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Andalous Moroccan Restaurant
Category: Restaurants Moroccan Moroccan [Edit]
3307 N Clark St(between School St & Aldine Ave)
Chicago, IL 60657
Neighborhood: Lakeview
(773) 281-6885
- Nearest Transit:
-
Belmont (Brown Line, Purple Line, Red Line)
Addison-red (Red Line)
Wellington (Brown Line, Purple Line)
- Hours:
Mon-Thu 4 pm - 10 pm
Fri 4 pm - 11 pm
Sat 11 am - 11 pm
- Attire:
- Casual
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street, Valet
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Quiet
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
206 reviews for Andalous Moroccan Restaurant
Review Highlights
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"be SURE to get the mint tea to end your meal." In 35 reviews -
"I also love that it's BYOB with no corkage fee." In 8 reviews -
"I must say, the Sweet Couscous dish was bangin." In 14 reviews
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206 reviews in English
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Review from Susie L.
Chicago, IL
3/24/2012
We randomly came here one night after realizing Standard India down the street was closed on a Tues, and thank God it was on this particular occasion. The service and atmosphere here was nothing to rave about, but the food. was. amazing. The pita bread and bean sauce was piping hot and fresh. We ordered lentil soups, despite the hot humid weather that evening, and it was the best lentil soup I've ever had.
For entrees, we ordered a Rabat Tagine (beef tenderloin and veggies in a buttery sauce) and an Andalous Tagine (Roasted veggies and a mountain of amazing couscous with sauce). The beef dish was super tender, sauce was mild but rich, and it went really nice with the flavors of the vegetarian dish, which has roasted peppers, onions, zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, and a lovely tomato sauce.
The prices are not too bad, about $13-$16 per entree, and we had leftovers for the next day. BYOB is always a thumbs up in my book. I will most definitely come here again. -
Review from jay h.
Chicago, IL
2/27/2012
I ate here 10 years ago and liked it a lot. Last month, I saw a restaurant in major decline. The place was drab, service was lazy, and all of the food was mediocre at best. Server forgot our appetizer order entirely, and other server got huffy when I asked for it to be removed from the bill. And what kind of place refuses to serve grilled items on the weekend? I thought the server was joking about this one, but no, I could not order a kabob on Friday.
If you want authentic Moroccan and BYO, take a drive to Irving Park jusr west of Pulaski to Shokran. -
Review from Kenneth H.
Chicago, IL
2/19/2012
Sadly in the 3.5 years in Chicago, Andalous was my worst experience in a restaurant. It was my birthday and I thought i had found the perfect spot for a group of 12 that was BYOB and close to our final destination. I however was proved very wrong.
I made a reservation 3 weeks in advance for 12, when we arrived they only had prepared us a table for 10. It took them 5 minutes to find 2 more chairs as we squeezed 12 people into a 10 person table. Then the wait began...
30 minutes after we sat down they finally brought a corkscrew and a handful of wine glasses, not enough for the table
1 hour and 15 minutes after we sat down and countless times informing the staff we were ready to order, our order was taken
1 hour and 45 minutes after we sat down we received pita bread and a red bean dip that lacked any flavor.
2 hours and 10 minutes after we sat down we received our food
2 hours and 40 minutes after we sat down we had to argue with the management that we in fact were not going to pay their self-assessed 20% tip because a trained cat could have given us better service, we instead felt charitable giving 10% tip. And no we did not want to wait around for another 10 minutes for free mint tea, we were already 40 minutes late to our next destination.
As for the food, my sweet lamb couscous was the highlight at the table, most of the group was disappointed with their meals.
Was it memorable? Yes but not in the good way -
Review from Kristin B.
Chicago, IL
5/25/2012
Yum!
Having just moved from NY, we were on a mission to find some more ecclectic cuisine and tried this place on a whim.
Service: A little slow, but forgiveable - there were two large parties (10+) folks and both our server and host were incredibly friendly, offering great advice to both my husband and me when we were having trouble deciding. (I hate the standard "both are good" when you ask for a rec!)
Food: So. Friggin. Good. We started with the Anadlou Deal (a combo app of eggplant, pepppers and spinach puree dips, with carrots). The eggplant (zaalook) and the pepper (taktouka) were gone in seconds. My husband had Zagora Tagine (braised lamb with artichokes & peas) - which he loved, and I enjoyed the Fish Pastilla (various seafood w/lemon, mushrooms & spices in a phyllo shell), which was baked to perfection.
Atmosphere: Crowded, but lively. We had to squeeze into one of the tables by the window, but once we were settled, it was fine. It was fun to people watch on Clark St, too.
Price: BYOB + generous portions - this place is a steal! -
Review from Nichole F.
