El Basha Restaurant

We love Middle Eastern food and were anxiously awaiting the opening of this restaurant. It finally opened a couple of weeks ago and last Saturday we went to check it out.

Restaurant was relatively busy, but not packed. The owner took our order for drinks and disappeared. When a waitress appeared asking for our drinks order, we told her that we already placed an order, she went to find out what it was from the owner only  to come back to say that the owner does not have it, and can we please reorder. We did. She appeared 10 min later to say they were out. We settled for water.

When taking an order, the waitress couldn't answer a simple question, as to whether kebobs are made with lamb or beef, promised to find out, but never did. Appetizers arrived after a decent wait. They were quite spicy and we asked for yoghurt dip, or just yoghurt - restaurant didn't have any. I also noticed, that other tables were getting just plain Heinz Ketchup with their meat order  (not a very authentic middle Eastern condiment, is it?).

The entrees never came. We waited for about 40 minutes after appetizer plates were cleared from the table. We had plans to see a movie, and time was running tight. We were assured that "it's coming" many times, but the promise never materialized. Finally,  we got up to leave. One of the owners, saying that "all of a sudden, they got very busy", offered us a free meal if we stay, but we had neither time nor desire to stay there any longer.

To add a little note. I sat facing the restaurant and saw everything that was going on. There were mostly middle eastern families with many women wearing head scarves. These families were served first, and the ones that came much later than we did, were finishing their meals while we were still waiting for our food. As these families were entering, the owner offered them treats of dried fruit and nuts from a plate, we were "bypassed" on this offering. Looks that the restaurant is geared toward Middle Eastern clientele. If this is the case, then they picked a wrong neighborhood.