Byblos Le Petit Cafe — Restaurant in Montreal

I am not that much of putting reviews, but this time I am made to do it.

This review is just for the traditional Iranian dish which is served there only on Sunday and after 5 pm, and it is called "Dizi".

I ate Dizi about 3 years ago there and quality+quantity was great and I have suggested all of my friends try it. But last night, when I invited two of my non-Iranian friends there to Dizi, it was a disaster, and I got shocked and very disappointed and embarrassed. The quality+quantity dropped significantly..!!

First, 3 Dizis came with just one masher, I asked for extra, and I was told that we are short on mashers..!!! WHAT..!! short on mashers..!! masher is one of the tools for Dizi and we were just 3 of us, not a big number of people.! Anyways, we took it in turn to handle the mashing process which was another disappointing point.

I started to explain the Dizi rituals and I showed them that they need to drain the broth first..! but, where is the BROTH..!! I tried to drain as much as possible broth into the bowl, but it filled barely less than a quarter of it..! So, where is the broth then..!!! I was embarrassed to tell them then it is time to piece the bread into the broth..!! that amount of broth is way less to be able to immerse bread pieces in it.!

I am talking about bread..!!! This part is another big issue.! a very small number of stale pita and sangak bread came along for 3 big adults and it finished quickly. I asked for more, it was accepted, but the waiter did not bring it! I was forced to go to the counter and take bread.! Dizi is a meal that requires a sufficient amount of bread, preferably sangak or barbari (pita does not go well in the broth)!

All Iranian knows that the main side of Dizi is onion and vegetables.! Believe me, on each plate, there were a few withered vegetables, half radish and half of an onion ring, an annular ring, not even a full ring.!! CAN you BELIEVE IT..!! You (Byblos) really cannot afford a whole onion to serve next to Dizi..!!! Moreover, there was not any fat taste in Dizi.! again, if you (Byblos) cannot afford some pieces of fat to add to Dizi, at least buy Ghee oil and add it, that is the minimum (FYI, Costco has a good deal for Ghee).

The main dish finished quickly, and I asked for tea and some iranian pasteries. Tea came with some old pastries which more looked like leftovers..!! It seems that they had some pastries in the kitchen and they wanted to get rid of them.!

Very long story, but I wrote it here because I was embarrassed a lot in front of my friends.! They were really happy to experience an Iranian dish called Dizi, but I knew what I had that night, it was not a real Dizi, it was an absolute shame..!

I am very sorry for Byblos to have this loss of quality for Dizi and I will never recommend anyone to go there and try that...

A charming restaurant adorned with beautiful arts and paintings. However, despite its appealing ambiance, my experience was far from satisfactory. The majority of the customers were not Middle Eastern, which was not surprising given the restaurant's location.

Upon arrival, our waitress kindly explained the menu to us, but unfortunately, the menu was a mess and not comprehensible. It was the first time I encountered a menu with chapters, which added to the confusion. Despite being familiar with Middle Eastern cuisine, I had never tried Iranian breakfast, so I was excited to try. Regrettably, my friend and I left feeling disappointed.

We sampled a variety of appetizers, including assorted yogurts (eggplant, beetroot, and spinach), Mirza Ghassemi purée, a ground beef roll, a meat pirokji, and Sibazamnini Koukou, a kind of omelet pie with potatoes. However, none of them lived up to expectations. Not only did the dishes lack visual appeal, but the taste fell short as well.

Moreover, the drinks we ordered, including Iranian tea, orange juice, and a typical Iranian sweet drink, failed to impress. While the tea was satisfactory, the sweet drink with vinegar was disappointing.

Our waitress disappeared after taking our order, failing to check on us or refill our water glasses. We had to flag down another waiter for assistance, but even then, the service was lacking. The extra olives I ordered included one that was rotten, and the bread, despite being heated, quickly became stale and cracked.

Furthermore, the payment process was inconvenient, requiring customers to go to the counter to settle the bill. This setup felt out of place for a sit-down restaurant. Which is also a bad strategy because, I was appalled to notice the restaurant's poor food handling practices .

Upon closer inspection, I noticed hygiene issues, such as open bags of bread and uncovered sauces, raising concerns about the restaurant's cleanliness standards. All the sauces and jam were opened, and liquid appetizers were in exposed containers, which made me question the hygiene practices. (This was not the kitchen but the payment counter/bar)

During payment, when I expressed my dissatisfaction with the food, the cashier's dismissive response was disappointing. He charged the full bill (83$ for two). He even laughed! It must be so funny making customers waste money and leaving your restaurant hungry and dissapointed.

The prices are about 10$/plate. Street parking, very limited.

In summary, my experience at this restaurant was marred by subpar food quality, poor service, and hygiene lapses. I cannot recommend...

Super bad service by this blond/brunette waitress. The owner though is super sweet, super nice lady we loved her. The waitress had a bad attitude and was super arrogant. She was speaking way too fast and confused us in our order because she wasn't listening to what we were telling her. She wouldn't even bother explaining us exactly what the menus were... we had to start over the whole order. Waiting time was bad... we had to wait way too long to get our order written down and then to get our food. Just because of her service the rating went down three stars. I cannot handle going somewhere and the waitress giving me an attitude like this. And then im supposed to tip her... 🤷🏼‍♀️ the owner was very kind. She came by few times to check if everything was good and talk to us. Very friendly lady. At the end when we wanted to pay, the waitress wanted to charge us for 3 things that were included in the meal order we picked. (And also, she couldnt tell us that the "tomato omelette" was actually scrambled eggs mixed with tomatoes. She wanted us to the order deal and take "scrambled eggs" and add extra tomatoes in it. Its good that i didn't trust her on what she was saying and picked the "omelette" one 🙄) we tried the pistachio and rose petals jam and also the orange and carrots one. Very good, but a bit too sweet for me. The tea was cold and bitter. The feta cheese and bread was super good (my tomato omelette also, but i added a tiny bit of salt and pepper). One more thing i liked was that the owner saw that there wasnt enough salt in my omelette and overhead her telling nicely the cook so it doesn't happen with other customers. Also, i liked that they were warming the breads before...