The Kasbah Mediterranean — Restaurant in Niagara Falls

UPDATE (in response to the owner's reply): To those reading this, I would strongly urge you to look at how the owner responds to critical reviews. There is a consistent pattern of him refusing to take any accountability while placing all of the blame on the patrons. His own replies put the restaurant in a far poorer light than anything I could say.

ORIGINAL: The quality of the food here is SO inconsistent. I was really disappointed by the food tonight and I don't think I'll be going back again after this.

I worry that the owner will try to blame his employees for this, but this is 100% an owner-manager issue that starts at the top. The owner loves to walk around and check in on everyone's tables at least twice during their meals. Look, I love a good host, but it feels like you (the owner) are checking in less because you want to entertain and delight your customers and more because you're anxious about the unfortunate reality that your restaurant isn't living up to expectations and you probably feel like you don't have things under control. I think if you spent less time walking around and more time ensuring that your restaurant's kitchen meets basic cuisine and quality control standards, maybe things would turn around.

Let's start with the cocktails. I ordered the Armenian Margarita, which is described as a margarita with jalapeno juice. I love a good spicy margarita, so I order it. It turns out they used PICKLED jalapenos, not fresh jalapenos, and a big helping of brine juice from the pickled jalapeno jar for flavor. In spite of the name, the menu describes the Armenian Margarita as containing "jalapeno juice," not "jalapeno brine." So, their menu is misleading. Drinking a margarita with vinegar was a beyond-disappointing experience - you simply don't mix a citrus acid (like lime) with an acetic acid (like vinegar). It doesn't enhance any of the flavors, it just muddles them into something disgusting. Worse yet? They used table salt to rim the margarita glass, not kosher salt - so the salt tasted bitter and intense, not clean and bright. It was such a gross margarita, I've never had a margarita even close to that bad. I don't think the person who makes them is someone who drinks cocktails, or has gone to bartending school.

The spanakopita we ordered definitely came from the frozen food aisle. It was not baked fresh or even baked in an oven. Instead, it was reheated in a microwave, which I know for a fact because it was lukewarm, inconsistently heated, and had soggy phyllo dough. That doesn't happen in an oven, that happens when something is thawed in the fridge, left there for three days to sit in its own moisture, and then microwaved for 50 seconds. This is unacceptable.

My spouse ordered the lamb souvlaki. The lamb was overcooked, dry, and underseasoned, and the rice had been overly salted with table salt.

Now for my favorite part: I ordered the mushroom tortellini. Instead, what I received was microwaved (not even freshly boiled!) tortellini that was barely room temp. The tortellini did not contain any mushrooms, just miniscule amounts of unseasoned, unremarkable cheese. The "mushroom" was just thick slices of raw (not sauteed!) white button mushrooms on top. Why would I or anyone else want to eat thick, crunchy slices of raw button mushrooms on top of tortellini?

I hated this meal. It's obvious that they don't cook any of the food fresh, they use cheap and unacceptable shortcuts, and then they charge people a king's ransom to eat the food ($25 for a plate of microwaved tortellini with raw mushrooms - are you kidding me?).

One more thing: They have a door that goes to either their kitchen or one of the bathrooms, I'm not sure which, and every time someone uses it, the door slams loud and hard. No one wants to listen to a repeatedly slamming door while dining. It is so disruptive to the dining experience and kept happening over and over and over again. They NEED to fix that door.

This place would have to undergo a Kitchen Nightmares-style restructuring for me to ever...

Update:

One hour and 37 minutes went by and we didn't even receive all our soups or salads.....should this not be served within the first hour at least?? Like I'm not going to take this abuse. The fact that this restaurant always replies back with an answer for bad reviews and does not accept their fault is laughable. Also, we did not say you spit in our food but at that point, some upset person who would pack the food you eventually prepared (which would be at the 2 hour mark) would spit in it. Get your facts straight and also check your cameras to see what was exactly said.

