Aida’s Mediterranean Bistro

Good food. liked their falafel sandwich. However, it was a bit dry and we had to ask them for some tahini.

The food was ok but I don’t feel it was anything I would be dying to come back for. It was their attitude towards neighbouring businesses that will stop me from coming back with friends.
What turned me off more than anything was a sign they had outside the restaurant. It had an arrow that pointed to their restaurant that said «Amazing food» and an arrow that pointed across the street that said «Meh food». In the small community of mission and 17^th Ave, I was surprised by such a blatant show of immaturity. I am sure this was meant to be a cheeky and funny but it just came off as rude and frankly made them look terrible. Especially since Aida’s is not one of the popular restaurants or touted as the best and most amazing venues.

I was here this past Saturday for lunch. What an amazing meal… unforgettable.
Enjoyed a very delicious assortment of kibbeh (ground spiced meat encased in a shell of bulgar wheat), falafel with tahini, spinach and mushroom baked pastry, meat pasty, mouhammara sauce with fresh vegetable, hoummus with pita etc.
This was all so delicious. And then came the desserts– baklava standard and filled with pistachios, cakes etc.
When I’m back in Calgary, this will be my MUST eat here place!

I will pile on with everyone else. I go here when I crave muhammara. That said I have enjoyed the rest of the food as well I think. See, I remember having the lamb chops once and they were good but I recall nothing else beyond the muhammara… perhaps it puts me in a food coma glaze that prevents my memory from processing the remaining food items. At any rate it is delicious.
The only reason its not 5 stars for me is 2 fold. Firstly — Loud. If a large group comes in or a family with kids… it gets very loud very quickly to the point of where I wish they would all go away. 1^st time I was there a loud drunkish girl at a large groups table made conversation at our own table difficult due to the noise, my second visit a family with 2 kids yelling and playing like they were in their own living room.
secondly — it can be cold. People come in and hold doors open and if its nippy outside you are blasted with the cold air … they have a 2 door entry to help and I’m sure it does but it still gets a blast especially given people are selfish in general in their bubble of existence and think of no one else but themselves almost all of the time. So people will stand there waiting for a party member holding doors open oblivious to the restaurant full of people not wearing their coats.
So my negatives, not the restaurant’s fault really but atmosphere and acoustics are what they are and I kind of hate that part of it so they lose a star.
I also like the mediterranean coffee.
Food and service are solid and I will be back for … you guessed it muhammara.

The one star is for the service given by Megan. The food is absolutely great and we are regulars of this restaurant and I would give this restaurant 5 stars. Unfortunately, the last 2 times we have visited, we have got stuck with this waitress. Both times, she did not bother to check with us, refill our water (we had to ask 2 other servers to do this) and it was only till the end, that she started becoming nice which was at tip time. I would understand if the restaurant was busy but it was not. We noticed that she was the same way with other patrons and was lacking in her knowledge of the menu. We noticed her telling the table next to us whether they knew what was on their plate and if they needed her to explain what they are. A good server would simply do it anyways. This review is for the management to perhaps offer some additional training in customer service.

naa. not happy with food. not what i thought when i read all the reviews. i had 90 times better Mediterranean food in calgary. over priced for no reason at all.dissappointing. there are way better mediterrean restaurant than this. lamb shank was super dry. couscouse no more comments about it. wouldn’t recommend.

Good service! Great location! Good food! Will definitely go back to this place. It seems like a upscale Lebanese restaurant, but pricing is quite moderate.

This place was by far the most delicious Mediterranean food I have had outside of the Mediterranean. My coworkers and I were very set on Mediterranean food one night and after reading the reviews for this place, we just had to see if it lived up to our expectations.
Long story short: it surpassed them. We ordered the dip sampler to start and if we hadn’t we would not have experienced the amazingness of the Mouhammara dip. We couldn’t get enough of it! We had to order another serving of it to get through dinner and beg the waitress for the recipe so we could make it when we go back home to the US. Aida’s should give free samples on the street so the world knows what it has to offer.
In addition to the Mouhammara, we all ordered the lamb plate which also exceeded expectations. The meat was tender and flavorful and just everything a lamb plate should be. The service was wonderful, the drinks were good, but if you go here all you need to know is that you NEED the MOUHAMMARA.

