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Aladdin Auto Service
Rating Details »
Category: Auto Repair [Edit]
Neighborhood: North Cambridge162 Alewife Brook Parkway
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 547-8000
- Nearest Transit:
-
Alewife (Red)
- Hours:
Mon-Fri. 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Sat. 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
28 reviews for Aladdin Auto Service
Every time my parents start with the "I used to walk X miles to..," my frontal lobe seizes and I stop listening. Well, mom, dad, I'm sorry. After all these years, I realize the value of...having a car.
For three years, the wife and I have owned the best car on the road--the BMW MINI Cooper. We're terrible automobile owners. I drive the car like it was a wheelbarrow. I drive through potholes as if they were puddles and I snake around tight corners as if the car and road were magnetized.
But when I'm done beating my car up, there's only one auto mechanic shop I can trust for damage control-- Mahmood and his staff at Aladdin Auto Service.
Aside from his deep knowledge of automobiles, foreign and domestic, Mahmood and his staff are courteous and very patient with people who don't know that clean motor oil is clear.
If Mahmood is on site, he greets every customer with an offering of tea and sugar cubes. He doesn't rush my questions and answers them all fully and honestly. I've learned more from him than I have reading the MINI's driver's manual.
If you make clear your expectations, you will be very satisfied with the auto and customer service at Aladdin.
Found this guy on here and just had an awesome mechanic experience so figured I should post my own review.
Recently my car started making a loud thumping noise every time a wheel turned. It seemed to be coming from my rear right wheel. Something was obviously hitting it.
Just got back from Aladdin. I expected to leave my car there for a few days and was just figuring out a way to get home after towing it there on a AAA truck. To my huge surprise the man took my car right in. 20 minutes and a nice cup of tea later it was fixed. Charged me just $45.
Didn't try to milk me for any made up issues. In fact, told me that my brakes were fine when I thought they might need to be replaced! When have you met a mechanic that does that? The usual experience is that you come to fix one thing and they tell you there are 3 other things wrong with it and you end up spending 5 times what you expected.
Has his own cool art decorating the office. Even knew I was from a little Northern European country of Latvia by the sun burned (so colorless) oval LV sticker on my car. Just to put that in perspective most Americans I've met have never even heard of it so yeah, I was impressed.
Anyway, cool dude. If anything goes wrong with my car again I know where I'm taking it.
This is a very interesting place to come and view high quality art, speak philosophy, and get some great work done on your car.
First time I came in, it was a pleasant experience, and the tea was good. We spoke about the vehicle, and my concern about parking during a week trip I was taking the happened to fall within street cleaning in my neighborhood.
He said no problem, leave it here, it will be safe. (It was.)
For a first trip he took care of the following for me:
- Tune up on a jeep with 208.5k miles (These seemed to double in price every year back in CA...)
- Install a catback exhaust.
- Fix two power windows.
- Check brakes.
- Adjust headlamps.
- Check suspension.
He did this quickly, and when I came back from my trip the car was ready to go with everything working perfectly. The best part was we did our transaction in a relaxed, calm atmosphere. He is most affordable (non-family member) mechanic I've ever had. I will continue to use his services, as well as enjoy his art until my jeep hits at least 400k miles.
This review is long overdue, so my apologies!
Last fall, I noticed that one of my headlights was out and a new bulb wasn't fixing the problem. Being new to the area, I logged onto Yelp in hopes of finding a good recommendation for a mechanic. After reading Mahmood's rave reviews, I decided to bring my car down without an appointment in hopes of at least getting someone to tell me what was wrong with it so that I had a general idea.
When I walked into Aladdin, I was immediately greeted and after talking to me about everything but cars, Mahmood gave me a cup of tea and sat me down to talk shop. Within 10 seconds, he and his colleague figured out that my headlight had a crack in it and water was leaking in. Within 5 minutes, Mahmood had made three phone calls and found used parts for me.
A day later, my parts were in, my car went into Aladdin and came out the next morning all set. Mahmood was wonderful to work with, he's extremely close to Alewife (although I had to make the long trip around the road barrier as it was raining and you couldn't get up the hill to the sidewalk), and I found his prices to be fairly decent. For a couple hours of labor and parts, it cost me under $150.
