Alexander Lebanese Cuisine

Just stopped in for an after work snack around 8pm (carry-​out) and got garlic dip, pita bread and grape leaves (with meat). The garlic dip was yummy and the pita bread was warmed. The grape leaves were by far the best ones I’ve ever had. I do think the place seems a little pricey for dinner judging by the menu. The waitstaff was very nice, helpful and fast. For a first time short visit I’m pleased, I’ll visit again to see how the service and full meals are.

When you first walk in, you almost think you walked into the Ritz Carlton. There’s fine china and tablecloths on each table, and the general ambiance is one of a fancy restaurant.
The menu kind of mirrors that point. The leather-​bound menu is pretty vast and includes plenty of items, although the descriptions aren’t the greatest. Most items will cost you double-​digit prices, though they have lunch specials (like beef and chicken shwarma) that are $ 6.95.
Instead of serving pita with the garlic before the meal, they give smaller bread rolls. I personally prefer the pita… just easier to dip. Also, when you order a shwarma they don’t give you any pita; you just eat it with a fork. I didn’t bother asking for pita at that point, but it should be customary at a Lebanese or Mediterranean (or even Greek) establishment, in my opinion.
The chicken in the shwarma was good, but not the best I ever had. Good for lunch, though. The rice was good as well. I also got a side fattoush. To compare with a favorite place of mine in Sahara, the fattoush at Alexander’s was about half the size and pretty skimpy. It’s enough to eat as a side salad during lunch no doubt, but other places do offer more for the same price. The quality also wasn’t as good overall.
The service here is good and adequate. We were actually the only people in the entire place at noon on a Wednesday, which was surprising considering the lunch rush. I would eat here again, but it probably won’t ever be a favorite.

Recently my cousin and I shared dinner at Alexander’s in Warren where he lives; it was excellent. The restaurant is large and light filled, service was very good, and the experience was most pleasant. We split the Platter for 2, which had a good variety of foods from which we could make a meal. Everything was fresh, very good to excellent, and in ample enough quantity to allow my cousin to take home enough for another meal for himself. At $ 34, the Platter was a good value and wine and beer are fairly priced.

I’ve only been here for lunch and highly recommend it. It is a regular stop for us during the work week. They have $ 6.95 lunch specials that are delicious and a great value. I get the Chicken Shawarma plate special which comes with a good lunch portion of chicken, rice and soup, drink extra. The service has been good and the food arrives promptly. Each table also gets a basket of bread and small garlic spread.

My husband and I live fairly close to this restaurant. We’ve tried a few other places that have Mediterranean cuisine but by far like Alexander’s the best. The portions are awesome for the price and I like that they deliver for nights we’d rather stay in. The staff is always friendly and helpful. All in all, a great restaurant.

It’s alright, I prefer kabob house. The rice is super oily, the portions are a bit small. Shawarma platter was okay. I love their fattoush salad, though.

Please help me petition Unilocal to allow less than 1 star reviews!!! please. This place deserves ZERO STARS!!! On to the mess at this establishment:
1) My wife and I sit down and inquire about bread that is normally served at Lebanese restaurants. Our server informs us it depends. It depends on how much we will spend and on what partner/​owner is in the back. ARE YOU SERIOUS! Strike 1!!!
2) My wife and I ask about a shish combo and realize that iw would be nice to take a skewer home to our son. How much? $ 6.50 for one!!! ARE YOU SERIOUS? Other establishments charge $ 3.75 to 4.25. Strike 2!!!
3)We ordered two entrees and they both arrive. Our lucky day, a minute later our server brought some bread with a small (real small) saucer of toum spread (garlic lemon sauce) for our bread. Now, my wife and I eat Lebanese every week at least twice. We like to not only use the toum spread on the bread but also on our shish tawook and other entrees. Well… our server and us both looked at the tiny saucer of sauce and both agreed it is not even enough for the bread we received much less use it on our entrée. So we asked if we could have another and could it be filled more robustly. She says, «Yes but that will be $ 1.85 for each»! ARE YOU SERIOUS? Strike 3!!!
After the 3 strikes we informed our server to inform the owner/​partner in the back, calling the shots, that we will not be back. She returned and said that she did. Do you think the jerk would come out and confront us and inquire about what is wrong? No way. He did not care. Ok, well… my wife and I do not care either and will never be back!
Serious friends. Ignore this place… drive by and do not even think of going in. Why? Because two blocks away is Café Jole!!! A friendly place that is not managed by a bunch of cheap skate owners. They have better food and never quibble over stupid things like one under filled saucer for bread and two entrees. They do not play these types of games at all! See my other review please! ASk for Jenna when you go, she will put a smile on your face. Also, every other server there is tops like Jenna. The owners are more sincere and realistic as far as prices go too! If by some chance you exceed all the Toum spread they give you, it will cost like 50 cents for another… not $ 1.85 like the cheapskates at Alexanders! As far as the food here at Alexanders? Blah, it is just ok. Go to Café Jole’s around the corner for better quality and better prices!
Please, please, please go to Café Jole around the corner… it is so much better!

