On Friday we headed over to Byblos Lebanese Grill for dinner. Opening only a day or two before, we were expecting the usual service issues but were really looking forward to having a new ethnic restaurant in town to deliver fresh and flavorful meals outside the same-old same-old. With a recent visit to Los Angeles providing me with a reminder of what excellent Lebanese is all about, I went into Byblos with an open mind hoping to be blown away by this new Burnsville restaurant.
Surprisingly, the restaurant is setup for fast casual and has a counter for ordering which runs the wrong way for this type of restaurant. It was busy and people were cramming into the narrow space between the counter and the wall to stare at the flatscreen TVs hanging above displaying the menu. There were two people manning the register, one which appeared to be training the other. I took a few copies of the printed menu and brought them back to the table to look over.
The menu is small, inexpensive, and repetitive. Several of the items appear in two different spots on the menu requiring you to be specific when you place your order which creates its own set of problems when placing an order with new staff members. There are the usual Middle Eastern items including gyro, hummus, kibbe(h), etc. While there are any number of items to order we still found ourselves struggling to find anything we were dying to try. I was expecting more traditional Lebanese dishes, not the same tired dishes you see just about anywhere, so I admit I was pretty disappointed in what was being offered but thought perhaps they were trying to keep the menu limited in order to deliver high quality food even though they just opened their doors.
After looking over the menus, we placed orders for an Gyro Pita ($6.95) with tabouli, Kafta ($6.95), Shawarma Pita ($7.95) with house salad, kids’ Beef Kabob ($4.75) and hummus ($3.95) at the counter. Not including the Gyro Pita, which my sister-in-law ordered herself, our total came to just over $25 for our meal. Nothing outrageous here for fast-casual.
Even though the place was fairly busy and it just recently opened, our meals were out fairly quickly. The portions were large and even though they were similarly priced to the offerings of Pita Plus, there were at least sides including hummus, tabouli, fries, and/or a house salad.
The Wife’s Shawarma Pita, described as, “Thin slices of top sirloin beef, marinated in spices and sauteed. Topped with tomatoes, red onions, and tahini sauce,” came out with the requested house salad which has a lemon and garlic dressing. It was a large portion and tasted ok but wasn’t anything I’d order again. Aside from being a large portion there just wasn’t anything about the sandwich that stood out at different than any other meat sandwich available at any number of other places, including Subway. The salad, nothing special itself, was loaded with entirely too much garlic (and I love garlic). Seriously, it’s another 4 months until Halloween, the vampires don’t need to be warded off quite yet. Yeah, it was a sandwich and it was cheap but it tasted that way and I’m pretty sure that’s not what any restaurant owner wants to hear.
The Gyro Pita, described on the menu as: “Ground beef and lamb mixed with spices, slowly cooked and thinly sliced. Topped with tomatoes, red onions, and tahini sauce,” came out as described but was wrapped in a cheap and thin pita that made the throwaway pile of garbage at Pita Plus look like a major upgrade. The meat definitely wasn’t thinly sliced but the rest was there. The meat was fine, certainly better than the dried out and boring trash they serve at Pita Plus, but overall the sandwich was a big “meh” for my sister-in-law. The single small taste of the meat that I had found it to taste like any other foil-wrapped, gas station-purchased gyro I’ve ever had, but nothing which would make it stand out at all from any other place where you could find third-rate gyros. In addition to the subpar sandwich, the tabouli was unimpressive. Bright and colorful, sure. Fresh and flavorful, nope. A definite pass for me. My sister-in-law agreed that it was just lacking any and all flavor however she noted that after a few bites she had an uncomfortable burning of unknown origins from the salad. I’m all about burn but I guess I’d like it disclosed on the menu if I should expect it or not.
The Rooster’s Kid’s Beef Kabob was exactly that. A couple of pieces of beef with a few pieces of zucchini alongside fries. The beef was tough but juicy and basically tasteless. I have made plenty of far more impressive kabobs than this myself and honestly the lack of effort was clear with the choice of a single vegetable. The Rooster wasn’t a fan at all and the few pieces I tried were so tough I had problems eating them myself so I certainly understood him being apprehensive. I was quite concerned he may choke on the tough meat but because butter knives aren’t conducive to cutting through shoe leather, I had to do my best to tear the meat with my hands and/or teeth. Not cool.