I realized that the battery was dead when I tried to start my car this morning. Called a couple of auto repair shops but they referred me to other towing service companies, tried to charge me for $50 - $80, in order to take my car to those repair shops. When I called Aladdin Auto Service, they came to my house in 15 min and jump-started the car and took the car to his garage and fixed the problem very quickly. He and his staff also checked other parts of my car for free. He filled the window washer fluid. Total cost was much less than the towing charge. Highly recommended.
I brought my beaten-up station wagon here. Instead of hearing the same recommendations of replacing my entire exhaust system (more than the car is worth), I got a very reasonable solution to create a support using some formidable metal-working skills. I've only been here once but I intend to come here for all of my auto care needs.
Jeez. Okay, I gave this guy the benefit of the doubt, I really did. I took all the extolling yelpers to heart and decided that he was the mechanic for me. My name is Tamar, my clutch-hungry car's name is Bessie, and here's our story.
First I called around, comparing prices for a new clutch, and when he picked up, rather than gruffly giving me the skinny in a cigarette-beaten Boston accent, he just asked me how much money was in my savings account. "Well," I asked, in no mood to play games, "how much is a new clutch?"
"First you tell me how much you have, then I'll tell you how much I'll charge."
Good guy, right? That's the whole problem--he's an almost disarmingly nice, decent guy. But he's working in a patently practical industry, and the truth is, I want a QUOTE. I went to the garage (an adventure in itself--a note to all yelpers: it's BEHIND FRESH POND CINEMA. Mapquest will lead you hopelessly astray), and he, as has been noted, offered me a cup of tea and had me sit amongst his actually very good artwork while he went off to do mechanic things. When he came back, he told me that my shirt was his favorite color and that he'd knock an extra $100 off the still-unquoted price. Yay, right? BUT WHAT WAS THE PRICE?
"Tamar?"
I nodded.
"What is that in Farsi? Let's look it up."
"Um...so, I also need my oil changed..."
So we get into a conversation about his artwork, the Middle East conflict, and how we're all connected in a deeply cosmic way...just look up and we'll find the answer in God and unity and spirituality. Beautiful, right?
"So...uh...I also think I have a leak in my trunk, it would be great if you'd check that out too..."
When I actually came back to get my car, one thing I asked for wasn't even done, my mats were covered in oil, and something rattled so fierce I got a mile away before I had to bring it back and go for round two. To be fair, he took it right in and fixed the problems, cleaned the mats, personally cleaned out the mildew-factory that was my trunk, and gave me a ride back to Davis. Super nice of him, right?
He proceeded to spend the majority of this car-ride telling me that I'm overly preoccupied with money and the trivialities of life, and that I should just relax and look up at the stars and gain some perspective. Okay, fair enough, but, dude, YOU'RE NOT MY SPIRITUAL ADVISOR. YOU'RE MY MECHANIC. And I'm sorry that you may be intellectually and spiritually unsatisfied in your chosen profession, but, seriously, THERE IS NOTHING MORE PRACTICAL THAN MECHANIC-ING. I have limited funds, and I need to know that what I need fixed is getting fixed, and I need to know how much it will cost. You fix my car, I give you the money. End of transaction.
My clutch is sticking now, and I kinda feel like God is punishing me. This is not productive.
My car broke down about a mile from the shop on my way to work on a Friday. I called two closer repair shops and asked if they could help maybe try to jump it and was told that wasn't something "they do."
I called Aladdin and Mahmood was there in minutes trying to start my car on the side of the road. It didn't work, but he got a tow driver to come get the car for a decent price.
He then offered to drive me 25 miles to my work in Dedham! I thought that was asking too much so he gave me a ride to the T instead.
My problem was fixed by Monday and he charged a fair price and also checked out a brake problem I had.
He's hilarious and definitely a good mechanic. I'll go back next time I have any problem.
Highly recommended.
Mahmood is the best. Part artist, part mechanic, part alchemist. Don't get me wrong he is one weird bird.... but you gotta love him for it!!
