Stunningly Beautiful atmosphere, but WAY WAY WAY TOO LOUD. We love Moroccan food and the culture's atmosphere; we have dined in 17 Moroccan restaurants in the U.S. This restaurant is absolutely top notch in ambiance--elegant, impressive. The food is not memorable (not authentic Moroccan, but a mix up of Mid Eastern/Americanized somewhat, and the service was brusque. However, our main disappointment was the level of music. When you dine in a special place, you want to talk about it, and share intimate conversation about your surroundings. It was not possible here. The sound level was outrageous. That was DURING the dining time. We begged the man running the music to turn it down, it was SO loud! He didn't. We could not talk across the table. And we didn't realize there would be a 'show' after dinner, which was good, a nice addition/plus, but when that started, the level of sound became deafening/eardrum piercing. The emcee was screaming into the microphone, over the music! My ears were actually hurting. I had to poke fingers into my ears and cover my ears with my hands the whole time, which became tiring. And it was STILL too loud. My audio engineer husband's watch was going off with an alarm that sound level was beyond safe!! This way, way too loud music made our visit very uncomfortable, and I'm sorry to say we will not return. Our ears were ringing for hours afterward. That they don't know this is a negative experience for their patrons is beyond us. There is no reason for it being outrageously loud.
dgkukal
What an amazing night! It was an experience we loved, and will not forget. We chose the restaurant because we had good memories of an earlier visit to the Alhambra, and the setting did not disappoint - it is beautiful, opulent, detailed and evocative. The staff were great. The manager, Karim, was fun and interesting, and took us on a tour of the building. The waitstaff were attentive and professional, and the food was excellent. We also chose this restaurant for their Salsa dancing lessons, a Thursday night event which I would do as often as possible, if I lived in Chicago! The lessons were easy to follow, even for total beginners, and they were so much fun. And then, after the lessons - the dancing! Just watching the couples, both the dancers and the contest contestants, was better than a show! When I return to Chicago, this is one place I will visit again.
797kristines
We were in town for a conference and so thrilled to have received a recommendation for this place. It did not disappoint. We stopped by on a Sunday night, so our reservation wasn’t really needed. I would love to come back for Friday or Saturday night when they have live shows. The food was phenomenal, and the drinks were strong just the way I like them!
MikeMfromWashDC
Breathtaking details in the decor, highly talented performers, great service and delicious food. Wonderful time all around.
tremelh2021
TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE!!!!!! My friends and I went there to celebrate my friend’s birthday this past Friday night 4/16. The server we had was very rude. He told us that we could not pay with separate cards because it was a large group of us. He told us that we would have to pay with one card. We didn’t mind that. So when the check came he bought us all separate checks. We then thought we could pay separately. So we went to give him our cards and he rudely told us “I told you that you couldn’t pay that way. You all do not listen I’m not taking all of your cards I’m not doing all of that” We then went to the front and told the lady at the host station what happened and she apologized and took our cards and processed our payment. After she did that the host came and saw us and got in our face and yelled at us. He said “You see what you all did?! Now you all went and told her and now I have to process all of these separate payments. This is not right and you all clearly do not listen. You know what... I’m going to throw your cards on the table and you all can go get them because I’ve had it!” So after that we asked to see a manager... when the manager (Dr. Jaaf Aksikas) came he returned our cards to us but one card was missing. We explained to him that they had misplaced one of the cards. He told us “It’s not a big deal just call your bank to get a replacement.” We told him it’s not that easy. then when we went to our table to get our food we realized that one of the girls in our group did not have her food. Her food had been thrown out. She had only left the table to pay. So after telling the manager he was rude to us he got in our face and told us “Well the kitchen is closed and here is a coupon for 50 percent off.” Then my friend told him that she shouldn’t have to pay for her food seeing how it was thrown out and her debit card had been lost. He then yelled at us and told us that we were going to pay or he would call the police. He then got in my friend’s face and told her that she better pay for her meal! She said she wasn’t. Then he begin yelling at us and told us not to come back ever and he kept threatening to call the police. Then he got in my face being very aggressive telling me to leave. He also told us that we needed to put our masks on. However when he was yelling at us he did not have on a mask. This entire experience could have been avoided but the service was terrible and the manager was very unprofessional and I will NEVER eat here again. I feel they did not empathize with the fact that he lost a debit card, had a server that was rude to us, and threw away food. He could’ve showed us a little more empathy for $90 you would think so!!! I also am going to write a letter to corporate. This place needs to be closed! For $90 we were treated like we were dining at McDonalds.