My Kafta (picture at top of this review) was described as, “Ground beef mixed with chopped onions, parsley and spices, rolled in fresh pita and grilled until crispy. Served with pickles, tomatoes, and hummus.” The ground beef would have been fine had I ordered a hamburger cooked medium-well. Unfortunately, I ordered what should have been a flavorful dish wrapped in a fresh pita instead of a thin and crumbly day-old throw away from Aldi with overcooked and under-seasoned beef. The tomatoes were almost red but still mostly orange–so gross.
- Attention restaurant owners: either source your vegetables from places that sell hot-house tomatoes or do not put them on your menu. No one wants to eat bitter and tasteless tomatoes. Really, in all honesty, no one wants to eat them like that, no one. Not one single person.
The pickles weren’t your standard hamburger dills or anything, although maybe they should have been considering the way the dish tasted, but really brought nothing useful to the dish. The hummus, like the appetizer we ordered, was boring. It wasn’t zippy or tangy and could have very well be brought in instead of being housemade. The worst part of the hummus wasn’t the hummus itself but instead the low quality olive oil used. Seriously, I’ve tasted gasoline that had better flavor than the olive oil they over-applied. Even Cub’s cheap-as-all-hell olive oil tastes 1000x better than the garbage they put on a plate on Friday night. Nasty. Seriously nasty.
Service, being that it was fast casual with a counter-ordering format, was non-existent. The only people I saw working were under the age of 21. While this isn’t a problem, you would think that the ownership would be going table to table to ensure everything was excellent. They would have found out that it simply wasn’t very good. In fact, I had some choice words for it on Twitter which I will not repeat here.
Overall, Byblos is below average quality but has below average prices to match. While I told MSPD via SMS that it was on par with Pita Plus, I was exaggerating bit–but not by much. Pita Plus has low quality meat and doesn’t have many sides to go with each dish although it has better quality (and believe me, that’s a shock) pita and prices them the same. While I placed a eight month time limit on Byblos, I may have been generous. For a place which claims you should “Taste the Freshness,” and, “Experience the Tradition!” I think they have a very long way to go to meet either of those and I simply don’t see it happening with the boring and pedestrian Americanized Middle Eastern items they have on their menu as of today.
Have you eaten at Byblos in Burnsville? If so what did you have and what did you think? Have you had Lebanese food before and if so, where? Do you think that they are making their pitas in house or do you think they’re selling stale, day-old leftovers from Aldi? Are you disappointed that yet another place that should have been promising is delivering the same stale and boring concept seen at any number of other failed/failing establishments around town? Did you go to Byblos and enjoy what you had? If so what did you have that was so good? What other Middle Eastern restaurants have you eaten at recently (or ever)? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Address:
Byblos Lebanese Grill
14637 County Rd 11
Burnsville, MN 55337
Phone:
952-431-3663 or 612-327-3663
See all the pictures from Byblos Lebanese Grill on Flickr here.
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May 15th, 2012 at 8:31 am
Sounds Interesting.. Looks like another restaurant is taking over the old Ramadan space in the strip mall with Indigo Teas… Pita Place or something like that…
Also Giuseppe’s moved their Rosemount location into the former Cafe Raisa space near 42 and Chippendale.
May 15th, 2012 at 8:36 am
Could be interesting if it isnt like a Dino’s Gyros outlet, but more like
the new Aida on 66th and Penn in Richfield. Thanks for the tip.
We need a Vietnamese place that makes good pho and banh mi. So far none exist SOTR. Another gastropub with good craft beers and well executed pub food. There are many ethnic spots here, the problem is that none of them reach the high points that you find NOTR. Which is likely an issue of volume/traffic.
I believe a well located Irish Pub would work here, in fact I thought the Burnsville Macaroni Grill/JD Mongolian location would be perfect. It would take a courageous owner to do it right, without making it a Bennigans like operation in the burbs though.
May 15th, 2012 at 8:41 am
Lebanese cuisine can be misleading, especially locally (SOTR). Giuseppe’s & Stephano’s, even though people think of them as Italian, are both run by Lebanese folks, including the kitchen. A true Lebanese restaurant is hard to find in Minnesota. The only authentic Lebanese cuisine I’ve experienced was in Washington DC (Lebanese Tarverna). Menu items like Kibbeh, Smabousik, Mannek, etc. may not fly here. But, we can always hope.
May 15th, 2012 at 9:27 am
C&V, have you ever tried Beirut Restaurant on Robert in West St. Paul? I’m no expert on authentic Lebanese, but the food at Beirut is well-prepared and flavorful. For gyros afficianados, I’ve often recommended the schwarima there…one of my favorites in MSP.
