dalia — Restaurant in Paris

Located in the heart of Paris, dalia offers tapas style Lebanese/Mediterranean dishes. The restaurant exudes a warm atmosphere using plenty of pink to complement the wooden furniture. The staff are helpful and spoke very good English explaining to us in detailed about the cocktails, alcohol and the food.

We were a table of 5 and went for the set menu. For starters we had grilled broccoli, cauliflower, hummus, fish. They were delectable and heavy so beware you might already be full before the main course is served.

The highlight of the meal and the main course was undoubtedly the slow oven cooked lamb. The meat was “fall off the bone” tender and succulent. Every bite was effortless and permeated with the smoky flavour of herbs it was cooked with. The lamb was cooked to perfection with accompanying vegetables producing a balanced sauce complementing the robust flavour of the lamb.

To end it off, we had 3 types of dessert served. Unfortunately, the desserts fell short and failed to complement what would have been a great meal. The desserts served were an assortment of cake with heavy cream. The whole meal was already very rich and heavy and desserts made it just that bit unbearable.

That said, don’t let this deter you from making dalia your go to for a casual dinner. The main courses are amazing!

P.S. Definitely go to the toilet on the ground level. Let’s just say it’s good for self...

This was my fourth or fifth visit to the buzzy restaurant over a two year period. The loud vibe is certainly “UP” and TBH feels more London, Athens, Tel Aviv than Paris … in a very good way (though if you are looking to converse avoid being seated under a speaker.. The team is, for the most part, pleasant, amateur students etc. this makes for a fun contact with them until the room fills to capacity (often the case) when they are overrun and can become a bit brusque. I have fond memories of a more engaged and pleasant contact with the serving staff on past visits. There is a varied and fun cocktail menu and wine by the bottle is well priced. Dalia is certainly mid-range, thematic and accessible more than fine dining. The “mediterranean” fare that is its house style , onnce trendy and exotic, may becoming a little tired now, in my view, due to an overly static menu. Highlights were a delicious “caviar d’Aubegene” and a good humus, a fish sashimi lacked vibrancy / citrus and a beef skewer was overcooked to my taste and smothered in sauce. The pita served with the meal was more fluffy than traditional and did the job of mopping up sauces and humours. What is missing is a good fresh crunchy salad be it Greek, Turkish or Lebanese.... this would stand well in contrast with and accompany the rest of the fare which tends to be a bit complex...

Our hotel recommended this spot for dinner. We were very excited by the menu and quickly booked. While there are some things I could say about the food, overall it was good, the flavors were there.

Our waiter, or I am not even sure who he was officially but the first person to greet us, took our appetizer and drink order and we never saw him again. We had to flag down people to order dinner and get our needs met, no one was checking in on us periodically. At the same time we observed this man who we thought was our waiter going around talking with two specific tables, socializing and taking numerous rounds of shots with them. Then he dropped several shot glasses at the table next to us he was socializing with and made no effort to clean it up. So we essentially walked out having to step around broken glass. All other employees looked to be working hard and were polite overall to us. Especially one women toward the end who helped us with food and checking out.

We were very disappointed, we were here two hours not by choice but because it took so long to get service. This could’ve been a much more positive experience if there was more organization and if this man who seemed to be our waiter actually did his job or someone...