Daniel A
Apparently, Alhambra Palace is a restaurant that rents space to promoters for parties. There is supposedly a huge theater inside to seat over 1,000 people but when I attempted to show up for a performance by Migos for the NBA All-Star weekend in Chicago, I thought the tickets I had purchased for myself and a guest were going to admit us to the seating. I was wrong. We showed up at least one hour prior to the set event time only to be told the promoter was still setting up and that we would need to leave and return and go through security. No problem. We returned an hour later and were told to wait in line until they were admitting people. We were told there was a VIP line and a regular admission line. Online to buy tickets both options were given and I bought general admission tickets. Online rules also stated you need either one or the other to be admitted as there were no sales at the door. General admission tix were $75 ea and VIP were $150 ea. We returned at 9:30p to begin admissions and waited and waited in the growing line. At 10:15p a large mobile sound system playing hip hop music and videos drove by the street. We were still in line. At 10:45pm the Chicago police admonished people for not being in line properly and when asked when the establishment would begin admitting people, we were greeted with a nasty attitude and no answers. At 11pm, the line was humongous and no one was being admitted. Both vip and general admission were extremely long. The show started at 9:30p and was to end at 3am. At 11:45p, the biting cold was really effecting everyone, with a line not moving for over 2 hours. Someone from inside came out and rudely yelled at people to be in the proper line and literally called all of us stupid because he said the general admission line was only for ticket purchasing while the VIP line was for tickets already purchased. People furiously protested and the police were agitated and screamed things to try to get people calm. Around 12:45am, the line had grown exponentially and had not seemingly moved. People were leaving and so did we. We called someone to pick us up and watched the line and took pictures and video of the unreasonable lines. At 1am, our ride arrived and the line still had not visibly moved. The event was to be over at 3am, but while standing in line, some people said the site where they purchased tickets said the event was over at 2am. The event tickets were sold on at least 2 different sites. The name of the promoter is A-List, but there is no information for contacting the promoter about this fiasco. Yet, the promoter stated that all sales were final and there would not be refunds. So, I contacted my credit card company for a refund because I clearly did not get what I paid for. I have never eaten at Alhambra Palace, but due to how I see that they work with promoters and apparently there is no oversight of promoter activities to the public, I would never eat there or attend any other event there as I don’t believe the venue has any kind of responsibility to the public for the use of their space.
Stunningly Beautiful atmosphere, but WAY WAY WAY TOO LOUD. We love Moroccan food and the culture's atmosphere; we have dined in 17 Moroccan restaurants in the U.S. This restaurant is absolutely top notch in ambiance--elegant, impressive. The food is not memorable (not authentic Moroccan, but a mix up of Mid Eastern/Americanized somewhat, and the service was brusque. However, our main disappointment was the level of music. When you dine in a special place, you want to talk about it, and share intimate conversation about your surroundings. It was not possible here. The sound level was outrageous. That was DURING the dining time. We begged the man running the music to turn it down, it was SO loud! He didn't. We could not talk across the table. And we didn't realize there would be a 'show' after dinner, which was good, a nice addition/plus, but when that started, the level of sound became deafening/eardrum piercing. The emcee was screaming into the microphone, over the music! My ears were actually hurting. I had to poke fingers into my ears and cover my ears with my hands the whole time, which became tiring. And it was STILL too loud. My audio engineer husband's watch was going off with an alarm that sound level was beyond safe!! This way, way too loud music made our visit very uncomfortable, and I'm sorry to say we will not return. Our ears were ringing for hours afterward. That they don't know this is a negative experience for their patrons is beyond us. There is no reason for it being outrageously loud.
What an amazing night! It was an experience we loved, and will not forget. We chose the restaurant because we had good memories of an earlier visit to the Alhambra, and the setting did not disappoint - it is beautiful, opulent, detailed and evocative. The staff were great. The manager, Karim, was fun and interesting, and took us on a tour of the building. The waitstaff were attentive and professional, and the food was excellent. We also chose this restaurant for their Salsa dancing lessons, a Thursday night event which I would do as often as possible, if I lived in Chicago! The lessons were easy to follow, even for total beginners, and they were so much fun. And then, after the lessons - the dancing! Just watching the couples, both the dancers and the contest contestants, was better than a show! When I return to Chicago, this is one place I will visit again.
We were in town for a conference and so thrilled to have received a recommendation for this place. It did not disappoint. We stopped by on a Sunday night, so our reservation wasn’t really needed. I would love to come back for Friday or Saturday night when they have live shows. The food was phenomenal, and the drinks were strong just the way I like them!