From what I can tell, the owners of the to-be-opened Byblos are acquainted with the owners of Beirut. I hope that’s a good sign.
Either way, being that this is within a mile of my house, I am intrigued and hopeful. I’m sure I’ll be in there very quickly after they open.
May 15th, 2012 at 9:31 am
MSPD, no I haven’t but I will, it sounds promising. Thanks for the heads-up.
May 15th, 2012 at 3:25 pm
I will say one thing. If the place sucks, there won’t be a shortage of people who Blos by it.
ba dum bum
May 15th, 2012 at 4:48 pm
good point C+V, I knew the family was Lebanese that was involved Stephanos and Giuseppes (and the take out place in rosemount? is another relative)
the secret to the great dipping oil is that zataar spice mix that he puts in it… which is a lebanese/syrian thing… great stuff…
May 17th, 2012 at 8:40 am
mulch – The space Giuseppe’s originally had near Great Clips & Cub was mainly a take out place, though I think they did have a few tables.
They just moved a little east of there into the former Cafe Raisa by Holiday on Chippendale. I haven’t been in there yet but when it was Cafe Raisa they had 15-20 tables in there.
May 18th, 2012 at 1:04 pm
The owner of Blue Ox invited me to try out his Banh Mi. You can read about it here: http://www.lazylightning.org/blue-ox-sandwich-factory-burnsville-mn#comment-203156
While I haven’t had many SOTR, I can say it’s a decent recreation and one I’ll order again soon.
http://www.lazylightning.org/blue-ox-sandwich-factory-burnsville-mn#comment-203156
June 7th, 2012 at 6:55 pm
Facebook page notes they’ll be open in about two weeks (6/16).
June 28th, 2012 at 12:08 am
Drove past Byblos tonight. Doesn’t appear that they are open yet.
In the strip mall across the street there is a new pizza place opening up. I hadn’t heard of this chain before, looks like they are new to Minnesota.
June 29th, 2012 at 8:27 am
Byblos’ Facebook page had a post thanking folks for visiting on their first day if business so I guess they’re open or had a soft opening.
June 29th, 2012 at 12:57 pm
We had dinner at the Byblo’s on Thursday, June 28. The food was excellent and am hoping to enjoy many more dinners. Good luck Byblos!
June 29th, 2012 at 3:29 pm
Paul H.
1. You do realize this is not the Byblos’ website, right?
b. Maybe you could, oh, I don’t know…say something meaningful? What did you eat? What made it excellent in our world of mediocre food? What is it about this strip mall eating emporium that makes it so wonderful that you plan to enjoy it so many more times?
iii. How are you related to the ownership of Byblos? Are you one of the owners? Are you the brother/father/son of the owner? Are you the neighbor? Are you sleeping with one of the cashiers? If you in fact are just a random person that chose to come to this website and post your first and only comment telling us about the wonders of this place and have nothing to do with any current or prior relationship with the owners, than just let us know and we will know to run here as fast as we can for an excellent meal to be enjoyed many dinners over.
Thanks for stopping by. We look forward to hearing back from you soon!
lefty
June 29th, 2012 at 6:50 pm
If Paul isn’t astroturfing he wouldn’t know a packaged pita from a hole in his head. Almost as terrible as Pita Plus. Full review Monday.
June 30th, 2012 at 8:22 pm
6/30/12
Byblos sucks!! 45 minute extremely slow service for take out gyros. Which they screwed up by giving us gyro meat only. Egplant hummus nasty. Complained to owner gave 30% next time. Wont be back. dont waste your money and time!
July 2nd, 2012 at 6:37 am
Moved the comments from the preview post under this one for historical purposes.
July 2nd, 2012 at 9:55 am
I had some delicious Lebanese food at Emily’s Lebanese Deli this weekend. It is a total dive, but the food is so good and so is the service. Best spinach pies in town. Excellent kibbi, both raw and cooked. The Chicken and Rice and the Grape Leaves and Lubin are my favorite dishes.
July 2nd, 2012 at 6:03 pm
We drove past Emily’s last week, and it almost looks like an abandoned building. However, it looked full for the dinner hour. We might have to try it.
July 3rd, 2012 at 6:16 am
I do not approve comments with email addresses which do not exist. I know Byblos and their friends/family love to AstroTurf on Urbanspoon and likely other sites but it’s not going to happen here.
