Sheesh — Restaurant in Livonia

"Sheesh THAT WAS TERRIBLE"

(Similar review on Yelp with another review from my girlfriend)

I was inspired to try a local place in this genre of food after eating a wonderful dinner at Al Amer in Dearborn a week ago.... What followed was the worst experience eating out that my girlfriend and I have had in years! I don't see this place growing or SURVIVING with the lack of attention to detail and inconsistent service both eating in and carrying out. The owner should be ashamed of his staff at this location!

Our server was a very inexperienced 18 year old female who was extremely slow and inattentive; she took very long to fulfill requests and let our glasses stay empty for nearly 15 minutes. The bread and dips were good but as I bit into my third piece of bread I felt a sharp pain in my lower left jaw and it turns out that I bit down full force on a piece of grain that was fully uncooked and as hard as concrete. My girlfriends' falafel order came very quickly and the falafel with tahini sauce was good. I had ordered lamb chili and when it came it had no flavor and the consistency of water so I asked for the lentil soup which also turned out to be watery. I had ordered a full meal of combination lamb and chicken shawarma that took over 30 minutes to arrive and once it did it was bone dry and underseasoned. The entree actually reminded me of 3 day old rebaked and overcooked shards of Costco rotisserie chicken/the lamb was fresh but VERY LOW quality and filled with gristle and fat chunks. My girlfriend saw the server arguing with the cook staff just prior to it arriving and it obviously was about the wait for my food... After this final unacceptable event I asked a member of the cook staff who happened to be standing next to our table just outside the kitchen if he would please send the manager over; there must've been a misunderstanding as he then handed me a menu?!.... I repeated my request and he walked off to find the manager (as the manager was walking past him) and disappeared into the back of the building looking for the person he just walked next to. ... Several minutes later he walked back up to the manager who was near us the entire time and he came over to speak with us. I informed him of everything; the bad service, the watery chili and soup, the grain that nearly removed an old filling, and the terrible 20.00 shawarma that took 3 times longer to arrive than it took my girlfriend to finish her falafel dinner. I requested to have the whole dinner comped, he apologized, and we walked out. It turns out that this Manager was near our table the entire time and never noticed any of the obvious cues that would equate with unhappy customers (empty glasses, untouched food at the end of the table, being stared at).... Neither he nor the server inquired about the quality of the food and the whole experience was awful; as I stated before Sheesh that was awful!

Never...

Absolutely horrible customer service from the manager Abe and carryout always forgets something. While you are reading this consider the fact that I used to go here frequently because it was by my house. I recently went in and picked up carryout from them and they forgot an entire meal. I happened to be eating 20 minutes away this time so by the time I got home it was to late. I was also entertaining a group of people so you can imagine the inconvenience when someone does not have food. This is not the first time they forgot something by the way it was just the firs time I complained. I originally called and spoke with Mike (owner) who at the time was polite and helpful. He told me he would replace the meal and throw in "a few appetizers". "A few appetizers is actually more than a single meal if you add the cost up. I explained to him that next time we come in I would just want two orders of Galabba and I would be all set. I said this because that was what we usually order. I do not want them to replace a meal that someone else ordered and I do not like. I figured since the value in $ was the same it was fair. He said to make sure I call him directly next time I order. When I preceded to call the next time I was given to a guy named Abe. Abe accused me of lying because he only saw one receipt in front of him. What he failed to realize was that myself and friend ordered separately 30 seconds apart so we could pay separate. So while I was trying to explain that to him he was again rude. He abruptly said "have a nice day" and hung up on me a minute into the conversation. I will now be taking my review to every single place online. Not only did I personally go here, I used to take customers here because of its close proximity to my work. In fact I ate dinner here with my entire family the day my dad died. I will make sure to spread the word to everyone I know in the area. Its to bad Mike did not answer the phone that day because he would have kept a lifelong customer. We had been going to Sheesh for 5 years now. Oh and by the way if any of you carryout girls read this, I am the one who would always tip you 20%.

Abe---If you have a chance to see this why don't you look at the receipts that day. Notice that there were two almost identical orders within 30 seconds of each other. That is why you only saw the one that Mike signed. Sure got a little frustrated on the phone but your reaction was no way to treat a customer. I drove 20 minutes to pick up this food and ended up having a house guest with no meal. I did not think I would be treated like that when I...

It pains me to write this review. I was one of the first customers to patronize Palm Palace when it first opened over a decade ago, and I have continued to patronize this establishment during this time. However, I will no longer do so for the reasons stated below.

On October 24, 2020, my girlfriend and I arrived at Palm Palace for dinner. There were still several hours of operation before closing, but we were the only customers there. It was slightly chilly outside, but we decided to eat out, reasoning that it would not take long since no other customers were there. As we seated ourselves, we confirmed with an employee that they were in fact serving patrons in the dining area. Two different staff members observed as we took our seat as the only two patrons there.

We then sat as employees passed by, one after the other, looking at us but saying nothing. We reasoned that perhaps they were immensely busy due to a large influx of takeout orders, but the dearth of vehicles and takeout customers who arrived negated this theory. After waiting between 10 to 15 minutes as the only patrons there and watching employee after employee walk by only to look at us and then continue on, I called the restaurant on my cellphone, still seated in the dining area, to confirm that they were in fact serving dine-in customers. A man named Yusuf answered the telephone and confirmed that they were in fact serving dine-in customers. I inquired nicely why, then, had my girlfriend and I been sitting in the otherwise empty dining area as employees walked by, acting as though we were not even there. Sounding surprised at what I had told him, Yusuf assured me that he would send someone out to take our order.

Pleased with how diplomatically I had handled the situation, I continued to wait, expecting some hurried server to come scrambling over to our table, apologizing profusely for their oversight. But it never happened. Much to our surprise, the envisioned apologetic server was not forthcoming. After several minutes, we left, leaving the dining area completely empty. I expressed my dissatisfaction to an employee whom we passed while walking to our vehicle to leave, but he appeared to care less about what had just transpired.

My girlfriend and I then proceeded to Shish, located at 37240 Five Mile Road in Livonia, and there we enjoyed a merry evening dining out with impeccable customer service.

This is how businesses fail – one customer at a time. Goodbye, Palm Palace. ...