Cafe Med Restaurant & Shisha Lounge — Restaurant in Calgary

Review Edit of 2025- There was a time when I slowed down to almost stopped going to Cafe Med, for many reasons; sometimes the crowd, the old shishas, the foggy windows, the serving attitude until few weeks ago when I have made the most humble return to notice the changes owners and management have taken to upscale Med once again; the service has gotten back to what it was once, the menu and presentation is something you should all be proud to claim back, AND oh the shisha- whatever you have done to make it back to the top of my favorites- BRAVO!!!! PS. no service charge for 6+ guests- Amazing!! you got it all in tips and then some!! 👏

Review of 2022- One of my absolute favorite thing is to review places that I have seen grow thru the years. Both Cafe Med are absolutely wonderful but this review is specifically for the location on 17th Ave. I will start with food quality versus value. Dishes are good size and somewhat fairly priced.I have been going there for few years and it is an absolute joy to see the owners and chefs collaborating a growing and versatile menu. Although this place speak alot of culture; however you can still find a really good pasta item for example. I, by now have pretty much tried every item on the menu. All absolutely delicious!! They recently added a dessert item called the "Nutella Bomb" that I find myself driving there to just have. Pls notice the gold colored leaflets on it. I feel royal when I order it LOL. My only suggestion is raising the tabbouli price $1 and add more tomatoes. You know we Arabs love our tomatoes😆

On to service, often times I get greeted with appreciation when Ahmad or Uday are there. These guys have worked so hard and always have to keep this place authentic. They amalgamated this place as a version of East and West. I feel so proud calling them my people. They never settle for ordinary service, they always try to accommodate people through the wait times, they give you updates and keep you feeling that you matter to them and their business. The table service is often top notch, you will still seldomly get the grumpy waitresses that don't work well under pressure but nothing that shisha can't make up for. Speaking of Shisha, Cafe Med has the best Shisha in town - Hands down! Thank you for all of these years of hard work...

My experience here was horrible. I had made plans with my wife and some friends to break our fast at the patio. I called Cafe Med two days prior to the planned day. As soon as they opened at 12pm I called to make sure I had reservations at a table for 5 people. The gentleman asked me for my first and last name, my phone number, how many people were going to be under my name and told me to be there at around 8:20PM to make sure we can be seated and they can take our order so they have enough time to make our food and for it to arrive when the sun sets so we can break our fast. I had even called back again to make sure there is no mix up in the time/day of the reservation and the person on the phone confirmed the day I had signed up for. Fast forward to two days and upon arrival at 8:20PM, I come to find out that my name was not on the list and there was so much confusion if I had even called in to make reservations. I was shocked because I had given them all of my information, called two days earlier and double checked to make sure my name is on the list. The person that had the list at the front showed me the list and my name was nowhere to be found. I truly felt that had I not shown the worker that had the list my call logs to Cafe Med he would've given us a much harder time to get seated. It made me think if the person I had reserved a table with wasn't even paying attention at all. To make a long story short, we got there at 8:20PM, had to wait until 9pm to be seated while others came in and had their tables reserved for them, ordered our food 6 minutes before it was time to break our fast, my wife and friends did not get their food until 10pm and I didn't get my food until 10:30pm and they closed at 11pm. It was an absolutely terrible experience. I have had bad experiences in the past with other places but never enough to have to write a negative review so this is my first one and it took a lot of mistakes and denial that I had reserved a table to sit here and...

Third time coming to this place . First and second time were great as I was sat in a section with a very nice server. Third time I brought my mom and sister for my birthday as they are visiting from out of town . My mom told this different server it was my birthday and she said “ oh nice! I will let you know it’s a minimum charge of $25/ person” I let her know I have been there a couple times before and have never been told this . She said that it has always been a rule but people forget to mention it . That is the level of service I am expecting now it’s not my fault they are deciding to change rules now after I come to expect a certain way. We were just there for some shisha and drinks and didn’t want to calculate every penny to make sure we are getting $75 worth between us three so we told her we would discuss and let her know if we are staying . I called other Cafe med location not on 17th and asked if they have the same rules and they said no $25 charge but only 2 people to each hookah. When our server came back I told her they don’t have the same rule and asked if she can make an exception as I have been here twice with no mention of it. She then LIED and said they do have that rule and I told her I literally just called and confirmed they do not and that we would prefer to not have to leave and park again and wait somewhere else. To this she just said “ oh okay” no apology for lying and then I asked her to ask manager to make an exception and she hesitantly asks then tells me they will today but only this once. Not a very inviting environment to want to come spend our money especially on a birthday. If I even come back I will be requesting not to have this server again as we felt judged the moment...