When you own a business but continue to run it in a greedy way, you'll drive the business into the ground! The worst leadership and management styles, nickel and dime on everything, and they would go above and beyond to surprise you with a final bill with many add-ons and extras. Safety measures are not followed properly here, and they do cut corners and let things slide and go easily. Unfortunately, their food is good but their ownership and management is beyond disappointing read more

Lara's Restaurant - a counter with a variety of bottles of wine - Middle Eastern Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

I should have written this review three and a half years ago when we first discovered Lara's. After reading the reviews now, I had to leave one of my own because without a doubt it was the BEST choice we could have made to host my mother's 60th birthday! The food was incredible, service was amazing, staff was friendly, everyone really had a great time. From the minute we sat down with the staff at Lara's, tasted the food, to discussing decor / linens etc it all went smoothly, easily, and stress free! Today we ordered through Uber Eats just by chance when we saw them on there, and as we just finished eating we all said we need to start eating there much more regularly! It's excellent quality! You can feel the love they put into it! A MUST TRY! read more

I came here for a Baby Shower on Saturday afternoon. Right off the 401, it's easily accessible by car so Lara's is a good location for big events that have people from all over the city attending. There is a lot of parking on site as well so you need not recommend to your guests to carpool. The decor is quite plain so it's probably best to bring your own decorations should you be hosting something here. The mother-to-be and her friends did an awesome job at decorating each table so everything was beautiful at the shower. The food was quite good and the portions were quite large. For a table of seven, two large platters were brought to our table. Double the amount of people could have been fed. We started with hummus, falafel, kebbeh, fries, and tabouleh in addition to a generous amount of pita bread. I haven't had falafel in a while so it was nice change to my everyday food. And tabouleh is always so refreshing - it's one of my favorite type of salads. The second course was chicken and kefta kebobs; the latter was nicely seasoned. If I had not been full from the first course, I would have eaten more. Good for: Middle Eastern cuisine read more

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I'm glad this restaurant/banquet is still able to plate during COVID. It was great to sit in their temporary built patio enjoying their fresh to order food. Enjoyed a nice chikafte with a glass of arak. 100% will go back read more

Lara's Restaurant - two plates of food on a table - Middle Eastern Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

First time here with my wife and we enjoyed the food, she had a falafel and I had a chicken touk platter. Ample pitas and beautiful setting.

Lara's never disappoints! The best Armenian food you can get in the city. Consistent quality and service. Friendly staff always go above and beyond to meet our needs. Portions are very generous and we always end up taking home leftovers. read more

Lara's Restaurant - Middle Eastern Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

good place to eat good service good food nice .good ambiance. price is good good location.

Warm and friendly. Terrific staff who went the extra mile to accommodate food restrictions. Lovely patio, great for outdoor gatherings.

We attended a luncheon yesterday at Lara's the worst. We arrived sat at the table and no serving for Water . When the water was finished we asked to have some more. It never came. A buffet lunch a tray of beef or pork overcooked. The salad tray was emptied and they arrived with lettuce and a cucumber and maybe 3 tomatoes as a replacement. We were 120 people each table had 10 people at $$$$22.00 per person. Please Avoid Avoid read more

This restaurant should be put out of its misery and be closed. Terrible, slow service. Terrible over oiled, over salted, overcooked food. You have to register your car license plate which had me have to go back outside and write it down because I was driving a rental. If it wasn't that someone invited us and paid for the meal we would have walked out after the first dish showed up ( almost one hour after our arrival!). How on earth can some of the reviewers here give this place 5 stars??? read more

Management is excellent, had an event in the past here with amazing Food. Great service and friendly staff. Will be hosting another party in April! read more

Delicious middle eastern food at a very reasonable price. Good selection of wine and a nice quiet place to grab lunch or dinner... You can actually carry a conversation with the party you are dining with as there is no unnecessary loud noise. Open late and you really can't go wrong with anything you order... Family owned with warm service... Highly recommend! read more

This place is absolutely amazing! Was here for a banquet and had almost everything on the menu so I don't remember everything but it was all good! Love middle eastern food and this was one of the places for it. Everything was good and yummy. Recommend the food and recommend coming here for a banquet dinner. read more

I was very happy with the friendly customer service and attention to detail. Their appetizer dips such as the lebneh (thick yogurt), hummus, babaganoush (eggplant) and walnut paste are outstanding and my personal favourite for a meal is the beef tenderloin skewer and their chicken kebabs. I am coming back to try their other dishes soon! - from a lover of Armenian, Greek and Middle Eastern cooking read more

Probably the worst restaurant I've been in. Service was atrocious, seemed like we weren't wanted. No water, no how was it, no nothing. The fish was good but falafel was extra salted and grape leaves were like mush. Only pleasant person was a Phillipino lady that brought our food. AVOID AVOID AVOID read more

Hate to write a bad review for a business. And this is solely based on my first experience. I ordered falafel platter, portions look big when they arrived. Once I started eating the food was overly salty and deep fried...i asked my server to please take my food away cause I didn't like it and gave her my reasoning. Asked for the bill and they charged me for the food I barely even touched. I said, so you guys are going to charge me for the food even tho I didn't touch it? She said yes. I paid for it, no problem It was 10 bucks so big deal. But my experience with this restaurant and food, and the service is bad enough for me not come here again. There's a lot of other better places to eat than this in the same price range with better customer service all over North York. read more

