LikestoEatout wrote:From The Dish today:

"Naf Naf Grill (1095 E. Ogden Ave., Naperville; 630-904-7200), a popular 30-seat Middle Eastern restaurant that opened earlier this year, is already planning to move to a larger, “professionally designed” location. . . . "

It's probably the GNR Award that put them over the top.

I'm not surprised, as nearly every time I go there's one or more consultant-types talking business with the owner. Great news, provided that they'll still be near my work!

hit naf naf for a quick lunch today while I was in naperville. Place was empty @ 11:30, but almost full by 12:15.

Nice folks running the place, and pretty good food.

We had a small order of hummus, a decent version, although not smooth or garlicky enough for my taste. A decent version , and the fresh pitas are awesome.

Also split the schnitzel in the pita, and the kifta in the pita. Both were really good, the schnitzel one a bit better overall for my tastes. Really nice sandwiches, I think it was about $20 for a lunch, a little on the expensive side as I was still hungry after i left, but the quality of what they are doing is evident.

For my tastes I liked what they were doing in this old Taco Bell, I probably would return.

Anyone have the scoop on the move? We ate here again recently and the place was packed, people had to wait for a table to open up before they could eat. I'm thrilled they are doing so well.

Just got home after having lunch at Naf Naf today. According to one of the owners, they are planning the move in approximately 3 months. The next place will be on Freedom Drive, off I-88 and Diehl Road. He said it should be about 3 times as large and will have indoor bathrooms

I guess I will have to drive an extra mile to get my fix after they move. Not a problem for me.

This is one of my favs on the lunch tour. I went a few days in a row to try other things on the menu. Headed there now.

I would love to know more about this lunch tour. I am going to try it this week, part of my culinary adventure to expand my appreciation for the western suburbs' dining experience. Will let you know what I think!

My wife and I went to Naf Naf for the first time tonight for dinner. A tiny spot that was bustling around 7. Most tables were filled up. We ordered a small hummus, chicken thigh kabob platter w/rice and salad, beef kifta kabob platter w/fries and salad. The pita were awesome. Chicken thigh kabob was moist, juicy and so flavorful. Some of the best chicken I've ever had. The beef kifta had good flavor, but was a little drier than I'd like. The fries were ok, I'd like them to be crispier. Holy crap, that was an insane amount of food. We have enough leftover for a couple of more meals. Just one of the platters would have been enough for both of us.

Can't wait to get back again and try out the rest of the things on the menu.

I love their pita bread!!!


Chicken shawarma pita sandwich.


Falafels with hummus.


Chicken thigh kabob pita sandwich.

Went to Naf Naf for lunch on Wednesday. Chicken Thigh Kabob Pita was excellent per usual. The impending move to a new space doesn't seem to be having any effect on their current focus. The move to Freedom Commons is slated for the beginning of September.



I can also recommend Naf Naf for catering purposes. We had them cater a party for us back in July. Package for 15 people was less than $200. Included Chicken Thigh Kabob, Chicken Schwarma, Beef Tenderloin, rice, cucumber salad, hummus, pita and pickles/olives. Food held up well as it was picked up around 2 and we didn't eat until 7

Thanks LTH, for all the information and photos! I'm excited to try this place out. I just called and they said that Saturday, August 28th is their last day at the Ogden location, and then they're moving to the one on Diehl.

Per their Facebook page (and am about to personally check this out in a few minutes), the new Freedom Commons location is open!

Yep, they've reopened.

Naf Naf Grand Opening 2 - Electric Boogaloo


I loved the old Naf Naf location, but since it was a gutted Taco Bell it was pretty small. While the size was sufficient back when they first opened, word of mouth and sites like LTH made it really crowded, especially around lunch. In fact there have been times when I've asked them to just wrap up a lunch order when I couldn't find seating. This should no longer be a problem.


Now it's more like a gutted Qdoba (kidding!)

The new larger site is quite handsome and looks really clean. To accommodate the size increase, Naf Naf now uses a pager system to let you know when your order's up. The kitchen remains semi-open, but it's expanded as well -- in fact it seems there's now an army of folks baking pitas, shaving shawarma, and frying falafel. But did the food survive the move?


Here's where pitas are born

Hell yes, the food is still as awesome as ever. To celebrate the move, I went back to the basics and got my first order: a shawarma plate. The shawarma was well seasoned and still had the roasty bits that I love so much. I spoke with the owner Sahar (who remembered that I accidentally showed up to his first grand opening ), and he said that they haven't gotten the pitas just right yet. But I think this was more professional pride than reality, as they were as fluffy and light as ever.