This place used to be a great local small business for delicious Lebanese
husband and I have been dining here for a few years. The staff was professional and had knowledge of the menu selections. This place was a huge plus with the vegetarian selection they offer. The last 6 months have been a huge drop in service. No one seems to know what is on the menu and carry outs seems to be a bag of mystery. In the past, we could tell there was new servers and tried to assist. 1 dining experience the newer server came back 4 times to make sure he got it right and every item was brought to the table separate on his little tray. Frustrating and annoying we laughed it off. But after a few months of try to be patient with similar experiences, my husband and I will never be back. It’s a shame, we support small business but because they are rude and completely incompetent on taking a food order we leave there upset every time enough is enough. Sorry Alexander’s we will miss the food

We visited this place for the first time two weeks ago. First let me say that I was surprised at how good the food was! I have eaten at Ikes in Sterling Heights and was very disappointed in the chicken there, but at Alexanders we ordered a family dinner with many different dishes on it and none of them were dry or overcooked. Everything was cooked and seasoned deliciously! The salads were fresh, the pita bread was warm and fresh, the hummus was awesome and the people very friendly. The owner, John is a great person and very accommodating. We will eat here again.

The food is subpar at best, and hardly passes as authentic. The shawarma tastes more like sautéed chicken than anything else. The garlic is decent, but not impressive. The rice is very greasy and heavy. Honestly, it tastes like rice a roni smothered in butter. They do not offer chicken cream chop, which is my favorite, and quite frankly, a huge oversight on their part. Alexander’s is fine for a quick fix of Lebanese, but not a «go-​to». I’d recommend Ollie ’ s at 14 and Van Dyke for real Lebanese food.

Everything we tried was outstanding. Everything from the bread, soup, salad, to the entrée was met with a sentiment like «wow, this is so good, try this…».
The atmosphere, live music, service are all top-​notch too.

Love this place! It is a family owned and run restaurant with great food. They have made the inside look very upscale, but the prices remain great. They have a number of lunch specials for $ 6.95 and the amount they give you is awesome.
Okay, here are some particulars: The Chicken Shawarma is beyond good! The hummus is always a hit, as is the garlic paste. They give you little pitas for dipping into the hummus or garlic paste and regular size pitas to turn your entrée into a sandwich. The fattoush salad dressing has quite a kick and the greens are always crisp! They don’t always have the pickled turnips, but when they do, they are awesome! I buy a side of them just because I can’t seem to get enough of them. I’m not a real rice lover, but their pilaf is pretty good without the red sauce (which they serve on the side).
The décor is beautiful inside, but the outside is not so great. They took over an old Payless Shoe store and the outside still looks like it.
The family waitstaff is always looking to please you. They seem to really want to know their patrons and value the fact that you come in. I have now become a regular there and will continue. In this area, there are many Lebanese restaurants and so many are overrated. This little place has heart!

Alexander walks a fine line of almost appearing to be a little upscale, but in reality is just casual dining. Which is fine! I appreciated the atmosphere, the bar area is especially beautiful.
There are only tables, no booths. A petty complaint I suppose, but I’m a big booth sitter, I always feel «on display» when I’m at a table, lol.
They have extended their $ 6.95 lunch menu to being served all day, which is cool. However I bypassed this and went for the fattoush salad, with added chicken and feta. I found it odd that the hummus appetizer we ordered for the table came with cold flat pita wrapped up in plastic (dissapointing) but with my salad came a basket of fluffy fresh warmed little pita pockets, SO much better! Why the difference in bread? Esp odd that the cold, cheaper bread came with the hummus appetizer we intentionally ordered and paid for and the warm, tastier bread came complimentary with the salad. Weird.
The chicken was pretty dry but decently seasoned. Good fattoush dressing. I was very satisfied w the portion. And the prices are reasonable.
All in all it was, just as 3 stars signifies, «A-​Ok.» I might go back, I might not. We’ll see.

When I can go 200ft down the road for a much better priced meal, I will. I’ve only eaten here once and I will not be back. We did do a carry out, however, one of the simplest dishes is a shwarmmas and they managed to make it nasty and tasteless.

