Cafe Bab El Hara

One of my favorite places… fantastic sheshaa… great hospitality n awesome ambience !

This place is pretty fantastic and reminds me of places ive been in London or Turkey. I would even just come for dinner without sheesha too. This place has great food and service. The inside is pretty huge. It’s a nice looking and fun with friends and even with a large group.
The cheese pies and drinks were delicious and everything had a very homemade at your aunts table kind of feel.
Try the grape mint or the peach mint sheesha.
They are open very late so come almost anytime and you will find people there. The staff was friendly and seem to know lots of the regular patrons. Also, you can borrow cards or games to play with friends.

Great shisha bar located in Ottawa. So far, every food item I’ve ordered has been incredibly good, and the shisha lasts a good while (we had two ordered in a four hour period, for example). Containing three rooms, there is usually seating available for everyone, though the front room and the room on the left with the nice Arabic décor are the ones you want to choose. During warmer weather, there is a large deck where you can sit with friends and enjoy the diversity of customers that are constantly streaming in and out of the establishment.

How is this place Persian/​Iranian? Besides the fact that Shisha is originally Persian, I don’t see anything Persian about the place. The music is Arabic. The staff is Arabic. The food is Arabic. Kinda funny to claim it’s Iranian!
Besides my little rant, it’s a fairly decent place. Though it is small, the shisha is great, and the food is delicious. Very cozy place to hang with your friends.
My only complaint is that the staff is kind of rude. They hardly check up on you, and don’t make you feel welcome. But I guess that depends on who serves you.
Overall, it’s worth a visit with some friends!

The waiter didn’t understand what it was we wanted, as Latin-​Americans, we felt like we were being scammed in some sort of way. They would give us something we didn’t ask for, insisting that we did order it. A friend asked for the lemon-​mint, and was given something else. On the other hand, there was this lovely lady who tried her best to comprehend our requests. All in all… I would not come back here…

It is always 5 stars here!!!

love this place! it has a very homey feel to it, service it totally outstanding! definitely the best service ive ever had in canada! food is great, bread is made there and is amazing! the shishas (no tabacco) are great too. and the owner is super hospitable and he has done a great job with the place! everything here is just perfect, atmosphere, service, food, shisha! this place truly is a gem!

We stopped here because driving by it looked like it had character — a likely hidden gem that only locals know about.
Walked in and almost turned around — I felt out of place! It is a neighbourhood joint for hookah lovers! Well — they have 2 rooms — so we choose the non smoking room where the hookah smoke smell was pleasantly there, but light.
The owner, a wonderful Lebanese host brought a hookah over and showed us how it works, assured us it has no tobacco etc., — I thought that was wonderful of him to do. Found out he’s a fairly recent owner, with ideas for updating the restaurant. This place is worth keeping an eye on.
On to other things — décor is funky — a little bit like being in someone’s home — but it was kinda neat too. Definately a middle-​eastern feel.
We were just looking for a late lunch — planning on Shawarma sandwiches. Owner suggested we try one shawarma and one sish touak (spelling?) so we did. Serving size was much larger than typical — found out the make their bread on site in traditional method. All I can say about the bread is «wow». It was fantastic, with a hint of char taste. I coulld eat it all day every day. Shawarma was good — I liked it more than the beef, but beef was good too.
I enjoyed the experience. Owner noted that weekend nights, after about 7, it’s packed. TV was on arabic station, no english subtitles. Music was arabic, and enjoyable.
Would I return: Yes.
Would I recommend: Yes — but only to people who will be ok stepping a little outside of their comfort zone (i.e. — not your standard north american restaurant).