Zizi's Cafe is in a very convenient location. It has authentic Mediterranean food, and it isn't too loud so you can actually have a conversation. It is a great place for lunch and there's no dress code. The people were very friendly and the service was good. It was a great experience.
Review Source:Random stop in the other night after exiting an event at Mad River. Â Just after 10:30ish pm, peaked in and asked if it was okay to still dine, Zizi was cool with it so we obliged with an order for two. Â I had some work to complete so I made use of their free Wi-Fi. Â Interesting place and cozy enough for a quick meal. Â There were a few occupied tables and a large group of ladies sharing bottles of wine over many courses of food. Â BYOB. Â Good vibe and the counter guys were pleasant however for take out there wasn't anyone paying attention to new orders. Â Could have been a shift change or it being busier than usual. Â Who knows.
The foods were fresh, flavorful and colorful.  Ordered some super salads with add-on's and some side dishes.  Due to a conversational misunderstanding our server ordered a couple more dishes we didn't want or need.  Since the food so far  was tasty, we got them to go since we weren't sure how to get her to understand it was her mistake.  Will probably try them again sometime.
I've driven by Zizi's for about a year and for one reason or another never stopped in, until today. Â Missed the lunch crowd, was about 230p, and chatted up the owner...Zizi himself. Â He was very kind and pointed me toward the veggie sandwich and it did not disappoint in the least. Â It was giant, fresh, delicious and all I could do to not gorge myself on the other half (yes, even with veggies). Â
I would believe his wife then stopped by and asked how it was--why thank you!--and then sold me on the baklava. Â Hands down the best I've had. Â Whoosh, that was gone. Â Proceeded to pay the bill before I got lured into anything else. Â
Why hit corporate sandwich shops when you can mosey on in to great little businesses like this that make their own food, daily, and make you feel at home? Â I'm sold.
Super delicious. Owner was super friendly and chatted with me about Turkey and its culture. I had the Turkish salad, Adana wrap and side of dolmas. Love the food, yogurt sauce is super tasty. Makes me miss Istanbul, but it was good to have a taste of it again. Not pricey at all, and fresh food. YUM.
Review Source:BYOB. Free wifi. Very good food.
I see a lot of complaints on service; this is basically a one man operation so calm down and enjoy. The food is very reasonably priced and is worth the wait. We dined in and asked the owner to surprise us with two entrees. He served us a lamb kebab and zizi sandwich, both delicious.
Planning to be back very soon. Carrot garlic spread is a nice touch to begin the meal and its complementary.
We ordered the combo platter for app, eggplant platter, and a lamb doner sandwich. Â The food was very good, and the free bread with spread was delicious. Â We also ordered the Turkish flan after eyeing our neighbors for a good 5 mins. Â It was okay, but I prefer the Mexican version. Â Zizi himself was very nice, and tried to talk to all his customers. Â He gave us coupons for our next visit too.
Review Source:Excellent food! I've been to this place twice now and the food is very fresh, very flavorful, and very affordable. Even the bread and salad that everyone gets at the beginning tastes great! The wraps are huge and will fill you up.
The only thing that stops me from giving this place a 5 is the customer service. The owner and the people who run this restaurant seem to be very polite. Unfortunately, they seem to be understaffed and I had an extremely long wait for food each time I went there. Last time it took me an hour to get my food even though there were only two tables occupied at the time! And when the food finally arrived it ended up being the wrong order. They do get a lot of people walking in ordering food to-go and those people seem to get the priority.
I do not have high expectations of customer service from such an affordable place. However, a long wait for food is always a bit of a downer. My summary: Great food but you need to wait for it.
I discovered zizi's one afternoon when I was hungover before going to work an evening shift. No make-up just wanted something delicious and healthy to set my day off right. The owner greeted me. He was so so nice! Gave me great recommendations and boxed up everything when I couldn't finish as badly as I wanted to. I've been back dining in and getting take out several times. He always lets me taste a little something new. This is an amazing family owned gem. I can't speak highly enough of it. Go try it! You won't regret your decision!
Review Source:A very unique cafe. Zizi was a cook in his native Turkey and I believe for a time in Italy, more recently at Turquoise, and now has his own place.
The atmosphere as my dining companion put it "is nonexistent." We were willing to overlook that for some grub.