July 3rd, 2012 at 8:49 pm
Regarding comment #20, someone posted a comment using the e-mail address “jesuschrist@yahoo.com”. I didn’t approve it and posted the comment above. A few hours later I got two comments within a few minutes of each other from the same IP address. It seemed that both comments were possibly from a husband and wife but seeing the earlier astroturf I figured it was imperative that I ask the obvious about the “jesuschrist” comment.
The husband (I assume) responds that it was indeed his wife and himself who posted the comments but he had absolutely no idea who the first one was. He then, of course, noted that he had friends over the night before and they may have penned the comment. Umm, nice try.
I responded to his e-mail noting that I now banned him for lying (they didn’t check the site before 7/3 either). He responded with this gem:
I guess I’m simply not a very good blogger, what do you think?
July 3rd, 2012 at 9:00 pm
July 3rd, 2012 at 9:05 pm
Amusing if nothing else! :)
July 3rd, 2012 at 9:10 pm
Vive La Revolucion!
July 3rd, 2012 at 9:22 pm
Ah….The douchery of some folks never ceases to amaze me. Jack’s complete misunderstanding of “rights”, etc. is just plain idiotic. I’m glad you kicked Jack off. Yep, I said jack off.
July 3rd, 2012 at 11:10 pm
Dear Jack,
Just to be clear about “what rule” you broke, its the one right next to where you typed in the fake email address:
“a valid e-mail address is required…”
Doesn’t get much clearer than that.
July 4th, 2012 at 8:47 am
Honestly, I’m frightened that people as utterly stupid as Jack walk among us.
I have 5 Lazy Lightning Dollars on this place being but a memory a year from now.
July 4th, 2012 at 3:42 pm
Ha ha…and I missed this review. Sounds disgusting and I got a good laugh.
July 4th, 2012 at 7:25 pm
Damn it all to hell. I was really hoping for a good Lebanese place in the South Metro. But, since you are the “the man” on reviews, I’ll take you word on it. (but you’re not credible since you hate In-N-Out burgers, which is just wrong)
Anyway, I love Lebanese food, my parents are Lebs and Mommie Dearist cooked alot of this food. My reaction to this-
-Shwarma. I love shwarma. that being said I’ve NEVER had it outside New York. Certainly not in Minneapolis. It’s expensive, you need lamb and beef and a processors to make the meat roll for the rotisserie. Every where I’ve been around here it’s Gyros.. which I’m not fond off.
Kibbee and Kibbeh.. there’s two kind. One is the hand stuffed deep fried balls of meat in bulger wheat. The other kind is the Kibbee which in my house was made like a meat pie with seasoned meat and bulger on top.
The key to good Lebanese cooking is fresh produce. Shitty tomatoes are a problem. No good.
BTW Grandmama aka Nona made kafta all the time. Simple hamburger with parsley, allspice, cinnamon and a few other things. Typically skewerd and served like a hamburger.
BTW Rollie Sir- There are some decent Lebanese places in town:
Emilys in NordEast is good, my mother hated it (Not as good as my food) but Ithink that had more to do with the politics of the place than the food. I thought it was decent.
Sheish- Grand Ave Ive written about that before. It’s awesome. Palestinian owner, but the food is identical to Lebanese.
There’s a place in Bloomington, west of ceder on 105th.. block or so in.. Pretty good, hole in the wall place. Run by Egyptians and there are some differences in spices and such. Mother Dear was born in Cairo and did have some Egyptian influence in her food.
Haven’t tried Beirut in SSP. Passed it a few times and keep meaning to go there.. Planned several trips but canceled at the last minute.
July 5th, 2012 at 11:06 am
So, I’m definitely not a food critic, but wanted to post anyway, because I’ve actually been to this place. We went on Tuesday (the 3rd), and I agree completely about the pitas. They were very thin and dry, and even though I don’t necessarily consider myself to be of “discerning taste” it was bad enough that I noticed. The pita also wasn’t adequate enough to hold my kibbee together. While we were there the owner (or somebody) did go around and ask people what they thought about the food, but since we didn’t have our food yet he didn’t come over to us. He did ask the lady next to us if she wanted some more garlic sauce. He told her that it would help keep the vampires away. While at the time I though it was just some lame pleasantry that you were supposed to politely laugh at, I did laugh when I read Bill’s comment in his review…maybe they really are concerned about vampires and they over-garlic everything on purpose. The best part of the meal for me was the Baklava…it tasted like honeysuckles. And eating something (that at least tastes like it is) drenched in honeysuckle nectar is fulfilling a childhood fantasy.