Breathtaking details in the decor, highly talented performers, great service and delicious food. Wonderful time all around.
TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE!!!!!! My friends and I went there to celebrate my friend’s birthday this past Friday night 4/16. The server we had was very rude. He told us that we could not pay with separate cards because it was a large group of us. He told us that we would have to pay with one card. We didn’t mind that. So when the check came he bought us all separate checks. We then thought we could pay separately. So we went to give him our cards and he rudely told us “I told you that you couldn’t pay that way. You all do not listen I’m not taking all of your cards I’m not doing all of that” We then went to the front and told the lady at the host station what happened and she apologized and took our cards and processed our payment. After she did that the host came and saw us and got in our face and yelled at us. He said “You see what you all did?! Now you all went and told her and now I have to process all of these separate payments. This is not right and you all clearly do not listen. You know what... I’m going to throw your cards on the table and you all can go get them because I’ve had it!” So after that we asked to see a manager... when the manager (Dr. Jaaf Aksikas) came he returned our cards to us but one card was missing. We explained to him that they had misplaced one of the cards. He told us “It’s not a big deal just call your bank to get a replacement.” We told him it’s not that easy. then when we went to our table to get our food we realized that one of the girls in our group did not have her food. Her food had been thrown out. She had only left the table to pay. So after telling the manager he was rude to us he got in our face and told us “Well the kitchen is closed and here is a coupon for 50 percent off.” Then my friend told him that she shouldn’t have to pay for her food seeing how it was thrown out and her debit card had been lost. He then yelled at us and told us that we were going to pay or he would call the police. He then got in my friend’s face and told her that she better pay for her meal! She said she wasn’t. Then he begin yelling at us and told us not to come back ever and he kept threatening to call the police. Then he got in my face being very aggressive telling me to leave. He also told us that we needed to put our masks on. However when he was yelling at us he did not have on a mask. This entire experience could have been avoided but the service was terrible and the manager was very unprofessional and I will NEVER eat here again. I feel they did not empathize with the fact that he lost a debit card, had a server that was rude to us, and threw away food. He could’ve showed us a little more empathy for $90 you would think so!!! I also am going to write a letter to corporate. This place needs to be closed! For $90 we were treated like we were dining at McDonalds.
Apparently, Alhambra Palace is a restaurant that rents space to promoters for parties. There is supposedly a huge theater inside to seat over 1,000 people but when I attempted to show up for a performance by Migos for the NBA All-Star weekend in Chicago, I thought the tickets I had purchased for myself and a guest were going to admit us to the seating. I was wrong. We showed up at least one hour prior to the set event time only to be told the promoter was still setting up and that we would need to leave and return and go through security. No problem. We returned an hour later and were told to wait in line until they were admitting people. We were told there was a VIP line and a regular admission line. Online to buy tickets both options were given and I bought general admission tickets. Online rules also stated you need either one or the other to be admitted as there were no sales at the door. General admission tix were $75 ea and VIP were $150 ea. We returned at 9:30p to begin admissions and waited and waited in the growing line. At 10:15p a large mobile sound system playing hip hop music and videos drove by the street. We were still in line. At 10:45pm the Chicago police admonished people for not being in line properly and when asked when the establishment would begin admitting people, we were greeted with a nasty attitude and no answers. At 11pm, the line was humongous and no one was being admitted. Both vip and general admission were extremely long. The show started at 9:30p and was to end at 3am. At 11:45p, the biting cold was really effecting everyone, with a line not moving for over 2 hours. Someone from inside came out and rudely yelled at people to be in the proper line and literally called all of us stupid because he said the general admission line was only for ticket purchasing while the VIP line was for tickets already purchased. People furiously protested and the police were agitated and screamed things to try to get people calm. Around 12:45am, the line had grown exponentially and had not seemingly moved. People were leaving and so did we. We called someone to pick us up and watched the line and took pictures and video of the unreasonable lines. At 1am, our ride arrived and the line still had not visibly moved. The event was to be over at 3am, but while standing in line, some people said the site where they purchased tickets said the event was over at 2am. The event tickets were sold on at least 2 different sites. The name of the promoter is A-List, but there is no information for contacting the promoter about this fiasco. Yet, the promoter stated that all sales were final and there would not be refunds. So, I contacted my credit card company for a refund because I clearly did not get what I paid for. I have never eaten at Alhambra Palace, but due to how I see that they work with promoters and apparently there is no oversight of promoter activities to the public, I would never eat there or attend any other event there as I don’t believe the venue has any kind of responsibility to the public for the use of their space.
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