Petra Inn

I was hoping I could give this place a positive review as I was excited when it opened in the n’hood. However, I disagree with previous review who stated this place is «clean». There are greasy fingerprints and marks all over the windows, and there were *ants* crawling on the floor in both rooms. I agree that the food is cheap (food is OK), but the ant situation and lack of cleanliness makes me wonder what other critters are abound in this place.

I really enjoyed my chicken sandwich and my wife loved her baba ganoush. Would definitely recommend. Very clean inside with a nice atmosphere. Very cheap.

I moved to lincoln square about 4 months ago and the place was closed but always seemed like a place i would want to go. Just recently it reopened and seems like they renovated. The place is very clean and had soccer playing on the TV.
The service was great and he was very nice and accommodating.
As for the food; i wanted to get a complete feel of their food so i got the combo platter and i wasn’t disappointed at all. The meals come with a big bowl of delicious lentil soup; never had lentil soup but this stuff was great and was two seconds from asking to for extra to take home. As for the main course; the meat was yummy and tender and full of flavor and rice cooked to perfection. We had also had hummus; was good but i’ve had better, but for the price it can’t be beat.
Overall a great experience and will frequent it again.

Closed.

They seem like nice people, but there is much, much better middle eastern food nearby so unless it’s literally freezing outside, take yourselves to Andersonville or hop on the Brown line to Kedzie and get better food for the same price.
Since it was literally freezing out and we were next store at East Meets West for a gong bath (that’s a whole ‘nother review y’all), we decided to try Petra Inn. The food that was actually available (many items were not) tasted like it came from a package. The hummus was pasty and the falafel were pre-​formed disks that were mushy inside and greasy outside. The people working there were speaking Spanish, which does not scream «authenticity» either.

My girlfriend and I thought we’d ring in the new year with plate of ground chick peas, so we tried this neighborhood restaurant. As we planned our order, we were serenaded by the sounds of BET’s «Rap City» playing on the dining room television. We were famished, but still decided to play-​it-​by-​ear and first try the hummus, lentil soup and chicken bits.
The lentil soup was gag-​worthy. We noticed an oily residue floating on top, and quit it after one sip. The hummus was ineffably «off». The chicken bits contained protein.
The water tumblers are at your table to tease you. No water was provided. Two stars, because upon noticing our untouched bowl of soup, the waiter offered us a replacement item. And the chicken bits were arranged nicely.

Having only had the chicken shwarma (sp?) sandwich, which is OK but nothing to drool over, I feel like my three star rating is a little inflated. The portion was pretty big and it came with a huge serving of rice, all for a pretty decent price ($ 5 – 6 at the most). I do want to go back and actually try an entrée there. The owner was really nice.

I decided to stop by Petra Inn after reading in the recent Time Out Chicago that their Delicias Petra dish was one of the best 100 things they ate this year. Middle Eastern is my favorite ethnic food so I was excited to try a new place in my area. The blub made this dish seem to die for. Honestly, in the middle of eating I felt like I was going to die. I was not feeling good at all. I’m not sure what Time Out was tasting, but all I tasted was charred over cooked chicken. No flavor at all and tough to chew. The salad that came with it was decent. But the rice that was served was lukewarm had had no flavor. I kept hearing a microwave door close and beep. My guess was the rice was not cooked fresh, but was reheated. That is unacceptable for any restaurant. I also ordered the baba ghanouj, which was mediocre at best. The yogurt sauce that was brought to my table when I sat down (with a spoon) was very watery. I’m still not sure why I was given the sauce. Perhaps for my dinner. I would not bother going back here again because there are so many other places I’d rather go back to or try first. The owner and the cook (perhaps his wife) were very nice, but the food was not!

I came here this week with 3 other moms and our 6 kids, for lunch.
Everyone was pleased with their food, save perhaps the 4 year olds who were disappointed that they were out of fries. I had a falafel appetizer which I thought was very tasty, light and tender, not greasy, right amount of spice. I also had the veggie kebab with rice and salad, and the chicken pita sandwich for my dd. I think the chicken was a little bland, but overall, I thought the food was good.
Friends had chicken schwarma, lamb kofte, lamb and hummus, and the hummus appetizer. Everyone said it everything was good.
I think its priced right for what you get (at lunch, anyway) and the food was tasty, if not spectacular. We’ll come again. Also, its quiet and not as crazy busy as other restaurants nearby on lincoln.

After reading the reviews of this place and having recently dined here, I decided I must add an honest and true opinion of this newer Lincoln Square spot.
Perhaps other reviewers have not had good middle-​eastern food, which excuses their praises of this joint, because honestly, this place sucks.
Upon arrival, we were greeted promptly, but noticed what appeared to be a smoke out, perhaps a small fire, in the kitchen, which is about the size of most people’s bathrooms. The ‘chef’ was looking a bit shady as he shifted around opening the back alley door to air out the joint, I thought to myself…“that’s weird…” but we continued to be seated.
The dining room seating is awful, uncomfortable and ill-​planned. Tables are shoved so close to each other it makes the simple task of sitting, a chore. There are about ten or so tables in the ‘dining area,’ but the occupied ones were all seated in a clump (after looking around, I decided this was because the were out of salt/​pepper shakers and tealight candle holders, so were not seating the tables near the back. hrmm). When we were seated, the ‘host’ had to ask a guy seated adjacent to our table to stop eating, stand up and move his own table over, as to make room for us to squeeze into to our oddly decorated four top. The ambiance was lame-​o, silent, no music, except for the faint sound of wheel of fortune on the tv mounted near our table. The dining room: awkward, small, annoying and just plain odd.
OK, so on to the food. We decided to get hummus, because, ya know, it is a middle eastern restaurant, and I mostly judge middle eastern restaurants on their ability to master the basic task of pureeing chick peas, tahini, lemon juice and garlic. However, the hummus we were served tasted like I whipped out my blender at home, tossed in some chick peas, then, realizing i was out of tahini, garlic and lemon juice, decided to blend them with some water and toss olive oil on top hoping no one would notice. Yes it was that bad, and sad, but coupled with the mediocre store bought pita, it was somewhat worse. I ordered the veggie stew, which had the consistency of snot, but the flavors were OK. My eating companion had kabobs (the lamb/​beef mixture ones). While the sauces for the kabob were not brought to our table until half way through our meal, at least the sauces were good. The kabobs were rated… just OK.
So overall, go to Semiramis and don’t waste your money on this place. If not for the pleasant server we had, this place would definitely get ONE star.
One more suggestion, clean the salt shakers. The lids are meant to be removed, not fused to the bottle by a white ring of dried salt mucus. it’s kinda gross.

This is an unique restaurant, blending Turkish and Levant Arabian cuisine without losing the authenticity of each cuisine. The tabuli is the best I have ever had, the cracked wheat was firm and the vegetables and herbs were fresh. The Delicias Petra is a herb chicken dish that is brilliant. I’ve had two of their lamb dishes [lamb shish and yogurt kebab] and both times the lamb was tender and juicy. The staff is friendly and accommodating. The atmosphere is quaint and warm. This restaurant is a hidden gem in Lincoln Square.

Lincoln Square needs a reasonably cheap and casual Med/​Greek place, and this will do nicely. Takeout menu is cheap — no Sinbad’s, but close. Food was excellent all around, though the hummous was a bit bland.