July 5th, 2012 at 11:54 am
I guess this is the evidence we needed to know that the slew of pro-Byblos comments are indeed astroturfing because it’s clear the owners are reading the site.
July 5th, 2012 at 1:07 pm
More astroturfing attempts from friends of the owners.
Attention potential commenters: if you have any affiliation at all with the ownership or employees of Byblos or may otherwise benefit financially from the success of the business, you MUST clearly state this as a disclaimer in your comments or they will be deleted.
July 5th, 2012 at 8:07 pm
Thanks for the review Bill.. I drove by tonight and saw it was open.. I may try it at some point just to try it..
I recommend trying Aida on 66th and Penn in Richfield as mentioned by mulch in the above comments.. pretty good quality food for a place in a former Taco Bell..
July 6th, 2012 at 7:46 am
By the way, the most recent astroturfing douchebag claimed his wife was from Lebanon and knew great Lebanese food. What he failed to mention was that both he and his wife were friends with the owners. When I confronted him about it he denied, denied, denied and then told me he hoped to meet me someday soon.
I love veiled threats from lying pieces of shit.
July 6th, 2012 at 7:59 am
I wonder what would happen if the owners of this place focused on making their food better instead of getting people to lie about how good the food is even though it sucks.
I bet they could already have taken a pita making class in Lebanon.
July 6th, 2012 at 9:06 am
Carrie- A glimmer of hope maybe on the baklava.. the Leabanese version, which I prefer to the too sweet and dripping Greek version, uses rosewater, which gives it that floral essence. They typically dont drench it in honey either. Actully now you have me wondering if they have kunaffa, my favorite pastry in the world and heretofore unknown, as far as I know, in Minnesota.
BTW in Arabic it’s bak’la’wa no v. I correct my wife every time she orders it at sheish. i have list of things I correct her on. She likes to be corrected by me. Makes her happy. Happy happy happy.
July 6th, 2012 at 10:54 am
This is a copy of the review I had put on yelp and urbanspoon… sounds like I had the same experience there as Bill:
Bad pitas, strange tasting tabouli, cheap cuts of meat and bad tomatoes. They are really going to have to step up their game – or completely overhaul the quality of their ingredients if they want to survive more than a few months. I wouldn’t try them again unless they made it known that they had stepped up their game.
edit to add: I have seen reviews of this place on several sites (the main one being one called lazylightning) and it seems the owners and relatives are trying to post all kinds of positive reviews… as that site calls it “astroturfing”. Seriously guys, you want to succeed, make the food better with fresher local ingredients… the positive reviews will then come on their own!
July 6th, 2012 at 10:59 am
Is it just me, or do byblos and pita plus seem to suffer from pretty much the exact same problems?
July 6th, 2012 at 11:04 am
Jeremy,
1. Your username is “Jeremy D.” (with a period) please use that from now on and your comments will be automatically approved.
2. Pita Plus is probably worse than Byblos in that they simply don’t have any sides to go along w/the meals for the same prices. They also have a terrible location whereas I think Byblos is located in a much more visible and accessible spot.
However, as far as the food goes, yeah they’re basically suffering from crappy menus with crappy ingredients which then come together as very crappy meals.
But, Pita Plus only astroturfs on Urbanspoon and not my site. Byblos hasn’t learned their lesson quite yet that I will hunt them down and out all of the bullshit artists. Pita Plus either had better sense not to try or they just didn’t care enough.
—
However, I hope both restaurant take a cue from knowledgeable food-eaters and up their game to compete otherwise they’re both going to be in big debt because they simply wouldn’t listen.
July 6th, 2012 at 2:04 pm
So we have a dearth of bad reviews about both places and a bunch of good ones about this place that are all fake.
I choose neither.
July 9th, 2012 at 10:52 am
I think there is probably potential with both places honestly if they just take a step back, watch an episode of restaurant impossible and step up their games.
Reviewing your own restaurant doesn’t make it good… Providing good, fresh high quality food does!
July 12th, 2012 at 12:32 pm
Bummer! I really wanted to try this place and really wanted it to be awesome. Now I am scared to give it a try.
