Aladdin's Casbah — Restaurant in Calgary

Truly the worst experience here. I asked them if I could get the rice that I got with my shish tawouk switched to the fries instead as the rice wasn’t up to par and tasted old. The manager (star of the show), came out and started being defensive, and At first, she said that there’s nothing she can do since that’s how they make their rice, but then decided to ask her “manager” if she could take the rice back and give me the fries. After waiting a while, the fries came but she took the rice out of my plate infront of me, on the table, instead of taking it to the back and doing it in a proper and hygienic manner.

As I started to eat my meal, I noticed that the piece of of chicken from my Shish Tawouk had blood in it. I asked the manager if I could get a refund on it (we had payed for our meal as everyone was done eating, and were waiting on me to finish since there was a mess up with my order), and the manager said no. I talked to the manager for quite some time but she wouldn’t budge on the refund since she “doesn’t have the authority”, but could give us complimentary tea/coffee or a remake of the chicken skewer. I told her that I don’t want to eat anything from here but she walked off and was extremely rude.

They also charged us 18% as a gratuity for a table of 4 because our bill was over $200. The only thing it states on the menu is “an 18% gratuity may be applied”, but no terms and conditions are mentioned. It’s easy to spend $200+ for 4 people at a place like this, as each meal averages ~$32. The server did not make it clear, nor did the manger make this clear.

The managers customer service skills are horrible, but it’s easy to get away with it if your dad is the owner of the place you work at… 🤡

A complain about all of this has been filed with Service Alberta, under the Consumer Act! Since apparently all of us can’t...

Worst customer service in Calgary. The owner accuses customers of absurd things. I had booked a birthday party for a group of 18 back in May, 2019; two of my friend's chicken platters were undercooked with blood clearly on the plate and the owner's response to the situation was "chickens don't have blood." Fast forward to today, I attended a friend's birthday with another group and were falsely accused of ordering a package for 15 people ($89.99 each). The owner's response to this particular problem was "people will start coming in at 8pm and kitchen will be much slower which is why we want you guys to order the package." After 20 minutes of discussing the matter, the owner bestowed his "permission" upon us to order a package that was less expensive ($45); our choice was either getting food on our table from this package or being charged anyways. No flexibility to order individual items. It is wildly unreasonable for the customer to accommodate for the kitchen staff's timing in putting out orders. Customers should have the freedom to order whatever they want at any given time. It is not the customer's job to provide convenience for the kitchen. We should be able to order a New York steak (which I never got to order because I never had the choice and ended up eating and paying for a package that none of us wanted).

Moreover, the owners words to us were "every time this group comes there's always problems so what does that say about you guys." How rude and completely unprofessional. The owner and staff really need to work on their people skills. Especially when one table is giving them $800+ of business. It's such a shame that I have to give this restaurant a one star because their food is amazing and entertainment is fabulous. Customer service and flexibility is just...

So we used to love this place. Great food, great service.. but then it got really, really expensive.

A number of years ago we stopped by to realize they had raised their prices by about $5 per entre across the board. That brought the cost up beyond most restaurants then.

Well it's been about 6 years and we stopped by again and... Wow. Pretty mediocre portion sizes and for two entres, one appetizer and water to drink we were scraping $90. They're seriously up near white table cloth prices these days. While the food is good I think they're flattering themselves with "fine cuisine" on the menus, or maybe trying to justify the prices. It's not a Michelin star good.

Alladins seems to still be in business these days so far be it from me to tell them to lower their prices. It seems like they've got at reliable monied Lebanese clientele. As for the rest of us? Well if you're feeling spendy and want an experience go for it, but otherwise you can get far better value elsewhere. We are not Lebanese and used to be regulars but those days are, long, long gone.

Pros: Friendly (usually) staff, good food Cons: Far, far too pricey.

Reply to reply: I can certainly appreciate prices going up especially in today's market (in fact I've just prices at my own business), but honestly, this goes beyond that and we just don't see these prices as competitive. Yes you're still in business so seriously good on you for...