Sana Restaurant Halal ( CRESCENT ) — Restaurant in Montreal

Came from Toronto to visit Montreal. After our long walk around old Montreal, we were exhausted and wanted to grab a bite to eat. Googled for some halal restaurants and this one popped up. Pictures looked good, reviews were somewhat decent (although I usually try to stay away from anything less than 4 stars), the wife and I decided to give it a try anyways. We hopped in an uber and were on our way.

Once we got there, we seated ourselves. Didn't know whether someone was going to seat us or not. Sat ourselves, then my wife decided to get some menus since we weren't handed any (not sure if this was how they operate).

A server finally came to serve us and got us some water, utensils, etc. It took us a bit of time to order because there were so many items on the menu (never a good thing). We decided to order the following:

Chicken Biryani Seekh Kebabs Tandoori Legs Haleem 3 plain naans

Food ordered and around 5 minutes later the food arrived. Kind of suspicious but oh well, we were hungry so didn't think twice. Our review for each item:

Chicken Biryani - Looked stale and reheated. There was this awful smell that was instilled in the biryani. Tried to get past the smell by having a bite. Awful smell and awful taste. Then tried to add some raita (yogurt condiment) to offset the taste and smell, but the raita was watery and made it worse. Pretty much done with the biryani at this point. We let the flies enjoy the rest of the biryani.

Seekh Kebabs - Tasted okay, but definitely did not seem fresh. Again, reheated. They looked like the frozen kebabs you get at the supermarket and then have them refried. They were edible but not enjoyable.

Tandoori Chicken Legs - Stale and tasted chewy. Again, this could have been because it was reheated as well. Did not enjoy this either. At this point, I'm wondering if it's their meat supplier that just provides bad meat or if its a lack of experience cooking the items on the menu.

Haleem - To our surprise, tasted really good. Really enjoyed this dish. Pretty sure this wasn't made fresh, but we were just happy that something tasted like it was somewhat supposed to, so it didn't matter. However, with Haleem you also need to have the lemon slices, ginger, coriander, fried onions, etc, which there was none of. It wasn't the authentic experience eating Haleem, but oh well.

Plain Naan - Favorite item on the menu by far. Tasted like naan was supposed to. Kept eating the naan to fill myself up.

That was it. Didn't bother ordering dessert. Finished with our food, or what we could eat of it and waited for the server to hand us the bill. No one showed up, so we went to the counter to pay instead of the server coming to us (again, not sure if this is how the restaurant operated, but no big deal).

Maybe its because we're from Toronto which is why there is a certain level we expect from restaurants, but we definitely were not satisfied.

Here are some simple suggestions for this restaurant.

Limit your menu items. Pick a handful of items that you're good at cooking (keep biryani off that list) and serve only those items. Make every item fresh. Food shouldn't come out in 5 minutes. Possibly change your meat supplier, because all of meat items had a terrible smell to it. Hygiene is very important. Ensure your washrooms are clean, every hour or few hours, whatever the case. If your washroom is clean, then that's usually an indicator of how clean the kitchen is. Also, the flies in that restaurant are not fresh food ones, but more the rotten food flies. That should give an indication as well. Although our server did come and check in on us a couple of times, customer service should be one of your main priorities. Having to seat ourselves and picking up our own menus definitely showed that the customer was not the priority. Probably should change that. Change the ambiance of the restaurant, it was so dull and boring. Two screens in the restaurant, of which one was off and the other had a list of songs waiting to be...

I had given them a 5 star rating initially but I guess I was too quick to judge, hence editing my review. Their service has degraded by leaps and bounds. I've been to dozens of restaurants but I have to say that the place where the customer is the lowest priority is probably this place. The 2 customer facing ladies need more training as they are rude and inflexible, especially the hijabi one (apologies to all hijabis as this is the only way I could identify her since I didn't catch her name. I have great respect for hijab observing ladies otherwise). The only time they serve you properly is when the owner himself is around which is seldom and usually around closing time. At all other times, their first instinct is to drive you away and encourage you to order online I would guess so they don't have to work. They've literally told me this a couple of times directly. Just yesterday, I ordered food to dine in and took an empty table next to the counter. However, the hijabi lady said I wasn't allowed to sit there as it was reserved and she wanted to squeeze me in the middle of a several full tables by the exit. When I explained that I wasn't comfortable eating while tightly surrounded by people on all sides, and pointed out that the restaurant was over half empty and it was closing time so they couldn't possibly be expecting any guests, she had no answer and quite coldly told me she didn't want me sitting anywhere else except that little spot and I was free to go elsewhere to dine. She even cancelled my order half way through. To be fair though, the kitchen staff and the owner himself are polite and accommodating and they use good quality meat in their dishes. I've tried their Beef Nihari (very tender) and their Bhindi/Okra many times. Both are always very well made. Their Halwa Puri and Chana/ Chola dishes can use some work so I've given the food 3 stars just because of that. The dishes I usually have merit 4 stars. The atmosphere gets 1 star just because it's in the basement and you're not allowed to sit except by the exit in the corner so the rest of the ambience is irrelevant. I've noticed them often having arguments with other customers over seating as well. No other restaurant I've ever been to has been so inflexible. Many of my downtown friends have stopped going here already for various reasons including their own opinions about the declining food quality. For the sake of the owner though, I hope he manages to at least put their customer service in order before he loses more business because I do actually...

Changing to 1 star, we ordered Biryani but we found a dead fly with the order, not sure who's fault --ubereats or Sana. No thanks, but I won't order from Sana anymore. I am changing my review to 5 star because they improved the service. Great food, taste and I feel the food/sauce is healthier than any other food restaurant. They provided forks, knives, spoons and napkins !

My previous review was 1 star, because of the other review. Always missing food items when ordering. Means if you have guests, you will eat and your guests will not eat. In addition, they don't give you forks, knives, spoons and no napkins. But the food is great, but we will not like to eat the food with our hands. A review on March 14, 2023. My previous above reviews were based on deliveries, this time I went to the restaurant on site without even knowing it’s the same one for delivery. We can write a book about this ‘’bad boy’’ restaurant. The server a girl around the age of 30 grumpy, no English and nor French, speaking very bad in both languages was convenient for her, so she does not have to interact with the clients.

It looks like she is forced (like labor slavery) to work there, extremely unpleasant service from the start ‘’she was harsh worse than a rock’’. The chicken dish we ordered had greasy fat/skin parts, we asked to change the same plate better quality, she said ‘’don’t count it, we will not change it’’.

I noticed she was verbally violent with gesture towards the cook in the kitchen. The restaurant virtually empty, yet bad service and food. We can kiss good bye Sana restaurant; ‘’as a restaurant rest in RIP Sana’’ as it...