Chicago, IL
4/26/2012
I am a big fan of Andalous and their delicious Moroccan food. I first went here for a birthday dinner. I loved the food and the service was decent. I also love that it is BYOB. Since that first time there, I have been there at least 4 more times including once for my own birthday celebration. They are good with groups of people. Please be advised that if you are having a group, they may mention that they want your group to do the set menu. You pay a certain price per person and you pick a couple of appetizers, entrees and a dessert. We didn't want to do that since it was more expensive and there were vegetarians in our group (and no options for vegetarians in the set menu). Just be advised that they may try to sell you on that and to be adamant if you do not want that.
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Review from Vel G.
Chicago, IL
5/1/2012
We were looking for a simple place to have lunch at in the area. Moroccan food sounded good and that's how we ended at Andalous. This place looks fairly simple but authentic. The same goes for the food. It was fairly priced and the servings were generous. We were immediately greeted by our server and seated. He had plenty of suggestion of authentic dishes. After we placed our orders we were served pita with some bean dip. The dip was amazing, but the pita looked and tasted store bough. It wasn't bad though. We got the mixed appetizer since we wanted to try a bit of everything. It was amazing! For entrees we got a lamb dish, and a beef dish that was suggested by our server. Also very tasty. After our meal we got a cup of freshly brewer coffee with spices. It tasted very unique, similar to the way Chai tastes, but it had it's own special twist to it.
We would definitely come back for the food. -
Review from Candice R.
Chicago, IL
Updated - 2/17/2012
I'm disappointed to have to bump them down a star, but sometimes service can effect a restaurant review as much, sometimes more, than food. I was here on a Saturday night, armed with a http://restaurant.com coupon, looking for some tasty Moroccan food and a good BYOB. We had good service and good food, mostly. I ordered the Lamb tagine, and my fries were not fully cooked. It ruined what would have been a great dish, and turned it into a good dish. No worries about that though.
My issue is that when I tried to pay with my coupon, the owner told us that they did not accept those on the weekends. Having thoroughly read the fine print before purchasing, I argued with him that it did not state that and my coupon was good by legal standards. I also told him that http://restaurant.com was a reputable coupon supplier, and they would have stated "weekdays only" if that were the case. The owner (server?) kept arguing with me and would not accept the coupon. This really only lasted 5 minutes, and I didn't want to cause a scene so I let it drop.
I emailed http://restaurant.com to see if the owner was right, as that's just the kind of person I am. And they offered me a refund, apologized, said that Andalous should have taken the coupon and that they were contacting them to see if they still wanted to partner with http://restaurant.com.
In short, there are so many Moroccan/Middle Eastern options in Chicago, for the same price, and they are almost all BYOB. Sorry, Andalous, but it had to be said.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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11/18/2008
Good food. My entree (lamb of some sort, with delicious bay leaves) was much better than my friends,… Read more »
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Review from Ryan P.
Chicago, IL
2/6/2012
Those groupon/restuarant.com coupons sometimes make me feel guilty- like I'll go to the place only when I have those coupons because its so cheap.
The service here is excellent and they host you as if you are their personal guest. The food was decadent and I can't imagine how they could improve it. I had some chicken dish with filo dough and powdered sugar that was insanely good. My partner had royal couscous and it was enough for two. So good.
We'll be back, with or without a coupon. -
Review from Kara W.
Chicago, IL
2/3/2012
To sum it up:
Long wait, 45 mins for entree
Poor Service, waitress was not attentive or friendly
Did not take our http://restaurant.com coupon as they changed there policy "2 days ago".
The food was not good. Super fatty lamb shank and cold couscous -
Review from Joshua V.
Chicago, IL
3/26/2012
We were literally the only ones in the restaurant and the server still hardly paid attention to us. The food was decent but substantially overpriced, especially since the bastilla and tagine we ordered were merely the standard options that you can get cheaper at any other Moroccan restaurant throughout Chicago. To top it all off, they neglected to mention until after dinner that the credit card reader was broken so I had to walk 7 blocks to find an ATM. Overall, we were very disappointed.
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Review from R D.
Chicago, IL
3/16/2012
I go here constantly. When I ate meat, the Royal Couscous was effing amazing. Now, I go for other amazing stuff.
The food is so good and the staff is really nice. A must for in town guests. Any BYOB? Awesome. -
Review from Samuel M.
11/23/2011
I came here with my roommate on a slow Tuesday night. In general, I was a fan. The eggplant appetizer (I don't remember the name), with tender grilled eggplant, tomatoes, and Moroccan spices, was delicious; largely superior to more conventional grilled eggplant puree appetizers I have had. The Moroccan mint tea was also really good - ordinarily I despise sweetened tea/coffee on principle, but this was good. For an entree, I had the fes tagine: lamb shank with prunes, almonds, hard boiled eggs, and sesame seeds. I should have gathered this from those ingredients, but this was way too sweet for my personal taste, and I was not a fan because of that. My roommate's "famous" couscous, on the other hand, was very good.
