Interesting ethnic restaurants in NW Phoenix?

[special mixx]

Was kinda curious about cleopatra in the nw valley, it has some good reviews but has anyone been here and care to share thoughts?
www.cleopatraaz.com

[Rubee]

Originally Posted by Jkgourmet

Just to update this thread, we had our few days in the NW section and enjoyed several good to very good meals.

Following Rubee's fine advice, we hit Casa Fillapina for a late lunch. Service and friendliness were sorely lacking, but the food was good. Especially the pancit (I've enjoyed pancit in many places, including in Filipino homes). Since we don't have any Filipino restaurants in Raleigh, this was a good choice.

We also thank Rubee for our delightful dinner at La Piazza Fiorno. Close to Naples tasting pizza (especially the sopressata on the pizza, which it an Italian style hot salami. They were nice enough to fulfill my request to tell me what brand it was when I told them I would take the secret back with me to NC). Server was friendly, wine list was exceptionally good at great prices, and the pasta dish we shared (rigatoni Al Fiorno) was very good that night. Strangely, the reheated leftovers the next morning were bland - can't figure out what happened there. We would be regulars if we lived in the area.

Wanted to go to King Wah and get take out, but arrived on a Wednesday evening to find them closed on that day of the week. Strange. We ended up with a delivery of Papa John's.

One excellent dinner at Thai Lotus encouraged me to go back by myself for lunch. The dinner was very good, service excellent. All three of us enjoyed our food. I had the Thai BBQ chicken special (the sticky rice was awful, though, like a rock). Husband had a pepper steak dish that was very tasty with surprisingly tender meat, brother had rainbow rice, which looked and smelled delicious. These folks are right in the middle of the light rail construction and obviously suffering, so I decided to revisit for lunch a day or two later. Sadly, this visit was a bit disappointing. While the pad thai was fine (no shrimp for the lunch), it was nothing special. And the free included soup was dismal. The free included spring roll would have been great had it been cooked to order. The service was disinterested, slow as blazes and amazingly unfriendly - even though some of the servers were from our visit earlier that week! I can't figure this place out. But for those who are looking for Thai in the that area, I'd still suggest a visit for dinner.

One other restaurant visit of note was not in Glendale, but in Tempe. For those who are looking for Thai food in that area, I would seriously encourage a visit to Tasty Thai. Excellent Thai food (and we've eaten in Thailand AND at Lotus of Siam in LV many times). One of the best green curries I've had in years that even included eggplant. And yes, they WILL make dishes spicy. The place itself is nothing to look at, and the service was less friendly than most other Thai restaurants we've visited, but the food - oh my! And thank you for the BYOB, no corkage policy. I'm told the place does a booming lunch business, and it was pretty crowded for dinner, with the Asian population clearly in the majority.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Thanks for the update!

[Rubee]

I've been here twice in the last month. They're at 814 E Union Hill Drive, in the same strip mall as BoSa Donuts. I think they said they've been open about 3 months. Very nice family.

I've ordered (in order of pics) baba ghanouj, hummous, falafel; tabbouli; grape leaves; chicken kafta and fried kibbeh; shish kafta, and my favorite, kibbeh nayyeh/raw kibbeh with lamb (this has to be ordered a day ahead). I would recommend everything, though thought the falafel was a bit dry, with my favorites being the hummous, kibbeh and kibbeh nayyeh, and both kafta. Love having a Lebanese place convenient to my area of the valley.

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by Rubee

I've been here twice in the last month. They're at 814 E Union Hill Drive, in the same strip mall as BoSa Donuts. I think they said they've been open about 3 months. Very nice family.

I've ordered (in order of pics) baba ghanouj, hummous, falafel; tabbouli; grape leaves; chicken kafta and fried kibbeh; shish kafta, and my favorite, kibbeh nayyeh/raw kibbeh with lamb (this has to be ordered a day ahead). I would recommend everything, though thought the falafel was a bit dry, with my favorites being the hummous, kibbeh and kibbeh nayyeh, and both kafta. Love having a Lebanese place convenient to my area of the valley.

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Amazing! Thanks for sharing. Coming from Detroit where fresh and inexpensive Lebanese places are on almost every corner, I've been going through withdrawal lately. This place looks like it will fix that. It's the first place I've seen raw kibbeh here.

[Rubee]

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

It's the first place I've seen raw kibbeh here.

Me too. The last time I had to satisfy my craving in Vegas.

We were running errands a few weeks ago, saw the sign, and I went in to pick up a menu. I ended up ordering kibbeh and chicken kafta to go (and the kind owner sent out hummous while I was waiting). I asked if they had a couple of my favorites, fatayer or kibbeh nayyeh. No on the fatayer but would make the raw kibbeh with advance notice. Last week I met two girlfriends for lunch on a Wednesday afternoon, and called on that Tuesday to see if they could make it for us. No problem.