Zeytouna Restaurant

I love Gyros and have eaten them the world over… this was the first one I have ever disliked. Took only a couple bites and threw it away. Terrible meat — very dry and very bland. The fries I had with it were under-​cooked, more like a soggy potato.

Second time going to Zeytouna. Went for lunch, had a quarter chicken dinner. Totally adequate middle eastern fare.
Almost complete my lunch I find a dead cockroach in my food.
I approach the counter discreetly, show him the bug in the napkin and ask the staff member if he knows what it is.
He replies yes
I ask him what he thinks should be done.
He offers to make me a new plate but I point out I just ate an entire lunch. I ask for my money back.
He says he can’t do that. For me to come back tomorrow and speak w the owner. At this point I’m getting frustrated and ask him to simply resolve the issue and give me my money back.
I ask his name he refuses. He says he doesn’t give a fuck what I do or say cus he just works there.
He starts to get angry, grabs the napkin with the bug in it from my hands and refuses to give it back after I tell him I want to take a pic of it. He start hissing at me and telling me to leave and gets more irate.
I tell everyone sitting down in the restaurant to watch out for roaches and then leave.
It amazes me that for $ 10, this employee could have saved his boss a bad help review, a bad fb review, and a call to the sanitation department.
Owners, pick your staff well. These are the people that will sink you when problems arise.
Do not go here. It has roaches in the food and zero conflict resolution skills

I had a great experience here during baseball season a few weeks back. After ordering my plate, I sat down and watched the Blue Jays v. Kansas City on the large television they set up for an hour before leaving for an evening class. After watching for 30 minutes, the staff noticed I was still there, gave me an entire cup of tea for free, and cheered the team on. I’ve gone there frequently since; it’s my go-​to place in the area.
–The food was great at a decent price. I’ve tried a half-​chicken plate, chicken shawarma plate, and a hummus + chicken plate on three separate occasions. The meals were high in protein with a good portion of meat.
–The service was excellent.
–The restaurant is clean, spacious, and a good place to stay for a while if one must wait for someone downtown

Comida muito gostosa e valor acessível!
O lugar é bem simples mas o atendimento e a atenção do dono foram ótimos!!!

I had an absolutely horrible experience at this restaurant. All I wanted to know was what their Friday special included. The black Muslim cashier didn’t know so she told me to go ask the person at the other end of the counter. The female Arab Muslim was busy so she subsequently referred me to the Arab male manager. He thought my inquiry was about tuna when in fact I asked about the «Zeytouna Lampajen» special. I could not make sense of most of what he was saying because he was muttering incoherently so I located the Friday special on the regular menu and found the answer to my own question. When I tried to place my order, the male manager informed me the white Muslim couple standing behind me had been waiting for a long time and so he took their order first. That was an outright lie because I was standing in front of them the whole time. I have a gut feeling this place must be racist against Asians.
When the female Arab Muslim was available to serve me, she kept asking me to repeat myself over and over again when I only wanted to know the names of the two types of rice they had behind the glass window. She was extremely stubborn and refused to answer my question. Instead she kept pretending that the volume of my voice was not audible enough for her to hear. In the end, she decided to give me both the yellow and the brown rice in order to avoid answering my question.
After paying for my food, I looked for a table to sit down to eat. It was then that I noticed the place was swarming with flying insects. One-​quarter of all the tables in the restaurant were occupied by 20 – 25 dead flies each. The rest of the flies were hovering over the plates of food that the annoyed customers were trying to consume. I was fortunate to have finished most of my plate of food before one fly landed on my chicken breast. Yuck!!! Insect germs. Yeah, I know. Totally disgusting. When I was waiting for the street car just outside the restaurant, I witnessed an old lady, with her husband by her side, vomiting the food that she had eaten at Zeytouna out onto the street. That about says it all right there. Food and insect infestations do not make for a great dining experience.

The food is good. This place could easily be 5 stars if the service was as good as the food.

First day in Toronto Canada for a business trip and I arrived mid-​day starving from being in the airport all day! Food smelled amazing from outside the restaurant, and I was not disappointed. Staff is friendly, serves food quickly, everything is FRESH and prepared to order.
Prices are excellent and you get quite a lot of food on the combos/​platters.

Went there with 5 people on Friday night around 10 pm. TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE. the guy at the front looked high. Didn’t respond when we called him over. We ordered the daily special and he over charged us. When we asked him about the price he said the sign was wrong and the machine was right and he jus wouldn’t budge. When we ordered our food he brought te plates over and we realized he didn’t even ask us about te sides. He arbitrarily decided what sides we wanted and each of us got different sides. None of which we actually asked for. The music was also blaring and h was playing hardcore gangster rap with swear words an all. The weirdest experience ever. Also the food is really not that great. But they do give a lot.

Very cool, casual atmosphere and outstanding food. I ordered the gyro shawarma platter and it was huge! And all components of the dish were outstanding — great flavors and textures. I thought there was no way I could eat that much food but once I came up for air it was all gone.

Perfect location, minutes away from the Eaton center and roughly a block from University. The staff was generally nice and the place had a pleasant vibe to it, but older people and those with lower body injuries might find it hard to climb the steep stairs.
We came in minutes before the lunch crowd started pouring in so our orders were handed out quite fast. We got the shawarma plate (can’t remember the exact words) with a skewer of a nicely done lamb meat, a very tasty serving of brown rice and 2 servings of salads. However, the deal breaker was the Zeytouna veggie (picture), which is a total ripoff at $ 11+ (close to $ 12).

