Tahini's — Restaurant in Aurora

I had a very unfortunate experience at Tahinis Aurora.

From the start it was very apparent that the person at the cash was not trained properly. I was overcharged for add-ons ($1) which I did not request or want. Despite pointing this out to her 3 times, she insisted that I was not being charged even though the additional charge appeared on the screen. She prompted me to pay and I did but after I tapped my card, she cancelled the order. The charge went through as confirmed with a mobile banking notification but she insisted that I did not pay.

She referred to the franchisee (Ahsan) who was immediately adamant and aggressive that I did not pay despite me showing him evidence that the charge had in fact posted on my VISA.

He insisted that I re-pay and I (unfortunately) did. He also assured me that if both charges appeared on my VISA, to call him and he would refund me one of them. I left the restaurant with my overpriced and very average food that was paid for twice.

Days later, to no one’s surprise, both charges posted on my VISA card. Doing what the franchisee has advised me, I brought this to his attention, going so far as providing black and white evidence that TAHINIS AURORA was appearing twice on my VISA statement. Instead of resolving this immediately, Ahsan told me he would reach out to me later that day as he would have to speak with his “IT Department” to resolve the charge.

I followed up later that day (twice) and again the following day and did not receive a response from Ahsan. He effectively ghosted me and permanently lost a potential frequent customer over a $45 meal for myself, my wife, and my toddler, that I was unjustly charged twice for.

I don’t usually write reviews or share negative experiences, but this is something that I’d like other patrons of this restaurant to be aware of. The handling of this situation was extremely unprofessional. I gave the franchisee every opportunity to make this right and he deferred, blamed me (for paying?), and then stopped responding entirely. In the end, I reached out to VISA who rectified the situation on my end as it was determined that the restaurant did in fact charge me twice. VISA was able to issue a chargeback against Tahinis Aurora.

I’ll never return to this location or to a Tahinis restaurant as a whole as a result of this experience. There are plenty of better shawarma restaurants in the area that treat their customers with decency. Beyond that, I certainly hope that my experience was a one-off and that this isn’t a common theme at this restaurant but out of an abundance of caution, I’d advise future patrons to check their charges to ensure that this doesn’t happen to you.

Update: I spoke with head office who confirmed that the situation was handled extremely poorly by the franchisee Ahsan. Hopefully this is used as a coaching opportunity in customer service for him going forward. Although head office noted that they would email me a $40 gift card as a result of this debacle with Ahsan, they never did. That being said, totally fine as I wouldn’t have bothered using it for this below...

I himmed and hawwed about going here, got high while i thought about it, then once it hit, i figured why not try it. Got the butter chicken rice, 2 beef i forget what they are called the triangle things, and baklava. The staff was nice, and friendly, and easy going even late in the evening. The butter chicken and rice, i got with some spice. S tier, absolutely incredible 10/10 would get again., wasnt a fan of the yogurt, and tomatoes, but i know its a thing in those cultures, but i grew up on mcdonalds so rice and yogurt makes me want to vomit but it actually isnt terrible. I blindly ate it accidently, it was actually good, but i mentally would not combine them again 😅.

The 2 beef triangles, still cant remember the name, the first one was F tier. No bueno. Didnt want the second one, but i was still high af so i ate the next… The second one, was A tier with all the right flavours i expected.

The baklava was meh. 5/10. Cant recommend...

Edit: went back again for a 3rd time, and this time the owner wasn't there. Ordered 2 medium blue berry flame shwarmas and both were insanely thin and light. Mostly bread. I felt robbed for paying over $30 for 2. My new favorite shawarma joint north of Toronto. The flavors are mind blowing. We tried their blueberry and chicken shwarma wraps. Small size comes in a pita, medium comes in their fantastic Saj bread so we got both mediums. They're similar size, we're told. The blueberry chicken shawarma has blueberry jam and habanero hot sauce to balance the sweetness. It was absolutely perfect and definately my new go-to shawarma. It's stuffed generously and definately justifies the price. Extremely well packed as well. The staff is also very kind and friendly. Felt welcomed the moment we stepped in through the door. We'll be back to try their gyros and chicken...