I took my 2000 jeep grand cherokee to a jeep dealership (Brigham something on Route 9 in Natik) they said I had a malfunctioning water pump and they wanted to charge me $900 for the parts and labor to fix it.... those douche bags. Of course I declined their services (that price is outrageous!). All they did was diagnose the problem and fill my car up with coolant and they tried to charge me $220... the gall! I haggled (ok, my boyfriend haggled) with them and got it down to $120. So I took it to Mahmood a month or so later and he put 2 gallons of coolant and 2 bottles of some leak-fixing-stuff in the radiator. My car has been running great since.... and best of all.... Mahmood didn't even charge me one red cent!! The man is a god... clearly.
He said to come back if that didn't work and then he may replace my water pump. And for that he would charge me (obviously).
Also, he makes a mean cup of tea!
Brought our ailing Honda Civic into Aladdin's a few months back. The muffler was making a horrible noise, and since we had recently driven cross-country, I wanted it checked up on as well. Mahmood quoted about a week to fix all the problems found.
Well, the next day he called up and said the car was ready, much to my surprise. The work was all done well and very reasonably billed. When we picked up the car, we sat and chatted with him for almost an hour. Very interesting man with some great artwork as well.
Just today, the same car had a loud noise coming from the engine that I couldn't trace. I brought the car in, drank some tea, and Mahmood and his assistant fixed the problem (loose cable pushing up against the alternator) in just a few minutes, for free.
Best. Mechanic. Ever. I can't recommend him enough
Mahmood will offer you tea, sit you down, tell it like it is (oh, and fix your car, too), and not rip you off in the process. An honest, hardworking mechanic who treats his customers with respect.
Look closely, because he's waaay back behind the Fresh Pond movie theater (thankfully an easy walk from Alewife).
I gotta say it too, I'm a Mahmood fan. Just had my first trip to Aladdin...it was just for an oil change, but the experience was like none other. From the eclectic decorations to the hot tea to Mahmood's wonderful penchant for conversation, the whole experience was great.
Best line ever (I had asked Mahmood why engine oil comes out black but goes in yellowish):
"We eat lots of different colored food, but the shit always comes out brown."
That's it. $35 for an oil change might have been a little high (the first and only other time I got my oil change was at Midas for $30 which included an inspection and tire rotation), but it was well worth it.
PS - Mahmood is also something of an accomplished artist. He sculpts large pieces of metal to reflect his spiritual beliefs. That's what he decorates his shop with; the mechanic job is just a side thing he does to make a living. Amazing!
Hurrah for Mamood! After shopping mechanics for two years without ever feeling great about any particular one, I have settled on Mamood as my mechanic for life (at least the life of my car).
His shop is also a gallery for his sculpture, and he always offers a hot or cool beverage depending on the weather. He is warm, welcoming, honest, fair, and did a great job on my car for about a third of what I would have paid elsewhere.
To get to his shop, you have to drive through the parking lot of the Alewife Cinema and go around the back. It's tricky but worth finding.
I took it in complaining of a coolant system leak and a Check Engine light that recently came on. My Honda Civic has been leaking antifreeze for several days now. It sprays out intermittently all over the front grill of the car, the windshield, etc. It leaks out onto the ground, too. He had the car for the day and said that he could find no leak in the radiator or cooling system. I picked it up and drove it for about five miles, and during that time it sprayed out all over the front grill again and I had to add about a pint of water when I got home.
He did replace the PCV valve and a tail light and reset the Check Engine light. With charges for diagnostics and labor, the bill came to $150.
After I posted this review, he called me one evening and left a message saying that I was dishonest in this review. I went to his shop because he had so many positive reviews on Yelp, but after this phone call, I wonder if other yelpers have been pressured to remove their negative reviews because of his phone calls.
Wonderful! Mahmud is a great person and an excellent mechanic. He has fixed things promptly and at good prices. He has come up with inventive work-arounds so that my ancient car has continued to run well without costing me a fortune!
I recall INC MAGAZINE running a story on Mahmood and Aladdin Auto years ago. I looked it up and INC still has it archived on-line.Here it is for everyone's enjoyment. - SWJ
Additionally. Here's a link to Mahmood's Artst's webpage.
