Byblos — Restaurant in Toledo

Byblos, along with the owners brothers restaurant, Beirut and his nephews establishment, Poco Piatti all of whom use the same recipes yet are each individually exclusive and different and unique experiences are by far, hands down, the greatest Lebanese restaurants in the entire city of Toledo, and realistically the entire midwest region. Personally, I'm 100% Lebanese with my ethnicity, and having grown up eating Mediterranean cuisine and all Arab food for that matter, I've got a million benchmarks to compare, contrast, and judge Byblos dishes. My family immigrated from the region so having grown up on authentic foods from Lebanon, I deem myself a creditable judge of Lebanese food quality. Byblos, Beirut, and Poco Piatti are the best. I like some of their recipes even better than my grandmother's, and even to a point my own mother's dishes. The family has been established since the early 1980's with the opening first of The Beirut Restaurant, as amazing restaurateurs, consistent quality chefs, appropriately priced menu, a classy dining room ambiance, and an all around respectable destination for an evening out with friends, to bring the family together for dinner, a place to have a working dinner amongst clients and corporate hosts, first, second, third, and whatever the number date, an anniversary dinner, a mercy dinner for family to grieve after a loved ones funeral, homecoming and prom dinners, group parties (I threw a surprise 60th birthday party for one of my parents 8 years ago in one half of the dining room for about 75 people). Have I made it clear that whatever the occasion, whatever socioeconomic demographic you represent, whatever race, religion, gender, sexual preference, whatever profession you have, whatever whatever whatever anything, Byblos is the greatest restaurant in Toledo, Ohio....

I placed a pickup order today by telephone. When I arrived, I walked up the stairs. When I was near the top, I noticed a lady at the counter being checked out and two gentlemen standing behind her waiting in line. The two men were nicely dressed. I remained on the stairs because there was no space on the landing. The two gentlemen saw me and said “oh you can come up and go ahead of us because we have no idea what we want yet; we are getting it figured out.” I came up the last step and waited at the counter. Meanwhile, the cashier, Lisa was busy finishing up from the previous customer. When she was finished, she looked up at me and said “how can I help you?” I replied that I had a pickup order. She then replied in an abrasive tone “ok, but let me help these guys first” referring to the two gentlemen behind me. The two gentlemen were still preoccupied trying to figure out what they wanted when she summoned them to the counter. One of the men responded with “oh no, take care of her first.” Lisa probed further with “are you sure” insistent on waiting on the Caucasian men first ,to which they responded “yes”. Then, and only then, did Lisa go on to assist me in checking out with my order that was sitting right next to her. Lisa had assumed that I cut in front of the two men in line. Lisa made me as a black woman feel very unwelcome and judged here. I have visited this restaurant before, dressed nicely, and with Caucasian colleagues and was never treated in this manner. I will never go back here and wouldn’t recommend...

Unfortunately I was quite disappointed with my visit here.

Firstly what was good. The place has a warm, cozy atmosphere to it. Dining space even had a fireplace in the center. Additionally, the waitress did her best to do a good job. Finally, they serve great coca colas here.

Now for what was disappointing. They include some pita bread with the meal which was flavorless. They include some butter for them but the butter was cold and so was not spreadable, so much for that. Food took a while for them to make. It was ground lamb with rice and fries. All three of these were very greasy. Fries were the worst, soggy with grease and over cooked slightly. The food didn’t taste good, it tasted like American food pretending to be Mediterranean / middle eastern food. I’m not an American food fan, but I’m a huge Mediterranean / middle eastern food fan which is why I visited. They kept me waiting a half hour for the bill after I was done with my meal. I had some of the food leftover and they gave me a box for it and I took it with me. As much as I hate wasting food this stuff wasn’t even good enough to Finish and I ended up throwing the rest out. I asked for a cup of Coke to go and they didn’t have to go cups. Overall I’m not happy...