Cafe Baklava — Restaurant in Mountain View

Tl;dr because this is really long: the food is amazing and the service is wonderful! It's absolutely worth going here

The service: This is my second time coming here after 7 or so months. Since then, a lot in my life has changed. It's become very difficult for me to eat at restaurants due to my OCD suddenly taking a turn for the worse, but the staff were very accommodating when I wanted my lamb to be cooked to a certain temperature and when I had to get a second set of utensils. I really, really appreciated feeling welcome here. It makes all the difference when I'm anxious. Everyone is super friendly and helpful!

The food: Lamb chops- Probably the best item I've had here. My dad will hate me for saying this but usually I don't like lamb because it's too gamey for me. The way it's cooked and seasoned here is easily the best lamb I've eaten (sorry Dad, your kibbeh bil sanieh isn't winning this), and even though I requested for it to be well done, it was tender. The pilaf and vegetables on the side compliment it nicely. Mezze platter- Also super good! My favorites are the dolmas and falafel. I'd recommend getting this your first time coming here to find out what you like the most. Greek salad- I didn't try it but my sister said it's really good :) Baklava- Pretty tasty! I will say baklava isn't my favorite dessert item but it's really good here, like everything else. I'll definitely order it again Kunefe- omg so good. Seriously, try it if you haven't before. Sweet with a little savory. The cheese isn't too strong, but you can definitely tell it's there, which is perfect. Turkish coffee- perfect to go with dessert. I took mine with less sugar and it was very smooth and comforting.

The next time I go, I plan to split the whole grilled fish with my sister and have the sutlac for dessert! I love sutlac so I'm sure it will be...

I want to share my recent experience of visiting your restaurant. Yesterday, around 7 p.m., my husband and I came to your establishment. We were greeted by a polite waiter who informed us that there was a table available but we needed to wait a couple of minutes for it to be prepared. While we were waiting, a manager?? (a man with glasses) approached us and immediately claimed that there were no tables available without even checking. This surprised us, and we were left in confusion, unsure whom to believe – the waiter or the manager. At that moment, the same waiter came back to us to escort us to our table. Then something interesting happened: the manager started speaking authoritatively to the waiter, insisting that there were no available tables and that we should join the waiting list. However, the waiter insisted that there was a table. When I directly asked if there was a table or not, the manager began reprimanding the waiter in front of all the guests, asserting his authority as the manager and claiming he would make the final decision. Occasionally, he even switched to another language, but his disapproving tone was evident regardless. Ultimately, the manager provided us with a waiting list and a pen, stating that the wait time would be 30 minutes. I wrote down my name and phone number. Despite waiting for more than 30 minutes, I never received a call back. I am sharing this experience because, firstly, I believe it is unfair to publicly reprimand waiters when they have done nothing wrong. And secondly, waiting 30 minutes for a call without receiving it is, at the very least, not customer-oriented. I hope my feedback is taken into consideration, and that such incidents will not occur for other guests...

Extremely poor experience ordering food online via MealHi5. I requested a cancellation of my order nearly an hour before it was allegedly delivered, never actually received the food (~$200 order), and had very poor customer service throughout the 3-hour experience.

The first call from Hi5 came over an hour after I had placed an order (the entire delivery time was estimated to be an hour), stating that the order would be delivered shortly and to expect text message updates. Half an hour later, I still hadn't received any updates, so I tried contacting Hi5. And when that didn't work (my call went to an automated answering service), I contacted the restaurant itself. Apparently the driver still hadn't come to pick up the food, so I could either go pick up the food myself or keep waiting. So I requested a cancellation of the order -- at this point it was already 2 hours after my order was placed. I then received a call from Hi5 that the food was on its way; I repeatedly told the Hi5 driver that I had canceled the order, but he would not accept this.

So I called the restaurant again and confirmed the order cancellation. The restaurant agreed that the food would not be given to the delivery driver (and confirmed that it still hadn't been picked up). After this, I left home to get dinner somewhere else and soon started receiving more calls and texts from Hi5: that the food was on its way, that the driver had arrived, and that it had been delivered. When I arrived back home about 10 minutes later, there was no food delivered anywhere near my house.

I strongly advise against ordering through this...