In all, Andalous is a solid and unique restaurant. Despite the three stars, I'll definitely be back to order a more savory entree and take advantage of the BYOB awesomeness. This is well worth checking out. -
Review from Scott O.
Chicago, IL
2/4/2012
The food here is good, but our issues were with the service. First off, it took an EXTREMELY long time for all of us to get our food. We started out as one of the only tables, and by the time our food came, the place was very full and other people seemed to have gotten their food before we did. Second, like another person noted, they would not accept our http://Restaurant.com coupon because they said that supposedly http://Restaurant.com made a mistake and did not include that it's not valid on weekends. However, I just checked and they are still listed on http://Restaurant.com, and the certificates still say they are good anytime. So, even if this mistake was made, they sure haven't done anything about it yet, which makes for a very frustrating (and deceptive) dining experience.
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Review from Richard O.
Chicago, IL
7/15/2011
We went in one day when the restaurant was completely empty. We were a party of four. Initially it was just three of us out for a late lunch but another friend joined us at the last minute and because he had just eaten he just ordered an appetizer when we sat down to order. The server was so shockingly rude when he insisted everyone must order an entree. My friend even offered to pay for an entree but since he'd already eaten he didn't want that much food and the guy continued to bully him to order an entree.
After he walked away my friends sat there cowed until I was like HELL TO THE NO!
It made most sense to me to just leave the restaurant because the service was inexcusably abrasive but my friend stopped to tell the server on the way out that we were leaving. Heaven help him if ever find out that he apologized.
I've heard from people that the food was good but I'll never set foot in this place again. It seemed dirty anyway. -
Review from Liz S.
Evanston, IL
10/20/2011
I came here for my birthday a couple years ago with a few friends (17 to be exact) and we had a really great time. I'd been looking for a BYOB place with good food, and we got just what I wanted at Andalous. The reviews said that the food takes a long time, but we were all having such a good time we didn't notice; besides, we ordered tons of delicious appetizers.
We got several of the Andalous Deal (they could come up with a better name...), which is a combo of the 4 veggie-based apps. There were eggplant, bell pepper, carrot, and spinach - based appetizers, and all tasted really fresh and delicious. I think the spinach one was a little bland, but still tasty.
Yes, the food (main dishes) may take a little longer than at other places. However, this is because they are cooking them in Tajines and that is just how long they take to cook that way. I would say it's worth it, but if you're super hungry you might either want to order something that doesn't take like 45 mins, get appetizers, or go eat some fast food garbage. It would be nice if they warned you on the menu that it takes a long time, especially since they serve the dishes cooked ina tajine on a regular plate; you wouldn't even know that there's something special about how it was cooked (my favorite moroccan restaurant in NYC serves the Tajines in the Tajine).
One of my friends was dead-set on a dish that it turns out they only serve at lunch (or some weird time of day/day of the week that wasn't then), but he was very happy nonetheless with the recommendation they gave. The food here is absolutely delicious. My tagine had a cream sauce and was delicious.
I think their dessert selection is pretty small, but I wouldn't really know because I brought my own! haha. I was VERY impressed with how wonderful and accommodating they were about this; we were planning to sort of sneak it. The waitstaff at Andalous they insisted on taking care of my birthday cake, however: it on a platter for us, sprinkled it with a little cocoa powder, added some candles, and presented it as if they had made it for me!
Also, I think my party was there the entire time they were open for dinner, and not once did I ever feel that they were trying to rush us out. About half of us arrived late (typical...for once it wasn't my fault tho haha), and they gave us no trouble. I think only 4 people were there for the whole first half hour of the reservation--oops!!! We definitely stayed and kept drinking our BOYBs until the dining room was empty.
It was a really great birthday dinner. I have been back once since with a smaller group, and it was eerily empty for a weekend night, but the food was still good...though I did notice the wait this time. -
Review from Lauren B.
Chicago, IL
9/26/2011
The first time I came here, I had a delicious meal. When my birthday rolled around, I thought it would be a great place to go. I called ahead and made a reservation for 10 people. No problem. Unfortunately, the dinner didn't go so smoothly.
We order our meals and it takes about 45 minutes for the dishes to come. Definitely on the lengthy side, but there were a lot of us and its a small restaurant so I'll cut them a break.
Once we were all served, we realized one of the guests was given the wrong dish so she sent it back. It took an additional 45 minutes for the replacement dish to come! So our food didn't get cold, the rest of us ate, leaving our friend to eat alone later. Before the bill came, we politely requested the girl's meal be comped for the inconvenience. The waitress said no! She explained that it would have to come to from her paycheck and that she already had to cover one meal (the incorrect one, not our fault!!) and if she took this one off the bill that would be two lost meals. Seriously?!!
The poor girl had to wait 1.5 hours for her food and then pay full price for it. We asked to speak to the manager but the waitress said he was out of the country. We decided to take it out of the tip, but since we were a large group, tip was included. grrr.
