Banu

Went there for Winterlicious lunch. The place looks old outside, you can even barely notice it when passing by, but the inside is delicate.
Had the postage for start. The soup was thick but tasted like it has goat dairy in there, not my thing.
The koofteh was really good, beef with herb and peas mixed the flavour, two pieces of naan are perfect for the gravy.
The cake tasted special because of the saffron and rose water, plus sprinkled with pistachio, very yum.

As modern Persian restaurants go, a very worthy attempt but falling short. What’s good: the (hipster?) concept, menu, taste of almost everything on the menu. What’s not: service (smile, people!), overpriced and the hipster concept! Somebody please tell them there’s actual COFFEE (usually with chocolate) in a Café Glacé, not just a bit of syrup drizzled over store-​bought ice cream. Badly wanted to give these guys 5 stars and hope they survive and improve enough to one-​day update my review, but for now, three-​stars would have to do.

Worse service ever! Please go here if you would like terrible costumer service.

I have been dining at Banu since the day they opened and it has become my favourite restaurant in the city, a staple in my foodie drawer. I have always been impressed with the quality and freshness of the food and the warm and welcoming staff.
My favourite dish remains the torsh, which is always perfect and made to perfection. The prices are expected for good quality meat and fresh ingredients. If you are looking for cheap go to another restaurant as you get what you pay for.
I enjoy Banu so much I had my 40^th birthday party here this last December with 30 people. The owners and staff went over and above to make the perfect night. All 30 guest were impressed with the food and atmosphere and I can’t thank them enough for making my night so special.
I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a wonderful culinary experience.

i have been to two dozen Persian restaurants and i have not to this day seen such an expensive place. food is good yes but the price is ridiculously high. the staff are very unfriendly and the bread they serve in tiny slices is a joke. DO NOT go to this place. they are a rip off. kebabs are usually 5 – 7 bucks a skewer. where do you get your prices to charge 19 – 24 dollars for each skewer of kebab. they should be reported for this because not only they charge 3 – 5 times more but they also have nothing to offer for that type of excess charges. food is good and fresh but average. if you go to any Persian restaurant you will most likely get the same quality of food with warm service and bread right from the oven. do not spend your hard earned money in a ridiculously over priced restaurant.

Only the bread took my attention. Lack of authenticity is significantly shown by missing important ingredients in authentic persian dishes such as mirzaghasemi which had no eggs. Over priced. Small kitchen. 2 cooks only. main orders too much time to arrive. This was my first andclast time there.

Where do I begin. I’ve never been to this restaurant and I don’t plan on ever going. I’ve dealt with them over the phone and can truly say their customer service is lacking. I wanted to book our work Christmas party here, and was looking forward to it. However reached out to them to get a menu to decide. The person over the phone twice promised me he will email me. I have yet to get an email from Banu. It’s unfortunate because I was looking forward to introducing Persian food to my co workers. Please consider improving your customer service.

Probably the best Persian food I’ve had! Seats were very comfortable. Wasn’t crazy about those rectangle plates. And it’s a little pricey… Should be 3 $, not the two.

Food was pretty good. Kabob was very juicy (maybe cause it’s not Halal. not sure though). Cool political theme within the restaurant.
However…
Pomegranate wine is wine with pomegranate juice. That’s thievery.
Service is horrible. I swear my waiters were drunk.
The worst thing about this place is how expensive it is for no absolute reason.
It’s part of Persian culture to give meat with rice. They charge you for rice. Rice costs about 2 cents. They charge you like 5 bucks.
I get they’re trying to be this higher-​end Persian place, but don’t it’s insulting to my intelligence when you charge me for rice with my koobideh.
For two people, the bill came up to $ 120. I left hungry.