July 13th, 2012 at 2:35 am
I saw this place going by on the bus to Burnsville from AV today and went to look for reviews. Glad I saw this, and now that I am at home and can type on a keyboard I thought I would opine a bit: First of all, let me say that I have been a customer of just about every Middle Eastern or “Mediterranean” restaurant in town for the past 30 odd years. I am also very familiar with the culture outside of the food, having played Middle Eastern music for about 25 years.
It’s just sad that there are places opening up now that have food that is as bad as where some have ended up after so many years (Holy Land, I’m looking at you… no, GLARING at you) Now, there are a few places in town that are basically coasting on past glory, some I won’t eat at because the amount of food you get for the $ isn’t to my liking… A few newer places like Shish (It’s off of my beaten path & they don’t do Hummus the way I like, so there’s little reason for me to return) Lulu’s Market & Deli on Selby (following the trad curve of fairly good until about the 6 month mark and then tanking)
Generally these days, if I want Lebanese, I’ll go to Emily’s. Still. I don’t know about the ‘dive’ part, but I do feel more relaxed there than when I eat at Noodles & Co. If I want Holy Land food like the old days, I’ll go to Marina on Lowry & University NE (but never the other one) Straight up Middle Eastern I mean Mediterranean well there’s two places you can get your Shawirma-Not-Gyros: Wally’s in Dinkytown, and Aida. Wally’s pissed me off as they had really good food for about the first year – BTW, the owner of Wally’s is the same guy who ran what I believe is the first ME joint in the Twin Cities, Abdul’s Afandy – but after a year, the menu changed, the prices went up, six months later, the menu changed AGAIN and the prices went up AGAIN… And the quality of the food went down. Bummer. Seriously, if you’re going to make me order at the counter and get my own utensils, you don’t rate $12.95 a plate.
So, Aida. I was turned on to this place a while back as they were catering an Egyptian community event I attended, and the food was very tasty. I have since been helping them with music, as one of the first things I asked the owner, Ahmed, was “why am I listening to ABBA when I am eating Felafel at your restaurant?” He seems committed to keeping prices reasonable and serving quality food. I also appreciate that everything (excepting, I think, the pita) is made in store. Including the desserts. And if you appreciate Basbousa as much as I do, this is indeed a treat. I am *not* employed by Aida. I do really like the food enough to gush about it, and these days, that doesn’t happen too often.
July 13th, 2012 at 8:19 am
Thanks for the post and tips, Baron.
Any comments/opinion about the quality/authenticity of the food at the Burnsville Mediterranean Cruise? I think the daily, all-you-can-eat lunch buffet is a steal at $10.
July 13th, 2012 at 8:53 am
Someone satisfy my curiosity here:
Who is the absolute fuckwad that thumbsed down Territorial Baron’s post? You deserve to have Bill expose you and be publicly humiliated. Moron.
That was one of the most information-packed posts in ages, Baron. Thanks for the thoughts. It’s a shame that I haven’t been into Aida yet, as I’ve heard great things from all of the sources I find credible.
July 13th, 2012 at 9:34 am
heh.
July 13th, 2012 at 10:48 am
Agreed. I was wondering that myself! It was up there pretty quick and I felt the need to immediately atone for that idiocy.
It had to have been one of the Byblos fuck sticks.
July 13th, 2012 at 10:56 am
Lefty,
It wasn’t.
July 13th, 2012 at 12:45 pm
Obviously I have strong opinions, as food is something I am very passionate about. That’s part of *my* culture. If anyone finds this offensive… good.
For me, the Med Cruise falls under the ‘coasting on past glory’ category. I might be tempted to try the buffet out of curiosity, but I am rarely SOTR before 5pm. I do appreciate that they continue to support professional bellydancers though. When they first (re)opened it was decent/average, but then on subsequent visits it was downhill, sometimes by half, sometimes more. Waiters that had no service experience… Ansari’s has developed the same issue, quality and appearance is all over the place depending on time of day, phase of moon… but at least the service there has been decent.
It’s puzzling, I see lots of the dance community raving about the food at these places and I have to wonder if they are simply that forgiving, lucked out and went on a ‘good’ day, or if people really have just gotten used to average to crap quality Middle Eastern – ooops – Mediterranean food.
Sometimes I wish I could go back to the early 80′s to the Java on 5th & Hennepin… or George Is In Fridley, for that matter. George’s had this Greek Salad dressing to die for… I was young, and took it all for granted. Now what do you get? Sysco Italian salad dressing passing as ‘Greek’. For shame.
July 13th, 2012 at 3:55 pm
Yep, now you got me wondering about this thumbs down thing. I mean, you got a problem with what I’m saying, let’s have… some discussion.
