Saj Alreef Restaurant

Before I mentions any food, I must start with our waiter "Sam." The service and kindness he treated us with, despite the fact that this was our first time ever at this restaurant, was unbelievably great. You rarely meet this kind of service , and we do a lot of dining and eating outside. We feel obligated to give this kind man his due credit.The food was fantastic. The fish "masgoof" was beyond our expectations, the kebab was melting in our mouths, and the lamb shawarma "Guss" was straight from the Baghdad. A special thank you to uncle Abu Ibrahim for the authentic Iraqi tea A great experience indeed

I want to start by saying the decor transports me to the Emirates and reminds me of the beauty of the Oud stores. It's very elegant and a great place to have a gathering with friends and family. It's not a fine dining establishment but they could have easily taken that route if they wanted. I went with a few friends and we ordered the chicken shawarma with hummus, fattoush with chicken tikka on top, and an Iraqi kabob. I asked the waitress if the Iraqi kabob was made with beef and she assured me it was. My friends both receieved their food about 15 mins later, and mine arrived about 20 mins in. Both of their dishes were pretty good, although the chicken shawarma was a tad dry in my opinion. When I finally tasted my dish, I immediately knew that the Iraqi kabob was not only beef, but mixed ground beef and lamb. It took a while for our waitress to return to check on us, but I let her know I didn't like my dish and I could taste the gamey-ness from the lamb. She started to argue with me that it didn't have any lamb. After going back and forth a few times, she goes to find the owner and doesn't return for about 10 mins. By then both my friends had finished eating. She then stated how the "recipe had changed 3 days ago" and she wasn't aware that the new recipe did use both lamb and beef. I highly doubt that's what actually happened but I didn't feel like arguing with her so I requested for the dish to be removed from my tab and I sent it back. I was put off by the experience so I didn't order anything else on the menu.

So delicious and beautiful interior of restaurant. Our waitress was super nice and gave us great recommendations such as the Turkish Kabob and the pomegranate juice. Absolutely loved the kunafa (sweet cheese dessert), the Turkish kabob (which I believe is lamb and is a little spicy; half is definitely enough for one; not officially on the menu but our waitress let us know about it), and the pomegranate juice was pretty good as well. The chocolate cake was nothing special and the pistachio cake was kinda like cheesecake but had a sour/tart taste like Greek yogurt with not a lot of actual pistachio or sweet flavor, so I would recommend staying away from those two desserts.

Food was good, typical Iraqi place. Def was fresh and soft meat, and plenty for 5 people. The food itself self was probably 4 stars. The place is new so it was very clean, long tables so comfortable seating. We were seated immediately, requested waters. Place our orders for food, soups arrived for everyone in a timely fashion. But for the 30 minutes no water and we had to request it again to be brought out. Food arrived, we ate comfortably. No one once checked on us to see if we needed anything else. Even once we finished eating no one stop by. We had to request someone to bring the check and boxes after finishing our food for a decent time. Our server was polite when he was with us but it's like they just forgot us at times. It is halal!

Solid Iraqi food. We ordered the family patter for 5 which easily could of fed 8-10 people. The meats were delicious. The chicken and beef kabobs were juicy and flavorful. However, the beef shawarma was so dry and did not taste fresh. They served our platter with 3 different types of rice and bread. It also came with soup, house sauce and garlic sauce. The price is pretty high. I feel the platter should of also came with some type of salad. The inside has modern elegant decor. The staff was friendly.

The food is good here. The service isn't so great. This is my 3rd time here and the staff is just not friendly. They're not rude or nice if that makes sense. They're just there. My wife loves the salmon sandwich lasaj bread wrap so we keep coming back for that and nothing else. Maybe if the staff was a little friendlier we would try something else. But we just order out so we can atleast enjoy our food without having to deal with people problems.

The food here was excellent! I had Mansaf, a Jordanian dish with lamb, and my wife had Iraqi kebab. Mariam was our server, very attentive and friendly. The portions are generous. We look forward to coming back!

I placed an order Came in the proper time frame and they informed me it will be a couple minutes No communication with the customers I asked 3 times how much longer they communicate with each other yet not with the customer Finally when I was vocal they informed me they are waiting for the chicken and I it will be done soon 30 minutes later they finally got my food ready and they were not even busy on this snowy day

I have no clue how this place is rated so highly. One of the most disgusting meals I've ever eaten. We were given a fish sauce or dressing with the falafel instead of tahini which was extremely weird. It was so strong all the falafel reeked of fish. I couldn't eat any of it. Both our shawarma sandwiches had bones in them. They also use white and dark meat which I'm not a fan of personally but know many people are. Garlic sauce was bland and watery. Fattoush salad and rice were passable at best. Only positive was that they have the good thin pita bread.

Pricey and food is different from day to day but the staff are nice. Would not recommend for their prices not worth it.