I’ve tried just about every Iranian restaurant in Toronto, but I keep coming back to this one since it is hands down the best. I usually get the mast o moseer (a garlic yogurt appetizer), the chenjeh (beef tenderloin in a citrus yogurt marinade), and a glass of pomegranate wine. For a gourmet restaurant that serves organic meat sourced from the Healthy Butcher, the portions are generous and the prices are reasonable. The last time I went, I had to get a doggy bag for the leftovers. The place is owned by three siblings, two sisters and a brother, all of whom are super friendly and nice. The food does seem to taste better on the days that the brother is at the grill.

I’ve been meaning to write a review for this place because like the other reviews mention, it’s overinflated prices for half decent food.
It tastes fine but no wow factor — making it really not worth eating a meal here. Pictures can speak louder than words in regards to their ridiculously stingy portions. We paid for almost $ 60 for an appetizer and two half portions of skewers.

Let me start by saying that we were really looking forward to trying Banu since we just moved to this neighbourhood. We love Persian food and were delighted to find a local restaurant serving this cuisine. We ordered take out from here on a Friday night for 3 people. We all wanted to try the Koobideh full dinner but when we called the waitress said there are too many customers and we can only have one Koobideh in our order. Now I am not sure how it would make any difference to make one or make three. So we ended up ordering a full Koobideh, Torsh and Bareh dinner and medium rice. So the total came to about $ 90+tax and tip.
We made our way to pick up the order when they said it would be ready but had to wait about 15 mins. After we got home we were really surprised to see the portions and were really wondering how the medium rice would be enough for 3 – 4 people. It’s rice, you don’t need to be stingy on that. The food tasted pretty good so it was just a shame that we were still unsatisfied at the end of the meal with all three of us looking for something more to eat. I do have to mention that I never manage to finish my meals at any restaurant and always end up getting left overs to go.
If it were for the food alone this restaurant would have received 4 stars but the abysmal service and portion sizes left a lot to be desired.

I quite enjoyed my experience here. I came here with a friend for Summerlicious and the service was extremely good. The server had great knowledge with the menu and was extremely friendly. I tried their traditional tea which was strong with a unique soothing taste. I got the kebab and the meal was a little salty but flavourful. I got here earlier than normal dinner time and once customers came in for dinner time, at one point, it seemed as if the workers got together and all took a shot together? Either way, my experience was good.

I’m a bit torn writing this review b/​c the food does not deserve 2 stars… probably a solid 3.5 stars. This Iranian restaurant is tiny but lovely. Great place for smaller groups. We tried it out during Summerlicious and while busy I wouldn’t say the restaurant was beyond crazy busy.
I started off with the watermelon salad which in the last few years has become one of my fave things to eat b/​c it’s so fresh tasting with dome savoury flavours to it (feta cheese, mint, spice mix). My friend had the chilled cucumber soup and she really enjoyed it.
The reason for the lower star rating is the service. We waited almost an hour for our main (chicken and rice). I’m pretty sure the server forgot to put the order in and realized it later. There is no way chicken and rice take almost an hour. It was ok but a bit underwhelming. Or maybe b/​c we were so hungry that we almost ate our napkins we couldn’t care less what it tasted like.
Desert was ok — I had the baklava, which is more of a dense sponge like cake made with rosewater. A little heavy for me but ok. It would have been perfect with a nice cup of tea.
Overall it took 2hrs from start to finish whereas it should have been only an hr meal.
Service was definitely slow, albeit pleasant. I may decide to try this place again but I think there are definitely better Iranian restaurants out there.

Absolutely abysmal service! Inflated prices seem to match the inflated egos of the owner/​wait staff.
They have a very heavy-​handed condescension about them which made everyone at our table very uncomfortable. Additionally, charging extra for coal on a shisha is absolutely ridiculous, especially when they only have 2 – 3 flavours available from their long list of ‘advertised’ flavours.
Food is not bad, but the portions were so small for the price. It is as if they confuse small portions for an avante-​garde experience, but forgot that people also want to eat.
Would recommend many other restaurants for shisha and Irani food. Avoid.

