Rumi Restaurant — Restaurant in Montreal

The ambience is nice, credited to the decor. The food was not bad, but it is definately over priced. The service was not bad, if a bit slow, up until the end, where it was actually horrendous. Ruined the whole experience.

We tend to tip from 10-15% of our bill, depending on how we feel about the quality of service and our overall experience. Despite being someone who has worked as a waitress in the past, I do not believe tips are something anyone should feel entitled to, nor as customers, we are obligated to pay. If some people don't believe in tipping, then that's their belief, and you know what, that is also okay. If a server feels entitled to it, theres something wrong with the situation.

We came as two families and had our bill split into two, we tipped and our brother did not. The waitress when she took the machine back from our brother asked him if everything was okay, and he said yeah everything was fine (we are not the type of people to nitpick at every little thing and mention at that point, actually the food was slow to come, because at that point despite the fact it had been slow to come and the wait between the appetizer and dinner was longer than we would have preferred, since we were having a good time, it did not matter, and because we get it, sometimes things happen. The portions for the mezzes were small and our waitress failed to mention that since we had 3 mezzes we could have gotten two naans, instead of the one we were served, or maybe it had to be 3 cold mezzes and not 2 cold and one hot. But if she had given the amazing service she clearly seems to think she had given, she should have reminded us or told us of that fact). She then proceeded to tell him how it cost her money to serve us this food and by not tipping her she now would have to partially pay for the food? I'm sorry but what? It makes me question the establishment itself, are they not paying their staff enough because they expect the tips to make up for the rest of their wage? That's horrible as well and makes me question whether I would want to support an establishment that underpays their employees, expecting the customer to make up for a portion of the pay. That's not what tipping is, and it's not what it should be.

Safe to say we will never come back, and this is definately not an establishment we would recommend to any of our family or friends who visit the area. Poor service can leave a bad aftertaste to your food, and humiliating a customer in such a rude tone is definately...

I grew up in the restaurant industry & what I witnessed with my fiance last night at Rumi was very disappointing. So much so that we both decided to write a review, & I never write reviews. This is actually my first ever. First off we had called a little over an hour before arriving to inquire about if there was a special menu for the evening, the lady responded very politely & told us about "boeuf anglais served on mushroom & labneh". Great, so we decided to pass by. We arrive there & It's past 8pm on a Wednesday night, the restaurant is not even half full. They ask us if we have a reservation, we say no. The hostess gave us a slightly worried look meaning we might not be able to be seated. She tells us to hold on & proceeds to head toward the open kitchen & speaks to a gentleman with some cool looking colored hair. Like I said it's an open kitchen & we can see everything. His body language & the shaking of his head was a clear sign that he did not want anything to do with some new customers for the evening. I knew what was coming. The hostess returned & told us they're not accepting walk-ins, when we asked why she answered because they're overwhelmed & short staffed. Looking around & seeing there's three people in the kitchen, a dishwasher, four waitresses/waiters, the terrasse closed & the place not even at half capacity we felt a little duped. As we turned away & headed to our car we noticed that same gentleman with the cool colored hair smiling & chitchating with one of the waiters on the terrasse. With them having a relaxed demeanor we did not get the impression they were overwhelmed. We felt that such disregard for well paying customers looking forward to enjoying the "boeuf anglais" with a nice bottle of nuit d'encre (cause that's what my fiance orders every time she goes there) on their anniversary, gave us no interest in returning to or recommending such an establishment. At the very least if that was really the case of being overwhelmed, the lady on the phone could have told us that they can't accept more customers. For anyone that wants a nice alternative to Rumi, there's always Le Petit Alep that's situated near the...

I had visited this restaurant before, and I liked it back then. The ambience was nice, the food tasted good, and the staff was friendly. Having a doubt, between this restaurant and some nice Iranian ones, we decided to try this one again as a plate on the menu seemed very tempting: “Ilham” on their online menu it is described as « ½ carré d’agneau aux épices de la route de la soie et mélasse de grenade, pesto de pistache à la menthe marocaine et huile du Liban, servi avec mousseline de pomme de terre au curcuma, cumin et oignons caramélisés. | 23.50. » However, the experience this time was very disappointing. The Covid passes are checked at the entrance but the tables are jammed in this place. When I nicely asked for our table of 2 to be changed by one among several others available, the waiter simply refused by saying that they are all booked! No need to say, the whole time we were there, which took more or less 30 minutes, not even one person walked into this place. If you are used to hearing words such as “thank you” and “please”, to get a smile and being asked for “are you enjoying your meal?” even just passing by your tables many times, and keep getting served water, you better think of another restaurant to go. At least for us the serviced ended by “are you done?” followed by “a bill for one or two?” The food itself, was okay, but to our surprise, their online menu is not the same as the one in the restaurant. Finally, “Ilham” was “inspiration du moment” which was not served. The portion is relatively small, and the food is rather overpriced. For “Servi avec riz basmati façon Iranienne”, the rice had this weird smell and they are not at all generous with the saffron, far from “façon Iranienne”. I have to admit that the chicken we took was good, but honestly given the nonsense price of the other items on the menu, you are left only with a very few options to...