text: DAMN YOU EXPECTATIONS After all these raving reviews I dragged my newlyfoundfoodloving boyfriend past my usual quickie hole in the wall middle eastern place on Central Ave to try out this new hole in the wall for an early dinner The place looks promising as we walked in small nothing fancy and a table of middle eastern diners my thought was SCOREnnWith all the options it was hard to make a decision But I was determined to try the lentil soup so I ended up getting the half roast chicken with sides one side being the soup and the other being the special rice He ordered a falafel sandwich wrap and a chicken chicken shawarma sandwich wrap Lentil soup was different almost has a hint of squash taste plus it is my first nongreen lentil soup but it was otherwise yummy and perfect for an unexpected day of cold weather Then the rest of the food arrived The sandwich wraps were huge for the price but disappointingly they had more fillers tomatocucumberetc than the meat and the sauce so the taste got washed off a little The falafel one was definitely better it was perfectly crispy fried and well seasoned Meanwhile my half chicken and rice looked impressive I swear there is enough rice to feed a family of four on the plate But as I forked my way into the chicken it was unbelievably DRY I seriously could not even eat the wing because it was bone dry The skin looked yummy golden brown but lacked flavor so if the skin had no flavor imagine how bland the meat was It is so dry that even the dark meat was getting tough which I did not even think was possible What a let down The only saving grace of my plate was the garlic sauce it looked like a lump of mayo but it was garlicy I smeared it all over everything to give my plate some much needed tastennSince it is my st visit I am not going to write it off yet I think next time I will give their kafta a try But my suggestion is to stay away from the chicken The only other high point of yesterdays visit was the discovery of a newly open Nile Grocery and Ethiopian Restaraunt sign that was being put up as I was fighting a losing battle with my chicken