Phoenicia restaurant — Restaurant in Louisiana

R.I.P. Phoenicia's

My wife and I first stumbled into this unassuming diamond in the rough back in 2010 . . . mainly because we were poor newlyweds and had a good coupon for this place no one had ever heard of. To our surprise, this place far exceeded our expectations . . . by a wide margin. The falafel was made on site and incredibly fresh, piping inside with pigments of green and skies of blue inside your mind. The lentil soup could have easily cured world hunger. The best part, however, was the bill. You could eat the finest dining at the price of waffle house. I could go on, but you get the point. Over time, after several visits, we began to realize that there wasn't an item on the menu that came short of fabulous. And when I say fabulous, I mean it to the fullest extent of the word. This hidden treasure could have left Mona's and Lebanon's Cafe on the side any day (yes, I just said Lebanon's Cafe). In fact, I challenged my friends, who considered such grandoise statements to be blasphemous, to give Phoenicia's a try. And, just as all before them, they had to confess: Phoenicia's was King. So, flash forward a decade, two kids, and a move to the northshore later; and my family and I decided to darken the doorstep of this old, tried and trusted friend on our Beloved Easter Holiday. And . . . what inexpressable sadness. I felt like I was watching another crucifiction all over again. This poor restaurant is a shell of what it once was. In all fairness, the decor and aesthetics were never stellar, but they would always take care of their business . . . and made for sure to take care of the most important business: the food. The table we sat at was so dirty/oily we had to move. When I went to the men's bathroom, the light was broken and removed?? They only had one waitress on staff who took 45 minutes to bring us our first dish (sigh). Remember that amazing lentil soup? This one tasted like someone added oatmeal and water to it. That fresh falafel I was telling you about looked like it was made out of sawdust and motor oil. What in the world happened to this place!!! Then, when I thought it couldn't get any worse, I got the bill. My lands! At that price, we could have eaten at Ruth's Chris! My guess is this place is under new management; has a new chef . . . or maybe both. It's so sad to see a friend go. Unfortunately, this will probably be our last visit to Phoenicia's as it is really no longer worth the trip. I will always miss you Phoenicia's. You were always my favorite Middle Eastern cuisine. See you on...

Oh, boy. I used to occasionally visit this restaurant when I lived in New Orleans years ago. The food was good, and it was often busy. I am back in town this month and stopped by this restaurant twice as I had had good experiences previously. When I dined in last week, the waitress took a long time to bring out even our drinks as well as everything else, but I thought it was understandable as she was working alone.

When I stopped by earlier today to pick up an order I had placed online, I had to wait a total of about 70 minutes. There was only one table dining in, two other noticeably irritated customers, the waitress and two other male staff members (perhaps one was the owner?) who didn't seem to be doing much of anything. The waitress was told by both customers before that something was missing from their order, and when one lady asked for her missing salad dressing, she rudely replied "for what???" When my food was finally ready, one of the other customers told me to double check my order. She had received a lot of pita bread for her hummus, but I only received two pieces. When I asked the waitress for a little more, despite having been made to wait such a ridiculous amount of time and having received an abundant amount of pita with my hummus the week prior, she told me that it would be an additional charge. She then proceeded to lecture me in detail that bread, lemons, etc. had gone up in price and that the owner was struggling to stay in business. I understand the situation, but I was really surprised that she would share that instead of even simply apologizing for the inconvenience. The look on the other customer's face was complete shock. Not once did they apologize for anything.

Undeniably some of the worst service I have ever received. Will not be going back again. If you are allegedly having a hard time staying in business and have little traffic, the least you could do is focus on providing decent service for the few people who are willing to eat at your restaurant so that they will...

First walked in, looked like the beginning of a Kitchen Nightmare episode. Second, ordered Veggie plate with a side of kibbeh and grape leaves. We were the only customers there at 2pm and food took a very long time to come out. When it arrived, it looked like it was put together using garnish from the night before that was left out. Even the sliced carrots were dried out and flimsy (gross). The grape leaves were from a can that had obviously expired. It tasted like overpowering mint and metal. The kibbeh was from the freezer that was just deep fried and the Lebanese iced tea did not have much flavor nor pine nuts. After just one or two bites of each, we notified the server that our meal was inedible and we would like to leave. I offered to pay half and he said he had to call the manager to see if that was OK. He came back and told us the manager said we had to pay for all of it (the nerve). Then we told the server that we would either pay half, or walk out and pay nothing. He hurriedly called the owner and returned with a bill for half the cost. I tipped cash in the hopes that the meal did not come from the server's pocket (the food was not his fault). Never...