Phynicia Restaurant — Restaurant in Ottawa

This place is such a gem! I wish I knew that it existed sooner! It has quickly become a favourite, and everything about it makes me want to visit as regularly as I can!

Excellent and delicious food, fantastic and generous service, wonderful atmosphere! What’s not to love?! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I first visited a few weeks ago with my husband and his parents. It was so good that the two of us returned today for a lunch date on our own!

On our first visit, my husband and I shared a fattoush salad (so yummy!), kibbeh, and zaatar & zeit. We enjoyed the pickle plate and the delicious fresh baked bread! My in-laws had pies - chicken & cheese and kafta, and a fattoush salad as well - all of which they thoroughly enjoyed.

Today my husband and I had the fattoush salad again (it’s that good!), as well as falafel (served with a tahini dip of some sort), and baba ghanouj (this came with the pickle plate and bread - again, so fresh, warm, and fluffy!).

Ahmad took great care of us today, even going so far as to bring us coffee and baklava, which was a perfect note to end on! (Thanks, Ahmad!)

I highly recommend this family-run restaurant! The food is incredible (my thanks to those working in the kitchen)! The service is warm and welcoming, and the character of the restaurant is inviting and comfy! I’ll be back again...

On a Sunday, after making a reservation over the phone for a party of 6, we arrived to this restaurant and soon were the only ones in the restaurant. There was one server who came and took our order. We ordered 1 foule, 1 hummus, 1 fatteh, 1 kibbe, 2x pide, 1 pot of tea and 1 lemonade. We were informed that other than the kibbe, there would be 2 breads with each dip I.e. 6 breads in total. Additionally we added 2x kaak (special bread). So far so good.

After 10 to 15 mins the dips came out (minus the fatteh). However, at this time, we were given no spoons, no dishes, no napkins, no water and no glasses. The pita (2x) came out next and it was fresh and hot, however, still no spoons. This haphazard manner of food and cutlery and drinks continued until the end of our experience there. One hour of foods, water, tea, cold bread, and cutlery coming out at awkward times made the experience unpleasant overall. Finally when we went to pay we were asked on what we ordered. What exactly was your waiter doing then? Why bring menus to the table when service is optional? So many confounding questions...

The food is delicious, but the poor service made the whole experience unsavory. We are unsure if we'd want to give this place another try in the future. Coming from across town to this place seems like a...

We went in given the existing reviews but came out with a disgusted experience.

We ordered 1 falafel, 1 foul, 1 oven chicken and 1 humus and 1 coffee. After 30minutes of waiting we were told only left overs of chicken are available so it’ll be charged for small size. All 3 dishes - foul, chicken and falafel were not good. Chicken left like someone had served us left overs and we paid $9 for it. Falafel was tasting and smelling of soda and even spices were lacking in flavour. Only fresh bread and humus was good. Coffee never came and after 50-55min we asked about the coffee the waiter said 5min I’ll bring. We ended up not having it eventually!

Service was poor - only 1 person taking orders, serving, removing empty dishes and tables. Language (English) was a barrier too in communication for the server. Plastic plates were given to adults but kids were given paper plates - so odd when it’s plastic and kids aren’t babies and can eat well.

But the last piece was when we went to wash hands - they keep drinks and olive oil in the bathroom! The bathroom was unhygienic and with drinks in the bathroom I felt disgusted!

Place seems a bit pricey too especially for the flavour and taste. Felt like I paid $50 for only 2bread...