Found this place to eat dinner while rush hour traffic died down on a recent visit to Toronto. It was such a nice surprise. The place was empty and we felt we had a private dinner. Started with an order of falafel and for my main course had a chicken dish with rice and salad. It was more than enough food. The chicken was tender and flavorful, the rice was light and buttery. The salad was full of crisp cucumbers. At the end of the meal the server offered free coffee. I indulged and had a latte. The whole experience felt fancy and fun. A great find and much better than sitting in traffic! read more

When we entered "Laras Restaurant" there was a table of fifteen people with man kids participating for a presentation dinner, they were having very loud conversations and discussions, babies were crying, younger ones running all around the room parents yelling after the kids, for a moment I thought I was in a kindergarten. In another table the owner was loudly chatting with another costumer who was making a reservation for an event. (In such cases you do this in a private office). After we ordered our food I asked the server if it is possible to move us to another table away from the noises to feel more comfortable, she asked the owner about our request, the answer was "NO" in a very loud voice. The owners behaviour was arrogant and rude; the server's excuse was that the room is dedicated for events only, if so then the presentation dinner table should have been located in that room. Once our food was brought out, the ground beef kebab and the chicken Shish Tawouk was overcooked and blackened, the remaining dishes were bland. It was very disappointing. After a short period of time, another group of young customers arrived they set right behind us and they watched the debate on the TV with very high volume. The place looked like a bazaar rather then a Restaurant. It was such a disastrous night, I don't advise anyone if you're looking to spend a quiet evening to go there, very unprofessional place and doesn't even deserves a 1 star. read more

Great place to eat. Great atmosphere/location. Friendly location. In the mood for middle eastern food? You have to go to Lara's!

I kept seeing their commercials all throughout programming on Saturday mornings. I decided to try it out as a possibility for a reception. We called ahead to inquire about pricing, menu choices etc., let them know we would be stopping by for lunch and to discuss details (check out the seating, menu etc.). It was empty when we arrived, still had slow service. Once our food was brought out it was practically dumped on the table without even looking at us etc. I was very disappointed. The ground beef kebobs were so overcooked they were blackened in some spots, very dry and nothing I would classify as kebob - probably even reheated from the night before. Is that how much they wanted our business for a party of 150? Something as simple as a fatoush salad wasn't even made right (we ordered 1 of each of their main meat dishes to try). We finished our meal and headed out to another restaurant at Keele & 7 (La Grill). Had an amazing experience as always - they even comped us our meal. I wanted to choose Lara because it was close to our church and came highly recommended. I didn't choose them and went with La Grill even though our guests had a slightly longer drive - we were not disappointed. FYI i went back to Lara on 2 other occasions for receptions, after funeral lunches and had their food at catered events. Big disappointment after all the hype behind their food. Didn't care for their lax and unprofessional attitude either. The biggest reason I didn't book them for Baptism reception - they wouldn't budge on letting me customize the menu based on dietary needs and what we were looking for out of a menu. They insisted on "what you see is what you get" Which is unheard of when someone is paying a lot of money for food & drinks. I've had a lot better than what they offer - embarrassed that they are the same background as me. read more

****dont do an event there with open bar**** they like to cut guests off and the liquor is watered down hands down we have been there since 4pm eating and one of my guest who was 25 years old was cut off after 2 beers at 6 pm the bartender told him to go eat some food before he will serve him another beer WTF who are you to say that he has been eating for the last 2 hours when i spoke to the manager he said he has no control over the bartender and he is in the right the liquor is also watered down as they only served open bottles and shot after shot i was still normal ?????? this place is a joke cheap very cheap place NEVER AGAIN read more

I read the reviews above. Someone complaining that kids were crying; another complains about the service. It seems so much of misinformation...babies crying? God forbid! Keep them home lol. I have been going to the friendly atmosphere of Lara's ever since it opened. The owners are so accommodating and gregarious. The variety of food is vast. The taste second to none. I am sure there can be hick ups along the way; however I will go with a group of 20 people to enjoy our Christmas lunch there in three weeks. I recommend this clean, friendly and rewarding restaurant to whomever want to enjoy a relaxing casual lunch or dinner without being "pushed out" or harassed. Again I give it a 5 star +. read more

We had our Xmas lunch party here and besides the humus that was pretty good, the rest of the food was awful. I'm giving it 1 star because I don't have the option of giving it a big fat 0. The salad had way too much dressing and included romaine or lettuce hearts (which should have been left out), the potatoes were cold, and the turkey was dry. Plus the portion was very small. As I went to the bar to get a drink, I was told I had to bring my own glass? Do they not have a dishwasher to wash their utensils? Then I asked for a Coke which was flat. I went back for ginger ale...flat too. I asked the barmaid if she knows that her pop is flat and she just smiled and said "oh well"....I figured maybe she doesn't understand English or something. In any case, I was disappointed by this place and I'll never go there ever again. Good thing I didn't have to pay out of pocket because I wouldn't give more than $9.99 for the food I ate...and that's being generous. Don't go there, it's really not worth the trip. A combo at Tim hortons is better than this place . read more

Wow. I am not sure how to describe my experience today. Zero service, I mean absolutely absent. I was trying to find people and actually went into "employee only" trying to find someone. Truly surreal. I still tipped 15% out of pity. Something is so wrong here. Food not good. Service...well. I can only some it up with "bizarre". Steer clear. Quite something. read more

The food and service was terrific. Made you feel like you were invited into their home for dinner. We heard about the place from a friend in the area and will be back soon. Recommend the chicken with salad and rice, and a nice house wine. read more