I Dream of Falafel

The food is pretty good, the line moves quick, and the prices are a bit cheaper than comparable fare in the area.
But.
The food quality control is abysmal. When I found a stink bug in my tabbouleh, I dismissed it as a fluke. But the next time I went there, there was a small pebble in my food that I almost chipped a tooth on.
Sorry, I only want food in my food. I want to return to this place, but I don’t particularly feel like gambling on getting bugs and rocks for lunch.

I came here for lunch and got a chicken shawarma plate. The chicken was cut from what looked like an exhausted supply. The chicken was mostly skin and gristle in tiny pieces, mostly inedible. the rest of the food is good but don’t cheat your repeat customers with horrible servings just to save a buck.

The price is really affordable compared to other Mediterranean places, but the food is just, «okay.“The plate is mostly just a bunch of filler (rice), with small scoops of meat and sides. The sides selection is rather… uninspired, but it gets the job done. If you’ve never had good Mediterranean food before, I suppose this place will be great, but it’s just marginal (for me). The site and restaurants themselves showcase a pretty nifty design. It looks cool. They get an «B» in interior/​graphic design, but a «C-​Average» in food.

My experience was awesome here. Chicken shawarma was so flavorful as well as the sauces. I’ll definitely will be coming back here.

I’ve been favoring the place down the block and here’s why: My last 2 or 3 visits have shown they’ve lost the ability to cook the proteins correctly. They aren’t Naf Naf bad yet, but the chicken seems to be overcooked to the point where my cat would likely not be able to chew through the meat. I’ve had wallets that are softer leather than this. Too bad because their sides esp. the tabouli quinoa salad are very good.

We had a great experience here. I loved being able to customize my platter with everything I wanted. I have celiac disease, and it was such a relief to find something quick and cheap and good that I could safely eat while traveling. Their menu was clearly labeled as to what things are gluten free, and I had lots of options.
The falafel and hummus were both great, as were the chickpea and tabouli salads. The sauces were delicious. It was a great amount of food for just around eight bucks.
What’s more, the staff were super friendly and helpful, and the music was good too. We’d had a long day of traveling and I was exhausted but coming here really brightened my day. A guy working there named Ahmed helped make sure my meal was safe for me, and he was friendly and fantastic.
I would definitely come back next time I’m in town.

Chipotle across the street was out of both pinto and black beans at 130pm on a Monday… seriously? Being a s/​low carb kinda guy, I walked out and hoofed over to IDOF. I’m so glad they ran out of beans or I may not have tried IDOF. The falafel was tasty… not dry. Choice of bases was very good, especially for someone who eats like I do. Chicken was flavorful and the sauces (I used habanero and tahini mixed (complimented the flavors well). A good, healthy meal, just the right size, and less than $ 10. The staff was friendly and helpful so they must have improved that part. I’ll definitely add this to my rotation of lunch places near my office.

This Middle Eastern «Chipotle Knockoff» definitely needs help. First, the entrance is confusing: you enter through the main door and you face two more entries/​doors (one to the line and the other to the seating area), definitely not a deal-​breaker, but just an annoyance. Also, the space is old and dingy, as if they inhabited a run-​down Taco Bell.
When you order, you can either «create your own» wrap, salad, or rice by choosing a base, protein, toppings and sauces (Chipotle-​style) or choose from «chef inspired» pre-​matched plates. To skip the hassle, I decided to try it all with the «All-​In Platter» (steak, döner, chicken and falafel over a saffron rice, cucumber-​tomato salad, red cabbage slaw and tahini sauce), which sounded amazing but ended up being disappointing. All the meats were lacking in seasoning and spices, making the only differentiating factor between them the color. The sides were worse — saffron rice was mushy, overcooked and the rice variety is off (grains are oversized) and the red cabbage slaw was just out of place.
There’s a reason why there’s no line during the weekdays — skip this place.

I loved this place when I worked on Monroe. I literally got lunch here 3x/​week and craved it daily!!! Their lentil soup is the best I’ve had from a «fast food Mediterranean», and their tabbouleh, falafel and special sauces kept me coming back for more. I haven’t been here (unfortunately, since Jan) but am glad they have other locations! Oh, and they have a meal punch card; after 10 your 11^th is free! I’ve used a few ;)

You have to try the All in platter! (Chicken Shawarma, Doner Kebab, and Steak Shawarma) This is not just a random franchise Mediterranean place, the shawarma is outstanding!
I recommend adding the pita chips to your meal and dipping into the hummus and/​or tzatziki or cucumbur and tomato salad!

I was looking for a healthy choice for lunch the other day and decided to go to I Dream of Falafel, or as the cool kids call it, IDOF (pronounced «eye-​dawf»). This place has the similar fast-​food setup like Chipotle, Roti, etc; you pick your meat, the type of dish (rice plate, salad, etc) pick your toppings, and pay. I ordered the chicken shawarma salad that had mixed greens, onions, and red cabbage. The portion size was decent. The chicken was somewhat dry for my taste but the rest of the salad was OK. Nothing stood out too much, except for the hot-​sauce that came with the salad. It was spyyyyy-​ceeeeee.
Compared to Roti, I would pick Roti over IDOF due to the quality of the chicken, salad, and the better combination of choices you can put on the salad.

The earlier reviews are correct. This place used to be a go to of mine, now it is a place I am done with. They are stingy with everything now, not just the toppings and protein as the earlier posts mention, they used to put any amount of sauce on the platter as you would like. Now they will by default give you a tiny cup of sauce on the side, then give you attitude when you request they use the bottle of sauce. They used to provide a full pita as well, now it is a half of pita. There really is no longer a redeeming quality about this place, high cost, restricted menu, small portion, and bad service. Judging by the lack of crowds here, one can only assume that someone new will be occupying this space soon — maybe Roti or someone good can move in.