Finally, when we went to pay with our cards, the waitress said they only except two cards per party. If that's the rule, fine, but they must make it a clear to a large group before ordering. Luckily when we pushed back she agreed to make an exception.
It's a shame the service was so poor. The food was fantastic but I'm sure no one in my party will be going back. -
Review from Stephanie H.
Chicago, IL
I've been here several times but never wrote a review on my experiences, so I hope my memory serves me well. Usually when we go, the place is pretty empty. There are usually a few tables of people, but never anything too crowded. The last time I went was with a group of maybe 10 people. I had no problem making reservations (but since it was so empty when I got there I don't think it was necessary).
The staff was pretty friendly and filled up our waters and gave us glasses for the wine we brought (BYOB, which I love). My personal favorites are their lamb dishes (The Famous Couscous and Zagora Tagine), but I'm biased because I LOVE lamb and theirs is so tender it falls off the bone. I also love their Rabat Tagine beef dish...beef, mushrooms, garlic, zucchini, butter sauce...I love all the flavors in that dish.
While I've never had problems dining there, I would say to be prepared for slower service if you have a big group. As long as you expect that I don't think you'll be disappointed.Listed in: Must Go Back!, Favorite BYOB Venues
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Review from Lizzie N.
Chicago, IL
1/3/2012
The atmosphere and waitstaff will leave you wanting, but the food will leave you satisfied.
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Review from Gayatri D.
Chicago, IL
5/26/2011
I was in a happy place. The last few reviews I'd written were either 4 or 5 star ones and my faith in Chicago's dining culture was getting stronger .... Until I went to Andalous.
Usually when large groups dine out, they hardly notice the pace of the service. Everyone's busy catching up so minor delays here n there never make a difference. But when your party of 12 is seated at 7:45, everyone orders at 8:05 and the food doesn't come out until 9:15, you know this isn't going to be one of those fabulous dinners you'll talk about for years to come.
To be fair, the food tasted great. We had the Veggie Pastilla, Veggie Couscous, Veggie Tagine, Fish Pastilla, Chicken Pastilla & Kefta Kabob. The flavors were authentic and the spices were just right. The veggies tasted extremely fresh and were cooked to perfection. The texture of the pastillas was also crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, a definite thumbs up. While everyone was very very happy with their dish (most plates were empty within 15 minutes), the hour-long delay at the start of the meal was too much to ignore in rating our experience.
There was 1 server for most of the night and she seemed quite busy. After ordering, the only time she came to check on us was when we were almost finished. Too little too late, considering we had to repeatedly ask for wine glasses and water. And you know the bean dip they give you at the start of your meal? She gave us one (yes ONE) little serving for 12 people.
They also charge you an extra $10 to share entrees, which is perfectly fine seeing as how they have no corkage fee (just letting the 1st timers know). Andalous has the potential to be a great restaurant, if they get an extra server or two and let guests know how long their meals will take to come out. -
Review from Chip W.
Chicago, IL
2/25/2012
Why does this place offer coupons then refuse to honor the deal? Owner refused to accept http://restaurant.com $25 coupon on Friday night. I spoke directly to the man who claimed he was the owner and he said it was restaurant.com's fault, even though the coupon was purchased 2 months ago and there is no weekend restriction listed on it or on the http://restaurant.com website. He refused to discount the bill at all and also wouldn't take a credit card, blaming Comcast for their phone not working. Food tasted good. Service was very slow, taking at least 45 minutes for the food to arrive. Liked the BYOB. All they offered for dessert was baklava, which was small and disappointing.
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Review from L. O.
Chicago, IL
2/20/2011
The food was good but the management of the restaurant was horrible. There are too many tables squeezed in a tiny spot. We had a reservation for a group of 18 and even though there were 6 or 7 people there on time for the reservation the owner gave the table away to other people because not all 18 people had arrived at 7:30. I could not believe that another person and I just stood there as the owner gave our reserved table to other people. We had trouble getting water and silverware. A couple people got wine glasses and cork screws themselves for our table because no one would have brought them to us.
We arrived at 7:30 for a 7:30 reservation, sat down at about 8:15 and the food came two hours and 15 minutes after we sat down. The owner would not even comp. one meal for the birthday girl. and he added on a 20% tip to the bill which was chicken scratch and unreadable. -
Review from Patrick M.
San Mateo, CA
3/8/2012
Pretty good food, and a wonderful staff.
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Review from Saren F.
Chicago, IL
4/30/2011
I came here with my food group, and we had a wonderful time. I worked with the owner beforehand to decide on a menu. He seemed a bit nonchalant about it (which worried me a little bit), but everything went off without a hitch at the actual dinner. We did the prefixed menu ($25), had an array of vegetable appetizers, were able to try both a chicken and beef dish and ended the meal with Moroccan mint tea. The portions were huge and we were stuffed before we left. Also, make sure you order dessert early, they were out by the end of the evening.
