The Lebanese

We set our sights on this wee establishment, with thanks to fellow Unilocaler Rocco G, as part of our International Food Club.
I wasn’t sure what to expect as I’m not familiar with their food so was looking forward to getting some Lebanese down my gob.
When we arrived they had made a mistake with our table booking as we were meant to be in the mezzanine level, so we would have a wee area all to ourselves, as there was 11 of us.
The menu looked good and I looked forward to what I had ordered, my starter was fried potatoes, don’t ask me what it’s Lebanese name was as I cannae remember. I also ordered baby chicken for my main, here there was no Lebanese name for it. We ended up waiting pure ages for our starters, the restaurant wasn’t busy except for us and the couple in our mezzanine spot. They were pre-​warned we were coming, hence our booking, but they seemed to be short staffed.
At least the company and the banter was good. Eventually our starters arrive but poor Briony ended up being told that they didn’t have hers as they served us. A bit late to tell you, so she ended up without but shared with the kind Unilocalers beside her with a little bit each of theirs.
Our mains then arrived and mine was one of the last. I was beginning to think they had forgot about me. By jings, baby chicken? Eh no, this was half a full daddy chicken. I couldn’t believe the size of it and it came with a portion of heavily mega salted chips and salad. I was a bit disappointed as it was basically roast chicken and chips or should I say chips with the salt, there was nothing Lebanese about it. I thought it might have a spice/​Lebanese twist, there was nothing on the menu to indicate it was going to be a roast chicken dinner and that it was going to be huge. I thought the baby chicken meant baby chicken. Oooft! It was also a bit red/​bloody on the inside which made me stop eating. I was some what wary of that, as if not cooked thoroughly.
I also had a non-​alcoholic halal fruit beer, I had the apple after they didn’t have strawberry, my original choice. It basically tasted a bit like apple juice/​cider. It was nice but disappointed at what I thought it was, a beer.
The night was a lovely night with lovely people but food and service wise was quite disappointing. I cannot wait until the next International Food Club night and hopefully it’ll be less of a disappointment. Sorry The Lebanese people!

Without a doubt I’d award this place 4 stars on the food. But some seriously disappointing service has reduced this to 2 stars only.
I’d popped in to make a booking for dinner for 10 people the week before. The guy even showed me the area we’d be sitting — in a beautifully decorated area on the mezzanine which was a little like a den and he said we’d have this area to ourselves. I was super excited — it was very atmospheric and I thought it was perfect for our International Food outing.
When we arrived for the booking, I popped up to the mezzanine and there was another group sitting there. I went back down the stairs and asked the guy what was going on. «Oh, I forgot you made a booking so other people arrived and I sat them there.» I was a bit taken aback and wasn’t really sure what to say, and he went on to explain that they don’t really get many bookings so he hadn’t checked the book. Ok, that didn’t really fix the problem. They ended up seating us downstairs which was fine, although it was a lot more like eating in a takeaway shop than a restaurant and had an awkward table set up that meant it was hard to get in and out of the seats.
I thought things would improve from here on in but sadly they didn’t. Our waiter seemed confused for a lot of the time and got a flustered taking straightforward drinks orders (they only have soft drinks & non alcoholic drinks). We all ordered starters and mains, and after about a half an hour wait they started to arrive. There was some confusion with my order — I’d ordered an aubergine dip (moutabal) and the waiter came over with a plate of hommus. I asked whether my dip was coming and he said «no, we don’t have any of that.» I’m not sure why he waited 30 minutes to let me know so I could order something else, so instead I shared with those around me (thanks Pammi, Rocco & Graeme for donating me a sample of your dishes!).
I really enjoyed what I tried — the falafel, musakka (aubergine & chickpeas) and kibbeh sameyieh (lamb balls). Each of these dishes were packed with flavour and really well cooked — I especially liked the really deep crust on the falafel.
For main I had the shish tawuk, cubes of chicken marinated and grilled on charcoal. Again, this was a really tasty dish with succulent chicken with a beautiful grill charred flavour and served with rice and a little bit of salad. It was probably a small portion for the price though (£8.95) and I’d expect a few more pieces of chicken for this.
By the time the plates were cleared, everyone seemed pretty keen to leave rather than stay on for dessert or coffees. It was a shame about service and booking mix-​up as I enjoyed the food, but really can’t justify giving it a higher score. Will I be back? Yes — I liked what I ate but I would be wary of making a group booking again.

Our international food bought us here The Lebanese on Gibson street.
It looks real good from the outside, they have spent a little money on the exterior but sadly not on the main door where there was a battered old door handle that doesn’t work properly.
The restaurant didn’t have a homely feel or welcoming. Starters took what felt like forever to arrive not that l ordered one, I ordered the mixed grill with a side of chips, when the food arrived the main courses where served on cold plates, rice was stone cold and the meat in the mixed grill as tough as an old boot, I didn’t receive the side order.
If this is what Lebanese food is all about this was a poor show it looked as if they where un prepared for the table, there where not even soft drinks, a server had to nip to the corner shop to buy the coke.
Service 0
Food. 1
Value. 0
Shiny lights 2

If I was just reviewing the food, this would be 4 stars, easy. The food was really good — I tried the kibbeh and the falafel starters and then I had the chicken shwarma and tried a bit of the chicken shish kebab main course and they were all great, very tasty. So there you go — really good Lebanese food.
I actually toyed with whether to drop one or two stars for the rest of the experience, but I’m feeling generous so I’ve just gone down to 3. Firstly they seemed to have lost our booking, despite Briony actually going in to reserve the upstairs area for 10 people. When we got there, other people were sitting upstairs and the guy pretty much admitted he’d forgotten about our booking. They quickly shoved all the tables on the ground floor together which meant we took up the entire place. After that, I wondered if the fact they’d forgotten our booking was the reason they only had one guy doing the cooking. There was a second guy taking drinks orders and serving the food, but there was one guy cooking and there must have been 20 people in at the same time.
Our starters took 40 minutes to come out but what I thought was worse was that one of the starters wasn’t available but they didn’t tell us until they brought the rest of the starters out! So rather than choosing something else, we ended up sharing our starters. It seems really daft to wait 40 minutes before telling somebody their choice of starter isn’t available — no idea why you’d do that.
The mains were similarly slow to arrive and two of them took ages — the rest of us had pretty much finished by the time the last two people got served. I’m pretty sure the guy in the kitchen was under a lot of pressure but, as it was their own fault for forgetting about our booking, I’m not that inclined to be understanding about it. They did end up giving us a lot of bread and some chips for free but I’m not sure whether those were included anyway or whether they were knocked off the bill to make up for the service.
If you went in when it was quiet, or perhaps if they remembered you were coming and had enough staff on, then this could be a really good eating experience. It’s not fancy but the food is good. I would try it again as I love Lebanese food so much and I’d be prepared to see whether they could do better another time.