Ali Baba Grill in Carpentersville.

My wife and I tried this place a couple weeks ago. Good inexpensive northern Pakistani cuisine! No web site per se, but they now have a Facebook page here. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ali-Baba ... 7284794318

It's good stuff.

But, here is my problem. Yelp. Yelp reviews: http://www.yelp.com/biz/ali-baba-grill-carpentersville If you go into the "filtered" reviews, it improves greatly. WTF? I've heard stories.....

8050 Binnie Rd
Carpentersville, IL 60110
224 388-0286

My wife stops there every couple of weeks to grab take-out for dinner on her way home from work, and we've also enjoyed pretty much everything. The only thing that we probably wouldn't get again was the dal makhani -- very oily. However, we both love the chicken boti and my wife is a huge fan of their biryanis.

We, too, have noticed those reviews. I'm curious what "stories" you've heard. Obviously, that area by and large probably isn't accustomed to that type of food, so you'll get the "too spicy" comments, but to give 1 star because it was spicy to your palate is insane. Note, too, that I've seen other reviews by that Ryan H guy (who tends to write sprawling 4 paragraph reviews for places he wasn't fond of), and can just say this: he gave another restaurant a 1 star review because he ordered duck breast there, and they checked with him to confirm that it was OK if it was medium rare -- his response was along the lines of "poultry should be cooked all the way through, I don't want to get sick!". And he proceeded to knock them for this "unsanitary" practice. So yeah... that's some of the local yokels we're dealing with . (Although I will note that there did seem to be some legit service issues when he was at Ali Baba).

Off topic, a new Persian place (Aladdin) opened up just north of here in the Algonquin Commons -- I mention it, because this, too, has been subject to these types of 1 star Yelp reviews, where people are angry because the menu is "confusing", etc. (and I can almost ensure you that this was their first experience with this type of food).

In response to adipocere: Yelp alert ! I don't usually post on yelp. However, we ate at a Greek restaurant in Lake Zurich. I posted that it was lovely, food, atmosphere, service, all were great. I looked at yelp after this and noticed my review wasn't there. Then I found the hidden "filtered" reviews. There was my review. The restaurant, Menalon, is showing 2 stars on yelp, with 9 reviews. However, if you go into the "filtered" section, they have 60 glowing reviews with this disclaimer: Note: The reviews below are not factored into the business's overall star rating.

Menalons pic is priceless. It says: The best kept secret award. This restaurant has 5 stars filtered reviews.

The same is happening with Aladdin's Mediterranean Grill, the reviews, 3 1/2 left them with a 2.5 'star' review. However, the hidden "filtered" reviews? seven five, or close to it, star reviews.

Sorry, i'm off topic..

jleblanc05 wrote:In response to adipocere: Yelp alert ! I don't usually post on yelp. However, we ate at a Greek restaurant in Lake Zurich. I posted that it was lovely, food, atmosphere, service, all were great. I looked at yelp after this and noticed my review wasn't there. Then I found the hidden "filtered" reviews. There was my review. The restaurant, Menalon, is showing 2 stars on yelp, with 9 reviews. However, if you go into the "filtered" section, they have 60 glowing reviews with this disclaimer: Note: The reviews below are not factored into the business's overall star rating.

Menalons pic is priceless. It says: The best kept secret award. This restaurant has 5 stars filtered reviews.

The same is happening with Aladdin's Mediterranean Grill, the reviews, 3 1/2 left them with a 2.5 'star' review. However, the hidden "filtered" reviews? seven five, or close to it, star reviews.

Sorry, i'm off topic..

I have seen this way too much on Yelp. I trust it only s far as they give me an address, a map and hours. It's really a shame.

Thanks for posting about Ali Baba Grill. I have been just a few times and it deserves some love. A family owned business (and the family is very nice) on what is otherwise a vast wasteland of Randall road is very welcome. I went on opening day and they had a buffet lunch. I tried the Chicken Boti, Vegetable Samosa, what must have been the Nihari and one other thing I do not remember. I liked everything and wanted to go back. Next time I tried I was time constrained and it was jammed, so had to bail. So it took me a long time to return due to constraints of family palate. I have been back a few times and like everything I have tried. I agree that the Daal Makhne (menu spelling) is oily, but I can still remember the taste and am tempted to drop by and pick up some when I am driving by....

I need to go back. Yelp sucks - thanks for the filtered review tip - never saw that before.

Aladdin Mediterranean Grill should maybe get a separate post. I was there the day after opening day and there was good and bad but I'd rather let them get their legs under themselves before getting all snarky with a one star Yelp review.

To add yet more confusion to this post, there is a Indo-Pak grocery almost across the street (next to Randall Roadhouse) from Ali Baba Grill called Hot Masala. I use it as my source for spices, daal(s), beans and whatnot. Their prices on special spices and even run of the mill items like cumin blows away anything you can find in the immediate area. They always have a semi amused smile when they see me walk through the door as I obviously do not fit the customer profile.

Good that some depth is coming to a stretch of road made slippery by the grease of countless chicken tenders and fries.

Yelp seems to be in the midst of strong-arming restaurants these days. Out of the blue a few weeks back we had multiple calls from "services" pledging to write glowing Yelp reviews for our Pub, for a small fee of course. How very odd that the very afternoon when I very (sort of) politely and professionally thanked the young man and declined his services, we got a trash review. What's the chances....

I think we've entered a day when most folks who know, know that Yelp isn't what it once was and they adjust their decision accordingly.