Very interesting service nice to the point of being almost cloying. However, he has a lot of personality, is sincere, and informative.
It's BYOB.
We started with the famous complimentary bread with carrot yogurt garlic spread. Everyone raves about this bread and I'm wondering why. My partner and I both weren't impressed.
Zizi showed him his fresh fish so he ordered the Mediterranean Sea Bass Special which is chargrilled whole and comes with rice and salad. Zizi deboned the fish at the table with a knife and fork rather expertly. Ha! Z made sure to take out some of the better bits for me insisting I try. The fish was very good and flavorful; my partner said it was some of the best he's had for a while. He also enjoyed the salad which was by his admission simple, but had great dressing.
I had the chicken shish platter with cous cous. For some reason it was plated with a portion of cous cous, some white long grain rice, a couple of grilled zucchini slices, three small toast disks, and yogurt sauce. The grilled chicken was good but as Zizi said himself to my companion "it's grilled chicken." then they both shrugged. The yogurt sauce was great, very fresh and not overly seasoned. The cous cous and rice were a disappointment. I really like more inventive and playful cous cous recipes.
As a surprise Z brought dessert. Like the whole Sea Bass I don't believe it's on the menu. It was a generous piece of custard pie that was rich in texture but delicately flavored of vanilla. Very similar to a creme brûlée and served with fresh strawberries. We both really liked it.
We were really impressed with the welcoming warm service and quality. However, it's worth mentioning the bill for our two entrees was $37.95. I would still return to try more of the fascinating menu and get that hospitality.
I stopped in for lunch for two this afternoon, and was delighted by the food, friendly service, quick cooking, and the garlic bread loaf.
The staff were polite, our food was cooked fresh & quickly, and I had a wonderful Lamb Doner Sandwich. My boyfriend loved his Zizi's Favorite (Pizmahmagun) Chicken Wrap.
I would love to stop in again soon. Great for a quick, tasty, and affordable lunch!
Me-lovey this lil-cafetaria!
Delicious food ~ always! Â The manager/owner is always SO delightful. Â The two times we were here we always got free stuff (If you don't, don't get jealous or angry ~ perhaps because we were super nice and you were not. Â Tee hee).
With the 'all you can eat' Mediterranean fresh-baked bread and the complimentary dip, you can pretty much wrap-up the night and walk out with a full belly (they do not advertise the bread is all you can eat, but the minute your bread basket only have one sad bread left, they will refill it right away!). Â But, you're definitely missing out if you don't try their main dishes. Â From the wraps to full platter ~ I always managed to take home at least half of it for the next morning.
But, definitely safe room for dessert! Â I have had the best Mediterranean desserts here ~ the rice pudding & the baklava.
I love this place!
They are so damn friendly here! I'm not sure if he's the manager or the owner, but he was so nice! The first time I stopped by, it was a really hot summer day. The owner/ manager gave me and my friend free drinks and ice cream as we waited for our to-go order.
The food is really good! Everything is seasoned really well and so flavorful. I highly recommend this place!
Usually I don't bother adding a glowing review for a place that already has tons of them on Yelp but in this case I have to make an exception. This place is amazing! I've eaten there twice now in the last week and it was superb both times. On the first occasion I had the chicken doner sandwich, which was mouth watering. It comes with a delicious white sauce and is on the best, homemade tasting breading. It also comes with really good, fresh cut french fries and the price is right at $6.95. I also had a lamachun, like a Turkish pizza, which was filling and delicious for I believe $3.50
Today I went back and tried the adana kebab with Turkish bulgur (listed as couscous on the menu). It was even better than the chicken doner, which was terrific. Great food, very reasonable prices, and they even have some friendly and very cute girls working there. What more can you ask for? I really hope this place thrives! Next time I'm going to try the Iskender kebab or the fresh fish, which both looked very good on a neighbor's table. I notice that many of the diners at this place seem to be Turkish- surely a good sign.
They also have a couple of things on a kids menu which are good and quite cheap at $3.75, though my sons ate hummus with their fresh bread, which they enjoyed and was a good deal at $4.
I've been here twice now and am very impressed with the selection all around. The bread that you get is all home made and really delicious. Second, the sandwiches are amazing, the first time i went I had the Chicken, and the next time I had lamb on Zizi's insistence and I must say I was not disappointed.
