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Welcome to the parking, the beautiful smelly parking, the entrance of L’Os, one of Lebanon’s most popular restaurants, where their welcome is translated to "Do you have a reservation?" Welcome to the ‘cantina’ where my family and I endured a lunch experience that caused me an excessive headache no medicine out-there can treat.
L’Os is celebrating their 50th anniversary but I'm not sure if this is the way to celebrate such an occasion… It was one hell of a lunch… I will tell the story and you will be the judge.
It was 2pm when we arrived to the parking of L’Os. The valet just came and asked us if we had a reservation, we said yes and he left. We were lost in this huge parking space and had no idea where the entrance was from… With three kids and two strollers, we started the guessing game. We entered a maze were we had to find our way around the cars towards the entrance.
Expect to lift some weights before reaching the second floor. The entrance of this restaurant is definitely not suitable for the elder who have problems walking and going up the stairs or for parents with kids. If you're on a wheelchair, suffering a broken leg or pushing a stroller and in our case two, you have to go up some stairs to reach the dinning area.
Lifting the strollers and kids we managed to go down the stairs to be welcomed into a huge cantina, the labyrinth of a hundred tables where more than five hundred people are packed like a box of sardines.
Reaching our table was an impossible task... But we did it. "We need a baby chair please, can anyone help?" With a rough voice, unhappy, unprofessional and overwhelmed, the headwaiter said, “No, we are out of chairs.” Unprofessional may be digested somehow, but being impolite as well... too much.
We came here to eat. We put all aside and decided to just enjoy lunch. Preparing ourselves for the feast, smells started erupting from here and there. Smoking smells, smells of garlic, shisha... What? Is smoking allowed? Is it allowed in this packed space filled with kids?
L'Os, has been known to be a kids’ paradise. Below the dining area is one of the biggest playing areas a restaurant has ever built. What this means is that parents come here with their kids, to make them happy.
Kids and smoke don't match!
We were trying to have lunch surrounded by irresponsible people smoking until, out of nowhere, a shisha approached need our table. Am I in a nightmare? If you think I am exaggerating, I think a picture says a thousand words... A shisha was placed next to my newborn’s stroller and another next to my other child’s chair. Shame on such people, shame on such a restaurant!
Back to the food: L'Os does have decent food. Not great but decent. Some fine hummos, commercial Labneh, tender meat, acceptable Kebbe, stuffed grapevine leaves that were too salty, the cheese rolls were tasty, unsalted French fries with a dull taste, light makanek... but I would suggest that they lay down a bit on the garlic. There was an overdose of garlic in everything…
For the price we paid, around $40 per person, the quality of food was good.
After lunch, we were offered some fruits.
After that we rushed out quickly, running down the stairs again carrying the kids and strollers… running out of the restaurant away from the smell of smoke and loud noise of people talking and shouting as well as Happy Birthday song played every second...
The bad:
- Plates were presented without serving spoons
- Smoking is allowed openly
- Service is unprofessional
- The restaurant is understaffed
- Tables were never cleaned and plates were not changed at any point
To be changed:
- Divide the restaurant into two sections: smoking and non smoking
- Some food items have to be looked into. Too salty, too much garlic... Many things need fine tuning
- Tables are too close one to the other: It's suffocating
- Araguile? Shisha? At L'Os? Deceiving!
- The restaurant is understaffed: More staff is needed
The experience was deceiving and I would not recommend this place to anyone.
Celebrating their 50th anniversary... I'll do it differently.
