Overall a high 4 stars. The food was great, but the service was very slow.
THE WAIT: We got a table fine on a Saturday in October at 8:30pm, but they were very busy. In fact, we had tried going to Ya Habibi around the corner and they were fully booked up (they sent us to Byblo's, their sister restaurant). This was so surprising to us as we were in France during the off-season and had never had any trouble getting into restaurants the entire trip! This also tells you a lot about how popular both these restaurants are.
THE COST: 64€ for dinner for two. On the pricey side!
THE SERVICE: As I mentioned, slow. We were served by 3 different people, and it was confusing who our actual server was. I do appreciate that when we sat down, our first server warned us they were going to have loud music and dancing in an hour (we had a baby with us). Our baby also got pretty fussy but no one minded.
There was an English menu and the staff spoke decent English. All of the customers seemed to be French/Lebanese. When the belly dancer started, a group of girls who were dining together joined her! FYI this restaurant is very small, so the belly dancing goes up and down the main, narrow corridor of the restaurant.
THE FOOD:
* Falafel - 4 stars
Nice thick crisp. Came with some veggies, but we should have gotten hummus, as the falafel was a tad dry without it. The pita bread was very thin.
* Hummus - 4 stars
Thick and delicious!
* Orfali (19€) - 3.5 stars
The eggplant was a little undercooked in some spots. The meat had good flavor, but was a little dry and really needed hummus. The fries were soggy and sad. The salad was simple, with a light sharp dressing; the tomato was too hard and not ripe.
* Mashawi (24€) - 4 stars
Lamb was the best, juicy and smoky flavor. Chicken also pretty juicy. Minced beef and eggplant was basically the Orfali. Rice was plump, soft, really good. read more