★★★☆☆ Tasty Palestinian food in Lil Palestine near Bridgeview. Food was good. We ordered the mixed grill, filet mignon, and shawarma wrap. Food was tasty but service was horrible. They forgot our appetizers and our drinks and didn’t have all the utensils needed to enjoy the meal. Tasty food; poor service. Will recommend for now. Just don’t expect great service. Posted on June 8, 2022

NR Is this place full halal Posted on August 21, 2021

★★★★★ Salaam. Check out my video review below of the mixed platter. search halal digest albawadi grill https://youtu.be/JqUlb3HHvDw Posted on June 25, 2019

★★★★☆ Great food and service! We always get the chicken toshka which is tasty and the mixed grill platter that offers a nice variety. This establishment does get extremely busy on the weekends so be prepared to wait. Posted on April 9, 2018

★★★★☆ We're out of Toronto, so we're used to good Halal food. Bawadi was surprisingly good. Ambience is much better then the typical White Drywall and Flourescent lighting we expect from most places (+1). I think the location used to be some Tex/Mex restaurant, and they just kept the decor, any way it was nice. The waiters and staff were all in traditional Syrian uniform (+1), again, refreshing. The food was very very tasty. (+1), I recommend the Arys with Cheese. Super. The portions were big, and the price was right (+1). Dessert sucked, so stay away. Id do it again. Posted on September 8, 2015

★★★★★ By far the best Mediterranean food in all of Chicago land. Chicken tawook is exceptional. Friendly service and nice family atmosphere. Posted on August 13, 2015

★★★☆☆ Orders mixed platter and shrimp scampi both were tasty but falafel appetizer was not that good had very hard dry outer coat lemonade was very refreshing... Posted on May 10, 2015

★☆☆☆☆ The food is ok (I have in-laws by Dearborn so this is nothing special). But the service is HORRIBLE!!! I have made reservations here 3 times, usually days in advance. And 3 times, the host has given my take away and made me wait, always with a dumb excuse. Both he and the owner himself were extremely rude and insulting to me. Never coming here again, and I suggest you go to Nile across the street or Bab al-Salam on the north side. Posted on March 27, 2015

★★☆☆☆ Good food but they WILL NEVER GET YOUR ORDER CORRECT. it's no exaggeration. My family orders from here all the time, we are Arab and I go with friends or pick up for my family. Not once did they get it right. It's pretty astonishing to see actually. Me and my wife like to guess what they are going to get wrong after we order. It's always interesting to see the different ways they can mess up. Also they are also always late with your orders. What ever you are going to get it will probably taste good it's just frustrating that they can never get it right so I personally stopped coming here. Posted on December 20, 2014

★☆☆☆☆ ***NOT ZABIHA HALAL*** It is very disappointment to know that the owners claim this place to serve Zabiha Halal meat but it's not. I did a lot of research and contacted the sources from where they get their meat. I called Barakat food(famous meat supplier in Chicago town) and got information about their meat and chicken sources. I would request everyone to call them and confirm first before visiting this place. Highly disappointed after trusting the words from owner. Posted on June 4, 2014

NR Extremely rude staff. The food is average, and the seating area is nice. Good portions though. I would never dine there again. Service comes first for me. Posted on May 23, 2014

★★★★★ Absolutely great food. Fresh, hot and good variety. Excellent décor and ambiance. Family friendly, clean with good customer service. This place is always busy every time I go, so plan ahead if you have a large group. Menu is labeled zabihah halal. Posted on March 29, 2014

★★★★★ I go to this place 3 times a month. My family and I enjoying their food. The best Mediterranean food ever. They are always busy causing some delays in the service. But for the taste and flavor we don't mind the waiting . Friendly staff. Several times we watched them celebrating some guests birthdays. A great kids and family atmosphere. Posted on September 9, 2013

★☆☆☆☆ customer service is extremely bad, seems like the owners are racist towards indo pak ethnicity.. it's sad to say but servers are extremely rude, I would ask indo pak crowd to avoid al bawadi!! living in Chicago for 30 years and never felt the way I felt at Al bawadi ... it's a disgrace ! Posted on August 15, 2013

NR ALERT: NO MORE HALAL ZABIHAH They don't provide Zabihah meat anymore Posted on August 14, 2013

★★☆☆☆ The food was average, The service is slow and poor. The waitress(s) does not like the non Arab customers. the plastic decoration is overloaded and not real pretty. Posted on July 24, 2013

★★★☆☆ I'm not sure if I was imagining things but the waiters seemed to want to avoid our table of 4 Desi individuals, from taking our orders slowly, to actually bringing the check whereas all the tables with Arab customers seemed to get more prompt and attentive service. The food was ok and reasonably portioned given the price. The waiters also forgot to remove one appetizer from our bill after they informed us that it was not available that night. I would probably not make the trip out to Al-Bawadi's again. Posted on May 18, 2013

★★★★★ [No review submitted] Posted on March 25, 2013

★★★★☆ Great food that can be compared to better Middle Eastern restaurants. The service is also very good & the premises is clean. Posted on March 20, 2013

★★★★★ Love the food and atmosphere everytime we visit. Their complementary turkish coffee is refreshing. Great place for families. I highly recommend. Posted on November 25, 2012