Unless it’s Bill that’s leaving them.
July 13th, 2012 at 4:02 pm
It’s not me.
July 13th, 2012 at 4:30 pm
Baron, I think Med Cruise still has some quality food when you exclude the buffet. Their “Moroccan couscous” is still one of my favorite lamb dishes in the Twin Cities. Their falafel and some of the other things I gravitate towards there are above-average.
Ansari’s….well….my one visit there didn’t compel me to return. Pretty well-documented on here.
Re: the thumbs down, I think someone is just being a dick. Nothing you said in your original post was controversial at all. I totally agree with you on the latest – someone should show some balls and back up their thumbs down of two very informative posts with some discussion.
July 13th, 2012 at 6:20 pm
See, MSPD, that’s the thing. Consistency. I’ve eaten there a dozen times since the new Med opened and whether it’s the lamb plate, sampler platter, gyros… It was either mediocre at best, or I-wouldn’t-feed-my-dog-this-what-the-hell-14.95? at worst. If it were consistently average or very good, I’d eat there, at least you know what you’re getting. Since some people are apparently being served good food there, why wasn’t I? The Felafel I got there was very weird indeed…
Oh, I forgot to mention FilFillah on Central in the ‘has Shawirma’ list Again, my handful of visits there got mediocre to “do they even care about the quality” food, but other people have different experiences that were morepositive. And I don’t think I have impossibly high standards.
Bill: I was kidding.
July 15th, 2012 at 12:50 pm
We’ve been to Byblos twice now.We frequent The Med Cruise and Love Greek/Lebanese food! The first time we got the gyro appetizers & salad with falafel on top. I thought the dressing on the salad was bland .The falafels were an excellent texture and freshmade but could of used some spice or heat from peppers.
The next visit we got the Gyro combo plates that came with meat, fries and a salad.Plus we ordered a plate of Falafels. Again the salad was just lettuce and the dressing was bland .I would like to see a vinaigrette dressing and some Feta & olives ,fresh tomatoes etc on the salads. Everything has those perfect little diced tomatoes and onions that look like they came out of a bag and lack taste.I’d like to see fresh cut veggies!
I liked the fact that he was light on the salt shaker with all his food.We Love the Falafels,the fries,We loved the hummus, it wasn’t as salty as most! We loved the garlic in the food and asked for Garlic Dip which the owner came out both times & chatted with us. He was very nice & seemed to listen to learn from our complaints.He also brought us out alot more Garlic Dip that I Love & He makes excellent without a ton of salt!!
We wish him well & hope he pulls everything together & makes changes so he can stay open!!
July 15th, 2012 at 2:17 pm
Thanks, Baron. I had forgotten about Abdul’s Afandy.
We were seriously underwhelmed by Med Cruise when it opened in its new location. The food seemed very processed/not from scratch and also unappealing.
We have eaten at Aida twice; both times it was very, very good – the only comment I’ll volunteer that could be potentially negative is that I ordered the same thing both times and it was like it was from two completely different restaurants. It was made differently, seasoned differently, served differently, garnished differently, and even contained different elements each time (it was a combination plate). Both were very good – it’s just puzzling.
July 16th, 2012 at 4:32 pm
Sad to hear this place is below par, but enjoyed reading the comments and making a list of some new places, especially the one on 105th in Bloomington which Sank referred to. (in fact there are several hole in the wall ethnic gems in East Bloomington and parts of Richfield… )
MSPD etc, by all means try Aida. Its not great, but its pretty good, nice people, and just get a paper menu and avoid looking at the monitor above the counter with the menu on it. We have been there 2 times in the last month and enjoyed it. It reminds me of Palestinian places in chicago. And i am a sucker for well prepared felafel with quality veggies and hot sauces…
Baron , sorry you got dissed by someone, i also have frequented Wally’s alot when i visit my son who lives near dinkytown. I still like it but i think they may have started low to generate a business and have had to increase both to cover higher costs and improve margins.
July 16th, 2012 at 5:38 pm
Has anyone been to the Gardens of Salonica?
http://www.gardensofsalonica.com/frontpage?page=3
We were the once & had a Greek salad & Pastitio that we thought was very good.
July 18th, 2012 at 7:51 am
Someone thumbed down one of my comments and it was totally bengin. I think I’m the victim of a drive by thumbing.