The changes they made are SO disappointing!
Came here at lunch in January to discover that they have made so many unfortunate changes to their menu. They eliminated both kabob options that they had. They kept the Doner kabob, but you can no longer get chunks of chicken or meat. They had great chicken! Such a shame.
You can choose between different bases now which is not so bad, however what is disappointing is that the plates they use are about half as deep. I am not at all opposed to getting less food for lunch, but if you’re going to cut the amount of food in half, the price better be reduced!
Note on sides: You used to be able to get as many «toppings» as you wanted (onions, tomatoes, pickles, the kinds of things that are unlimited at Subway), however now they nickel and dime you for wanting more! So, if you get tomatoes, onions, and lettuce, they charge you for pickles!
I am sorry to say that I will not be returning. I have been a loyal customer since the place opened. Now I feel like they are really trying to squeeze every penny out of me, and if I want that I may as well go to Hannah’s Bretzel.

I decided to write a review after I tried both «I dream of Falafel» and Roti’s. Unilocal’s rating is absolutely correct that Roti’s is a 4 and «I dream of Falafel» is more of a 3.5.
For me, «I dream of Falafel» is close, virtually no wait, and provides the $ 1 discount. Somehow, I were not able to find the right combinations from the choices after 2 visits. Yes, I know I did 4 – 5 time to nail down my perfect Chipotle choices so I may need a few more tries.
First time I tried Falafel plate with mixed greens, hummus, and all the veggies. The Falafel was a bit dry to my taste. The mixed greens was overly bitter for me which I suspect it was a little stale. The spicy tomato sauce I asked didn’t click with my ingredients so everything together was spicy, sour, and a bit bitter which is not the flavor I was looking for. Pita and hummus were pretty decent.
Second time, I adventured with the Chicken kebab with the hot sauce on a rice plate. The total flavor did increase this time however Chicken kebab was not even close the «juicy» description.
Both times, the service was really nice. The cashier saw my badge and offered me $ 1 as the company discount.
Let’s hope the third time is a charm. But I kind of like the Juicy Chicken Roti rice plate now. So the third visit has to wait a bit.

Love that I can get Mediterranean food fast and right around the corner from where I frequently work in the loop!
Being able to mix & match ingredients in a Chipotle-​like format is a plus, as I can get exactly what I want, without a lot of tough decision making.
Recently, I had to wait a couple minutes for my falafel to be cooked (must have been on the late end of lunch) and they gave me a coupon for a free side! Bam!
I hadn’t complained about the wait, and was pleasantly surprised at that.
I was back in the next day. Couldn’t wait to cash that in!; D

Not a horrible place for a quick lunch. The lamb wraps are ok — and the spicy tomato sauce is alright as well. Nothing to write home about.
Clean and reasonably priced for what you get.

I’m not a huge fan of their falafels. As others have said, they are pretty dry.
I do like ordering the All-​In Platter though with the lamb, chicken, and steak. It is extremely filling and I usually can’t finish the whole meal. The rice is good as is the hummus, but it can be hit or miss on the meat sometimes.
It’s hard not to compare with Roti, but I’ll resist. If you’re in the neighborhood and are hungry it will definitely fill you up.

I can’t resist a good kebab and hummus, but I think that I can resist I Dream of Falafel. If Roti didn’t exist, I might have a different opinion, but Roti and all its delicious baba ganoush and roti meat does exist right by my office. Last week for lunch, I chose the plate option: greens, hummus, and Jerusalem salad topped with a chicken kebab, spicy tomato sauce tomato, cucumbers, and onions. The ingredients were fresh, but there was no special taste or memorable aspect to the meal. My kebab was completely forgettable. I feel that I dream of Falafel is also rather skimpy on the vegetable toppings (1.5 thin cucumber slices doesn’t count as a topping).
A message to all the hungry girls out there: I’m a firm believer in saving your calories for dinner. I want a delicious lunch, but I also want it to be healthy and light. I find it nearly impossible to create a light lunch at Dream of Falafel. It tasted light, but the online nutritional calculator had me balking in disbelief at the high fat content. For some reason their rather normal tasting hummus and Jerusalem salad is super-​high in fat content. Jerusalem salad is just cucumbers and tomato! The staff also has no idea how to reduce the portion size and acted completely baffled when I tried to turn the plate into a full salad, since a salad is not on the menu. I asked them to make a salad, not a wedding cake.
If the food was more special, I might not gripe about the nutritional value and just call it a splurge. The price is also rather high; $ 9+ for a salad that I was mad at, and I declined the laffa bread. If I want a Splurge or Light lunch, I’ll head to Roti. Maybe, I’ll go back to I Dream of Falafel if Roti’s line is too long?

So apparently this place rivals Roti. In my opinion, this ain’t no Roti
Here’s my breakdown for I Dream of Falafel:
Laffa — It’s thin. Almost too thin. I got a couple holes in the laffa.
Falafel — They offer a more traditional falafel than Roti does but it’s kind of dry.
Fixings — They have the regular assortment, sauces, lettuce, jerusalem salad, red onions and lettuce.
Size — This sandwich is huuge! They must’ve put 6 falafels in their for a sandwich.
This place is good but it wasn’t mind blowing. If I had to pick a Mediterranean place for lunch I’d rather spend my almost $ 7 on Roti.

I can only comment on the chicken shwarma wrap. And any place that has cabbage salad, turnips, pickles, AND smears hummus on the wrap before they fill it is number uno in my book. Yay IDOF!