Chef Reza Thornhill — Restaurant in Markham

Although Chef Riza was not my first choice for a Sunday lunch, I ended up here because the restaurant I originally intended to visit was fully booked. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a terrible experience from the start.

As soon as we walked inside, the entire dining room was visibly filled with smoke — you could see it, smell it, and there was no way anyone could comfortably sit and eat in those conditions. We asked to sit outside instead, even though it was hot and wasp season, because inside was unbearable.

The service was just as disappointing. A blonde hostess/server (unclear of her role) was shockingly rude — to the point that even my mom, who is never easily rattled, was taken aback. Her tone was dismissive, her comments about us sharing a dish were condescending (“Oh, so you’re just ordering one?”), and when I politely asked about drinks, her response was, “whatever you want,” with zero effort to explain the options.

At that point, the experience was so uncomfortable that we canceled our order on the spot and left. The hostess acted surprised — as if she couldn’t understand why anyone would walk out — but honestly, it should have been obvious. We ended up eating at another nearby restaurant and had a much better meal with friendly service.

If you’re looking for good Persian food, don’t waste your time or money here. Within 10 minutes of this location there are plenty of far better options — restaurants with clean air, welcoming staff, better ambiance, and better food. Chef Riza is absolutely...

We recently visited this restaurant and the experience was awful. Even one star is too generous for the food and service. We initially wanted to order one Soltani and one skewer of Koobideh, but the lady informed us they only had one skewer of Koobideh left (and it was only 5:30 PM!). So, we changed our order to Joojeh (chicken breast) and one Soltani, requesting the Barg to be cooked "medium rare".

After a while, the lady returned with a half-cooked Barg to show it to me. I've never experienced anything like this before. If you want to present a half-cooked meal to your customer, you should ask for permission first. It's not hygienic, and not everyone wants to see their meal halfway cooked. It was disgusting.

The food arrived after 30 minutes, cold, tasteless, and not fresh. First of all, they didn't use the correct type of meat for the Barg. It was anything but veal tenderloin—tasteless and terribly cooked, like rubber. The chicken was also tasteless and seemed to be a reheated or frozen precooked.

We managed to swallow few bites with lots of water and salt before asking for the bill. The lady never brought it, so we had to go to the counter ourselves.

We will never go back there. The food is worse than terrible, and the service is unprofessional....

I went to this restaurant today and quickly grabbed a Barg. As soon as I took the first bite, I had to spit it out—the taste was extremely sour and off, like it had gone bad. I immediately returned. And ask them about Instead of showing any concern, the staff defensively said, "That’s how the kebab tastes." I explained that I’ve had this dish many times and this was definitely not normal. They refused to accept it. When I asked to speak with the owner, they said I couldn’t. Eventually, they took the food back and, unbelievably, the cook and the same staff member started eating it in front of me, saying “It tastes fine, it's just the garnish flavor.” I insisted again on speaking with the owner, and when they finally contacted him, he rudely refused to talk to me. He just told his staff to return my money. But after all the disrespect and rudeness, I refused to take the money. Getting treated that way was worse than losing what I paid. I walked out while they kept whole the food with no refund, no apology. If you value your health, I strongly advise you to avoid this place. A restaurant that keeps opening new branches every day but hasn’t learned how to treat customers with basic respect is not a place you should trust with your food or...