This place is a gem! Lots of flavor and so fresh. You must try the mohamara dip, it is one if the most delicious things I have ever had.
Favorites are the lemon chicken sandwich and the veggie mezza. I have vegan friends I’ve taken here on numerous occasions and there are plenty of options for them as well.
Staff are always pleasant, service is quick, I’m a regular and I still can’t get enough of this place!

I always love when I come back to an old favourite after a long hiatus and everything is as it should be-​the food is still amazing, the ambiance hasn’t changed and the service still attentive and friendly.
Such was my experience at Aida’s today when I met my best friend for lunch. It was also a wonderful choice as she’s working on being one of those plant-​based only diet people who also cannot consume gluten (you may call her a vegan except that she’s not giving up leather… so, plant-​based only diet people it is as it’s strictly a food/​health choice at this point).
1130 was a good time to come, we were only the second table in the restaurant at that point, although it had filled up much more by about 1215.
Platters are the way to go at Aida’s. I’ve been known on more than one occasion to split a mezza platter with a friend over wine one afternoon, which is a beautiful experience in and of itself. For today’s lunch, however, just a regular platter did quite nicely. The best friend had the falafel one with no pita chip things in it and I opted for the shawarma platter. You get your choice of hummus or baba ghannouj and fattoush or tabbouli salad. I opted for the shawarma platter with hummus and tabbouli salad… soooo good, very filling and man alive did it ever arrive at our table in record time! Our entire dining experience was finished by 1215. Of course we stayed on at the table a wee bit longer to maximize our visiting time, and our server was very gracious about ensuring we felt welcome to do so… but if you’re on a super strict 1 hr lunch crunch, I’d say Aida’s has you covered with the platter lunches!

While waiting for my pizza pickup @ Bocce’s across the street, decided to see what’s nearby that’s also good — who else does that?
So off I go, going for the mouhammara that everyone seems to pipin’ about, and for an appie, it’s a nice start, and somewhat healthy too lol, red peppers and all. I did wish I could’ve added the hummus from the pics.
It’s a nice, dimmed atmosphere, tonite with a few happy groups, Kinda loud, as it’s a small restaurant.
Friendly service.
Clean washrooms.

The food was ok. The service was terible! We ordered apetizers but they never brought it to us. It was really noisy and busy so we couldn’t easily hear the waitress, and she wouldn’t come closer and we had to yell and she had to yell as well! And finally she made one of those angry faces which no costumer likes it! Also when 2 of my friends started talking to the waitress at the same time, she suddenly yelled at them rudely“who is the first? I can’t listen to both of you!”. Then my friend asked for a glass of water and she told him see if anyone doesn’t want his water, take that one! when my friend asked for a fresh glass of water she tried to refill it in his beer glass!!! Overall we didn’t enjoy it very much. Food might be good but service is more important!

Unlike most Lebanese restaurants in Calgary, this place is sit-​down and has table service.
I love basically everything on the menu. I usually get the shawarma platter with fattoush salad on the side, but it’s also a nice place to get a few friends together, and share some mezze platters (the muhammara is awesome) and wine.

Baklava was mind-​blowing. I will go there again at least for baklava.
Prices were reasonable. Staff were nice. Food was delicious. We ordered dawa basha and kafta kabab.
The spinach and lentil soup was ok but not special.

The fragrance fills the air and you begin to drool in anticipation as soon as you walk in the door of this quaint Mediterranean bistro. A group of six of us enjoyed sharing several appetizers and some lovely white wine. Great value and we were all full. Also split a baklava. Delightful and attentive service.
Recommend making a reservation though. It was a Wednesday night and there were at least five tables reserved

I had been wanting to try this place for a long time, and it did not disappoint! Came here with my friend for a Saturday lunch. We got a reservation as it is a small restaurant. I’m glad we did, as it filled up pretty quickly after we were seated. We both had the iced tea with rose water, which was not too sweet and quite refreshing.
For our appy, we just got some hummus and pita to share. The hummus is amazing! One of my close friend’s mother is from Syria, and makes the best hummus, so I have high standards when it comes to hummus. This did not disappoint. I got the Shawarma sandwich, and it was delicious. My friend got the Grilled Chicken pita wrap, and said it was really good. We were very happy we got to try Aida’s, and we will both be back soon! My friend actually took her parents there the next weekend, it’s that good.

