Baba Pita, inexpensive yet tasty middle eastern food!

After attending the taste of randolph festival last weekend, I looked over the Baba Pita flyer I recieved and decided to check it out.

When you walk in, it's a very plain, almost substandard interior, however the owner and attendants are very friendly and make you feel at home. I think they recently opened, (not sure) and when I came in yesterday there were only a few patrons right around 5pm.

Anyhow they have great daily specials an yesterday I got the chicken kabob plate, which came with jasmine rice, the chicken kabob, a nice side salad and a surprisingly tasty/zesty tomato soup. ALSO, I got 2 falafel and 6 small warm and soft pita pieces with some hummus, topped with garlic/olive oil. Also included was a soft drink of my choice as well as a very tasty pastry desert which I have never had the pleasure of trying. All this for 8.99! The rice was savory, the chicken was very flavorful and thus I will be back again for more specials, if you enjoy middle eastern food done right and with flavor but don't want to spend too much give Baba's pita a try. I hope this place does well so I can continue to go, it's hard to find a decent meal under 10$ in this part of the city. (west loop/randolph)



Baba's Pita

1032 W. Lake St.

Chicago, IL 60612

I ordered delivery from Baba Pita last week and was pleasantly surprised by the food. The prices are dirt cheap, especially if you order the day's special, which includes the special entree, two appetizers, a salad, dill rice and a dessert of the day. When I ordered, I had the Chicken Schwarma, which was not a huge portion, but tasty, which came with fluffy dill basmati rice, a warm pita, hummus and a mediterranean salad, all for something like $5.00. Also, the owner called later to see if the delivery went fine and that I liked the food, which was a nice touch.

I've had Baba Pita delivered at work before and I've been very pleased. The food seems very fresh and their combos/specials are pretty reasonably priced. I even like their fish! I probably wouldn't go out of my way to go there in person, but for delivery it's great.

You can order from them online at their website, www.babapita.com

So I read the reviews, & went to the website & saw that Advanced Delivery was an option. Since they are in the area of my ofc., but too far to walk, I placed an advance order at 3:30 today for Thursday at lunch time.
Ordering system worked great, very simple, got a confirmation e-mail immediately, showing delivery on THURSDAY.
Well, at 4pm I get a call that my food order is HERE- NOW.
Um, it's not supposed to be here now.
So I went down, showed the man my order. He was very nice, & assured me I wouldn't be charged & that we would really get our lunches Thursday.
If anyone uses this service for advance delivery, I would stongly suggest on the special delivery instructions to clearly state that it is an advanced order, because, the delivery info. showed at the bottom right. Obviously it was missed.
I just wished he would have left me the hummus or falafel as a consolation so I could see if it was any good.
I ordered a smattering of items, & if I do get it, if anyone wants, I will post a review.

Just wanted to comment that they have updated their interior and it looks much nicer, makes me want to visit them more often and dine in! Also, try the date filled pastry cookie, they are very addicting.

Let me add to the warm fuzzies for Baba Pita. First, FoodSnob rightly praises the new decor, which has jumped from cafeteria-vibe to an actual restaurant ambience (though not white tablecloth level).

Ms Snax and I had dinner there last night, and while we were the only dine-in patrons between 645 and 730, there were many pickup and delivery orders. I hope their volume is sufficient to ensure a long life, because quality cheap eats options in the 'hood are lacking. Not only did we enjoy every last item, but the extremely gregarious and sometimes hilarious front-of-house guy Mehdi really made us feel at home. The sheer volume of food that attends the daily specials made me suspicious (she got the kefta special), but every element was made with care and and a deft touch of spices. After teasing me for merely ordering a sandwich, Medhi also generously comped an extra piece of baklava, and a sample of a delicious home made fruit salad. Their homemade mint tea, with honey, rosewater and cardamom, is also not to be missed. A real winner!

Went there last night. Big thumbs up. Shared the shrimp plate, vegetable plate and the meat combination plate. Would recommend without qualification the spice-encrusted falafel, as well as the beef kefta (sp?). Not so much the watery lentil soup (I like Taza's rendition much better).
Did not seem very busy ... I hope this place becomes hoppin' soon, as it is just a great, friendly place with nice decor and good food.

Edit: Forgot to mention the high quality of the fresh-baked pita, warm and fluffy inside, tenderly crunchy (I'm fudging the description here ... IT'S GOOD) outside. Perfect with their hummus which comes with the combo plates. Go here now, esp. if you're in the area.