★★★★☆ Had heard great things about this restaurant and I must say it lived up to its expectations. Happen to be in the neighbourhood and stopped by on a wednesday afternoon for lunch. Place was not so busy and we got amazing service. Food was very reasonably priced as some entrees are as cheap as $4.99 and others are higher but it was well worth it. So all in all we had a great experience and will definately return but I am puzzeled now as it says they have partial halal menu in the quick facts above but when we went there they had a halal sign on the menu so we didnt question. Also I have notices that some ME dont distinguish between Halal and Zabiha so need to figure that out before we return again. Hope it is Zabiha cause we really want to go their again. Posted on November 5, 2012

★★★★☆ Great place to take the family. The food and atmosphere were very authentic. Posted on July 14, 2012

NR Can we know who the meat supplier is? then we can be sure if the menu is Zabihah or not. Posted on October 27, 2011

★★★★★ The best food in the states at all. Posted on October 13, 2011

★★★★★ This place is a must-visit if you're in Bridgeview - great atmosphere and a chicken shwarma sandwich that will make you wonder what you have been eating at the other places. Posted on September 28, 2011

★★★★★ I have eaten at Middle Eastern restaurants across the United States, and Bawadi is the best Middle Eastern I have ever had. Their chicken shish tawook sandwich rivals the best chicken shawarma sandwiches in Damascus and Amman. I love that they wear the traditional Palestinian clothes and the music and waterfall created a nice ambiance. I have been there several times, and I am really impressed. Posted on September 25, 2011

NR Very good food. serves halal food. Only middle eastern place in southwest subs. Posted on September 18, 2011

★★★★★ If anyone is doing a better, classier Middle eastern experience please let me know. Imitation palm trees and water falls, normally I am bothered by the plastic attempts at creating ambiance, but it works. The sound of trickling water and Middle Eastern music can be quite soothing and I found myself in quite the meditative state while dining with my kids. We are all big fans of eating with our hands so this place is comforting. They bring out a complimentary cold plate that featured some amazing pickles doused in red chilies, olives, eggplant and tomato salad with some toasted pita and fresh. This is certainly a cut above your typical ME restaurant. My son had the Shish Kabob sandwich, tender charred beef wrapped tightly in a flatbread, it was light and unctuous. Dressed in a tahinni sauce with grilled onions, this is as good a wrap as you will find. My daughter and I shared a sampler platter featuring what I will boldly say is the best Falafel in the Chicago Metro area. (yes that is a challenge and before you tell me to go to that crappy place on Broadway or Devon, YOU come here first) The hummos is as good as I have had, the Baba is just as good, the grape leaves were quite good and while the leaves were fantastik, the filling was a touch mushy. There were also charred tomatoes and roasted onions. This is an outstanding sampler and quite filling. We also tried a kids areyes, kind of a panini like creature, pita filled with a mixture of ground lamb and beef then toasted and pressed, the meat had great flavor from spices that had more soul than usual, they tasted really fresh. We ordered this sandwich from the $4.99 kids menu and it came with fries, they were cooked to order and while I would have preferred something else I found myself eating plenty of them. Service was excellent, that is all that needs to be said. Folks are saying this place is expensive? Well it is more than the Nile across the street, there I can feed the three of us for $13, here I paid $20 plus tip and had leftovers. I think people should compare this restaurant to more upscale casual restaurants than strip-mall diner type eateries. Come here with as many people as possible, this way you can share and try more things, you will spend $12 to $15 a person but you will also have an amazing Middle Eastern food experience. Al Bawadi is the best. Posted on August 16, 2011

★★★★★ My Family took us for a night out in Chicago and every talked about this restaurant. We went there and restaurant was over-flowing with people. They were over-whelmed in providing services. However, they lived to their reputation for good authentic ME food. Would go there again if chance offers itself. Posted on July 12, 2011

★★★☆☆ im not sure if this place serves 100% zabiha halal Posted on May 19, 2011

★☆☆☆☆ This place was terrible! The service is sooo slow! Then when we asked if everything was zabiha halal the waitress got upset and just said ya. We ate the chicken tikka it was ok, nothing to rave about. But with slow service and rude customer service and the prices were too much for what little we got, i would not go back. Posted on May 17, 2011

★★★★☆ The food here is delicious. However, the service is slow and the price is kinda expensive. Posted on January 1, 2011

★★★★★ I have been to this place 7 times in last one year, it is worth driving 30 miles for the best food ever. We normally order the platter which comes with salad, appetizers and lots of grill items, one platter is enough for 6 people and we still bring food back in the box. I have been to many mediterranean places in the US, Albawadi is the best for food and service. Decor is superb, quantity and quality of food is excellent. My 5 stars. Posted on October 8, 2010

★★★★☆ The food there's excellent very delicious and they have very nice fresh juices. But I remembered the service was about the average. Also, we ordered a full Zabihah and the whole thing was good. I'll go soon and rate it again :) Posted on March 26, 2010

NR I called them and asked if they served zabihah meat and they said "no". Posted on June 13, 2009

★★☆☆☆ We went to this place and got horrible service. First we had to wait to receive a menu. I had to get up and ask someone. Then they took a long time just to take our order and deliver the food to our table. Other people came in after us, got their food, and left before us! Horrible service. The food, however, was good and therefore I give this place 2 stars instead of 1. Posted on June 8, 2009