BE SURE TO check out the "Singing" sublink. Awesome!
http://www.mrkart.com/...
By Chris Wright. Copyright 2001
A woman, visibly upset, walks into Aladdin Auto Service Center, in Cambridge, Mass. "Sit down," says owner Mahmood Rezaei-Kama-labad soothingly, as he ushers her to a couch. "Have some tea." The woman, a regular customer, explains that her car's radiator is leaking, and she doesn't know how she will get to work. "You can use your mother's car," says Rezaei-Kamalabad. "It is an old car, but it will get you there. When you are in the desert, old shoes are a gift." He laughs. "Don't worry; I will fix your car. When you have the money, you give it to me."
Aladdin -- located in a scruffy, low-slung building nestled between railroad tracks and a housing project -- is an unlikely haven of inner peace. But Rezaei-Kamalabad knows that when cars break down, their owners often do as well. So he gives customers not only wheel alignments but also spiritual tune-ups. "I try in some way to help, to take care of the person, not just the car," he says.
BODY WORK AND SOUL: Mahmood Rezaei-Kamalabad tends to the whole customer.
Rezaei-Kamalabad, 49, is a mechanic, but he is also an inventor, a science buff, and a deeply spiritual man. As his assistant removes a distributor cap, the repair-shop owner relates homespun parables and gently offers advice, his voice ringing with the cadences of his native Iran. He always, always, offers a cup of tea. And he assures departing customers that God is with them.
In the back of the shop is a prayer room, where customers meditate, pray, or read books of poetry or books about religion or popular mechanics. The more adventurous strap themselves into the "Sense of Unity Machine": a large gyroscopic invention of Rezaei-Kamalabad's that he claims establishes inner harmony. Sprinkled about are the steel sculptures that he builds in his spare time.
Aladdin services about 35 cars a week and grosses about $120,000 a year, but Rezaei-Kamalabad has no desire to expand. "A garage with 20 lifts has no feeling of who comes and who goes," he says. Rezaei-Kamalabad, by contrast, knows most of his customers inside and out. And they, in turn, are doggedly faithful. "I come here all the time," says Ashrafali Sheikh, who is having his car's oil changed. "He does a very good job. He understands our needs."
Ahhhh. Mahmood. Thank you for helping me and fixing my car after my being mercilessly ripped off by another mechanic nearby.
He'll offer you tea, he'll make you laugh, he'll even give you a hands on lesson on the anatomy of your car. To quote Mahmood, "See? You come here to get your car fixed and an education." Who knew?
I came to Mahmood after some severe trauma with another Cambridge garage and found relief / comfort / honesty / kindness. Mahmood advised me not to put another dollar into my ailing Cabrio and also gave me advice on what my next car should be. I brought by a prospective car for his inspection and with his endorsement bought the car which I've fallen in love with.
Since then I've gone back several times (with my boyfriend's car). Most of the time Mahmood has completed the work, but at one point he re-directed me to a dealership for diagnosis of a complicated issue relating to engine fans--it was a Nissan. Mahmood did not attempt to do any kind of diagnostic simply to tack on additional dollars before re-directing us. We took the Nissan to the dealership, received the diagnosis, brought it back to Mahmood, and had the work completed for less than half the price the dealership wanted to charge.
As most will quite clearly realize upon meeting Mahmood, his dedication to doing good work at a reasonable cost and with honesty is of the utmost importance to him. To paraphrase Mahmood : "The kind of work that you do, important or not, makes its way into the world outside of the workplace and has a tangible effect on individuals and the universe -- as a result, one must take care to do right by self and customer."
This auto shop is so tucked away that most of the people who end up at Mahmood's garage found it by chance. "How did you find me?" Mahmood asked. "I Googled you on the Internet" I replied. He had no idea what I meant. And this is just one of things I love about Aladdin.