I have been back to Baba Pita several times since my post in April, and the food has been consistently excellent. The salmon special is an especially good deal. I also learned the proper spelling of the proprietor's name, so I thought I should correct myself here (Mehdi, not Medhi).

I would love to see this place get some more recognition, so forgive the thinly justified thread bump. Maybe Baba Pita can get some momentum for a GNR 2008 citation!

I keep meaning to try Baba Pita, went once but they were closed, Lake Street is typically an early morning spot for me, and Baba's opens at 11am, noon on Sunday.

Baba's Pita
1032 W. Lake St
Chicago, IL 60612
312-243-3439
http://www.babapita.com/

Ordered delivery from Baba Pita last night; unfortunately this food does not travel well - it all arrived cold. Pita was dry and hard, the falafel seemed mass produced, and was over-fryed and way too crunchy. The chicken schwarma did not seem to be sliced from chicken on a spit, just cubed, small, off parts...like the chicken you'd find in bad fried rice. One glimmer of daylight - baba gannouj and hummous seemed homemade. The worst part of the meal had to be the that every bit of the food was seasoned about as much as hospital food.

There is a new baba pita located next door to Jimmy John's on Lincoln ave. in Lincoln Park. No word if they have any relation to Baba's famous steak & lemonade or sites of Babba's pita on the south side yet.

Baba's Famous pita #2
2233 N. Lincoln ave.
Chicago, IL 60622
(773)-549-7272
http://www.babapita.com/

Da Beef wrote:. No word if they have any relation to Baba's famous steak & lemonade or sites of Babba's pita on the south side yet.

im thinking its a play on words...u know, Ali Baba, 40 thieves and all.

My wife and I have recently sworn off Sinbad's (on Fullerton and Clark,) as they have gone quite a bit downhill in the last year or so. The lentil soup and hot sauce are still good, but the falafels, which used to be so hot they would burn your tongue, has been dry and less than flavorful.

So we turned to Grubhub to find a different place for home delivery and came across Baba Pita, which has locations in Lincoln Park and in the West Loop. Looks like most of the comments here are from the WL branch, but we ordered from the LP location.

Anyway, we've had their food delivered twice. Both times, the food arrived quickly and still warm. The first time, we ordered a chicken schwarma plate, a small order of Baba g, the lentil soup, and a single falafel ball (50 cents each) to test the waters. The chicken was good, if somewhat under-spiced. It came on a bed of light-dill flavored rice. (My favorite version of this is still at Rezas - the only thing I really like there.) The side salad had an interesting mint oil dressing and the side of hummus was decent and tasted homemade with good texture and chickpea flavor.

But the real winners were the lentil soup, the baba g and the falafel. The lentil soup was spicy, savory and filling, with just the right ratio of broth to lentils. The baba was smokey and fresh, with a tart eggplant flavor punctuated by chunks of roasted garlic. The falafel was crispy with a moist interior that was pleasantly spiced.

Unfortunately, the pita was store bought warmed and almost stale. And the hot sauce was, ahem, a bit off to be charitable.

Anyway, just a little bump to help people remember this place. It isn't in the Kedzie/North of the City middle eastern food mecca, but it is close, inexpensive, and good food that (in our case) travelled well.

Baba Pita - Lincoln Park
2233 N. Lincoln Av.
Phone (773) 549-7272

I stopped into the Lincoln Park location for a quick bite.
The interior was enjoyable with a most of the booths incorporating some of the more interesting tables I have seen.
I ordered
VEGGIE FALAFEL PLATE $8.95
FRIED GROUND CHICK PEAS PATTIES SERVED WITH
SALAD, HUMMUS, PITA BREAD & TAHINI SAUCE

pros; The falafel was fresh and extra crispy, the hummus was Ok and the Jerusalem salad was good if not overly dressed. The Tahini was very good.

cons; The falafel had so much garlic as to make it inedible by itself. It was literally burn your mouth like munching on a toe of fresh garlic hot. I could have managed if I would have been provided more than 1 Pita to accompany my lunch or if there had been anyone to refill my water glass. The amount of hummus was pretty skimpy as well and there was very little Tahini to top it all off.

I did mention my perception of the falafel to the people working and I imagine it was probably just a mistaken batch.

That said, I could justify the 9 dollars because of the location if the food were especially good but I wouldn't return here on my own for anything I had today other than the tahini sauce. Their menu does indicate they have a strong catering or group business so I might consider ordering from there if on a lager scale.