ASHOURYA — Restaurant in Marseille

3.5 stars

As someone who is always open to the idea of trying food from different cuisines, I was excited to find a Syrian restaurant in Marseille. This place is huge and the ambience was quite welcoming. My servers did not speak English but that did not bar them from having a conversation with me despite the difficulty understanding what each of us was saying. They were patient enough to answer my questions about the dishes that I was being served.

Coming to the food, I tried their vegetarian platter which was enough food for two people. It started off with the fattouche salad which tasted fresh and delicious. The platter itself had falafels (some of the best I have ever eaten), labneh (creamy and paired well with the falafels), an eggplant and tomato dip (lovely), hummus (I have eaten better), a spinach dish (not for my palate but could be enjoyed by someone who loves spinach more) and a babaganoush like dish (this one wasn’t good at all because it had a strong tea flavor to it which made it hard for me to finish it). Overall, I got to try some good dishes with different flavors for a decent price and I was happy leaving this place with the satisfaction of supporting a...

Save your money. Save your dignity. Save your taste buds. Unfriendly, inattentive, slow, borderline impolite service. Food is under seasoned, far from authenticity and flavor, lacking in presentation, and possibly the worst of this cuisine offered this part of the world.

We tried several dishes: hummus was grainy, araes was soggy, hummus with meat was cold under seasoned meat, sujuk and makanek were dry and not as spicy as one would expect, the pastries were all wrong and thankfully some were fried to offer a bit of flavor. Their main dish was okay and exceptionally no complaints. Tabbouleh looked fresh but tasted off.

Our server felt like he was doing us a favor by taking the order, no greeting on the way in or out, took the payment without making eye contact or saying thank you or asking how everything was. Your average fast food chain has orders and f magnitude of better service.

And for all that we were stuck with a bill that was not worth it.

This place was half empty during lunchtime. Perhaps deservedly so. This will not get our business or that if anyone we know...

Got a completely different main from what we ordered - QR code menu was not working well so we didn't realise until too late. Food under seasoned and using clearly cheap packet spices like Espig Ras El Hanout. Not a lemon wedge in sight. AND worse of all we specified gluten free but were served three things with gluten. Only plus was the free lentil soup which was a welcome warmer. Theyre knocking out food that sounds enticing but is a far cry from its promise. Compare this to an Afghani curry house in London and youll get the difference in attention to detail and ingrédients. Poor...