Stopped in for some Falafel and Grape Leaves-​perfect food!!!

OK and quite fresh. Compared to Ali Baba, main difference is that the food is less greasy here.
But… expensive for what this is (more than Ali Baba), and some smile from the staff would be appreciated. This place would likely be more packed if staff was at least more consistently nice…

Got a mixed shawarma plate. The beef was old and dried up. Chicken was decent. The sides were fine, except for the potatoes which were obviously made very early in the day or yesterday and were dried out and cold. I came between lunch and dinner so I understand things weren’t as fresh add they could be, but this was a bit much.

After casting my advance vote last Friday at city hall, I was looking for a healthy food option in the area, so I decided to check out Zeytourna which is a restaurant that specializes in Mediterranean cuisine.
I ordered the tawook plate ($ 9.99 for one skewer or $ 10.49 for two skewers) which consisted of one grilled chicken skewer, two salads, roasted potatoes and a choice of rice (white or lentil rice). The salads were fresh, the roasted potatoes were okay and the rice was properly cooked, moist but not too moist. The chicken skewer was nicely seasoned but a little on the dry side. The reason for this is because they precook their chicken and when a customer orders it, they take the precooked chicken and reheat it on the grill so the food comes out faster but the chicken loses a lot of it’s moisture and juiciness.
Overall, the place is spacious, clean and the people are friendly. The prices are reasonable and the portions are fairly large and it’s a decent option for Mediterranean cuisine in the downtown core.

As soon as I get there, I had a 10 second look at the menu and the guy was already asking what I wanted. While I continue to decide, the guy is glaring at me with his creepy looking eyes. So we got the 2 chicken shawarma plates and 2 skewers of chicken and beef. First of all the beef wasn’t considered beef. It was more like seasoned ground beef on a stick which was made too look like a kabob. We asked him if the beef and chicken skewer was made fresh and he said it was just made just now. The guy tried ripping us off by not giving us pitas for our plates. We ate the plate maybe 10 minutes after purchasing and the food was horrible. The chicken and beef skewer were cold and you could tell that they were old. As soon and you stick the fork in, it was like stabbing into a frozen piece of meat. I definitely do not recommend this place. Food was cold and old and the employees are rude and creepy. The restaurant was completely empty when we arrived (i wouldn’t return too if I were anyone else). You’re better off heading to Paramount which is a few blocks down on Yonge St.

Tasty food, huge portions, lots of selection, clean, super casual place and cheap. Not to mention the guy behind the counter is hilarious and the cashier is very nice. They have a TV playing cp24 for those dining in. What’s not to love about this place?
Recommend sharing a plate for lunch to avoid food coma, or get a takeout container and bring the leftover home since it’s still delicious hours later. Warning: the white sauce is really garlicy, which I love, but people may avoid talking to you after you eat it.
My order of choice is the mixed (chicken and beef shwarma) plate with the yellow rice, tabbouleh, and broccoli salad. You also get a side of hummus, garlic sauce, hot peppers, beets, pickles and roasted potatoes with any plate. See, tons of food for under $ 10. Winning!

Man shawarma sandwich with lettus, tomato, hummus, garlic and hot sauce put me in bed after leaving university library late everyday.

Went there and ordered falafel sandwich and Arabic pastries «Manaesh». Frist of all, they are adopting Subway way, the guy asked me if I want garlic on my sandwich… really!!!, I believe restaurants like this have the responsibility to educate customers about what is the falafel sandwich. Plus some of the ingredients were bad, so I ended up throwing it in the garbage after the first bite. About the Arabic pastries, the dough was nice, I ordered two of them, the cheese one was not that good, because the cheese has no taste, the beef one was good.

Went by today around 830pm for a quick dinner take away. Ordered their number 3 the 2 chicken kabob with Hummus, rice and greek salad. It was my first time there so wasn’t sure how to order. The staff not the best in explaining exactly what goes in the meal. Anyways ordered 2chicken skewers plate to go. Got rice because I didn’t know it was rice or potatoes or fries staff just asked me what kind of rice. although menu says (rice+garlic potatoes or fries + salad) I’m sitting here still confused!. When i got to the register to pay I wanted to add baklava and coke the cashier must be new didn’t know how to do it and was confused. I got the baklava and coke and was on my way. Got back to my hotel and started to dig in. Chicken really dry over held maybe swing by at peak hours as there was a big stack of chicken kabobs in the holding bin. They should cook less more often. Tried the hummus that was very good only wish they’d not forgot to put in my Pita bread that’s supposed to be in my combo. salad was good and pickled veggies were also. Coke well it come from a can so no complaints there. So all in all it’s just a so-​so Looks like they still got some opportunities in quality and service. As i’m just here on holiday probably won’t be back wish them well and hope they work on these key points.

Went here for lunch (takeout). Bought the chicken shawarma sandwich for roughly $ 6.50 with tax. Payed by credit. Friendly service. Good variety of ingredients. Shawarma was toasted after being prepared, and wrapped to be easily eaten without a mess. Overall taste was great, although the quantity of meat was slightly less than expected. Still a great shawarma.

Seriously you have to try this place amazing shawarma authentic taste.
Clean fresh delicious.
My word it’s good.
The wood burning oven is off the charts when you get there baked goods.
You can tell them to put sharwarma and veggies on there homemade dough and create some seriously dope creations of taste.
Must try for any food lover…