July 18th, 2012 at 8:43 am
Wasn’t me!! I’ve been known to give a Driveby Finger But Never a Thumb!! haaaa. Everyone has the right to their own opinion and tastebuds!!
July 18th, 2012 at 8:51 am
I have stopped the individual who is a serial thumbsdowning douchebag from voting on comments. If the abuse continues, I will stop it for everyone.
July 19th, 2012 at 8:28 am
I’m bummed to hear the food at Byblos isn’t good, we were so excited when we saw it giong in. I am part Lebanese and for me there isn’t any better food then my moms of course. We will still try it but we will stick to the Med Cruise where we know we can get good food.
July 20th, 2012 at 10:32 am
For me, no matter how good the food is at a restaurant, it’s pretty hard to wash the taste of astrotrurfing out of my mouth. So, for me, I’m kind of happy the food is bad. That way, I won’t feel like I’m missing out on anything while maintaining my bitchy stance on not giving owners like this my business.
July 22nd, 2012 at 7:55 pm
We went to Byblos last weekend.. I thought the food was OK.. was it the greatest ever? no.. but I wouldn’t totally avoid the place..
The service was good.. they hit the wrong button on the register and got our order wrong. They fixed it quickly and brought us more food to make up for it.
The owner was around making sure everything was fine..
It did seem a little spendy for what looks like a quick serve place.. it was around $40 for 2 dinners..
I’d go back again sometime
August 11th, 2012 at 3:10 pm
So, is it possible that the owners have taken all of our comments into consideration and have made improvements based upon them? I would be happy and impressed if they had – to the point of being willing to give them another shot. Based on the more recent comments, it seems some of the previous issues have improved. Has anyone from the beginning tried it recently?
August 12th, 2012 at 11:11 am
I thought I’d check back and see if there had been any action here since my last post… I’ve been busy getting ready for the Ren Fest and then also packing up/moving/garage sale-ing 50 years’ worth of stuff from my parents’ house.
@sandy – I noticed the same thing over June & July, and the owner said that he was working on addressing that and normalizing things. Unfortunately, I now have to speak to him about ‘bait and switch’ because the last time I was in I got the same thing I usually order but was served 1/3 less food than previously. I hate bait and switch with a passion, as you may have noticed. I also hate it when the Felafels are all over the place as far as texture and consistency… I’m in favor of the dry & breadlike inside with crispy on the outside version, and the last time around they were almost burnt outside and mushy on the inside. Sad panda.
I did however go check out Shish again, actually twice in two weeks’ time, and I do believe I have found my new favorite middle eastern place. The food is much improved since the last time I was in there. The ambiance – if you could call it that – sucks donkey balls, but the Hummus with Gyro app is exactly what I want when I go to these places, and is actually worth the $. They make Felafels that are polar opposite of what I want, but at least I know that from looking at my friend’s plate.
The only thing that bugged me about Shish is the price of their baklava. And the music they play… I’ll be going back to try some other menu selections.
August 16th, 2012 at 9:51 am
My husband and I went there last night- we’d been meaning to try it. I’ve been to the Middle East and the Mediterranean so I was super excited to see that this kind of restaurant opened up. We had the pick three appetizer- baba ganoush, hummus and shawarma. For entrees we had one kofta and one lamb kabab. Next time we’ll definitely get two kababs per entree. The food was very flavorful, and the chef/owner even came out to ask me how I wanted my lamb since they cook it med rare and someone didn’t like that. Of course who ever that was must be a complete idiot because its just a sin to over cook lamb. But I digress. I really enjoy that it set up the way it is- more of a counter pick up on the way home type of place which is exactly what my husband and I need. FANTASTIC new ethic option with lots of gluten free choices. This will definitely be a once a week visit. Oh I should also add that I loved the garlic sauce. That is a MUST with the kababs!
August 16th, 2012 at 11:22 am
Jenn W.
Where else to you like to eat good food? Your review makes me want to try all of the places you like.
lefty
August 16th, 2012 at 11:30 am
It makes me want to try this place just because of their ethics.
December 20th, 2012 at 2:53 pm
I wonder how long this place will last. I went in there for the first time today for lunch.
There were no customers when I walked in the door.
If you’re looking for a hookah though, they have quite a selection on the counter.
The gyro was good (as well as the fries!) but all I wanted was a gyro, but you can only buy the entire meal and not just a sandwich only. I don’t know if this is common or not, but it would have nice to have that option.
December 26th, 2012 at 7:48 am
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