Sahara Palace

Hidden in the back of Castle street, this exquisite Lebanese restaurant. We ordered the $ 35/​person treat and we got a full mezza and meat skewers. Good for at least three people. The atmosphere is cozy unless they have a dancing night. The waitress and service were superb. The taste of the food is the best Lebanese taste we have experienced in Alberta so far. Worth the trip and the money.

BEST Mediterranean food EVER! Very good quality, music is really nice plus they have Dj and singer at night. They have hookah as well. Clean place, and very good service. LOVED IT.

The restaurant is very spacious & can accommodate private parties. I guess most Middle Eastern restaurants do the shisha, but I’m not keen on the smell. We sat far away from that. The food was excellent & I would come back here again. We ordered the Mashawi platter.

The food is fantastic if you like Mediterranean cuisine. Recommend coming on a Saturday though, the entertainment is much better than on Friday (just a DJ). Bring lots of people because this place is meant for getting together with your friends and having a good time.

Tried this restaurant for lunch with my mother and grandmother. The food was very good and the waitress was very nice but we didn’t like that you can’t just order a glass of water, you need to buy a water bottle and when I asked for water, I wasn’t told that before hand

Went here for lunch yesterday. It just opened up, in the same plaza as the El Safadi Mediterranean Market. The space had formerly been occupied by Zocca’s Pizzeria, which was nothing short of a dump… so I was curious to see what the new occupants had to offer.
The interior is HUGE, and far more elegant than I’d expected. There was a bar, a prominent dance floor, and the walls were lined with comfortable-​looking booths. It was a Saturday afternoon, so it wasn’t busy at all– but it looked like the ideal spot for a wedding reception.
The waitress took our drink orders. One of my co-​diners asked for water, which only came in a bottle. This seemed pretty strange; I’m not sure why you couldn’t get a simple glass of ice water. The other one had a diet pepsi, I had black coffee, which came in a glass cup– a nice touch.
The menu has minimal descriptions of each item, and some have no description (which led me to inquire if perhaps the ‘Sahara burger’ or ‘Sahara poutin’ contained anything decidedly Arabic.) Eventually, we settled on the beef pastries, the hummus with dried figs, and the chicken sandwich.
All were DELICIOUS. The hummus in particular was beautifully presented, in a glass bowl with cilantro, olive oil and a ring of dried figs. The chicken sandwich was actually a wrap, served with fries and an abundance of garnishes. The pickled cabbage tasted less like it had been pickled, and more olive-​y. The beef pastries were OK, but the chicken in the wrap was perfectly spiced, and probably the most flavorful thing there.
We had no plans to order dessert… but our waitress unexpectedly offered us one, on the house! She described it as ‘cheesecake’. While it did have a graham base, it tasted more like vanilla pudding topped with pistachio bits and honey. Still amazing!
All in all, a great experience. :)

Man, don’t you just love getting intel about a new restaurant few have discovered and trying out their wares for yourself? I sure do. So when I learned about a new Mediterranean/​Middle Eastern restaurant called Sahara Palace on the north side of town, you better believe I jumped at the chance to try it.
The first thing you’ll notice when you arrive is how HUGE this place is. It must be one of the biggest restaurants in town. Sahara’s has only been open a few months, so everything is spotless and brand new. Tables, chairs, washrooms, tvs, décor, you name it is wonderfully designed, clean and comfortable.
I came here on a Saturday and returned on Sunday to try out their menu.
On Saturday I started with a full tabouleh salad. It was $ 10 and was massive! It tasted great too, but be warned, don’t order the full size unless you are either a big salad lover or are ravenously hungry because this salad will kick your ass!
After the salad I decided upon something called Bih Jibni. The best way I can describe these is that to me they resemble fried perogies. I tried an order of six which cost $ 12. The waitress kindly allowed me to mix the meat ones with the cheese ones and I found the cheese ones to be a lot better. Although these things were tasty, they were very small and certainly not worth the $ 12 I paid for them.
On Sunday I ordered one of Sahara’s combos, in this case, the kafta combo. If you are new to Mediterranean cuisine I highly suggest the combos, because they have a little bit of everything.
This combo had a fatoush salad, hummus with pita bread, fries and kafta which is a cooked mince meat. The fatoush salad was the best I’ve ever had. Full of tomatoes, peppers and covered in a delicious pomegranate sauce — just awesome. The kafta was fine and the pita/​hummus were standard. This platter cost $ 25 and you get a lot of food here — I couldn’t finish it all.
A couple of things they can improve on is first they should start making home made fries instead of frozen ones. This place can do a lot better than offering frozen fries.
And secondly, they don’t serve free water. This is a major pet peeve of mine. The stuff is practically free from the taps yet they feel compelled to sell customers bottled water. Come on Sahara’s, show some old fashioned customer service and at least offer free water to your patrons.
Aside from these few complaints, I really think you’ll be impressed with Sahara’s.
Great food and great atmosphere.
Just be hungry when you show up…