Recommended dishes: white beans and pita app, eggplant app, Rabat tagine, atlas tagine and mint tea. -
Review from Emily Z.
5/10/2011
Having never had Moroccan food before I was highly impressed with how delicious Andalous was, so much so that I've made it my mission in life to learn to cook Moroccan!
I will say that the service here is not the fastest but it is friendly and relaxed so as long as you go in expecting to be there a while enjoying amazing food you will be fine!
I don't remember exactly what we had but I do remember the complementary Mint tea was out of this world! They said it was made with Green tea, Orange blossom water, sugar, and fresh mint sprigs... mmm mmm good. They also brought out complementary pita and a delicious bean spread.
For Entrees we had a leg of lamb with artichoke that was super tender and delicious and a tomato based vegetable dish with amazing cooked zucchini.
I hear they have an amazing back patio, so once summer finally decided so show its sunny face I will be back for sure! -
Review from Heather P.
Chicago, IL
3/20/2011
This is a very mixed review and I accept that not everyone will be as outraged with the experience I encountered here as I was, but due to it I will never be back. Here's my story:
I made an online reservation for 5 people at 6:30. We arrived to find we were the only table, but they did not have our reservation. Alright, not a problem and the owner says no worries. Great! We were seated at a 6 seat table and we did end up waiting about 30 minutes for our entire party to get there, but again we were assured that there was no rush to order.
Prior to arriving, I had looked over the menu as did everyone else and we all had ideas of what we wanted to order. The owner came around to take down our order and one my girlfriend says "is there something you would recommend as a must-try" he responds with "I will choose all of your dishes and you can all try everything" He then proceeds to make sure that we all like all proteins; which we do. So he says he will bring us a fish, chicken, lamb and beef dish. We specifically told him only 4 of us were going to order. My friend asks if he can make sure one of the dishes is vegetarian. Here's where things started to go awry. He brings out 2 appetizers and 5 dishes for 4 of us. There were two chicken dishes and no fish dishes. Fine, we don't make a fuss over it.
This gathering was so that I could make a big announcement and with that said, all the other ladies were drinking their byo wines and I had asked for some tea. He brings out tea for all of us. Now I must say that the sweet couscous and whatever cream sauce chicken he brought us were fantastic. I could have taken or left the lamb and artichokes and the beef dish. The vegetarian dish was nothing special AT ALL. The tea was delightful. Now we get our bill. To our shock, the bill came out to a little over $130 for the 4 of us. That is thanks in part to the most expensive dishes being ordered for us in addition to an extra dish, and $10 worth of tea for people who didn't want it and didn't drink it. Again, we were a little peeved, but so be it...live and learn.
Here is the part that disgusts me and again, feel free to write this off because I can see it from the owner's point of view, but as a patron it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. In total we had been there for about 1 hour and 45 minutes and the restaurant had filled up by that time, but the minute we finished writing out our receipts for $130 plus a $30 tip for him...he proceeds to ask us to leave so he can have the table. Keep in mind this was a special occasion where I was sharing news with a group of friends and here we were shoved out of the place. I was appalled. I left feeling robbed and completely unappreciated/unwelcome. The experience pretty much overruled the fact that I enjoyed the food. So there you have it. Decide for yourself, but the next time I am craving Middle Eastern BYOB, I know of a few other options that will appreciate my business and not take advantage of me. -
Review from Becky K.
Chicago, IL
11/14/2011
such a great place!! so it wasnt busy for a saturday night, but it was PERFECT. andalous was a small, intimate restaurant with jus the right amount of light to set the mood. our server was absolutely adorable! so sweet and very accommodating. :)
so heres the goods on the food: TRY THE ROYAL COUSCOUS!!! has all the meat and veggies you want, so tender and juicy..all on top of a bed of one of the best couscous ive ever had. we also had a fish and lamb dish that were also very tasty and delicious...
its byob, so make sure to prepare yourself with a lot of wine :)
all in all, i loved it....cant wait to go back and feast some more! :D -
Review from Travis T.
Chicago, IL
2/3/2012
This was not a good experience to say the least. Our food took 45 mins before it came out our waitress not attentive. I also got DIARRHEA, so I would stay away from the chicken.
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Review from Samra M.
2/26/2011
I went with my family to Andalous thinking this was like every other mediterranean/middle eastern place, with the usual kufta kabob and kabobs galore...but I was wrong.
Andalous is located on the outskirts of Lincoln park, aside from where most of the food places are, so I'm guessing that's why not many people were there in the first place.
My first impression was that the place wasn't a place that I would usually go to but it said ZAGAT rated, so we thought we'd give it a try and try something new.
