Aleppo's Kitchen

I tried them for the first time, during Ramadhan 2021, after seeing all these excellent Yelp and Zabihah reviews and recommendations from friends. The place is just OK in terms of ambiance, nothing fancy but it has adequate parking and is spacious with indoor as well as adequate outdoor seating. An issue that we encountered quite early was that we had trouble ordering as our server neither spoke English well and nor could understand our questions. He could not answer simple questions, e.g. what type of meat is in a dish, was it beef or lamb? He kept on repeating it has meat.. meat... meat ! After the ordering chaos was over, we patiently waited for our food not having any high hopes for what was going to be served.... and BAM! ..... came the appetizer.. hummus with beef and pine nuts. It was excellent. Would highly recommend it as a take out or dine in.\Then came the main course. Mansaf and mixed grill platter. Again, they knocked it out of the park with the Mansaf.. it was creamy, with lamb shank that literally melts in your mouth....So the question should be why the low rating? The answer is .... the grilled platter was simply terrible. Not edible at all. The rice that it came with were definitely refrigerated and several days old. They were dry, hard and stale. The grilled tomato was not "thawed properly" and had ice cold tomato juice in the center. Also the onions that came with it were lifeless, limp and were cold as well. I complained to the waiter and assumed it was a mistake and gave them a chance to correct it. So I asked for another bowl of rice, this time fresh with that dish. The waiter went inside and a few minutes later a lady came out of the kitchen, I presumed was the owner/chef, with a bowl of the same old rice. She insisted that the rice were fresh and made the same day. We had not tried the kebabs at that point and decided to just eat the meat. Big mistake, the kebabs were also not fresh, not terrible but not good and were semi cold. How could they serve grilled items like Kabobs and grilled veggies like Onions and Tomatoes ice cold and not even bat an eye and insist that everything was A-OK? The result? We ate no rice from that dish and left most of the kebabs on the plate when we left. So an otherwise good experience marred by them trying to save money by recycling food. I would say that they were penny wise and pound foolish, cause I ain't going back there again.

This is best Arabic/Serian food that I have in recent days. I would love to come back.