So congratulations to Naf Naf on a successful move. If they expand again, hopefully they'll gut a Chili's.

mike

Naf Naf Grill
1739 Freedom Drive #109
Naperville, 60563

Having no prior experience with the earlier Naf Naf, you can understand why walking into the new incarnation Saturday was initially disconcerting: it looks like a Chipotle, Noodles & Co, ____ (insert banal fast-casual chain here), with similar ambitions to boot. The room is cavernous--and therefore noisy as heck--and done in a particular shade of, let's say, corporate soullessness.

But the food, save for falafel that had an odd and artificial spice coda, was really excellent. Just when I was getting Levantine food fatigue, along comes Naf Naf to rekindle the joy: bright taboule, smokey shawarma, silky hummus, Claim Company/Goose Island island-style chips, and excellent pickles. I can see why the owner feels the laffa still is a work in progress, but I'm happy to be an apologist for the bread, which I found likably doughy, as if it were a parker house roll or some such.

I can't imagine when I'll get out here again, but Naf Naf could certainly hold its own in Chicago, even on Kedzie.

Made my first trip to the new location earlier this week. The space is huge compared to the previous spot. It was pretty loud. The food was still excellent. I had a chicken shwarma pita and the chips. The pita tasted as good as ever to me. I love the pickles and the hot sauce. I didn't see the LTH GNR plaque hanging anywhere like in the old place, but they did have signage up by the door that listed quotes from various newspapers. That sign included a quote that said "Great Neighborhood Restaurant" - LTH FORUM

Mr. X and I took my mom to Naf Naf for lunch yesterday. Mom had the schnitzel pita, Mr. X had lentil soup and a chicken shawerma pita, I had the veggie feast. We shared bites of everything. This was a great meal. Everything seemed so fresh. The falafel were a little greasy, but that's my only quibble. Mom enjoyed herself enough that she may bring friends there. That's an endorsement right there!

I have visited the new NNNNNNaf Naf once, and have but two comments:

Space, yuck, food still great. I get the space, clean, big efficient, but it is as said above, soulless/ Business seems good, though.

Noted the comment above about the hummus - we also like it the least of anything there. Sandar insisted they make it from scratch, unlike many places that use a powdered mix (?). Seems strange to me. Cedar Grill, over by Finley and Ogden in Downers, definitely makes their hummus from scratch, as I have seen the chickpeas cooking up, and we really like their version. Also prefer Cedar's Chicken Shawerma to the version at NN, but it is comparing two very different places, one a Lebanese place run by a very grumpy guy with no pretensions that is as happy to make you a burger and fries as shish & hummus, and one Israeli from beginning to end that makes their own pita and looks increasingly like it will be a chain sooner than later.

I still really like both. Naf Naf, keep the food quality high (and I am pretty sure you will) and I can live with the rest.

Cedar Grill
2223 Ogden Ave # 3
Downers Grove, IL 60515-1762
(630) 241-2525

Came here after reading all the positive words on them in the LTH Forum. I have to say that it was as good as everyone says. I went with my wife, who is a fairly tough critic and she was immediately impressed with everything. The small details are handled so well - the little cups of pickles and olives are delicious. The place is nice, clean, simple and the overall quality of all of the the food is high.

The delicious pillowy (credit this to dicksond on the LTHForum) pita is homemade and awesome and the hummus is very good.

We had Chicken Shwarma pita and Beef Kifta Kebab pita with a Tabule salad.

It was the best tabule salad I have ever had, very fresh (too acidy for my wife) and both pitas were great - filled with hummus and what they call 'Israeli salad' - cucumbers and tomatoes and cilantro and onion in a light dressing'.

We had baklava for dessert and it was the best bakklava i have had since I was in greece - nearly 30 years ago.

This is a quality place. It is something you should eat (sorry steve dolinsky!)

Just need to say per my previous post that when I said 'sorry Steve Dolinsky' I didn't mean Steve Dolinsky did not like Naf Naf Grill, I meant sorry I stole his phrase.

A friend reading my post pointed that out. Sorry for my poorr writing!

Looks like expansion to 2 new locations is in the works

Owners of Naf Naf Grill in Naperville believe their Middle Eastern cuisine delivers that value, with a sandwich and a soft drink falling below $10. The restaurant has already doubled its size since opening in January 2009. The four co-owners now are planning to open two other suburban restaurants with the same name.

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/2010 ... 712079922/

The last time I was in there, Oak Brook was mentioned as the new location. If it's going to be two more, I'm hoping for a NW suburban location (Arlington Heights/Des Plaines) as well.