We were sat by, whom we think, is the owner. The seats aren't that great and the table was close to the wall making it hard to scoot out the chair and sit. We sat and looked at the menu and on the back is says on Fridays and Saturdays they don't serve the grilled items, and what was under that you say, the chicken and kufta kabobs of course...I was sad but then I got over it and told myself I would try something new and ordered the Bastilla. And my parents and bros got different food as well.
Right off the bat, the prices were more expensive than regular middle eastern and mediterranean food. Expensive is good right? (If you read more you'll see =] )
So the "owner" came out with some warm pita bread and some sort of bean dip that I haven't seen before. Don't knock it til you try it. The bean dip and the pita bread went hand in hand and was one of the highlights eaten there.
Also showcased was the hot mint tea that they brought out, mmm mmm mmm! Perfect minty taste with sugar already in it, this and the pita bread is what I'll be coming back for.
One more highlight was the traditional Moroccan salad and the lentil soup, that was a delight to eat. After the starters I was getting excited of what else they could come up with because those starters we're really good.
To my disappointment, the starters were the only things that were good for me because the entree was terrible. It's a best seller BUT I have no idea how it became the best seller.
The Bastilla is chicken (around 17 dollars), vegetables and sauce stuffed in phyllo pastry and baked, then covered in powedered sugar. I for one am not a fan. The taste of sweet and savory did not work for me. And I was not a fan.
Although the Bastilla wasn't the greatest. The lamb was really good and is something you should order.
So if you're looking for something new and you have the money to spend then I recommend going here for the Lamb (around 19 dollars), the Moroccan salad*, mint tea*, pita bread and bean dip* and the lentil soup*.
The ****s are the ones I really like. I would come back here (if i had enough money) JUST for those and nothing else! And for that they get 3 starts, if it weren't for that I would give 0-1 stars, the service is bad the waiter used his cellphone and texted while waiting for the receipt, the owner hurries you when you take too long to pick what's on the menu and picks the worst chicken thing, and the tables are too close to the wall to scoot the chairs out.
Other than that it's only worth it's starters. -
Review from Amgad E.
Chicago, IL
12/12/2011
The all the food I had here was really good. Shared a lamb shank tagin, sweet lamb cous cous, and a lamb cous cous plate with mixed vegetables. The sweet cous cous was a bit too sweet but the other two dishes were great. The mixed appetizer platter was also very good. The service here is excellent and the BYOB policy is a great plus. The server was very friendly and even gave us complementary mint tea which was very good. Doesn't get better at this price point.
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Review from Patrick H.
Chicago, IL
2/6/2011
Eh.
Martin Mull is one of those B-list celebrities I kind of remember: his face and voice are familiar, and yet it's hard to recall anything else about him. My dinner at Andalous was very Martin Mull.
Apart from the powdered sugar and cinnamon, my chicken pastilla had zero flavor. Instead of sweet and savory, it was just sweet and... texture. The phyllo was tough; the bland filling was dry and overcooked. (My friend said the same thing about the fish pastilla, so it's catching.) And it didn't help that the pastilla showed up on a big plate that, like Martin Mull, lacked any visual appeal. A lemon wedge, a sprig of parsley, a broken acrylic fingernail... whatever it is, a little color on the plate wouldn't hurt anyone. The spinach and carrot appetizers were both tasty but nothing, um, special.
Even though I had a mediocre meal, I'll probably give Andalous another shot because it's one of those restaurants that, for whatever reason, I want to like. It's a cute little room, and the staff is as kind as they are attentive. Maybe I was just there on an off night. -
Review from Saira K.
10/9/2011
Great decor and excellent food - the server recommended the Zagora Tagine - lamb shanks braised with artichokes and green peas in a delightful sauce. Very unique.
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Review from Meg L.
Chicago, IL
11/4/2010
I dined at Andalous last night for probably the fifth - and definitely the last - time. I will (begrudgingly) admit that the food is tasty, however it is not so delicious that anyone should have to endure such inhospitable service.
Similar to other reviewers' experiences, we waited at least 15 minutes just to have the menus delivered to our table at which time I was reminded of the outrageous demand Andalous places on its diners: everyone in the party MUST order his/her own entree or be subjected to a hefty $10 sharing fee.
Once our orders were placed, several lifetimes passed before our food was brought to the table. The lengthy wait time could have been forgiven if 1) we hadn't been one of two seated tables in the entire restaurant or 2) the menu offered more than a few variations on the same basic theme. But alas, it doesn't. And, as other reviewers' have astutely observed, the vegetables found in most of the dishes appear to be of the frozen, not fresh, variety.
The moral of the story is this: if you're in the mood for Moroccan food in a welcoming environment, head a few blocks southeast to Casbah Cafe where the food is divine and sharing is caring! -
Review from jenny m.
