Saaj Baghdad

Mediocre Middle Eastern food… But it’s cheap, I guess…
If you get one thing, get the shawarma, but don’t get your hopes up about anything else.
Food: 2 (Yet another place for falafel and shawarma. [sarcasm] Yay.)
Service: 2 (Your menus are confusing)
Drinks: N/​A
Atmosphere: N/​A
Value: 3 (You get what you pay for: cheap food that is also inexpensive and filling)
Sustainability: 1 (While they use Go Box!, a very good idea, everything else felt as if it came out of a plastic bag from Sysco or Costco)
Saaj Baghdad serves Iraqi food consisting of shawarma, gyros, tzatziki, falafel, and for some reason, chicken wings and french fries as well as a smattering of other American-​ish food. Sandwiches and plates range from $ 5 — 8. If I don’t sound excited, it’s because I’m not.
We rolled up to the cart on an unseasonably cool May day, ordered a lamb shawarma ($ 8), a gyros platter with rice ($ 6), and chicken wings and frise [sic] for $ 6. Their menu was complex and confused – two were employed, each with conflicting enumerations, and we weren’t sure what we were going to get nor how much anything was. Our meal total was $ 20.
The six, thin slabs of gyros meat were served on neon yellow rice – reminding me of the worst microwaved paella I got in a tourist area of Barcelona – obviously not colored from saffron as the color is meant to suggest. The shawarma was by far the star of the show, boasting grilled vegetables and tender lamb in a triangular pocket bread that was almost reminiscent of Delicios’s hot dog crust. The four wings were encrusted in corporate spices and accompanied with listless shoestring french fries, ketchup, tzatziki, and a thousand-​island-​like dipping sauce. They were slightly cold in the middle, obviously being reheated from a plastic bag bought in bulk and frozen for maybe a year.
It took us ten minutes to get our order. The guy in the cart made everything on his own and in fairly quick succession.
Gut check at 3pm: We had three entrees, so hunger wasn’t an issue here. In this case, you get what you pay for. Like with the last place, you get what you pay for. Here, we got enough food, but it was mediocre in quality. It was obviously Sysco-​quality fare: the gyros were obviously reheated Kronos.
While they use GoBox!, but everything else reeked of factory farms. The lettuce was even iceberg and unappetizing. The tzatziki had no real zing to it… I felt that Costco may have been another supplier. The plastic forks were an unwelcome accompaniment to the meal as well.
Middle Eastern food isn’t scary. But I was a bit afraid of slightly-​chilly chicken wings in the middle as well as frozen goth-​knows-​where-​it-​comes-​from meat. I’m not looking for E. Coli, but this is the sort of outlet where the overall American industrial food supply will expose me to it.
Limp fries and meh food aren’t exciting. While the shawarma was passable, just about everything we had was simply unimpressive. There’s no reason that this place will grow or be destined for greatness.
The other research I did on this place was excited about the bread. That’s right. The bread is exciting. Sorry, but if triangular bread is the most exciting thing about the cart, there are no points for creativity here. Reheating frozen food is the thing that TV dinners are made of and not the reason I go out to eat.

Oh, wow. This place was delicious. The shawarma sandwich was awesome! The combination of the chicken and spices, the Iraqi bread (soft and warm), and condiments was a real treat. Add the coldest can of Coke Zero, and you have a dinner that can’t be beat. Whenever we travel, we always sample the local cuisine. Since Portland is Food Truck Mecca, we were spoilt for choice. If one can’t travel the world, just eat something different.

Had an Iraqi burrito with chicken and it was amazingly good. Best 5 $ I ever spent. For some reason I didn’t like it that much the second time around. Either he’s inconsistent in making it or it’s one of those foods that require a certain state of mind (or stomach) to really enjoy.

Solid Iraqi food cart. I highly recommend anything with their bread. I’m usually happy with their shawarma sandwiches (chicken, lamb, etc.) and their prices seem reasonable. It’s also awesome to find a food cart that accepts credit cards and doesn’t even have a minimum charge. I’ll definitely look their way on the rare occasion that I don’t have enough cash.

I love gyros and shawarmas, so I was intrigued with Saaj Baghdad. I ordered the chicken shawarma on Iraqi style bread. The chicken was well seasoned and the bread was amazing. It’s kind of calzone shaped and cut open in the middle for all the delicious fillings. I like this place. The cook was friendly and the food was great. I’d like to explore more menu items.
I’m not sure what’s authentic, but some kind of a signature hot sauce would be great to kick this up a notch, and maybe just a a touch more tzatziki would be good too.

These days, I place heavy priority on going to the food carts with more unique offerings. I had never heard of Iraqi bread before, which has a triangular shape in the photos I saw. The bread is split open like a pocket pita to place the meat, veggies, and condiments inside.
The lamb shawarma ($ 8) is a decent-​sized sandwich. I thought the strips of lamb were cooked well and seasoned nicely. I think the tzatziki, which nestled against the bread and veggies, could have gone better when drizzled on the lamb. I liked the colorful vegetables (lettuce, carrots, and purple cabbage) which looked like something I’d use for cole slaw.
The side of the bread with the tzatziki and veggies had a crunchy exterior, while the bread next to the warm lamb was more of a pleasing, softened texture.
The sandwiches range from $ 5 to $ 8. Plates range from $ 5 to $ 9. The baklava is $ 2.50 and has some good size to it. I’m assuming their burritos also use a version of their Iraqi bread.
I never imagined I would see Tapatio at an Iraqi food cart.
Halal food served here.
A decent experience overall. It’s worth a try.

On the suggestion of a fellow food carter I tried the Chicken Saaj (burrito) for $ 5. It was pieces of chicken with onion and green pepper in a crispy flour tortilla (saw the Don tortilla bag in the cart) that they cooked on their griddle before giving it to me. The food was definitely hot and I liked how it was crispy on the outside, but the flavor was nothing exciting. I could taste the garlic, but not much else. Perhaps it was because they were reheating the chicken and onion mixture? There is a lot of competition in this pod and $ 5 can buy you a pretty huge gyro or burrito a few carts down, so I wouldn’t recommend it.

Well, overall it was pretty good. The bread on the shawarma was great. The lamb, was good, but they certainly could have added more. I wasn’t too impressed with the condiments either. I would have liked a little better quality and maybe a more authentic hot sauce… Tapatio just seemed a bit odd.
Overall, I’d say try this place. I know I will again, but I’d prefer to try a different menu item.

Iraqi Chicken Burrito (Saaj) was crispy, peppery, and delicious .
Will order again!

Iraqi food? sure.
let’s see how different it is from «middle eastern»
after trying the lamb kabob sandwich ($ 7) in a «burrito bread»? i don’t think i have the expertise of comparing iraqi food here compared to it’s competition.
the sandwhich was really good. best ever? no but, it’s definitely good