Ali Baba Cafe

Great Restaurant

This place looks very humble from the outside, but you'd be doing yourself a disservice not to try Ali Baba restaurant. I've eaten there several times (usually I get the Spicy Chicken) and I've always enjoyed myself. The owner/ head chef definitely puts a lot of care and pride into his work. He even treated my party to some free servings of fried-banana dessert. Again, great restaurant.

Always Great

I go to Ali's quite regularly. Sometimes with my family but more often my work takes me into Sudbury frequently, and when time allows it's not uncommon for me to drag one of my collegues over to Ali Baba. I don't have to drag them back, they are usually the ones initiating a return visit. The food is consitently awsome! Ali knows how to cook! The mainstays are his Shwarmas and Falafals. So good, that the collegues I take there who are normally very conservative on trying new kinds of food, will rave about them afterwards. But other items off the menu are also good choices. I could go on with the superlatives, but that would be pointless. Just go there. It's good. And be prepared, Ali is generous with the portions. The regular serrver can be quite entertaining at times. She speaks her mind. Sometimes however, Ali is doing everything, serving, cooking, answering the phone, and busin' the tables after you leave. Also entertaining. Ali Baba's is very kid friendly. All of our kids like going there, especially since Ali will often prepare something "off menu" for them. We all feel like we've been treated.

Terrific food, service could be improved.

I'll start out by saying that overall, my experience here was a very positive one. Service was inadequate, so perhaps that tells you something about just how delicious this food really is. It's fantastic! We visited as part of a rather large group (15~) for a staff Christmas party. I recently bowed out of the serving world, so I was a bit confused as to why it took 10+ minutes for our table to get water (and even longer for refills). I will concede that there was a single lady serving us (and the entire restaurant) with the help of a young guy who was more of a 'runner', zipping back and forth helping bring food and clear plates. Still, though, some organization on the server's part would have gone a long way... She took our drink orders in waves, I think about 4 at a time. She asked for our names, and after getting 4 or so orders she would scurry away to return minutes later with those drinks, and to take the next wave of drink orders. My mind is a bit boggled as to why she'd not use seat #'s (opposed to names) and why she'd not take the full table's drink order at once... this was a rather inefficient way of doing things. I did eventually get a wine, although I had to chase down a second glass that ought to have been brought while I was starting the main course, as the first was finished after the appetizers. I'll also add that I thought it strange that we were given no explanation as to what was actually happening with our orders... we were never given menus, and suddenly food just started coming out. Salad, then bruschetta (spicy and not), then main courses of chicken marsala, beef/chickpea curry, rice, and seafood (shrimp, mussels, scallops, and I believe imitation crab meat in a wonderful sauce). Desert was some kind of fried bananas, ice cream, and sauteed berries. All of these items were brought on 3-4 large plates and we distributed it amongst ourselves--kind of a neat way of doing things for a party, I thought, but I felt that we might have had an intro telling us what to expect. The food? Like I said, it was awesome. Salad was fresh and tasty, bruschetta was nothing to write home about, but still good (and not at all soggy). The chicken marsala was one of the best things I've ever enjoyed in Sudbury! Fantastic. Curried beef was good, albeit a bit tough, and the rice was terrific. Seafood was also great, in some kind of creamy sauce. I'm not a seafood eater, but I really enjoyed it. Back to the wine, if you're a red drinker you've got two choices: merlot or shiraz. I opted for the latter... and I'll just say that the second glass was much easier to get down (my first taste did not leave a good impression). I'll be back as part of a duo, next time, and anticipate better service and will enjoy the freedom of ordering whatever I like (though it'll likely be the chicken marsala!).

Always a hit, never a miss

I go to Ali's about every other month, and although the service is sometimes questionable depending on what waitress he has, and the place isin't shick and decor dated and ugly, the food is always outstanding. I have never had a bad meal from his kitchen, his lunch menue has shawrma's and they are fantastic! I love the food, and the cook. He's great too, everything else I could go without.

This restaurant was recommended to me by more than one person, but I'm failing to see what the hype was about. The menu was not very descriptive and we had to guess what was going to come out of what we ordered. The food tasted good but was rather uneventful and smothered in dill and parsley (not necessary). We got large portions, but it was overpriced for what we were served. Although the restaurant is clean, the decor doesn't add anything to the atmosphere. Not impressed and will not be returning.