As for the food I can’t complain — not only were the portions quite large, ensuring you had leftovers for the next day if you so desired, the dishes we ordered were tasty & in my option very original, refreshing & unique!
For appy’s the group picked the «Mouhammara» & «Fatayer» & on my goodness were they ever tasty! Mmm The former was a splendid blend of red pepper paste, walnuts & pomegranate juice dip that had a very pleasant but delicate ‘kick’ to it, while the latter was a flat little triangle-​shaped soft pita filled with spinach that I found simply delightful! Just the two appy’s were a perfect size for the four of us to share. The price for the two was no more than $ 3.5 each.
For the main dish, I had the curried lamb couscous for $ 19. Very big dish with the cutest little serving of couscous & roasted potatoes however it came with a very big serving of lamb cubes, sautéed with, zucchini, eggplant & green peppers. So good but so filling. Also order in the group was the Kafta Kabob platter, which consisted of seasoned minced beef served over rice & came with a salad of your choice — the «Fattoush» salad was the choice which was a wonderful combination of romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, radishes, green peppers, and pita chips in a sumac and olive oil dressing.
As for our fellow dining companions, I believe they both ordered Shawarma wraps, which looked absolutely scrumptious & very filling too!
As for dessert… no one had any because we were all stuffed!
I was very impressed with the dessert menu because for the size of restaurant they had (which is quite cozy), they had at eight options you could choose from.
Overall, Aida had good food & we were able to stay under a reasonable budget even when buying drinks — it was about $ 25/​per person. That’s pretty good in my books, not bad at all.
It was a good experience.
Check it out and decide for yourselves.

Great spot. We came here on a Tuesday night, later in the evening and had no problem getting a table. We didn’t want to eat anything too heavy because of the time but we were both starving. I ended up with the falafel platter while my date had the kebab platter. We each got a different salad with it so we could try each others stuff.
Everything was delicious. Lots of flavour, lots of texture and the service was friendly too.
The meal really hit the spot and the prices were reasonable. The only thing that could of been better is that as we finished our tea up after our meals, the place was closing. We appreciate not wanting anyone to make us stay late so we got ready to leave. Despite the server saying there was no rush, we were getting looks from the back of the house folks so we felt compelled to get out of there right away (a couple of minutes past the closing time). Not a big deal but it felt like things suddenly had become less friendly. But we’ll probably be back soon!

I give this place a high rating because I can actually eat here. I do like some of the creative menu items, some of the dips and salads are fantastic. Portions are quite generous and if you eat eggs the falafel’s are pretty good.
Not a lot of staff there however the people that do work there aren’t very happy, or quick. Don’t go here in a rush.
We have ordered meat dishes before which I don’t personally eat, but I have been told they are very good.
There is an interesting chicken dish we ordered for our six-​year-​old one time that was breaded into some form of a sandwich it did look very good.
The food seems fresh, the sauces seem homemade, it doesn’t seem as though things are prepackaged and left in the freezer forever to dry out.
If you like Mediterranean food with a definite flair for the Lebanese give this place a try.

Absolutely pleased with our meal last night. We ordered a vegetarian mezze, plus lamb chops. We absolutely loved the mouhammara dip. I didn’t expect to be wowed — I mean — how great can a dip be? It has this buttery, nutty sweet taste that is just amazing. I bought another one to go for my bf to try. Another winner was this cigar shaped phyllo with cheese. Parsley salad was very refreshing. Lamb chops were tender and tasty. More than enough food for the two of us. Service was excellent. Chickpea fritters were freshly made — nice crunchy exterior and fluffy inside, though a bit too salty for us. Great option in the Mission district.