Absolutely a 5 star food, is it expensive for the portion size? YES, does it worth it?! The answer is ABSOLUTELY,
Liked the cocktail menu and tried the saffron infused vodka with cherry, the unique taste that you won’t get anywhere else, we had Kashke bademjan as an appetizer… tasted exactly as it supposed to, which you don’t necessarily get that in every Persian restaurant, as a main we tried the koobideh and kabab torsh, both amazing with the thin bread that they provide to make small sandwiches. For the ones that you don’t know Persian cuisine you can ask your waitress for informations on the taste to. order the right food for your taste… Friendly staff and nice atmosphere. I’m sold and will go back sowto truth rest of the cocktails and other foods

Went here for Winterlicious with some friends, great experience! We all ordered something different, I loved the beet salad, and chicken kebab! Food was flavourful and portions were decent. Dessert however was a bit lacking (rice pudding was very dry).
For Iranian food this place can be a bit overpriced, if you’re looking for something more rustic my friend recommends going to Pomegranate.

This restaurant is tiny but beautiful, with excellent well portioned food that is not halal for people who do not eat halal and Sikhs who would like to try Iranian food.
The Yoghurts are a delicious appetizer, and the Koobidah and Bareh Torsh — are divine. The atmosphere and décor is gorgeous. Good for groups of 4 to 6 people, the restaurant is tiny, so don’t think it can hold larger parties, unless you reserve the whole restaurant.

Went here on a shisha and drinks date with my girlfriend. The service is awful if you don’t order any food. We had to flag our server down after 30 minutes of waiting just to get the bill. She didn’t even come around after we finished our hookah sesh and drinks to ask if we wanted anything else. The drinks are also quite expensive and boring. Go to Awtash if you want shisha and a cocktail at the same spot.
NB, I was contacted by a staff member of Banu after posting this review. She informed me that the restaurant is under new management and no longer serves Shisha. Full disclosure, this experience occurred in 2012. Things may have changed since then.

Ive ate here a couple of times, and I must admit that the food quality and flavour is outstanding.
The kabob torsh here was phenomenal. Must try.
The atmosphere is quiet unique and definitely unlike any other Iranian restaurant in Toronto that I have been too. It’s got a tradition yet modern feel. Pretty cool concept.
The food portions are fair, but the price is a little higher compared to most other Iranian restaurants.
Service is pretty fast and orders come out to your liking.
They do have hookah also I believe.

Nous y sommes passé pour Winterlicious avec nos amis. Tout d’abord, la cuisine: excellente. Relevée, avec du goût, d’une authenticité vérifiée et de grande qualité. Le service, c’est plus compliqué. Notre serveuse était très sympathique mais l’ensemble du service semblait dépassé par de petites choses, d’où une certaine confusion et une lenteur épisodique.
Rien de grave cependant sauf un tout petit détail: pourquoi mettre ’20%’ de service sur le premier écran à cet effet sur la machine à paiement? C’est courant de mettre 15% comme option générale et proposer au client d’autres modalités sur les autres écrans, cependant dégainer à 20%, c’est un peu gros ! Rien que pour ça, je zappe une étoile.

1ere expérience de gastronomie iranienne! Le banu est un restaurant assez chic avec éclairage tamisé et musique traditionelle. J’y étais avec 2 amis iraniens donc le choix des plats n’a pas été d’une grande difficulté, j’ai commandé le kabob au boeuf, et là j’ai pleuré… Le plat est servi avec des feuilles de menthe, tomates et galettes + une sauce. Au niveau des boissons vous pouvez commander des sortes de smoothie «carbonate» qui ont l’air très sympas et les desserts sont composés de glaces et baklava. Possibilité également de commander une chicha.
Attention vous pouvez faire monter la note facilement à 50 $ mais je pense que ça vaut le coup pour les grandes occasions.
PS: un nombre impressionnant de vodkas à la carte; innatendu!