Shadi's North Andover

Shadi's Restaurant and Lounge in North Andover serves excellent Middle Eastern Cuisine. Raw Kibbe on weekends. It's excellent if you are adventurous. Arriving on a Wednesday, I discovered that they only serve lunch Thurs-Sat.

There is plenty of parking.

The inside is pleasant with a big (busy) bar.

Lunch Kafta ($14.99). "Ground lean beef and lamb, mixed with parsley, onion and spices. Charcoal broiled". Their hand-cut fries are excellent. The nicely charred kafta was really delicious, and they were also juicy and really well seasoned. You get fresh warm pitas in a plastic bag with real butter. My side salad was pleasant, as was the house dressing.

Lunch Lamb ($16.99). "On the stick. Charcoal broiled with onion". The lamb was ordered rare, and it was. It was also super tender. The handcut fries are a real treat. The salad was fresh, but I'll order the dressing on the side next time.

Lunch Arabic Platter ($15.50). "Baked Kibbe, Grape Leaves and Cabbage". This time I ordered the Caesar dressing on the side, which was delicious! Fries of course. The baked kibbe was very tasty and had some sort of filling in the middle. The grape leaves themselves were very tasty and a bit tart. The filling was OK, the rice was overcooked for me, and the filling was a bit bland. The cabbage was the same, boring and overcooked filling. This was a good way of tasting three items. The fresh pitas and the real butter didn't make it into the picture.

Lunch Chicken Hashwee ($13.99) "Pulled chicken on rice & ground meat topped with roasted nuts". I had never even heard about this dish, so of course I had to try it. Their delicious French Fries as my one side. This might look like a small portion, but it wasn't. It was seasoned really well and was tasty, but it wasn't exactly a plethora of ground beef. The toasted almonds added a nice texture. It was tasty, but not very exciting. Still glad that I tried it.

The service here is always impeccable and friendly. This is a delightful place with excellent food.

Address: 585 Chickering Rd, North Andover, MA 01845 Phone: (978) 683-9559

If the shoe doesn't fit, must we change the foot?

-- Gloria Steinem