Hewad Kabob — Restaurant in St. Catharines

Here is why I give this restaurant 3 stars:

Cons -Ordered only one dinner and a wrap and it took more than 30 mins to get those ready. Most of the tables were empty in the restaurant, so maybe they need more workers in the kitchen? Please hire more staff or at least give a warning it will take that long. -Ordered qabili to be put on top of the rice but didn't get any qabili. Realized this myself once I opened the to go container at the counter. Had to remind them I paid for qabili. They took the container back and returned it with barely any carrots on the rice and and zero raisins. -The wrap was cold. Probably because of the 30 min wait? When I asked to heat it, it was taken back to the kitchen and after it was brought back, the wrap was falling apart and it was still half cold. -The little sauce containers are only half filled.

Pro The food was good overall I did get more sauce when I asked The worker at the cash register was friendly

In conclusion: while the food tasted good overall, the portions are not decent. The service is significantly slow. Not all paid items fulfilled. Some of the food cold. No acknowledgment or apology from the person in charge in the kitchen.

P.s. I would have appreciated it if the owner or any of the chefs acknowledged the long wait or at least apologized for the missing ingredients and for cold food. There were enough suggestions from the customer that there are issues / concerns when the dinner and the wrap were sent back due to the mentioned concerns, and so the lack of acknowledgement from the person in charge tonight was upsetting.

I would not visit this restaurant again. It's too bad as I like supporting Afghan restaurants, but the experience was very...

I’m a healthcare provider and my time outside of work is tight. I craved some afghani grill and decided to try this place out. I ordered ahead of time and called to check-in on the status of the food, and I greeted pleasantly and was replied to in a very cold manner, i put that to side and waited for my order outside. I went to grab it and asked if my requests were accommodated, only to get a blunt response of “yes yes, is in the bag”. I tried to over see that and headed back home hoping that the food would be a blast after just finishing a 12 hour shift, as I suspected the food went soggy as my request for the salad to be in a small separate container was ignored. The side sauce amounted to a table spoon as well, and the naan was doughy on the underside aka not baked well. Sure the chicken was nice and you don’t get good afghani food in Niagara, and this place would’ve erased that fact but the customer service was horrible. I was attempting to ask if a tiffin/lunch service was a thing and yet the reply was “yes your order is in the bag” leaving me very confused. I don’t understand why Someone would be disrespectful to an individual who is providing care to his community. Food is good, service...

With Afghanistan in the news, I wanted to find an Afghan restaurant. I've been to one in Toronto and one in Los Angeles years ago, so I was thrilled to find Hewad in St. Catharines.

Located downtown on St. Paul, Hewad is still following COVID rules, with minimal tables. You enter the restaurant, order at the counter from the friendly staff/owner (?) and the food is announced cafeteria style. And what great food it is!

I had lamb chops and asked for the qabeli palow (basmati rice with carrots and raisins). The lamb was tender and I was pleasantly surprised at the generous portions. my friends had kofta kabobs on rice and the meals came with giant Afghan naan. Not the small round pita style bread you get at Indian restaurants, Afghan naan is a tasty, chewy, warm delight the size of foot long subs.

I also had the mantu dumplings - ground beef dumplings with a dollop of yogurt sauce.

So if you are not familiar with Afghan food, you'll be in for a treat. Afghanistan, geographically, is literally on the Silk Road, the cross roads of so many great food cultures - Asian, Middle Eastern, Greek, Indian. Afghan food adds its own unique spin. Friendly staff, great location, great...