The only thing needing improvement is the fries, they are extremely greesey it would be wonderful if they were more crunchy and not soggy.
Other than that I loved this place!!!!! Highly reccomend.
We were really hungry & in search of a nice place, where we could fill up our stomachs.. Zizi happened to be the place that night!
I must say the service & food were great! Though the ambiance is not the greatest & appealing, but the price for the food is a value for what we paid!
With no doubt in my mind i would recommend Zizi's cafe, if someone is in search of a Mediterranean food.
It's hard to find Turkish Lahmacun around here, and I heard from a fellow Turk they had pretty lezzetli Lahmacun at ZiZi's. Â It seemed like one of those hybrid cafe's, not sure if it should cater primarily to the Turk or American palate, with the BYOB sign on the window, and non-Turkish speaking staff, but definitely Turkic menu, I could not decide. Â Then I took a bite of lahmacun, which I had not had this authentic and tasty since my last trip to New Jersey! Â Afferim , ZiZi's, you have the best Lahmacun in Chicago!
Review Source:The food here is good but not great. Â The Turkish feta salad was fresh and very tasty. Â Their homemade bread made for an delicious lamb and cheese pide and was good in the sandwich I had. Â However, the dish I was most looking forward to, doner kebab, was a letdown. Â The lamb/beef doner lacked seasoning and though I love lamb, the one tasted a bit gamey. Â Fries were tasty but soggy. Â
I'd visit Zizi's again if I happened to be in the area but wouldn't go out of my way to eat here since there are so many other good mediterranean restaurants in Chicago.
I stopped in at zizi's because I really wanted a BYOB with WIFI, and I got so much more than i expected. Â The food was very tasty, and the owner helped me pick out some new food to try which was really helpful. Â The food he helped me pick was excellent starting with a soft and warm sesame bread delicious, then a dip of shredded carrot ummummmum.
I was then served the main course a lovely lamb served on a bed of couscous. It had a side of traditional greek/turkish dip, which complemented the lamb, rice, and veggies excellently. ! Â it was warm and thinly sliced just the way i like it. Â it was dressed well and presentation was amazing! Â This was only a lunch service what an excellent experience here at ZiZI's
They were totally cool with my lunch time beer as well !!!
Had a great night out with the wife at Zizi's. Amazingly bold flavors, very fair prices, and Zizi the owner/waiter/chef assistant was very kind and attentive.
Had the Zizi favorite wrap and the cheese bread with lamb. Zizi brought us free bread with some kind of an orange dip with carrot in it that was terrific! He also brought us a baklava sample that was completely unnecessary after the amount of food we ate!
Wow! What a wonderful experience that we had here! O a rainy Thursday designated date-night, my husband and I thought that trying Turkish food sounded fun and exciting. We found this place easily and were so glad we did!
The owner/manager is from Turkey and is clearly so proud of his country and food. The kitchen is open so you can see the making/serving your food and it appears very clean, which is a plus.
We received the free warm homemade bread with a carrot dipping sauce which was delicious. We then ordered an appetizer (I cant remember the name!) which was a very thin bread covered in a spicy meat sauce. It was like Turkish pizza and it was delicious! It was served with fresh parsley and onions which we loved.
Next we split a Doner Sandwich (the lamb/beef one) and it was delicious as well. It was also served on the homemade bread and was a generous portion. We also ordered falafel which was good, but by the time we got it we were already stuffed! Then the manager brought us out a free dessert! Talk about a nice date night. It was a flan-like custard beautifully plated with fresh strawberries, powdered sugar and chocolate sauce. It was also delicious!
We couldn't believe that we stumbled upon such a gem of a place. The service, the cleanliness, and the food were all 5 stars. Since the dessert was on the house, we paid a total of $15.00 for our whole meal! Of course we split, but we still both left very full and satisfied. Thank you Zizi's!
The Stars tell the story.
Great food,super nice people, big portions and  cheap prices. So if you like crappy food, rude people, small servings that you pay alot of money for this is NOT your place.
We started with the hummus appetizer and falafel appetizer both where big and great and we had enough left over to make a sandwich on one of the 3 extra loafs of bread that Zizi just gave us because he made to much bread that day.