There's the customary tea; there's art; there's talk of love and brotherhood; and there's a quality, affordable repair for your automobile. Mahmood will engage you in conversation, and even get you to talk to anyone else who's waiting around the garage. He is laid-back and fun. But if you don't have enough patience for his casual attention to time when you walk into his shop, then you don't belong there and he wouldn't want to fix your car anyway. But if you do leave your car with him, he gets the job done quickly.
If you trust your vibes about people, this is your garage. It makes you realize the true value of a handshake.
Engine light was on. He tightened my gas cap and charged $65 for diagnostics. The engine light went back on a week later. I brought my car to ABJ (my regular mechanic). Within hours, they fixed the problem. They tightened some clamps (to fix an emissions issue that caused the engine light to go on). The diagnostics (and time spent at Aladdin was a waste). If you want a great, efficient, knowledgable mechanic, go to ABJ in Somerville. If you want to have tea with your mechanic, go to Aladdin. (Incidentally, ABJ charged LESS than Aladdin -- AND they fixed the problem.)
Brilliant! I am glad to have found my "soul mechanic"! Such a sense of humor, so honest, so worldly, so unobtrusively spiritual. Like everyone before me has said, plan to spend an hour, particularly when picking up you car in the evening. Be sure to sit in the "angel seat" and check out the large foam core mounted article from Automobile magazine on his center driving car (then check out the real thing- he'll be happy to explain!). His work is good and his prices are so fair! Can't recommend highly enough.
OK, knocking it down one star. He's still great, but I would not recommend him if he doesn't have the ability to service your particular make and model. Our car is two years older than his computer system can service, and he was very straightforward about telling us that. Recently, he did a quicky repair for me and actually messed something up slightly while he was doing the repair. We had to bring the car to a dealer to correct the mistake. Still, he's great if you have a car he can service. He's also helped us do a repair over the phone, which was amazing. And, as others have said, he's a super guy and makes great tea!
Honest, reliable, considerate, and funny. Concerned that my car was not "winter ready" since shipping it from Southern California, I wanted someone who I could trust in to do what needed to be taken care of, be reasonable in pricing, and educate me in preparing for driving in the slush. Mahmood was definitely able to deliver. Yes, he offered me tea (with sugar cubes) every time I went. Yes, he encouraged me to ask questions. Yes, he led me to the closest chair to the furnace (I even got a little too warm after awhile). Yes, he showed me all the different prices for the varying types of tires I could choose from. I also observed how he trained two other mechanics that were working with him; he always seemed patient but firm with getting things right. I saw how the other customers (old and some first-timers) interacted with him; always a pleasant and comfortable experience. I will definitely go back...seems like I may have found my mechanic.
BTW: it was a little hard to find. Once you drive into the shopping center, go past the main strip of stores and head to the left, you'll see a movie theater to your left, and Aladdin is located right behind it.
I needed my car repaired, a couple months ago, and I brought it to Aladdin Auto Service. It was fixed in a timely fashion for a reasonable price by a polite and courteous mechanic.
Now that we got THAT out of the way, onto the *real* review!
"Repair Man--Mahmood Rezaei-Kamalabad doesn't just fix cars at his Cambridge service center, he also maintains a mystical machine designed to soothe your soul" begins the March 28th, 2004 article about the owner, proprietor, embodier of Aladdin Auto Service.
Does he ever! Rather curt on the phone, when Mahmood arrived, at the stroke of 9AM, at his very, very hidden Den of Spirituality aka auto shop to find me waiting outside, his face lit up.
"Come inside!!!!"
I did, and was greeted to a large garage-like open space: on the right, some cars suspended mid-repair. On the left, enormous bronze sculptures, a recycled-oil burning stove, and living room. Strong and spicy Persian tea already hot (how did that happen?), Mahmood sat me down to talk--certainly not about my car, for which his response was "Yes, yes, it will be fixed, no worries."
So genuinely interested he was to hear about my job, where I grew up, and chat about gender issues and religion, to talk to me about his art, about world peace, about his unity machine--I couldn't bear to tell him how late I was for work. I also just couldn't help but feel like this was a bizarre and strange adventure the likes of which I would rarely experience, and I didn't want to cut it short. At one point, an older man walked in, Mahmood unceremoniously waved him over to the tea and dates, and he joined us. Amongst other things, Mahmood told me of the all-women car repair class he wanted to teach and the MIT professor who inspired him, and what he would do with the money if he sold any of his 12-feet-tall religious sculptures. To try to convince me that this whole scene was going down behind that crappy Entertainment 10 movie theater in the strip mall by Alewife in Cambridge in 2006 (last December) would be futile. We were in another universe.
