Babel Restaurant — Restaurant in Kloten

I had high hopes for Babel and was definitely disappointed. Too bad, as last year they had a take-away food truck out back, which had incredible Sandwiches!

The food is ok but not really Lebanese. (I still don't know what the corn salad was doing in my Fattoush and also there was no na3na3 and bread was just a little decoration stick, so not really Fattoush at all). But other than that, it was fine, the presentation was nice and the unexpected kitchen greeting with delicious bread and pickles and labneh at the beginning was a really nice touch that I appreciated. Contrary to some international guests reviews here, I also found the prices on the lunch Menue ok for Zurich - for the food (drinks is another story, see below).

So far so good. What really was disappointing though, was the service. There were not many guests at all, so there was no reason for it to be off, but everything was extremely slow and annoying and also constantly slightly disrespectful. When I asked for a drinks card for example the waitress simply could not be bothered to bring me one, she wanted to have the order right away, so I pragmatically settled for a glass of still water, which always fits. She then brought me (I was alone!) a 7,5dl water bottle without asking me! I told her that is a bit much, that I wanted a glass of water not a huge bottle, she just ignored me. I was hungry and really did not want to fight with the waitress, who knows when I would have gotten my water and food otherwise so I just let it be. But in the end this bottle turned out to be CHF 10.50 (!) for water! What a rip off! It almost seems like a tourist trap restaurant. And I am local... That waitress really was the worst I have experienced in a long time. During my studies I worked as a waitress myself for a while, I know how hard it can be, so I can excuse a lot. But this was too much, she didn't even try and was disrespectful throughout.

So as often as I am at the Circle, I probably won't be going to Babel very soon again. At least not until that waitress is not...

I am an executive at a company at The Circle right by Babel. The sad truth is that there are very few restaurants at The Circle for a client lunch - and that is the only reason Babel is still in business.

The service at this restaurant is so unprofessional, rude, and incompetent that it is only still in business because companies like mine have no other choice.

My lunch there last Friday was a disaster. I phoned the restaurant an hour before our reservation to ask that the already have the “business lunch” buffet ready as our clients had a tight schedule and a train to catch. I also informed them we would have 8, not 10 as originally booked. We show up to our lunch, 10 chairs at the table, nothing prepared (host did not even know we booked the prix fix business lunch), and when I asked when lunch would be ready our waiter yelled at me so rudely my client was actually upset. The first dish came out 30 minutes later, so my clients missed their scheduled train home. Oh, and then the bill was incorrect, leaving me the awkward position of needing to argue in front of guests or just allow myself to get ripped off. (The restaurant was EMPTY besides us, by the way.)

Sadly, the above experience is not an anomaly - it is very normal for Babel.

Unless you are forced to go here,...

Bland, slow and underwhelming.

The service is ridiculously slow and whilst friendly not worth the wait. We were shown to our seats and drinks orders taken within 5 minutes, it then took 20mims for 2 beers to appear and another 10mins for the bread. The order of 2 appetisers and 2 mains then took approx 35 minutes to arrive and all at once rather than staggered as the waiter confirmed when taking the order. Amusingly the starter of falafel appeared 10mins after we had eaten all of the rest of the food and finished our drinks without the hint of an apology for its lateness or any query that we still wanted it! In addition it was stone cold. The lamb was just ok and pretty bland as was the spring chicken. The food had very little seasoning and the spiced dips to accompany the food was again very bland. The table next to us cancelled one of their dishes as the lady in question had been sat down for nearly 2hrs and couldn’t wait any longer yet the waiter’s attitude was that it was a 3 course meal and that was to be expected, again no hint of an apology. We were only here due to a cancelled flight but if I was here again I certainly wouldn’t waste my money on a very expensive and unsatisfying...