Mandarine Restaurant - Verdun, Beirut

Fact: Cafe Hamra and Mandarine are owned by the same company! (Boubess Group) Notice the contrast, though, between the service quality in the two restaurants.

On February 28th , 2011, 8 of my friends and I decided to have dinner at Mandarine. Located in Verdun, Beirut, Mandarine offers a large variety of cosmopolitan dishes, in addition to a mezzah selection. A valet service took our cars without complication, and a friendly, smiling waiter greeted us as we entered the restaurant.  There was only one table available for nine people, and it was in the middle of the restaurant. Naturally, being the picky group of girls that we are, we asked the waiter if he could assemble a table for nine next to the window, and he did so without hesitation. It was a smooth start to what seemed like was going to be a promising night.

Mandarine's theme is clearly sophistication, and its dim lights, light wood furniture, and modern, sleek interior design all emphasize this. The restaurant has a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere, possibly because it is very spacious and the tables are set far part from each other, making customers feel like they have their own private space within the restaurant. The waiter noticed that we were a large group of girls, so after we were seated and he gave us some menus, he smartly granted us lots of time to choose our orders (around 15 minutes), which made us feel at ease and allowed us to take our time in choosing our food. The fact that he left us alone for a long time could be interpreted as him forgetting about us or not being attentive enough, but the case was exactly the opposite: he was standing at a distance but constantly looking over at our table and monitoring our progress in choosing our food. He was being very attentive, and it was still the beginning of the night.

Then came the part where he had to take our orders. I'm sure you've had dinner with a large group of people before - taking an order can get very messy. My friends and I were very loud and all over the place - changing our orders, adding drinks, then telling him to cancel a starter and ordering another one instead...you know how it goes. Another waiter would have definitely lost his temper and shown us how annoyed he was, but ours was calm, patient, extra-friendly and attentive to everything we had to say. This made us feel like we could approach him easily, thus allowing us to inquire about our food and modify it in any way we wanted. He kept a smile on his face, and seemed like he was genuinely enjoying serving us, despite how annoying and loud we were. His service skills are definitely an asset to the restaurant, as they greatly enhanced our experience there.

Mandarine is renowned for its salad bar, so I (and six out of my eight friends) chose to eat from it. The Mandarine salad bar features a variety of vegetables just like any other salad bar, but they also have some unique offerings, such as a chinese salad mix (which tastes absolutely delicious), pasta already mixed with pesto sauce to which you can add any vegetables from the bar, a variety of cheeses, such as feta and parmesan and toppings, such as olives, croutons, and sesames (my favorite). The vegetables were all fresh, and a chef was constantly refilling each bowl as soon as it started emptying. I often see empty bowls in salad bars in other restaurants, but not in Mandarine, where the staff was constantly making sure that everything at the bar was available at all times.

Another special feature of the Mandarine salad bar is its wide range of sauces - you could choose from up to eight rich, scrumptious sauces to dress your salad with, including a diet one, which caters to the needs of those concerned with their health (which are most of the people who would choose to eat from the salad bar in the first place - smart). You can easily see why next time I'm in the mood for a salad bar, I wouldn't even think twice about where I want to have it; Mandarine's is excellent in every aspect.

While I was filling my first salad bowl, I asked a waiter if he could get me some walnuts (they taste especially good with greens).  He informed me politely that they didn't have any in the restaurant, and that was that. While I was eating, my friend told me that she heard the waiter asking another waiter if there were any walnuts in the kitchen - that's how much he cared about my request! I was very impressed; not only did he follow up on what I asked him about, but also, he wasn't doing it in front of me, which shows that he was not only acting attentive in my face, but that he truly cared about what I had asked him for.

While I was filling my second salad bowl (it was really good. I even wanted a third) I was slightly disappointed to see that the parmesan cheese bowl at the bar was empty. When I told the waiter about the empty bowl, I expected him to say that he'll refill it right away, and I was already not looking forward to waiting at the bar while he did this However, he surprised me by saying, "Have a seat, and I'll bring you the parmesan to your table." Wow. I sat down, and a bowl of parmesan was next to my plate within a minute. It was like service heaven. I do not remember the last time I was so satisfied with service quality in a restaurant in Beirut.

As for my two friends who did not eat from the salad bar, one ordered chicken pesto pasta, and the other a chocolate pudding. They both said their orders were delicious.

The whole time while we were eating, our waiter was constantly watching our table (but from a distance, as to give us some space), and quickly removing empty dishes whenever someone finished eating, and he did this with ease and without getting in our way while we were eating. We were being pretty loud, talking excitedly and laughing constantly, but no one told us to lower our voices or made us feel like we were being disturbing, which made us feel even more comfortable in the restaurant. The manager even visited our table to make sure everything was going well. We really felt like the staff was giving us their full attention, even though this wasn't the case - there were at least ten other tables filled with people who were probably receiving the same amount of attention we were. After we finished eating, we stayed at our table for almost 45 minutes just talking and enjoying ourselves - a clear sign that was everyone was feeling comfortable in the restaurant and very satisfied with the meals they just ate.

Tremendous service. Extra-tasty food. A place where you can sit comfortably for hours. That's what I call a really good restaurant. To wrap it up, here’s what you should expect when you walk into Mandarine in the future:

A smooth valet service,

A friendly waiter who will greet you and accommodate your seating needs without hesitation,

A comfortable atmosphere,

An amount of time to choose your food from the menu that is just right,

A friendly, approachable waiter who will calmly and patiently take your order and answer any questions you have,

Staff who will genuinely try to get you what you ask for (like my walnuts request),

A salad bar that has been perfected in every aspect,

Tasty main dishes and desserts,

A very attentive waiter and manager on duty, who will constantly make sure that your experience is going smoothly.