1/22/2011
I've eaten dinner here twice now - once with my BYOB dinner club and once with my book club. Both times I've really enjoyed the food but found the service to be a little lacking. It just seems there's one guy working the whole room so you have to work to get his attention when you want to order, ask for more water, etc. Not a big deal as it's a small enough place but just something to note.
I really enjoy Moroccan food because it's very vegetarian/pescatarian friendly. Not that it's not going to appeal to the carnivores as they are very heavy in the lamb/beef/chicken dishes as well. It's just easy to eat Moroccan if you don't eat meat.
I believe the first time I ate here I had one of the fish tagines and I enjoyed it. This last time I was there I went with the shrimp tagine, and while I really liked the sauce, the shrimp was a little chewy & overcooked. I've also tried the sweet couscous and would actually get that next time I go there - it's really delicious.
When I was there with my book club we got the sampler appetizer platter to start and that I would recommend. It was a little taste of there popular app's and it was a good way to taste lots of things.
We also got dessert and unfortunately I wasn't impressed. We were given a sampler of 4 things and I did not really like any of them (they didn't get enthusiastic remarks from our whole party of 9 actually).
Andalous is BYOB and the prices are great. Our party of 9 got two appetizer sampler plates, 9 entrees, and a dessert sampler and it was around $25/person. -
Review from Amy W.
12/20/2010
This was my first experience with Morroccan food and I'm glad to say that I'm a fan! My boyfriend and I ordered Andalous Deal as an appetizer, and the Fes Tagine (lamb entree) and Sahara Tagine (beef entree). The entrees were absolutely delicious. The lamb was a bit on the sweet side for me, but it was so tender and well-done. The beef was also absolutely delicious - really hearty and filling.
Also, you can't come to Andalous without ordering the Moroccan mint tea! It's simply amaaaazing. I can never have regular tea again.
Service was great. The waiter was prompt, attentive, and friendly.
The one thing is that this place was a little bit pricey for me. Even so, I'd definitely come back the next time I'm around! -
Review from Courtney P.
Chicago, IL
6/20/2010
This was a very disapointing experience. I had a very good day and wanted to get some dinner with my friend.
I might not have even gone in if I had seen the menu first, but as it is not on the door and I live right next door, I decided to give it a try anyway. The prices were pretty high, and I didn't want to spend a ton, so we wanted to each get soup and split an entre. When we ordered the waitress said if we split an entre there would be a $10 charge. Ummmm? I've heard of split charges, but they are usually at nice places, and I have never heard of one so high! Also, because we were getting soup I thought it was silly. This place is not fancy enough to get away with the prices and this stupid rule, I mean, the people working here were wearing jeans, that does not exactly scream "high class."
I thought about walking out then and there, but didn't. Instead we decided to get another entre and skip the soup (which was the thing I wanted more than anything). I got the Pastilla chicken dish and my friend got Zagora Tagine (lamb), which ther waitress said was "the best thing on the menu."
Some beans and pita bread came to the table as a pre dinner snack and that was tasty, but it was all down hill from there.
I was very shocked by my entre. It was a filo dough four inches in diameter, half an inch thick, which was pretty small for $17, but the shocking thing was that it was CONVERED in powdered sugar and cinnimin! WTF? No where in the description did it say anything about it being sweet, and I was not excited, but I dug in.
Inside my donut was dry gross chicken. It was like meat dessert. BAD meat dessert.
My friend's lamb was pretty good, it was covered with frozen peas. Again it wasn't much food for $16, no rice, no couscous....those are extra! Of course, just charge charge charge us!
Basically I left hungry and pissed. My meal was gross and I ate about 1/4 of it. And dinner for two with NO soup, NO salad, NO apps, NO drinks of any kind, NO dessert was $43. AND I LEFT HUNGRY.
BAH, if I knew I was gonna be spending that much I would have gone to Mia Francesca or Socca next door and got more than enough food. Oh and it would have tasted good!
Oh, and our water was almost always empty and our server was in the corner of the restaurant on the phone. And there were a few bugs flying around.
NEVER EVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!Listed in: Places that make me angry
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Review from Alice S.
Chicago, IL
1/6/2008 ROTD 3/15/2008
Have you ever tried to cook food from a cuisine which you've never tasted? I had tried to do that in the past, with Moroccan food. I've made couscous, "Moroccan Lamb" and so on, relying on recipes. That's not how I cook normally, but the recipes sounded so fragrant and delicious I had to try them!
Now that I've had Moroccan food at Andalous, *real* couscous and lamb shanks, I know what it's supposed to taste like! I had "The Famous Couscous" (how could I not order something that proclaims itself as famous), which was a HUGE mound of food. A perfectly spiced and braised lamb shank, braised vegetables (cabbage, eggplant, carrot, zucchini, potatoes, and possibly others), all piled high on a bed of deliciously delicate couscous. The braising juices flavored the couscous with tasty moistness, and the whole thing was a beautiful, edible sculpture. It was amazing.
