This was my second attempt to eat at this restaurant (the first i was told they had decided to close their kitchen early that day, without any notice or explanation)

When i did finally get a table a few days later, the food was decent - nothing to complain about on that front. But it is the first middle eastern restaurant i have been to in the world where they charge you for bread. Never in lebanon, london, dubai etc. has a restaurant had bread that you need to specifically order (unless you want something more fancy than their regular offering, in which it is only reasonable that you pay for that). It is an integral part of Arab culture - you order & pay for the mezzes & they give you the bread to eat with it complimentarily. Anything else is considered inhospitable & miserly by cultural norms.

This in itself was not the entire problem. I ordered a portion of bread - got two small pieces of flatbread. I ate that pretty quickly & ordered some more. 10 minutes passed & it had not arrived, so i thought i’d double check with a member of staff. That staff member told me point blank ‘the kitchen is very busy & you need to be more patient.’ Wow. I ended up waiting 20 minutes for the extra bread to arrive, & seeing as that i could not enjoy my mezze without it, i just sat there & stared into space.

I’d recommend the owners of this restaurant be less greedy & generously serve their patrons with bread complimentarily, like every other Arab restaurant in the world - after all, their prices are already high, even for Oslo standards - they can certainly absorb the cost of flour & water. & if they insist on customers ordering bread separately, then atleast make sure it comes out promptly so that they are not forced to take long intervals in their meal waiting for it to arrive. & perhaps not talk to your patrons so rudely when they follow up on delays too. It’s a very short sighted & stingy way to run an establishment. I will not be back