A Meal Fit for a Sultan

I literally threw up about five minutes before having a business lunch at Sultan's Restaurants on Roswell Road, and I am thrilled to report that this did not effect my experience. In fact it kinda made it better.

I wasn't feeling very well, and when I walked into the Turkish/Lebanese restaurant, I was wary and sad. I love ethnic food and I love eating, but to be honest have been more of a thai/indian type gal and was not as familiar with turkish and lebanese. I was afraid the food would inflame my troubled insides, and I was teary at the thought of not eating at all...I nodded meekly at my lunch guest and ordered a hot tea while we waited for another guest to arrive. Luckily for me, she was late and my tummy calmed down after 15 minutes or so of tea sipping. My guest and I waited no longer and dove into the well priced buffet, and only option, for lunch ($8.95).

Well, as for ambiance, style and service, the place has little to offer, but the food was wonderful. The fact that 80% of the guests appeared to be of the same ethnicity as the restauarant bodes well for the cuisine's authenticity. There were no menus, so I am only sure of some of the things I ate, all of which were delicious and not as highly spiced as indian/thai...

I think I had:

A delicious lemony chickpea soup
Fresh tomatoes, onions, olives
An awesome hummus
The best ever babaghanoush I have ever had...you could tell they charred the eggplant before making it...it was so delicately smoky...
Some sort of cabbage salad that was unexpectedely different and delicious
Perfectly cooked basmati
Some sort of lamb with potatoes and vegetables in a rich creamy sauce
A basket of fresh warm bread, not quite pita, but not quite roti

Everything was good. I ate seconds of everything, and even on a sad tummy nothing hurt me then or later...it's always a crapshoot with buffets, especially with ethnic ones, so I was thrilled. Cheap, great and didn't hurt.

As an aside, our waitress was breathtakingly beautiful, it made up for the fact that we could only minimally communicate with her. i think I will go back. PS this place is hard to spot from Roswell road, but here is a tip: it is in the shopping center directly behind Whole Foods (roswell/hammond) ON Roswell road.