Ali Baba - Goulburn

You can find Ali Baba located in the food court area of Macquarie Centre shopping centre. It is more of a fast-food joint than a sit-down restaurant, where you order at the counter and take your meal to go. You may need to search for a table in the busy food court. Despite the setup, Ali Baba serves a tasty falafel roll with fresh, made-to-order falafels. The only downside is that they could be more generous with the tabouli. Prices here are typical for a shopping centre.

Ali Baba serves Middle Eastern/Lebanese food- basically a combination of kebabs and wraps - takeaway style food. Most of the ingredients for the wraps are displayed on the counter and so you can generally choose the combination of the dips and fillings for the wraps. There's hummus (chickpea dip), babaganoush (eggplant dip), avocado dip, sour cream, tabouleh (fresh salad with finely chopped tomatoes, onion and parsley), iceberg lettuce, tomato slices, onion slices with parsley an sumac. The ingredients displayed on the counter look fresh and appetising. A small wrap with hummus, 3 slices of tomatoes, a few onions, a spoonful of tabouleh, a sauce of your choice (chilli, barbecue, mayonnaise), some lettuce and felafel (chickpea cutlets) is for $7. There are medium and large wraps available as well with a choice of shawarmas (chicken and meat). Makes quite a good meal at a reasonable price. Soft warm breads filled with cheese and spinach are available but are a bit too pricey at almost $4 each (compared to wraps). However, I have not had any of their items with cheese, so I do not know if they charge extra for it.

These guys advertise on their counter a regular meal deal with a soft drink

Ali Baba, which was once known for its large kebabs, now serves kebabs with an abundance of lettuce and flavorless sauce. The kebabs now resemble thin, unappetizing rolls. If they need to increase prices due to ingredient costs, that's understandable, but the quality of the food should match the price.

The Middle Eastern fast food at this restaurant is just okay. It's not the best, but it's average. I've had better Middle Eastern mall food elsewhere.