(now watch...we're going to be getting flamed)

I would love to try this place and others mentioned here, I grew up in the area when all of this was farmland and the only thing remotely "ethnic" was Masi's Pizza in Dundee! Now all of my family and myself lives many miles away. It's obvious that the one Yelp poster RyanH has no understanding of small, family run ethnic places but unfortunately has a big voice.

D.G.Sullivan wrote:Yelp seems to be in the midst of strong-arming restaurants these days. Out of the blue a few weeks back we had multiple calls from "services" pledging to write glowing Yelp reviews for our Pub, for a small fee of course. How very odd that the very afternoon when I very (sort of) politely and professionally thanked the young man and declined his services, we got a trash review. What's the chances....

I think we've entered a day when most folks who know, know that Yelp isn't what it once was and they adjust their decision accordingly.

(now watch...we're going to be getting flamed)

I did not want to say as much when I started this thread, but you've hit the nail on the head. If you Google "Yelp" and look around for stuff, you'll find all sorts of interesting things. Example: http://pixsym.com/blog/reputation-manag ... it-in-2012

jleblanc05 wrote:In response to adipocere: Yelp alert ! I don't usually post on yelp. However, we ate at a Greek restaurant in Lake Zurich. I posted that it was lovely, food, atmosphere, service, all were great. I looked at yelp after this and noticed my review wasn't there. Then I found the hidden "filtered" reviews. There was my review. The restaurant, Menalon, is showing 2 stars on yelp, with 9 reviews. However, if you go into the "filtered" section, they have 60 glowing reviews with this disclaimer: Note: The reviews below are not factored into the business's overall star rating.

Menalons pic is priceless. It says: The best kept secret award. This restaurant has 5 stars filtered reviews.

The same is happening with Aladdin's Mediterranean Grill, the reviews, 3 1/2 left them with a 2.5 'star' review. However, the hidden "filtered" reviews? seven five, or close to it, star reviews.

Sorry, i'm off topic..

Yelps filtering is to keep restaurants from making fake accounts and giving themselves 5 star reviews. Take the aladdin restaurant for example. I was one of the negative reviews on the front page, I feel that I was honest and I hope the place can use that to improve, I've left around 30 reviews with a pretty even distribution of stars. The filtered reviews that give 5 stars all are accounts with no other reviews left that were created and left reviews on the same day. I'm betting they all are linked to the same IP address and that also plays into yelps filtering system but that's just a guess. Double check the number of reviews left by the filtered reviewers, it's the number following the star icon.

EatTheMeat wrote:

jleblanc05 wrote:In response to adipocere: Yelp alert ! I don't usually post on yelp. However, we ate at a Greek restaurant in Lake Zurich. I posted that it was lovely, food, atmosphere, service, all were great. I looked at yelp after this and noticed my review wasn't there. Then I found the hidden "filtered" reviews. There was my review. The restaurant, Menalon, is showing 2 stars on yelp, with 9 reviews. However, if you go into the "filtered" section, they have 60 glowing reviews with this disclaimer: Note: The reviews below are not factored into the business's overall star rating.

Menalons pic is priceless. It says: The best kept secret award. This restaurant has 5 stars filtered reviews.

The same is happening with Aladdin's Mediterranean Grill, the reviews, 3 1/2 left them with a 2.5 'star' review. However, the hidden "filtered" reviews? seven five, or close to it, star reviews.

Sorry, i'm off topic..

Yelps filtering is to keep restaurants from making fake accounts and giving themselves 5 star reviews. Take the aladdin restaurant for example. I was one of the negative reviews on the front page, I feel that I was honest and I hope the place can use that to improve, I've left around 30 reviews with a pretty even distribution of stars. The filtered reviews that give 5 stars all are accounts with no other reviews left that were created and left reviews on the same day. I'm betting they all are linked to the same IP address and that also plays into yelps filtering system but that's just a guess. Double check the number of reviews left by the filtered reviewers, it's the number following the star icon.

Agreed, that's what they claim it is for, but if you look at Ali Baba, for instance, there are people with 5 reviews all the way up to 34 that are filtered out. So, it's definitely not filtering across the board in the same manner. That's what's sketchy about Yelp. If you looked at the link that adipocere provided, there is an account of a wedding photographer who had ALL of her good reviews filtered out and was left with a single 1 star review (from someone with 1 review) -- all of this, after she refused to pay $$$ to a service that called her regarding Yelp. As stated above, Yelp is pretty much good for an address and hours, the rest is nebulous at best.

Either way, I think this quote has some merit regarding reviewing a restaurant that has literally just opened: "I'd rather let them get their legs under themselves before getting all snarky with a one star Yelp review. "

Well, luckily LTH doesn't filter out comments from people with very few comments.

But I would like to say, my Menalon review that was filtered wasn't the only time this has happened to me, and I do believe I have around 20 reviews on yelp..

These same restaurants end up closing and saying that the customers didn't understand the menu or the economy is to blame rather than examine the issues that are present from day one. If you don't want to deal with customers don't open a restaurant. If you need to learn how to cook food and serve guests, opening and charging full price and winging it is probably not a good business plan. I have been to several restaurants that have done a soft opening or used charity promotions to train their staff to ensure guests will get the service they should before they open.

How long do I have to wait to review a restaurant? I guess I should have just rated it five stars and said it was wonderful, then they could feel great about the poor job they're doing. Pita Kabobs is just up the street, why open if you don't intend to provide diners with something exceptional?

Edit: Sorry for the post that got pulled, thanks for the mods for doing a great job.