Italian Express was first established in 1983 by a foreign born entrepreneur trying out his earlier experience in food service to start a business of his own. Some of our oldest and dearest customers may remember the original Western Avenue location; since that time, our parents Mohammed and Jamila Ismail have had the vision of great halal food, in a friendly environment, with a reasonable price.  They decided to start serving the community as the first fast food restaurant to use zabihah halal meat in the Chicagoland area when they saw first generation kids yearning for American Italian food that they would be able to eat too.