It is also laughable that you responded with lies, there were two huge tables on the patio?? This place was not busy and if you think 2 hours is only a bit of wait then that's asinine. Also, it is not our fault that you cannot keep up in the kitchen and I also do not care that your server went home after giving us an attitude. Please everyone just believe me that they have no respect or remorse for what happened. If you were upfront about a 2 hour wait for our food before you sent in our order then we can have a mature discussion. There are so many lies in the response to my review, our server had asked if we wanted all the food together and we said YES yet they state we never communicated this. Also we paid $40 out of a $300 bill because we never received all the soups and salads, only TWO PEOPLE got their soups and the garlic bread and fries and 1 kids meal. We paid for what we ate like decent people and decided this is a not a respectable location to have a birthday dinner.

Original review:

Came here to celebrate a birthday dinner and came out feeling like the color of my skin matters in 2024 in CANADA.

Our first experience of uncomfortableness came from the lady who sat us down who was shocked by how big our group was which was 10 people. This lady clearly did not like us for whatever hatred she has for a certain race and made it clear by rolling at her eyes when she walked past us to check on a table. She also said she is not able to sit us outside by joining one extra table at the end by saying that the ground is not level. This was so minor to me because I am sure we could have made it work. She ended up sitting us in another section isolated from the rest of the customers. The way she talked to us when we had to interact with her was like she was talking down to us.

They said it is typical for food to take up to 1 hour 30 min to 2 hours for a group of 10 LOL I've had dinner with 10 people before and this was the first time I've heard this. We only got 5 plates of starters twice, which was after the 30 min- 1 hour mark. So basically they expect half the table to watch others eat in hunger. Some people didn't even get to eat anything even after the 1 hour mark??

It's sad to say that the customer service was the worst I've ever seen. They didn't apologize, there was no remorse and seemed to have answer for everything, making it seem like it was our problem for having a group of 10 people on a Saturday evening. I really wonder what they would do if they were really busy at the time we came.

Oh and the manager had the worst attitude as well. If you think we were going to pay for food we didn't even eat in an environment that is not even welcoming, you're out of your damn mind sir. He was forcing us to pay for food we didn't eat and we had no problem paying for the small 5 plates we did receive & eat.

If you're in this situation at this restaurant as I see that many other people of the same race had a similar experience, do not let them bully you and demean you.

If you come out being all defensive and not even see how you're in the wrong, then you should not be working in...

Prepare yourself for a tale of unimaginable rudeness and disrespect at The Kasbah in Niagara Falls. My recent visit to this establishment left me absolutely flabbergasted at the utter lack of basic manners and common decency displayed by the staff. It's astonishing how a restaurant can be so brazenly impolite and still manage to operate. From the moment we stepped foot into The Kasbah the staff's obnoxious behavior was on full display. They greeted us with a condescending sneer and an air of superiority that made us feel unwelcome. It seemed as though they viewed their customers as an inconvenience rather than the lifeblood of their business. How dare they treat paying customers with such disdain? As the evening progressed, the staff's rudeness only escalated. They snickered and made derogatory remarks under their breath, clearly making a mockery of us. It was as if they took pleasure in belittling and humiliating their patrons, relishing in the power dynamic they held as employees. This level of unprofessionalism is not only unacceptable but also reflects a toxic work culture that starts from the top. Attempts to address their rude behavior were met with outright hostility. When we politely expressed our concerns to the management, they dismissively brushed us off, claiming that it was simply a "misunderstanding." Their refusal to take responsibility for their staff's behavior only further highlighted the toxic environment that permeated the establishment. To make matters worse, their rudeness extended to the service itself. Wait staff rudely interrupted conversations, rolled their eyes at our requests, and showed a complete lack of interest in ensuring our dining experience was enjoyable. It was abundantly clear that the concept of customer satisfaction was a foreign concept to The Kasbah. In conclusion, The Kasbah in Niagara Falls is a pitiful excuse for a restaurant. Their unapologetic rudeness and disrespectful behavior towards customers is truly beyond comprehension. I implore anyone considering dining at this establishment to reconsider and seek out an establishment that values and respects its patrons. Life is too short to subject yourself to the atrocious treatment that awaits you...