For our main meal we had the Lamb doner sandwich it was the best  flavor lamb I can recall having was so good and a big sandwich on their awesome home made bread. Wife had Lamb cheese Pide kinda like a pizza but crust roller over the top and shaped like a big rectangle she loved it good flavors crispy crust very good.
This place is great I can't stress how kind the owners are and what high quality the food is they serve. Welcome to the hood Zizi.
BTW... BYOB
Can't say enough great things about this place!! Not only is the food fresh and delicious, the owners put their heart and soul into the entire experience. Â My girlfriend and I wondered in a few months ago, and left raving about everything. Â The white bean dip is a great spin on hummus. Â And the bread is good enough to eat an entire loaf (I think I ate two). Â
It's a very casual environment for any passer-by to stop for a bite to eat. Â The portions are plenty large enough to leave stuffed. Â Based on food, I would have given 3 stars. Â But the incredible owners here really have gone above and beyond with free samples, hospitality, etc. Â They deserve the 4 stars.
What a great place! Â After a terrible experience at Maza (see review) we went here. Â The owner was friendly, service prompt and attentive and food was GREAT! Â Lahemajun was delicious, hummus was good, and they keep re-filling our bread basket with fresh homemade goodness. Â On the way out the owner packed some (un-asked-for) baklava for us, which was a really nice gesture.
The portions are pretty dang big here, so recommend splitting mains and ordering max one app for 2 ppl (lots of Turkish places I have been to have small-ish apps so you can try multiple picks, but the apps here are entree-sized!) Â Of course, you can always take it home (like we had to). Â Bonus: everything tastes even better the next day!
The decor is really casual. I almost wish the owner dressed up the tables a bit and dimmed the lights.... I wouldn't mind paying a buck or two more for a more formal setting since I feel like we are really lacking in Middle Eastern/Mediterranean fare in this city. Â It would be great if this BYOB could serve as a "date night in heels" destination. Â But really minor point in the grand scheme of things!
Will definitely be back soon, this is an all-around great resto.
This is got to be the best Turkish Restaurant in Chicago. I know what I'm talking about because I do cook Turkish food for my, yep, you guessed it, my Turkish husband. The owner use to work at Turquoise. Must be a big loss for them! We use to go there all the time but we'll be at Zizi's instead. Homemade bread is phenomenal. Turkish tea, appetizers and the Lahmacun is perfect with fresh seasonings on homemade bread topped with beef. Â We had the Combo Platter too which included salmon! Never saw that on a combo before and it was so so worth it. Even though we shared everything we had to take home left-overs. (and asked for another piece of that homemade bread!) Also took home a Lentil soup which is outstanding.
Mr. Zizi use to be a chef in Turkey and he really knows his stuff. It's going to be very crowded in the next few months once the word gets out.
Went in here today for the first time. It's close to work and I love Mediterranean food although I've never really had Turkish food. I ordered the chicken doner plate. It came with couscous, grilled veggies, and yogurt dipping sauce. It was delicious!
The owners, Mr. and Mrs. Zizi, were extremely friendly. The lady, I assume Mrs. Zizi, asked if it was my first time there and was very accommodating. They also threw in some fresh bread (still warm) and this delicious carrot and garlic spread. Their bread was amazing! So good and fresh. This will be a new staple on work days! Next time I will try their falafels since other reviews seemed to enjoy them.
In short, very yummy reasonably priced Turkish food. I would recommend it and I plan on being a repeat customer!
I visited Zizi's Cafe for lunch today and was impressed. I had the Zizi's Favorite Pizmahmagun wrap and it was OUTSTANDING...although I couldn't finish the whole thing by myself. My vegetarian friend had plenty of options and enjoyed her meal. The place itself is very barebones (i.e., not fancy at all), but the atmosphere is very casual and everyone we came in contact with was friendly. We finished our meal with a delicious Turkish coffee. It was really a treat and an overall pleasant experience. I ate until stuffed but it was well worth it.
This place is awesome. My husband and I went to Turkey last year and we love Turkish food so we were excited to try this place when my Turkish coworker told me about it. The owner is so friendly and the food is delicious. First of all the homemade bread is warm and amazing. I could eat 5 baskets of this stuff.
