Azhar Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Toronto

Food 3.5/5 value 2/5 service negative (-)5/5

We selected this restaurant for the wide variety of vegetarian food. Made a reservation for 6 on OpenTable, they asked what we were celebrating, I marked it birthday and wrote in the comments we were celebrating 2 birthdays. The only time slots on a Friday were 615 or 845 so I selected the latter since 615 would be tight. We met before for a pre dinner drink and cheese and crackers since dinner was so late.

We arrived a bit before 9 and the table was still not ready. Seated by 9:10.

We got:

*Babaganoush salad which was good *Halloumi was ok, nothing to write home about *Dip trio - hummus was very smooth and creamy but not very flavorful. It supposedly had Aleppo pepper but it was lackluster for Aleppo; Beet hummus was meh and one person got a clove of raw garlic; Muhammara was spicy and delicious. The three dips though only came with 2 mini pitas (size of a scallop shell) and then they charged $3 each for any extra pita. *Spicy garlic potatoes were good *Fire roasted chicken was super juicy and tender. The sides with it were meh. *Roasted cauliflower with hummus was ok. The cauliflower wasn’t really very flavorful, and the dish only came with one of those mini pitas. Considering they said the plates were for sharing, it seemed rather ridiculous.

Food was not served until 9:45-11pm, and we got a warning kitchen was taking last calls at 11:10. We had no acknowledgment of the birthdays at that point, so one person tried to talk to the staff. They were belligerent and unhelpful. Asked at least three times about doing something for birthdays and staff was very unwilling to accommodate until the last minute. We ended up with cake that was dry, possibly somewhat frozen in the middle, and we got charged for it. No staff said or sang happy birthday. Miserable place to celebrate an occasion.

As a party of 6, there was auto gratuity of 20%. Service wise, the waiter never came to take our order until I flagged him down. Never asked if he could answer any questions, and I constantly had to ask for more water. He changed our plates between cold and hot food, but then took so long, the girl came out with our hot food and had to take it back while he finished setting the table. Didn’t clear wine glasses when the table switched to cocktails. Just really not attentive. I think he was annoyed that we only ordered 6 dishes when he recommended we order 10.

The drinks actually seemed to be a big part of the draw. Cocktails were mostly found good, and sparkling spiced hibiscus tea which was delicious. We had one non-drinker and there were many non alcoholic options.

It’s a very small restaurant and we originally wanted to be seated at the front, where we would not be by the door, but it turned out to be not great there either because the speaker for the music was right above us so it was hard to hear across the table. The seating was also really low, my back hurt after.

We spent $500 for 6 people including drinks and a mandatory 20% gratuity. We had some good dishes but overall, it was a very...

My partner and I were excited to try this place as we have consistently heard good things. Our experience started off ok but only got worse as the evening progressed, unfortunately. We each ordered a cocktail and there was really no issues with those other than they were overly sweet. The menu is obviously sharing style, which we have encountered many times in the past at other restaurants. Our server instructed us to order 6 items (3 from the first three sections and 3 from the remaining sections). We selected items as instructed and as we ordered, even double-checked with the server that this would be enough food. She confirmed that it was "about right". Keep in mind that we are both men in our late 30s and tend to eat a larger quantity than most. However (and I have to say that I don't think I have ever said this before), we were severely misguided on the number of dishes to order. So much so that we could not finish our third and fourth dish and had to ask for them to be packed up. By this time, I told the server that we had over-ordered and asked if the remaining dishes (fish and rice) could be cancelled (she said no, it was too late, which is understandable) or packed up. She said that she could bring us a box. She brought the smallest possible boxes and when we asked for larger, we were informed there were no larger boxes available. So we had to literally squeeze a full fish into two smaller boxes by breaking it into numerous smaller pieces. I informed the server that perhaps suggesting 6 dishes is too much and she said that is the standard amount that is suggested to everybody. However, after we were almost done at the restaurant, a table of 4 ladies sat down next to us, and their server (different server than ours) suggested to them that they should order 5 to 6 dishes to share between the 4 of them. Anyways, all of this is to say that our meal and experience was ruined because we had over-ordered. And, obviously, we were able to take the food home and enjoy it the following day, but it certainly does't taste the same as a freshly prepared meal, especially after the fish had been mangled into several smaller pieces. In addition, the "deboned" fish, was definitely NOT deboned. If we had the opportunity to eat this at the restaurant, it would have been a dish that I would have returned to the kitchen because it was full of bones (I understand a few bones that may have gotten missed but this was clearly not deboned). In any event, our experience was ruined because of...

i came to azhar to try their lunch popup with the pita wraps, and i definitely want to come back to try their more popular dinner items (especially the other dips). note that it is take out oNly, although they let me sit inside (without table service and with takeout containers) and there were a bunch of people sitting on the nice patio.

the chicken wrap was essentially this super soft, fresh, perfectly thick pita enveloping strong, heavy middle eastern flavours. as soon as you unfold the paper wrapping, you’re bombarded by earthy spices like cumin and turmeric, as well as the delicious charred aroma from the pita. it was super hot and warm and absolutely STUFFED with tender, moist chicken (not hint of dryness at all). however, i think the most prominent taste came from the pickled onions and peppers, which unleashed a wave of juicy tanginess and sourness every time you bit into it (maybe a bit too sour for my taste). there were a lot of flavours going on, between the heavy salty taste of the chicken, and the sharper pangs from the veggies — it can get a bit overwhelming/fatiguing at the end.

although the chicken pita wrap was good, the DIP AND PITA were phenomenal. it came with two pitas (instead of the advertised one), and both of them were SO fresh out of the oven — they were warm, so so so pillowy and fluffy yet thick at the same time, with a light dusting of flour. when you pulled it apart, it was even steaming a little bit. the babaghanoush was cold, really creamy, and had a surprisingly light flavour — but the olive oil and molasses that it was swimming in was SO ADDICTINGLY BRIGHT, SWEET, AND SILKY.

i was also shocked my how much i LOVED the oatmeal cookie, it was such a nice sweet capper to a heavy meal. the cookie had a reallyyyyy crunchy exterior and a chewy interior/center. the sweet oats and nuts infused into the cookie went so so so well with the gooey, mellow, sweet, honey-like syrup drizzle. in some bites, there was a super subtle hint of sourness from the cherries that really added to the medley of flavours. the sweet, buttery pistachio crumble was also a fantastic touch. you...