A La Saj

Great Shisha & yummy food! Love the service, I actually get my Shisha quick here unlike other Shisha restaurants… Love love love the location!!!

I was surprised by the decent rating of this place compared to my experience when I went there tonight. They were out of beef donair when we arrived. The chicken shwarma we ordered was more like a wrap than a shwarma and definitely overpriced. The sheesha was sort of stale and in the bottom 3 sheesha I’ve had of all time. Bottled water only? At a late night place? Common.
I’m more likely to cab to a further away donair shop than I am to walk across the street to revisit this one in the future.

Grabbed a chicken shawarma to go. The chicken was very dry and not much flavour, bread fell apart instantly and the tahini sauce wasn’t even on the shawarma, had to scoop it up and put it on the sandwich.
I’ll leave this place to the tourists walking down Stephen Ave because it’s a bit on the pricey side (nearly $ 15 for one medium-​sized shawarma)… at least it has late hours and fast service.

Now ‘Kayf’. Food was average, but Absolutely the worst service I have ever seen! At no point should a server be yelling at a customer, especially when it’s just a few guys wanting to grab a quick bite before going home; also the owner was there and ignored the situation.
A couple of friends and I decided to grab a quick bite, after being out for a buddy’s birthday. My friend asked for a glass of water with his food, waitress says they don’t serve glasses of water, walks away. Surprised, my friend asked her ‘why’ when she came around again, she ignores him. A second waitress came by, my friend asked her very politely ‘why they did not serve glasses of water’, she walked away without a sound. Stormed back a minute later yelling at my friend, called him an Asshole, slammed a bottle of water down then walked away.
Shocked, my friend didn’t know how to react. Then 5 mins later, the first waitress came back, grabbed the bottle of water the other waitress slammed own, and walked away with it.
We waved the owner over, wanting to resolve any misunderstanding, he said his waitress did not call him an Asshole, in fact he only heard her saying ‘IF you are going to be an Asshole’, because apparently, if you put ‘if’ in front of an insult, it’s not an insult!
So IF Kayf has such terrible service, how come there are others with similar reviews about their bad service? Your service is Horrific, and the food is only average compared to the many sherwarma/​Donair shops in the area.

The food is below par. Portions are extremely small. The chicken is tasteless and the bread was stale. Skip this place and head to BBQ

The service was really disappointing.
They might have been caught off guard by people walking in for food late in the evening, but if they didn’t really want to serve us, they should have just closed for the day.
It was slow, the waitress was forgetful numerous times, and they refuse to serve water from the tap. If you want water, you have to buy the bottled stuff. First world problem? I don’t know, sometimes I just want water.
Their only positive feature? The food was actually alright. I ordered a chicken schwarma plate with a side of tabouli. The schwarma was great, and I like the yogurt dip that came with it. The tabouli was stale and dry, it definitely was not fresh.

Nice Little Restaurant, serves great shawarma and makes the bread fresh, on the saj… meaning a metal griddle. It’s freshness is what makes the wraps amazing, as well as other speciality items made with the bread, a must try is a Nutella and Rice Crispies wrap, or a traditional Zaatar which has an explosive taste of a mixture of lebenses spices. They also serve shisha, great flavours and in the nice big Khalil Mahmoon Pipes, a quality pipe from the Middle East. Teas and drinks are good, all I suggest is to call in for a reservation when going on a weekend. It can fill up fast.

This restaurant serves Syrian food and it sure is tasty. The restaurant is new and clean and the food is fast and fresh. I had the chicken fatoosh salad and it was delicious with a creamy dressing and topped with fried pita chips. So good! I will be back.

Fantastic. Great representation of the shawarma on the Saj! Will definitely be coming back!

So delicious! I agree with the other reviewers, this place is fast, fresh and so tasty. It does seem like the kind of place Calgary needs to keep around, there is something so fresh and modern about this place, just a gem.
We were going to a concert at the Jack Singer and decided to stop in and give this place a try before the show. We were looking for something fresh and relatively fast and this place was a great choice.
We had one chicken shawarma and one beef donair, each with a side salad. The food came out almost instantly and everything was delicious. This place does it a little different, and that is exactly what makes this place great. For example, the donair was just the meat and sauce in the wrap, with pickles on the side. I have to say, I really liked it this way. And I agree with others, the portion sizes of the sandwiches are spot on.
They also have shisha, and quite a few people were enjoying that on the Saturday evening. I also saw they have delivery through a delivery service, we are keeping it on the list for the next time I need a donair fix. I can see why everyone raves about it as a lunch place, if I worked downtown I would love knowing I had this place in my pocket for a fresh and fast lunch.

Shawerma is super tasty, staff is super friendly. The bread they use is called «saj» which is thin and different than what you would get in other shawerma places.

Okay, I’m breaking my long term Unilocal hiatus because this place is hands down my new favourite lunch spot downtown. Have been here three times and each experience was wonderful.
A La Saj offers a delicious and modern take on Syrian food. It’s a quiet retreat from 8^th Ave with clean décor and is a real step up from the typical shwarma joint. Service has always been consistently great and they are patient with my requests.
I LOVE the menu. You will find food and drinks that are familiar as well as items less often found in Calgary. The sandwiches are a perfect portion size for me and the quality and presentation is lovely. I’ve tried the French before, a tasty tuna and vegetable wrap. Though my favorite menu item is the fatet saj bowl, a warm comforting dish of saj bread and chickpeas in a sauce with pomegranate and almonds on top. Vegetarians rejoice, there are lots of choices for you here!
For beverages they have a wide assortment of traditional hot and cold drinks from white coffee to mint and lemon smoothies. (holy cats, they are tasty)
No booze, but who needs it when the food is this good?
A La Saj is relatively new on Stephen Ave, so I urge you to check it out. It would be a shame if this place disappeared from our cities cultural food map.

Lovely food! Have been here around 4 times with coworkers and we have all been thrilled with the food, but the service needs a little work.
From forgetting items we ordered or leaving us with a long wait for the bill (which wouldn’t normally be an issue, but rushing to get back to work isn’t ideal) the service just seems a little scattered.
It’s a shame because the food is amazing! Hopefully the service will improve.

Lovely Syrian restaurant with an array of great sandwiches & salads. I’ve had the chicken shawarma and a salad called the fatet saj with their own flatbread, tahini, chickpeas, pomegranate seeds & pine nuts,
and both were delicious and quite distinct from other Middle Eastern food I’ve had.
I’m often looking for a quick & inexpensive lunch or dinner downtown and this is nice place for takeout or to sit in. The staff is very friendly and obviously passionate about what they do!