Eventually, the conversation died down, and I mentioned that I should be going, and would be back to pick up my car the next day. "How are you getting to work?!" he asked emphatically. "Well, I'm going to take the train from Alewife to Harvard, and the the bus--" I replied. "Why no!" he said "I will drive you! I know JUST where it is! I was a taxi driver!"
Not in the practice of getting into cars alone with strange men, I said "Thanks!" My instincts told me that no man who creates a Unity Machine to assist people in feeling the divine energy of human connectedness would harm me, and I was right. He drove me right to work (which was not next door, but rather a good 15-20 minute ride) with a smile. He left me with his business card, which just had "http://mrkvision.com" written on it in big letters.
Not surprisingly, this man is freaking famous. He's had films made about him. He's been written up in a crazy number of publications. This all sounds like a tall tale, but it's true. He will blow your mind:
http://mrkvision.com/
(And I was very happy with my car repairs, which is about as much of a sidenote in this review as it was in real life).
Mahmood is an awesome mechanic, he fixed my brakes/rotors/calipers and I tried to pay with an American Express but he doesn't take that CC. He gave me my keys and told me to take the car and come back later to pay him.... No mechanic/company I know would do such a thing. He makes a mean cup of tea too.
Oh Mahmood... you are my favorite mechanic in the world. The only bad thing about his garage is trying to find it -- be sure to just drive directly behind the movie theatre in Fresh Pond Mall... don't drive down the street behind it. So, he pulled me in for hugs and tea and Dove dark chocolate... gave my car a great and affordable tune up... drove me to Alewife and offered to pick me up... sang me Rumi poetry... The final touch is that he brought my car back into his garage before I was coming to pick it up so that it would be warm when I got there. Yes, so that it would be warm when I got there. If you are reading this, take your car to Aladdin!
I generally don't like mechanics. Don't trust them at all. So, we needed to find a mechanic for our MINI Cooper. We've been to the dealer who basically stole our money by charging outrageous prices. After finding Aladdin on Yelp we decided to give it a try. As soon as we went in he told us to have a seat and came over to offer us tea. The tea was so good and he had sugar cubes to go with it. For some reason I have never seen sugar cubes before. He was polite and courteous and the tea was such a nice added touch. I immediately felt good. While we waited we looked around. His garage is filled with his artwork. Yes, artwork. Along with being a mechanic he is an artist who specializes in huge sculpture. They were beautiful. Once he was free we explained what we needed and he looked at our car. He explained to us thouroughly what he thought needed to be done even showing us on the car what he was referring to. I have never had a mechanic do that and it made me feel that he was honest. My boyfriend brought our car back, but was so pleased. Not only is he honest, but his prices are fair. He did the work within a day, explained in detail what he did and was so pleasant to do work with. We plan on going back for all of our auto needs. And, he is having a showing of his artwork which we plan on attending.
Back in September I had some problems with my left wheel bearing. I went to some other guys in Somerville earlier that month who replaced my right wheel bearing who were pretty honest, but being new to the area I decided I would give Aladdin a shot for the left bearinI explained to Mahmood how other mechanics had told me I would need the left bearing replaced. Mahmood was very compassionate and friendly and immediately took to my car. Rather than leave I worked from Starbucks over in the adjacent strip mall working on my laptop while he fixed the problem. Around 1:00 I was eating lunch and saw Mahmood pull up in my car. When I got in the car he explained to me how he replaced the bearing, but that was not what was causing the sound I was hearing. It was in fact my differential. Since I have an 1996 SUV with 150,000+ miles he told me it wasn't worth replacing. Mahmood did, charge me for the new bearing he had installed but not for labor. All in all I found it a pleasurable experience, and I will be returning to see him again later this week about my dead drive belt. To be continued...
