by Jessica M.
This place is mmm....good! I got the Chicken Shish Kabob Plate with Hummus, Tabouli, and pita bread. It is huge plate and if you eat it all you will be stuffed like a thanksgiving turkey. The place was really busy and I think they are still getting used to running things smoothly. They were out of some stuff but that is too be expected with a new place when they are that busy. Finally this area is getting some more variety in places to eat!! My suggestion would be a little faster on making the food and definately get more tables for people to sit at to eat because when they are crowded you might as well get it to go so call ahead!
by John W.
I have been waiting for this place for what seems like forever. In fact, I have been waiting so long that when I drove by to see if they were open yet I didn't believe they were. I am so happy to see a Mediterranean place nearby, so happy in fact that I cant explain it in public.Al Wadi is deli style, which was totally not expected. Judging by the size of the place from the outside I expected a very casual sit down eatery with a market on the side. I must admit, them calling it a grill and market is just spot on. We ordered and were told it would be about 25 minutes. Why, I am not sure but we were willing to be patient. We took this opportunity to look over their wares in the market section. It screamed very impulse buy at the supermarket checkout. All cans and jars of neat specialty items. They sell overly cheap crappy looking hookahs and other various oddities. They had a produce (I use that term loosely) section that wasn't cold enough and everything was wilted and needed to be tossed. Obviously they weren't fully stocked as they had a cold storage that didn't even have any product in it at the time.In the market section is a big picture window that looks in to the back of their restaurant prep area where I was able to watch a man prep meat and one of the other employees prepping lettuce. The bathrooms were beautiful, very large and nice. The whole place was very clean, open and inviting. I felt like they were not out to hide anything. I was worried as usual of trying a new place solely because I don't like standing around looking like a goober trying to figure out how the place worked. I will say it was an easy to figure out place, and they had multiple forms of their menu laying around to decide. My standby items are always a chicken shawarma of some kind, and humus at least. After looking at the appetizer menu it was becoming very hard to decide on an appetizer until I saw the Al Wadi sampler. It came with humus, Baba Gannouj, Falafel, Kibbie, Grape Leaves, and what I can assume was a weak rendition of their Labneh but that tasted more like plain sour cream. It came with a pile of good pita but was cold so we asked them to heat it up. After they did that it was very divine and pleasing to my taste buds. My complaints about the sampler are as follows, its marked for 2 people but came with 3 grape leaves and one kibbie. WTF?! Just seemed odd. And the sampler is at the bottom of the menu and says it comes with "each of the above" yet spinach pies and french fries were no where to be found and the Labneh was missing its own toppings. It was also 10 dollars, which I think was a tad pricey for what I was served. I can't tell if they had overly smokey paprika or what, but the smokiness of the Baba Ghannouj and the Hummus overpowered the amazing flavors these dips had. The Falafel was cooked to perfection, I have no other way to describe it. Often times its heavy and laden with grease, but this was light and perfect. I had never had Kibbie before, and found it to be a really neat meld of flavors and ingredients. I also ordered the Chicken Shawama sandwich, it was a more of a wrap than other places that i have had it. It was good, just all around good. It had pickles and some other items in it, though I am not exactly sure what. I kind of feel like this was a very western rendition of the dish. I have no basis for this though, just my inkling. Nothing really notable except that at 6 bucks it needs some sort of side to go with it, even if its just chips or something. The people that worked there at times came off a little rude but I write it off as they just opened and they were busy. And I mean BUSY! I'm happy for them that they seemed to be bustling so quick out of the gate. While not seeming overly friendly, they were on top of our requests. Margie asked for a cup of water, they were out of ice so they graciously gave her a bottle of ozarka. They didn't blink twice when asked for extra pita and the request for it to be warmed. I think it says a lot for a place when the obvious owners are sitting with the patrons enjoying dinner together. I know their food is good and it speaks loudly.On the way out we stopped to look at their baklava and talked briefly with one of the employees about where they get some of their stuff. They purchase from Phoenicia which was a relief since I am already familiar with their quality.I am excited to return and try their "plates" as they looked to be piled high with great food. If this place lasts, which I expect it to, I think they can be a good force and I will absolutely eat here more especially when they iron out some of their odd, just opening, kinks.
