified that we wanted bulgar and NOT rice. So, each of the components of the order was incorrect.
When I called to report the missing falafel and incorrect dishes and meat on vegetarian plates, the woman kindly told us that it would be replaced and took the address (about one block and a half away from the restaurant). One minute later she called back to say that they could not deliver because they would not be able to find parking again when they returned to the restaurant.
While I understand that this is a small operation, and although they said we could come by and pick up the food, it seems they could have (should have) extended the commercial gesture of walking the five minutes to deliver the corrected dishes. As for us making the walk, with a sleeping baby and a bad taste from the experience thus far, we opted out. And now I am feeling very sick from the small amount of food I did taste from the rice dish (without the hunk of meat).
I will try Couscous again, and have been wanting to try it for two years, but this initial experience was very poor. Hopefully I will eventually be able to report back with a better review.
Went for the first time this week with a friend and found that Couscous features tasty food, reasonable prices, and mediocre service.
The place was sparsely decorated, with simple chairs and paper over the rectangular tables. We enjoyed the tajeen with spinach and chicken appetizer, it was very nicely flavored and a welcome change from the usual hummos or baba ghanoush. The lamb couscous was excellent: large chunks of tender meat and an assortment of vegetables over a bed of couscous. The chicken shwerma entree was good, but not great. Loved the rice, but found the chicken itself to be a little dry for our taste.
We were impressed by the food, the large portion sizes (we had plenty of leftovers), the prices, and menu, which was had some items you don't find at the usual Middle Eastern restaurant. We were less happy with the servers, who were not very attentive and difficult to get a hold of even though it was not busy at all.
Overall though, I would definitely come here again.
couscous has the best falafels in the world! Â THE WORLD!
everything i've tried is delicious. Â you can shut your eyes, point to the menu, and it will ALWAYS be that good. Â
their portions are GInormous without the price tag. Â when i was working at UIC, i was able to walk there (10 minutes each way), sit down, and eat (which i do slowly) during my lunch hour. Â quick, cheap, and absolutely delicious.
great service, & even greater peeps that work there. Â Â the are personable and sweet and remember you when you come back.
they catered an office lunch for us. Â i let the guy decide the menu (including vegetarian options) and he blew us away. Â for $100, we got enough food (huge trays of hummus, pitas, falafel, tanjeen kaftaji, chicken tika, jerusalem salad, yogurt salad ... there was more) to feed an office of 15. Â that day we only ate a THIRD of the food, which was awesome because we didn't have to bring lunch for the rest of the week. Â and believe you me, we could eat their food for every meal.
Yummy food! Â Greatly flavored meats and veggies. Â I like the distinct flavor of their falafel (my bf says they taste strangely like donuts, however). Â Hummus is smooth and sufficiently moist. Â Pitas are bready and soft (not tough like most other places; just different). Â Dolma were a bit too tangy flavored than I've had before.
Some student org's at UIC west campus cater food from here occasionally. Â Finally went in tonight to sit down and eat. Â Total bill was $24 after tax/before tip for Veggie Combo Platter (huge variety of hummus, salad, grilled veggies, dolma, rice, falafel), Meat Combo Platter, and 1 hot tea.
Wasn't busy in the dining room. Â Cozy, laidback environment. Â (Definitely feels homey).
I've been all over the city looking for great middle eastern food. This place has the best, most consistently good food i've had in the genre, anywhere in chicago.
Yesterday, I visited the restaurant with my girlfriend. The owner (who is always there, and seems to care about every one of our customers) was working by himself, waiting for his cook and his waitress to come in for the evening rush. He was our cook, and our waiter. During an after-dinner conversation, he found out my girlfriend was trying to find more meatless dishes to try. On the spot, he went to the kitchen, and prepared something that was new on the menu, a full sized dish for her to take home and try. Â Amazing to get this kind of service, while the food is so incredibly good. Anyone who hasn't eaten here, should.
Great food at a great price. I often go here because it is close to UIC west campus and one of the better choices for eating on Taylor street.
I have pretty much ordered everything here and they all are good. Special recommendation to the sandwiches. The only complaint I have is the wait. Service is slow but, that's what happens when you go a family run restaurant.
Definitely recommended.
good stuff. The chicken shawerma is my usual.
The owner is very friendly, but sometimes he's the only one there so don't go if you're in a hurry. Â Don't hesitate to hit up the baklava..they have both walnut and pistachio, and if you're really in need of a honey overdose buy one of the boxes of assorted desserts.
Be sure to check out the strange wallpaper.
This is a fine(read: good, decent, not white napkins and sommeliers) Mediterranean restaurant among the bars and Italian Restaurants of Taylor Street. Â It is definitely very cheap food, especially for dinner. Â They are also BYOB, though they really don't advertise the fact. Â The menu seems pretty big, but if you read the descriptions it appears that much of the menu options are just slight variations on maybe 10-12 meals. Â You can order by number, but be aware that the descriptions of the food are not necessarily accurate - your meal may include some things not listed and also may exclude some things that are listed. Â Service was just ok, but it had the feel of being self-service, even though it wasn't.
All that said, I will be back, as it was pretty decent food for very cheap.
My boyfriend chose this restaurant out of all the choices in Chicago for his birthday last year. Â When we came in to meet his whole family there, they wore the look on their faces (which I imagine many wear on their first trip here) which can only be interpreted as, "skeptical." Â It wasn't until they tasted the food that they understood why their youngest son had brought them here. Â
Eating here is always like eating in a friend's home. Â The owner, Joad, and his wife know us by name and will make anything we request. Â The menu is more a suggestion than anything and the prices are always more than reasonable for the freshness of the ingredients (the tomatoes are always amazing) and size of the portions. Â The homemade (and more importantly freshly made) falafels are not to be missed.
When you go to Couscous, you will not be pleased if you are looking for outstanding service and atmosphere. Â But if you are looking for great food and kindhearted owners, you really can't beat it.
Great flavorful food. Â Whatever you order - Eat in or Take out. Â This hummos is the best I've had in years. Â
Shawerma is fabulous and the shish taouk is perfectly marinated!
Ive been here several times in the past 2 weeks, maybe just a fettish for now.
Printing new to-go menus, maybe I'll grab one today and post the very cost-effective menu!
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