Hamdi Restaurant Somali Cuisine — Restaurant in Toronto

August 7th 2022 (Sunday): Added some more pictures. Consistency folks. The food quality has not dropped. Friendly staff time and again I visit. They know me now by first name bases (Talk about establishing a rapport with your customers). A friendly atmosphere people and conversing and enjoying the food. I got the goat plate dinner again because its just so good. Wash it done with some chilled mango drink.

A Month Ago: Went back yesterday for there famous goat plate. So tender and tasty, you barely need to use a fork or spoon to break the meat. Amazing quality. Love the veggies that compliment it and the spicy dressing they give on the side. If your not a fan of spice I would not recommend it as it is strong. But I love it! It balances the mild tasty rice you get with it. Washed the food down with some Vinto drink. Very tasty refreshing and cold on a hot day! A big shout to the staff Abdishukur and Hamda. Very knowledge about there items on the menu. Very customer service friendly and had the biggest welcoming smiles around. The restaraunt is spacious and it's a great environment to bring your friends and family to if your a fan of some quality food and even better customer service! The quality of food has been top notch and its consistent - read my previous review about a month ago below. Talk about consistency!

Month Ago Previous Review:

My friend I work with told me about this place and I've never had Somali cuisine before. Curious to try why not right? Come here. Very clean and the front staff are welcoming and friendly. My friend recommended the goat plate (can't remember the name of the plate but its goat for sure!). The plate was fantastic! Big portions of meat. The rice had an amazing flavor too. I love the sourness of the sauce they give with it. Get some veggies on the side as well. The meat hardly needs any effort to come off. Very tasty and tender. Overall - the food was incredible and my friend was right referring me here. Oh, and the mango drink is very refreshing...

It's very difficult for me to rate this place because it's a crowd favorite and I like to support halal restaurants. But I also feel like they need to do a much better job if they expect to charge upwards of 15$ for sub par food, prepared poorly (samosas were soaked in sweat from the microwave) and served in an untimely manner (first dish was served with apps 15 mins apart from the next one served... And we were fasting!) Its worth noting that I ate here during iftar, which tells you they were busy but also how important it was to have something to eat on time. And it wasn't my first time doing so and they've only done a great job once in the past, meaning that they served dates and tea right before breaking fast while we wait for the entrees. It's nice that they offer unlimited mango juice but you'd think they were growing the mangos back there it took so long to get a second pitcher, we jusy ended up with a half served table. Its not fun when 3 guys are choking on their while salivating over your drink. Long story short, the stakes are high during Ramadan. But it's not cheap to eat here, and it's not their first rodeo. Management needs to respect their clients by taking the job more seriously and properly training and managing...

Bad customer service. They treat their own kind very well. Good luck if you're not African. Even after spending $60 at this place. I ordered a drink I was told to pay $1 cashier didn't accept my visa since she said she would accept if I purchase any thing more than $3 but what about the $60 I spent ?? she told me that I would had ordered the drink when I ordered food. while I having conversation with her she attended other customer which was very disrespectful even when you are willing to pay for drink. The complimentary soup wasn't served at my table when I even reminded them to bring it before serving my food. When I asked the waiter again he said soup is cold we don't have hot soup while all the tables full of their own kind were served soup. Seriously a restaurant doesn't have a microwave??? then when I suggested him to get it warmed up in microwave 1 bowl of soup was served for 3 people. I've been a customer of this restaurant since 4 years never knew I would be treated like this someday.

I wouldn't recommend anyone to pay and get insulted at this place and I would never recommend my community to be their...