5.0 star rating 10/6/2016 Aleppo\'s Kitchen specializes in Syrian cuisine and is located in the little Arabia district of Anaheim on Brookhurst street. The entrance to the restaurant is actually located in the back of a strip mall. Follow the signs on the side of the AAMCO mechanic shop that will lead to a large parking lot. The restaurant has a decent amount of patio seating as well as indoor seating. I had heard that Aleppo\'s has an English menu as well as an Arabic menu with items not listed on the English menu. I made sure I brought a co-worker who was fluent in the Arabic language with me to the restaurant to order the specialty items. My group ordered the following items: Shish Borek ($16) - This item was not on the English menu. It consisted of small dumplings filled with seasoned ground beef. The dumplings were the size of tortellini and just as tender and were served in an extremely thick yogurt sauce. This dish reminded me of a popular Afghani dish called mantu. I was surprised to see that this dish came with a white basmati type rice as one would not expect a noodle dish to come with rice. This dish was a hit at our table. Shingleesh ($8) - This salad was a refreshing surprise and had a very unique taste. It consisted of a blend of goat cheese, pepper, herbs and spices, served with chopped onions and tomatoes, drizzled with olive oil. I liked the mouthfeel of this dish with the silky smooth cheese and the contrasting salad. Shakryeh ($16) - This item was another dish not on the English menu. This dish consisted of extremely tender roasted lamb served in a thick yogurt sauce. I enjoyed the delightful taste combination of the yogurt and lamb. Like the shish borek it was served with rice. Mixed Kibbeh Platter ($20) - I really enjoy eating kibbeh and was surprised to see so many different variations. The kibbeh dough is made from bulgur (cracked wheat). Kibbeh Swar (baked cupcake like kibbeh packed with ground meat, onions, nuts), Mishwiyeh (kibbeh dumplings stuffed with meat, onions, and nuts, and chargrilled over mesquite), and Fried (hollow kibbeh shells stuffed with ground meat, onions, and nuts, and fried in vegetable oil). My favorite was the fried kibbeh which had a crunchy shell and nicely seasoned ground beef. I\'ve had better kibbeh at some other establishments but this was still very good. Lamb Kabseh ($16) - This was my favorite item of all the dishes that I tried. The rice was extremely fragrant and tasted incredible. I especially liked the roasted almonds that were served atop the super tender fall off the bone lamb. The lamb didn\'t have any funky smell to it and easily fell apart. This dish also came with an extremely fresh cucumber yogurt dip, as did the mixed kibbeh platter. All the entrees came with pita bread (store bought and not freshly made) and all the food served here is halal. While the pricing may seem to be on the higher side, the quality of food was incredible and I thoroughly enjoyed eating all these unique offerings. I\'d definitely love to come back and try some more of the wonderful dishes that are prepared at Aleppo\'s Kitchen! Aleppo\'s Kitchen specializes in Syrian cuisine and is located in the little Arabia district of Anaheim on Brookhurst street. The entrance to the restaurant is actually located in the back of a strip mall. Follow the signs on the side of the AAMCO mechanic shop that will lead to a large parking lot. The restaurant has a decent amount of patio seating as well as indoor seating. I had heard that Aleppo\'s has an English menu as well as an Arabic menu with items not listed on the English menu. I made sure I brought a co-worker who was fluent in the Arabic language with me to the restaurant to order the specialty items. My group ordered the following items: Shish Borek ($16) - This item was not on the English menu. It consisted of small dumplings filled with seasoned ground beef. The dumplings were the size of tortellini and just as tender and were served in an extremely thick yogurt sauce. This dish reminded me of a popular Afghani dish called mantu. I was surprised to see that this dish came with a white basmati type rice as one would not expect a noodle dish to come with rice. This dish was a hit at our table. Shingleesh ($8) - This salad was a refreshing surprise and had a very unique taste. It consisted of a blend of goat cheese, pepper, herbs and spices, served with chopped onions and tomatoes, drizzled with olive oil. I liked the mouthfeel of this dish with the silky smooth cheese and the contrasting salad. Shakryeh ($16) - This item was another dish not on the English menu. This dish consisted of extremely tender roasted lamb served in a thick yogurt sauce. I enjoyed the delightful taste combination of the yogurt and lamb. Like the shish borek it was served with rice. Mixed Kibbeh Platter ($20) - I really enjoy eating kibbeh and was surprised to see so many different variations. The kibbeh dough is made from bulgur (cracked wheat). Kibbeh Swar (baked cupcake like kibbeh packed with ground meat, onions, nuts), Mishwiyeh (kibbeh dumplings stuffed with meat, onions, and nuts, and chargrilled over mesquite), and Fried (hollow kibbeh shells stuffed with ground meat, onions, and nuts, and fried in vegetable oil). My favorite was the fried kibbeh which had a crunchy shell and nicely seasoned ground beef. I\'ve had better kibbeh at some other establishments but this was still very good. Lamb Kabseh ($16) - This was my favorite item of all the dishes that I tried. The rice was extremely fragrant and tasted incredible. I especially liked the roasted almonds that were served atop the super tender fall off the bone lamb. The lamb didn\'t have any funky smell to it and easily fell apart. This dish also came with an extremely fresh cucumber yogurt dip, as did the mixed kibbeh platter. All the entrees came with pita bread (store bought and not freshly made) and all the food served here is halal. While the pricing may seem to be on the higher side, the quality of food was incredible and I thoroughly enjoyed eating all these unique offerings. I\'d definitely love to come back and try some more of the wonderful dishes that are prepared at Aleppo\'s Kitchen!

I have eaten here once. The staff is friendly. I ordered the kafta kebab. It came with four kebabs plus rice and I forget what else. I liked the kafta kebabs here because they had more flavor than other similar restaurants I have been to in the area. The menu is a little pricey but I\'d return for the same dish or to try others.