Gilaneh Restaurant — Restaurant in Toronto

Had my wedding reception in this restaurant before. One star for the food, and ZERO star for the DISHONEST SERVICE and RUDE STAFF.

We visited the restaurant for the first time to discuss with the manager about the possibility of holding the reception there and to try the food. At that time, the staff were nice and the food was decent. However, everything changed once we decided to choose this restaurant and paid a 200 CAD deposit. As a foreign person, I chose an Iranian restaurant to celebrate the most important day in my life due to my deep love in Persian culture, but I feel really disappointed with this restaurant.

First, the food was not as good as the one that we tried before the reception. We ordered one large platter for each table of four, which consists of four different main courses. They did charge us the full price of four main courses for each platter, but gave us short measure of the food. For example, a normal course of Shandiz lamb steak that we tried before the reception included six pieces. During the reception, however, they only put five pieces in each platter. They might claim that this was because some of the lamb steaks were bigger, but how could it be possible that all the lamb steaks were so big that every table was served one piece less than normal? Another issue was the ice cream. One portion of traditional ice cream includes two full scoops, so we ordered two portions for each table, so that each of the four guests will have one full scoop, and the manager agreed to serve each scoop in a small bowl for each guest. But on the day of reception, not only did they forget to separate each portion into two, but they also only put slightly more than one scoop, rather than two full scoops, in one portion, which was very embarrassing for us as the guests were confused about how they could share the ice cream. The manager, of course, denied that they had agreed to use separate bowls, and then blamed me for asking for something that they didn’t usually do.

Second, the service became the worst I have ever seen immediately after we made our first order. When we requested to modify the order as some guests have special eating habits or allergies, the manager complained a lot. During the reception, the manager interrupted me for multiple times when I was talking to my guests, without even saying something polite like ‘Excuse me.’ This was extremely rude. The manager also insisted that the 15% tips should be paid after tax, which was “a new law” according to her. I didn’t want to argue with her at that moment, but I really wonder, where is this “law” from? The worst thing was that the manager did not deduct the two hundred dollar deposit we paid in advance! Had we not noticed that by ourselves the next day, they might never refund that money. And the manager insisted that I must personally go to the restaurant again to process a refund to the same credit card, instead of mailing me a check. I was the one who had to pay for the mistake they made.

The most ridiculous thing happened when I came to the restaurant to get back my deposit – the manager blamed me in a harsh tone for disrupting their normal service during the wedding reception because of our photographer taking photos for us. From the very beginning we told them that this would be a wedding reception, and were they expecting a wedding reception without photography?! At the beginning of the reception we already told our photographer to be careful not to disturb other guests and only take photos of our own guests, and no other guests complained about being disturbed by our reception at all. I don’t see any point why the manager has kept blaming me for that.

I hope the restaurant can spend more time in improving the service, and the staff can be more respectful to...

So there is a common saying that try to find places where people from that particular ethnicity or community visit to get the most authentic and best experience in food. Gilaneh was one of those recommendations from one of my Iranian friends. And when we visited the place it was quite packed and it was purely made up of people from the Iranian/Middle Eastern back ground. So I had my expectations high in terms of the experience, especially in terms of the food, to be really good and memorable.

The ambiance was quite nice (but not as nice as Pomegranate), the service was decent. But the food was a major disappointment. Not that it was bad food. But for the price you paid the quality wasn't that great. I didn't feel like I was having "Restaurant Quality" food especially for a one that is showcased as been quite fancy. The ingredients were quite basic and the flavor profile was quite bland and not elevated. I've tried many Persian restaurants before and I would say Gilaneh ranks quite low in terms of the food. We had the Barley Soup, Alo Mosama (Chicken stew with Plum), Baghali Polo & Mahiceh (Lamb with herb rice), Veggie Kebab and the Mirza Ghasemi (BBQ eggplant). The Barley soup felt like something you would get in a can or a frozen packet. the BBQ eggplant was too smoky that it over powered the ingredients (especially the egg plant). The veggie kebab was quite basic, just rice and basic begetables. The only dish that felt worthy of the price was the Lamb and the Herb rice. The rice especially was good as it had good flavors, which is what you would expect in a restaurant like this. The lamb portion it self needed more seasoning and flavors. The chicken dish was quite average. Probably the best part of it all was the house flat bread that was quite delicious.

Not sure if I will visit Gilaneh again unless significant changes are made to the food to be at par with many other better offerings in the city. The flavor profile, quality of ingredients, innovation etc. need to be elevated to a level that warrants the price that is charged and the premium location. Service needs to be more proactive and more pleasant. The hosts were quite lethargic in their approach and you had to keep calling them for everything. If the same level of awe and amazement found in the entrance is provided in the food, this restaurant can go places. But not...

They overcharge you! We’ve noticed the quality of food at this place keeps diminishing , but I still gave it couple of trails before leaving a negative review ; however, in our last visit , the experience was so awful that I thought I should leave an honest review for others here, not to be ripped off like we were. The price you pay is definitely not worth the food and the experience there. We’ve been charged almost $6 for the smallest cup of tea, and almost $12 for a small yogurt and shallot , the bowl was half empty even. The quality of the chicken was poor and the koobideh tasted like fat and flour, not meet … but the worst part of it was when we were asked if we’d like to have tea, and later realized the price does not even cover refill and it was basically a very small cup of very very average tea, nothing special at all, for almost $6 per person! and realized that it was their last attempt to rip us off … between the two of us we paid over $95 (including tip) , while we only ordered one main dish and one appetizer, plus the yogurt, which is OK, but the $6 cup of smallest, poor quality tea, just showed us how they have no respect or care for their customers and only care about finding ways to charge them with these hidden fees and so unfairly … however we think of this gesture, it is not acceptable… the funniest part is our server told me that there were other people complaining about the high price of tea, in multiple occasions before, I realized there is even no point in raising our concern as the management didn’t seem to care the slightest bit about feedbacks …. We would never go back and rather support those businesses who care about their customers… there are plenty of choices out there who won’t...