Tangier restaurant — Restaurant in Portland

I went as part of a group of 10 from a friend's special bachelorette dinner. Despite reservations being made in advance, it became obvious rather quickly that they were not only unprepared to serve a group of 10, but that they were not experienced with serving a group larger than 5. The first issue we encountered was when the server took only half of our table's drink orders (without writing any down) before disappearing for 10+ minutes (she didn't even take an order for the guest of honor!). It wasn't until 10+ minutes had passed that she finally returned with drinks for the half of the group who had ordered - she brought the drinks out 1-2 at a time, instead of on a tray all at once. After this, we had to ask her if the remainder of the group could order drinks before she thought to do so. When doing so, she said she would take appetizer orders with drinks and would later come back to take the food orders so food would all arrive at once. By the time the second half of the drink arrived, we had been at the restaurant for 30 minutes. 30 minutes and 10 people got 1 round of drinks (not including the 3 rose waters that were totally forgotten and never brought to our group until we asked for them another 20 minutes later). She finally returned to take our orders after having been there for over 30 minutes... despite our drinks not all having been served yet. She even finally brought something to write our orders with! Finally we were getting somewhere............ not. There were 6 entrees and 2 sides ordered for our table. In the course of the following 90 minutes, 4 entrees and the 2 sides were served.... 15-20 minutes apart from each other (not all at once as promised). After waiting a total of 2 hours from arrival (90 minutes after I ordered my meal) I had to cancel my order so I could leave for work. They graciously comped me the food, with an apology that they were overwhelmed...

Overwhelmed....

Overwhelmed with 3 servers on staff to take care of 10 individuals in a virtually empty restaurant... 10 individuals they had known for days in advance would be there.

Two hours to get 1 cider, 1 rose water, 1 refill on my glass of water (YES...ONE REFILL IN TWO HOURS!), and no food.

I. Ordered. Chicken. And. Rice. Not a 30, 60, or 90 minute cooktime.

The food was delicious, but this was hands-down some of the worst service I've ever had at a restaurant. I get better, more efficient, and quality service at Denny's.

Food was good, but this is Portland, good food is easy to find.

I won't be returning. I don't have 2 hours to waste whilst hungry to not get the food I ordered in time to eat it before having to leave.

Everyone in our party was completely baffled, confused, and disappointed in the service...

One of the best Mediterranean food restaurants I've been to in the US. And I love Mediterranean food and eat it often. I'm a vegetarian but my friends and kids got a lot of chicken and lamb dishes and loved it as well. We went for dinner on our trip to Portland but felt soooo good that went back for lunch, something I almost never do on a short trip. The falafels reminded me of the ones I had in Paris, soaked in flavorful sauce rather than the dry ones served in most US restaurants. The Zaatar pizza was just the right balance of flavor and bread. Shatta was not as spicy as it looks but it was just the right amount of peppers for flavor. Spinach pie pizza was surprisingly good, and this coming from a person not into Calzones or pies. Lebney was great with just the right balance to not be bland or too salty. The Pita bread was huge but still very soft and fresh.

We got the Rose water and Tangier lemonade and they were both delicious.

My kids and friends had chicken shwarama, lamb shwarama, chicken lentil soup, chicken skewers. My 8 year old summed it best - he said the lentil soup was his least favorite and he loved it too(finished the bowl dry!)

The only thing I would request modify next time is less cinnamon on the rice pudding.

And please please add more desserts to the menu! Maybe Knafeh! Or something with rose!

We ordered almost entirely from the all day Happy hour and couldn't be happier with the portions...

We should have turned around when we saw the place empty and dark on Saturday shortly after noon. We needed to be at an appointment nearby by 1:00, so I asked the sole server, who coldly invited us in, for what she recommends for vegans. She said to look at the menu because they have many options. No options in the menu are labeled vegan except one soup, so you have to read through everything. We figured ordering off the happy hour menu would be less expensive -- wrong! We never got an itemized receipt (what in the world?), so we have no idea why the bill came to over $50 for a light lunch for two. The rose lemonade was syrupy sweet. Falafel was dry. The spinach lentil soup had no discernable spinach unless it was the black stuff I stirred up from the bottom. Portions were miserly. Factory-made pita -- we make real pita at home, and it is 1000 times better. And the service was as slow and cold as can be though we said we were short on time. We had no time to ask for a proper receipt and had to literally run to the appointment. Next day at Cheryl's on 12th we had the opposite experience, with plentiful good food, friendly service, a proper itemized receipt, and plenty of time to spare had we had the same constraints despite a full and bustling recipe. Tangiers felt like a...