This restaurants food was awesome and feels so authentic they really have a passion for their food. our server was awesome giving us her own personal opinions which to say the least did not lead anyone of us astray. I would recommend this place

Atmosphere was great
Wait staff extremely funny and friendly.
Live music on Friday and Saturday nights was great.
All the food was great except… hummus was flavorless, but all in all it was great.
One more thing, being a Detroit Tiger fan I was very pleased since they had 3 big screen tv’s and was able to watch the game. GO TIGERS.

I was driving 13 Mile Road when I passed Alexander with their sign that says $ 6.95 for lunch 11a to 3p everyday.
I decided to swing by since, this particular day, I have not eaten breakfast nor lunch, I am quite hungry and Middle Eastern food sounds like it would hit the spot.
When I entered through the door, the place was delightfully spacious with its eclectic decorations on the walls (a mix of faux paintings and what can only be called as faux photographs) and feels as though you’re in a high-​end restaurant… WITH NO BOOTHS! Call me nuts but I like it when I am eating out and ENCLOSED in a booth in a way that people around me get to have a LIMITED view of how I stuff my face.
When I sat down, it hit me like a ton of brick that I was NOT in a high-​end restaurant (even though the place feels like MAYBE you’re in one) when I saw there was PAPER on top of the linen table cloth! I personally find this tacky and feels like, while this is just my first time here in this restaurant, I am already assumed to be a messy eater who spills my hummus and garlic sauce on the table cloth such that it JUST HAVE TO BE COVERED by tacky white paper!!!
The server though was kind enough to explain again to me the difference between a baba ganoush, tabbouleh and fatoush. I ordered the salad.
While I was looking around, I saw my server grab a plastic bag of some sort, take out some pitas and heat them in a microwave. There goes my fantasy of eating fresh bread pitas today! My salad came with a separate order of pita chips (free) — which is probably the only factor that made this review two stars instead of one the other one being the very creamy garlic sauce.
My chicken shawarma came with rice. One thing I immediately notice is that they were trying to FILL in a BIG plate with lunch size serving to LOOK like you are buying hefty portions. You’re not. It is what it is no matter how much you try to scatter ¾ cup of chicken in a plate that can hold one gallon. Here’s an idea: why not use a SMALLER PLATE!
The chicken shawarma looked good but when it hit my taste bud it is DRY as the Sahara Desert at a summer noon! No wonder the garlic sauce was extra creamy, it was USEFUL to mask both taste and non-​juiciness of the chicken.
I was just thankful I did not pay full dinner price for my lunch. I guess I get what I paid for. Sorry Alexander but I will not be back.

I have eaten here about 15 times or so since it opened. I am definitely finicky when it comes to my Lebanese food. Being vegetarian, this is definitely one of the best I’ve been to, other than Cedar Gardens.
I really like the inside décor, it’s very open and has a calming atmosphere.
I am in love with their veggie grape leaves, garlic sauce, hummus, tabbouli, falafel patties, and baba ghanooj.
You get a good amount for a good price.
And they are definitely consistent.

This is one of those places that just screams «I won a lawsuit and all I got was this lousy restaurant.»
Let me rephrase: You have to wonder how people open these enormous, palatial Lebanese restaurants, when there are never any customers in the place.
It’s huge, it’s very nicely decorated, and the food is mediocre. I don’t know how these things happen. Family money? Daddy, I want a restaurant?
Anyways, the fresh-​baked pita bread was good, if a bit too chewy. The hummous was bland as bland can be, and the shawarma meat was terrible; absolutely flavorless strips of sad, slightly fatty beef (or maybe it was lamb, and the fact that I can’t tell you which says it all). At least it had pine nuts on it?
The garlic whip was good though! I’m grasping at straws.
They do have an unusual sandwich that is slightly different from all the other cookie-​cutter Lebanese/​middle eastern restaurants in town: it was fried cauliflower, something I’ve not seen in a sandwich before. Decent.
At any rate, there are better places. This place isn’t terrible, but it’s not that good either. I think it’s the only middle eastern restaurant in the area, so if you must go here, at least it’s not horrible.

WOW!
I have gone here to eat once and got carry out twice now and have yet to find a flaw.
The menu is great and full of variety.
Last night (mother’s day) I called and 8:35pm to find out what time they close I was told 9. I promptly place a carry out order with hesitation because carry out orders this close to closing time can be a bit sketchy at best.
I walk into Alexander’s and I am greeted with smiles and hellos. My carry out isn’t ready just yet.
Oh I cannot forget i ordered something and they were out and I took their suggestion on a green bean dish i cannot spell or pronounce and it was AWESEOME!
Everything here is great. The food is fresh the owners/​staff are so nice and friendly and my boyfriend likes it and he is a very picky eater.
If you like lebanese food try this place you won’t be let down.