I had the red lentil soup to start and it was great and flavorful. My husband had the lahmacun and it was good as the stuff we had in Turkey. For my entree I had Ziziz's favorite wrap (Pizmahmagun)) which is basically like meat wrapped up in lahmacun. So delicious. Plus the portions are huge so you will have leftovers. My husband had a platter with eggplant and doner and it was delicious as well. Dinner for the two of us with appetizers was only about 30 bucks, plus we were able to eat the leftovers the next day for lunch. We will be back!! This place is BYOB too so next time we will be sure to bring some wine and friends.
This place deserves yelp love. Â In fact, this place lured me out of my non-yelping slump because you fine people need to know about this place. Â Now I cannot speak to all of the menu, but I can say that I've been here 5-6 times and everything I've had has been stellar.
Here's what I've sample: doner kabob sandwhich, lunch salad special, homemade bread, carrot garlic spread, the zizi's favorite wrap (Pizmahmagun), and the lentil soup. Â The lentil soup was too thin and greasy for my like. Â Every thing else is fantastic and worth trying. Â The zizi's wrap is so large you need either two people or two days to put it down. Â The real standouts are the homemade bread and the meat.
Only complaint:  Soggy french fries.  Every time.  Turn up the grease ya'll.  It needs to be hotter or you get soggy fries.  It's not a one time thing, they are always soggy.  Their chef simply does not know how to make french fries. Then again, maybe they should just stop serving fries and just serve up a nice side salad, hummus, or some tabouleh.  That'd be a  nicer side to the large, heavy, carb loaded bread meal anyway. Â
Owners could not be nicer. Â Always giving stuff out and always friendly. Â I'll keep going back. Â Check it out, if you get the above listed items you will be happy.
If the service had not been so nice this would be one star.
We had a lamb doner kabob sandwich, turkish feta salad, celery root salad. The lamb was not the most flavorful I've had, and the fixings on the sandwich were decidedly bland. The sandwich came with fries that were just awful -- limp, not cooked through, soaked with oil. The salads were mediocre. The highlight of the  meal was the delicious complimentary bread, which is also the same bread they use for sandwiches.
Since Zizi's moved into the old space where Shift on Sheffield was, my husband and I have been wanting to stop in, and we finally did last night. Â The place is clean, the service is quick and friendly, and the food is fantastic; all at an extremely reasonable price. Â My husband and I left completely stuffed, with leftovers, and a bill of only $13!!!
The homemade bread is excellent and took me back to my visit to Turkey two years ago. Â I had the falafel sandwich and my husband had the lamb doner kebab. Â I don't usually eat meat because I quite frankly don't like the taste and texture of it, but I had a bite of the doner kebab and it was so good that I continued to take a few more bites, which is pretty much unheard of for me. Â The yogurt sauce was perfect, and we were served some type of carrot/yogurt/garlic dip with the compliimentary bread, and the flavor was really killer. Â The falafel was very good, and the bread it comes on was very good, but together it is a little too filling. Â I think next time we go in what we might do is order the falafel as a an appetizer, and split the lamb doner kebab.
Great service, awesome turkish bread, and wonderful non-greasy falafels.
Most of the items on the menu are pretty cheap, and if you order the soup for under $4 you get a HUGE piece of turkish bread (see my pics). The soup is served in a very small cup to go but the bread makes it all better.
The owner tends to give away free stuff to get you to try it and love it. The frozen yogurt is sinfully good!
It sure beats the place here before, I can tell you that much!
I feel a little like I'm shunning The Pope for breaking the streak of 5 star reviews here...
Pros:
~The place was clean and kept
~Staff was friendly and attentive
~Little freebie "starter" of bread and yogurt carrot dip was AMAZING (garlic lovers must dive right in)
~Prices were affordable and we left with our bellies full
Reason I am giving a 3 star even with wonderful things to say is because I have still had better Meditteranean food. Â The food here was great but it has to be stellar for me to give 5 stars and aside from that unique starter everything was just above average. Â I'm the kind of person who will drive to the far suburbs for some really amazing food, and I can't even say I'll be heading back to this place with all the selection the city has to offer. Â
It was a nice place but unless I'm in the neighborhood it isn't worth me going out of my way for. Â Still a great local gem.
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