I finally made it to Naf Naf's new location yesterday and I have to agree that the space is terrible but the food still great. We went about 12:30 and the place was packed and so noisy we could barely hear each other across the table. There were only a few seats left and there were several large groups there that had pushed tables all around which made it like walking through a mine field. Lots of little ones running around and screaming didn't help. It was my sister's first visit and first with this type of food, she was really happy with her beef kabob platter and sampled purple slaw, hummus and Israeli salad off our plates. Our only complaint is when we went to the counter to pick up our order we had difficulty getting through the crowd waiting for their carryouts and when we got there, our entire order was wrong and we had to wait another 10 minutes until they sorted it all out. I'm happy for their success but if they want to add 2 more locations, they really need to control the chaos that it's become.

So glad they moved to this location. Plenty of parking which is a treasure in Naperville.

I got to try Naf Naf! Rainy, cold Sunday yesterday, and we were out in Da Naperthrill lookin at granite. I planned naf naf for lunch cuz what the F else is out in Naperville, and if the lth folks sing its praise, then I'm all in. I really wonder if the environment ruined it for me, but I kinda felt this was overpriced, mall food attempt at middle eastern fare. There were things I think they absolutely nailed, and hit out of the ballpark, but a few things I really think stunk.
LOVED the lentil soup.
LOVED the harissa.
Liked the falafel
Baba Ghannouj - just barely ok. Price was a bit high, imo.
Chicken thigh kebab - horrible. This was chicken brined beyond the point of having the same texture of chicken. It was just salty globs. Didn't care for it at ALL. At an 11.99 price point, I kinda felt robbed.
The fresh chips were good indeed, but the price was a little much for sliced fried potatoes, imo. I was expecting a big honkin overflowing basket, but got a salad plate. They mildly stacked it, maybe my old cootness is just not realistic anymore.
The pitas were obviously fresh, warm - piping hot, actually, though I'm not sure I prefer the Israeli version over the thinner, chewier pitas.

If I were around there again, I would definitely go back for the lentil soup, and maybe a falafel sammich with gobs of harissa. I was just not very impressed with the prices. The baba ghannouj, and those chicken thigh kebabs kinda soured me. It might be the absolute perfect Israeli prep for those things, but I did not care for them at those price points. Glad I got to try the place out though. Rarely do I get a weekend that I can try two GNR's for the first time.

Naf Naf just posted on their Facebook page that their second location is going to be on Rt.59 near the Fox Valley Mall in Aurora.

A new Naf Naf Grill is opening up in the old Baja Fresh space at 5716 W. Touhy Avenue in Niles. Talk about an improvement!

windycityaj wrote:So glad they moved to this location. Plenty of parking which is a treasure in Naperville.

The parking might not be so great anymore, check out all of Naf-Naf's neighbors in Naperville.

http://www.freedomcommons.com/business-directory.php

A rainy day, something to return to IKEA...a perfect pairing to add to a trip to naf naf. I even enticed my picky eater son to join me (once he read the LTH postings). I have forever been ruined to enjoy pita bread unless it comes from naf naf. Wow...what a world of difference. The son made the comment that he probably would have enjoyed everything on the menu...double wow.

Saturday took us over towards Fox Valley Mall for an Estate sale and then looking for lunch. I remembered that Naf Naf was moving in to the old Miga 59 Korean restaurant space so we headed over there. If you are not familiar with the Mall ring road, this can be a little tricky to find because it is set back and right near the main Rte.59 entrance between Mc Donalds and Kohl's. This location is about half the size of the Freedom Drive location and set up is somewhat the same except the pop machines and silverware are at the back of the line and not the front as it was on my last visit to Freedom Drive. There were only four tables full at about 12:30 and 2 of them were large families. Ordering went smoothly ( no one else in line) and they give you a beeper thingy for when your order is done. I had beef kifta kabob sandwich, my partner had falafel. Both were good, my only complaint was that the pita seemed more doughy than I remembered otherwise I prefer this location over the parent one.

Naf Naf
4430 Fox Valley Center Drive
Aurora, Il
630-499-1700

I had my first visit to Naf Naf since they moved from Taco Bell, the other day. Please count me as a continued high fan of this place. I would offer that its prices are high for the genre (but not nearly as high as the CRC certified Mizrahi), but high prices do not negate value. I did not leaving I felt I paid too much. Not the least, I liked a lot the gratis pickles, the Ted Drewes thick tahini, and house hot sauce, not to mention pita way better.

Naf Naf has realized the same MBA lesson of Portillio's. If you can do something just a few percentage points better than your competitors, your rewards in customers will be many percentage points greater.