GUL GUL LEBANESE & TURKISH CUISINE — Restaurant in Vaughan

Disappointing experience dining at this restaurant. I don’t like writing negative reviews (which is why I’m posting this on my alt account), but after today I felt inclined to write a review.

We chose this restaurant to celebrate our 5th year wedding anniversary. I read so many positive reviews and had high expectations coming into Gulgul. Unfortunately we did not have the same experience as other patrons, and left the restaurant feeling let down.

I will start with positives. The restaurant is beautiful. Gulgul really made the space their own and is a big transformation from Goodfellas (the restaurant who previously occupied the space). I loved the decor, furniture and colour scheme. I felt like I was transported out of Canada into the Middle East.

Coming into the restaurant (4:30 PM on a Saturday) it was not overly busy and there were about 3 waitresses / 1 waiter. The only option to access the menu was to scan the QR code. I know this is a common practice amongst some restaurants but wish there was a physical option for those who don’t understand QR codes (like my mother). I heard other patrons inquiring for a physical menu as well. This is something they should consider having in the future to be more accommodating. When we tried to access the QR code, it was not working so I had to search for the menu online and used the one attached to the restaurant’s google page.

I would say the prices were fair-ish. I was dining with my husband and mother in law so we decided to order two platters as we thought it would be filling amongst 3 people. We ordered the cold appetizer Gulgul Mixed Platter and Mix Grill for 2. We also ordered water for the table and 2 soft drinks.

The service was not great, they rarely checked up on us and we had to get the wait staff’s attention everytime we needed something. We felt like they were avoiding our table as they were busy tending to other tables. We had to ask for items multiple times (such as napkins) because they would forget, so we’d have to ask the other waitress’ for the item. There were times where they were running frantically as well but still ignoring our requests.

The first thing that we received was the Mix Grill for 2. We wanted to have the Gulgul Mixed Platter first as an appetizer but we just settled to have the entree first. The Mix Grill for 2 was decent. In the menu on Google, it’s advertised as “Sharable mix grill all serve with rice, bulgur, French fries, pickles and vegetables and sauces. 1 adana kebab, 1 beef shish, 1 chicken taouk, 2 wings, chicken adana kebab.” The waitress informed us there was only rice, so we did not receive the bulgur or French fries. We also did not receive the pickles. We paid full price for this platter even though it was missing a lot of items and did not realize until writing this review. I wish I took a picture so I could have posted it to this review.

When we received the platter, there was a lot of variety of meat which tasted good, however it was served on a thin layer of rice. Although we were sharing this amongst 3 people, the portion of rice wouldn’t have been enough for 2. It was so little that we were only able to get 3/4 small scoops that we had to order more rice, and even that portion was small. Also at this point we still did not receive water or soft drinks. When we brought this to the waitress’ attention, she only brought the soft drinks. Then we had to ask the waiter, and he said he would bring it out right away and he did not. Then we had to ask for it again, and they only brought 1 cup of water.

The waiter then asked us if we received everything and we told him we didn’t get the Gulgul mixed platter and he brought it out within 5 minutes, which was appreciated but wish it came out first. This platter was good, no complaints here.

We wanted to order dessert but the restaurant started to get busy and felt frustrated at the service already and decided to take out left overs and leave.

I would not dine at this restaurant EVER again and regret celebrating my anniversary here. Very...

The first time we visited Gul Gul, we had a fantastic experience. We had a large group of around 15 people, and even though it was quite busy, the staff was very accommodating. The food was delicious, the chefs did an amazing job, and everything ran smoothly. We loved it so much that we decided to come back for a second visit — but unfortunately, the second experience was extremely disappointing.

When we arrived, I handed the manager an ice cream cake and specifically told him it needed to go in the freezer. He assured me he would take care of it. However, when it came time to bring out the cake, it was completely melted. The server even brought it to our table while it was dripping all over his hand. To make matters worse, someone had added a chocolate syrup smiley face on the cake (which wasn’t there before) in what seemed like an attempt to cover up the issue — but it absolutely did not make it better.

While ordering food, we tried to place all the orders at once, but halfway through, our server suddenly said, “Give me a second,” and never returned. We had to call over the manager to find him. Because of the delay, half of our table got their food first, while the other half waited at least another 30 minutes. Of course, we didn’t want to eat without everyone, which made the situation even more frustrating.

During the meal, service continued to be a challenge. Our server checked in only once for water over a span of three hours, and eventually, we ended up running out to the car to grab our own water because we were tired of repeatedly asking. The one bright spot in service was Daud, the staff member taking care of our shisha — he was attentive, professional, and checked in with us more than our assigned server did.

While the restaurant did give us a small discount and free desserts to try to make up for the situation, the overall experience still left us feeling very disappointed. It’s understandable that restaurants can get busy, especially with big groups, but what’s frustrating is that the first time we visited — with about the same party size and even more crowd — the service was excellent.

If I could offer suggestions to the restaurant, it would be this: if a problem like a melted cake happens, it’s much better to be upfront and let us know so we can work together on a solution, rather than trying to cover it up and walking out with a melted cake. Orders should be taken properly the first time to avoid delays and confusion, especially when serving large parties.

Even though the food itself was once again delicious and the chefs did a fantastic job, the service during our second visit unfortunately overshadowed it. Sadly, after this experience, we don’t see...

I visited this restaurant twice. First time last Sunday it was ok. Food, service and atmosphere.

Second time it was last Wednesday night (during the live Fayad singer nigh) it was a disappointing experience from all aspects. Service was horrible from the start to the end, by a young middle eastern male speaking Arabic.

First one of our party recalled him as serving in Mazaj restaurant in Vaughan. We were shocked to hear the server speaking very negatively about Mazaj without asking him about his input. He said also I moved to GulGul as they are a big company and the owner has 32 locations!

Secondly the server gave us wrong information about GulGul restaurant menu like when I asked for Coca cola, he said sorry we have Pepsi only. So I told him do you have 7Up, he said no we have Sprite. It end up that we got me a 7 Up!!! Few minutes later I found that he served a coca cola can to the table next to us.

Likewise for our meals, he asked us if we prefer rice or bulgur as a side to our meals. We selected bulgur and it end up getting us Rice instead without even notifying us in advance! So we said we asked you for bulgur and he looked like surprised and then he said Oh sorry we have no bulgur anymore this night in the kitchen… Later after we finished eating, we noticed that another table received bulgur.

The whole night, the server was inattentive and it takes ages for him to come around our table or the area… and we had to move from our table twice to find him to place our order.

Last, the singer was singing unknown songs maybe from gulf area songs. He did not sing lebanese songs at all. This is strange for a restaurant identifying their place as lebanese. The sound was very loud that it was hard to listen to each other from our party even that we were sitting away from the singer area.

In general, it was a very negative experience. It was a disappointment and not...