The service is friendly and definitely hardworking. Water glasses were always kept filled, and wine bottles opened cheerfully. This place is BYOB, with no corkage fee, so take advantage of that and bring wines that you feel complement spicy (but not hot), and sometimes fruity, foods. I brought a Shiraz-Grenache since I'd planned on eating lamb; I think a Riesling would be great for any of the chicken or fish dishes, especially those with fruit and nuts.
It's a lovely little place that I look forward to enjoying again!Listed in: The Short List..., Top Restaurants
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Review from Ellen M.
10/23/2006
I had dinner with Kathleen O. and Lisa B. at Andalous. It was a ruse - you see, those two are roommates now, and they both happen to be hilarious theater chicks. I was laughing so hard my diaphragm ached, so had to stuff 'em both with eggplant to get any rest.
We started with the Andalous Deal - a combo of Zaalouk, Taktouka, Carrots ala Sharmoula and Bakoula (eggplant, green peppers, and carrots, I think in that order) and flatbread - awesome. The two actresses had lamb, I went for the beef tangine. All wonderful.
The dining room is really small, so make reservations. The put the three of us at a two top, a little cozy. The best part was that I was sitting with my back to the cellar door. Every time someone went down there, there was this cold blast of air and the sound of children playing. I can't think of a better scene suggestion for a couple improv girls and their grateful audience of one.
BYOB.Listed in: Favorite Restaurants in…
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Review from Amy H.
4/20/2009 1 Check-in Here
Rush, rush, rush! Are you finished with that? Are you finished now? How about now?
I really tried to like Andalous, but the way that the staff kept rushing us really didn't sit well with me. It wasn't attentiveness, it was flat out "get out of here so that we can seat someone else at your table!"
The food was good. I had never eaten Moroccan food before so I wasn't sure what to expect. We ordered a sample appetizer and I really loved the spinach that was included. I ate a chicken dish wrapped in filo dough. It was good. It didn't knock my socks off, but it was good.
They don't have any dessert. Do Moroccans not eat dessert?
I would love to try Andalous again on an off night. All of that rushing made me feel a little on-edge. I prefer to have a leisurely meal and enjoy a nice conversation. -
Review from I K.
Chicago, IL
11/14/2011
Very good place. The food is DELISH!!! I went there a few times alone or with my friends, we always had great food and decent service. My favourite meal there is Royal Cous-Cous. It's when couc cous is cooked with lamb and veggies and Moroccan spices. YUM!!!
Now, I would've given all 5 starts. BUT! Waiting time is really long -- 30 to 50 minutes. If you want to eat right away, call in advance, pre-order and you'll be cool. If you stop by for a quickie lunch -- it's not the best place.
If you are going with your friends and you are going to spend a considerable amount of time in the restaurant -- you should definitely go there. Prices are high-ish, but food worth it!!! Really! -
Review from Barbie S.
Chicago, IL
3/20/2009
Let me preface.... the food was definitely yummy!!! :-)
HOWEVER..........
in spite of the food, I would NEVER go back. N-E-V-E-R.
No room for 2nd chances with this place.
Everything started out on a positive note, the restaurant was packed, and we did not have reservations, but they held a table while we ran down the street for a bottle of wine. No corking fee, was very nice....
After they held the table for about 5-10 min for us, which was great... right by the window, an added bonus... we ordered appetizers, and our entrees. Literally, we were seated MAYBE 30-40 min, and we still had 1/2 bottle of our wine... the waiter comes by and PICKS up our plates.
Not only was I not done eating, cuz i was picking the server NEVER asked me if i wanted to keep my leftovers, and i had MORE THAN half of my plate left.
I was like WTF???? where is my food????
THEN... after so abruptly taking the plates we were presented with our bill. So we left it on the table, while we were finishing our wine, and the waiter was staring us down, and kept pacing by looking at the check if we paid yet. We could sense he was getting a little antsy... and after about the 4-5 swoop around our table, the manager (?) i am guessing came over... AND LITERALLY...
I am NOT EXAGGERATING... told us we had 5 minutes to wrap it up, they were giving our table to the next people.
Who gets kicked out of a restaurant? We spent decent amount of money - AND we were not there an hour. Sure i understand that they might have been busy, and the place is about as big as a walk in closet.
But NOT MY PROBLEM... you do NOT ask people to leave.
What were we supposed to do???? Take our wine with us on the street?
And what if we didn't leave? What would they have done then????
He was not even polite about it... it was like MOVE, you ate, your done - BUH BYE!!!
Never, if i am paying for seated service, i had better not be kicked out.
There are way to many places to go in the city, and I certainly will not give my business where it is not appreciated, and i am disrespected!!!
While we were leaving... we did notice the line of ppl waiting in the hallway - standing room only smashed together like sardines against the wall.
Sorry not my idea of good time....