Not a single negative point. And trust me, I'm picky. Next time I'm in Verdun, you know where I'll be dining. 

Cafe Hamra - Hamra Street, Beirut, Lebanon.

*Color code: Green highlights indicate positive comment, yellow highlights indicate negative. 

Cafe Hamra is a restaurant/cafe in the heart of Hamra, on the Hamra main street. It serves Lebanese dishes as well as regular international platters, sandwiches, and desserts. My friends and I walked into the restaurant yesterday at around 9 pm. A friendly receptionist walked us to an available table, which is definitely a plus from a service perspective - it gave my friends and I the impression that the restaurant is very attentive to its customers. Furthermore, I do not believe there are many restaurants with such distinct smoking and non-smoking areas; the restaurant is literally divided in half by a large glass wall - one side for smokers, and the other side for non-smokers. This is definitely a competitive advantage for the restaurant, considering the rising concerns of harmful second-hand smoking (and personally, I hate smelling like shisha/arigleh after leaving a place, especially if I haven't smoked anything myself).

After sitting down, I looked around and tried to understand the place's concept/theme. The restaurant is relatively spacious, and almost all of the tables have both chairs and large leather couches (I sat on one, very comfortable - not like those couches that look cozy but actually aren't). The walls are filled with shelves of books, and there are also tables with books on them, creating a living room ambiance of comfort, ease, and relaxation. The furniture and paint are dark shades of red and brown, furthering the creation of a comfortable atmosphere where you can sit back and relax. Unfortunately, the restaurant was very noisy (customer's voices) , which definitely hindered the effect that was trying to be created. I don't think noise is something a restaurant can control, but I believe that playing a certain type of music in the background can reduce the effects of tension and annoyance created by this noise. Instead of playing easy-listening, jazz, or any other type of genre that can accompany the living-room effect that was trying to be created, the background music consisted of a strange mixture of trance, techno, latino/hispanic, and the occasional easy-listening song. This really put me off - the couch was so comfortable, but unfortunately, I did not feel relaxed or laid back the whole time I was at Cafe Hamra because of the loud, fast-beat music and the extensive noise.

Once we sat down, a waiter gave us some menus. Exactly one minute later, another waiter came and asked us if we were ready to order. Seriously? Sorry, I can't read that fast. This made my friends and I feel rushed uncomfortable.

After graciously granting us ten minutes to choose our orders, the waiter came back and we told him what we would like to eat. Let me take a moment here to describe our waiter. He did not introduce himself. The whole time we were there, I do not recall him smiling at us. He seemed very stiff, tense, and unwilling communicate with us. He just wanted to take our order and leave. In a nutshell, he was unfriendly and unapproachable. If you think I'm over-exaggerating, read this. After he took our order, he wanted to repeat it, but my friends were chatting about something, so they couldn't hear him. You know what he said? He said: "Sma3ouni please,"which basically means "Please listen to me" in a tone that a high school teacher would use with a bunch of hyper students - irritable, annoyed, plain rude. If you need someone to teach you how to talk respectfully to your customers, there are a few people in Beirut who have mastered this, and guess what? they are right across the street from you.

So after that lovely encounter, my friends and I were not feeling at ease at all. We actually asked each other if we had all just heard him say the same thing, just to make sure he actually said it. Something the slightly made up for our waiter's attitude was the fact that the food came within 10 minutes of us ordering it, and he knew exactly where to put each plate. But of course, our slight increase in satisfaction faded when we realized that our order was missing a starter - a bowl of edamame. After we brought this to the waiter's attention, he said that he had forgotten to order it for us himself, and we cancelled it. A bit too honest, aren't we? So what exactly were you doing with that notepad when you were taking our order? Doodling our faces? My friends said that a restaurant with good customer service would have served us some edamame on the house. What do you think?

Now, I'm sure you're interested in how the food tasted. I personally did not order anything, but I asked my friends about each of their orders, and tasted a bit of them. The chicken avocado sandwich was apparently very good, as were the mezzah platter (a starter consisting of kibbeh, hommos, labneh, fatayer and other mezzah) and fattouch salad. However, the chicken club was average; according to my friend who ate it, it was just "all over the place", and the batata harra (diced spicy potato) was too oily and was clearly fried twice (a technique that makes the potatoes too soft and soggy). The portions were great, not too large and not small either. So, if I assume that the food we ordered is a representative sample of the entire menu, I guess you could say the the food isn't extremely delicious, but is still good and relatively satisfying.

Interesting fact: the salt shaker wasn't working. the salt was too moist as was not coming out of the shaker- a clear indication of lack of maintenance and, arguably, hygiene.

After we finished eating, we decided we'd like to take a look at the dessert menu. My friend raised his hand for one minute before a waiter noticed him - they were all gathered around something and not looking in anyone's direction. After a waiter finally noticed that we had our hands raised, he nodded in our direction, telling us that he noticed us, and walked over to another waiter and told him to go to us. The second waiter then walked nonchalantly to our table and asked as what we wanted, and this resulted in an extra 30-second wait. What an attentive and alert bunch.

Photo from Google

After we looked at the menus, our original, "friendly" waiter came and asked us for our order. He took our orders and left our menus on the table. I'm sure you all know what a hassle it is to eat with a couple of large menus in your way. Not smooth, not smooth.

For dessert, we ordered a crepe, and I have to say it was really good. Very large and generously filled with chocolate.

Finally, before leaving, I visited the restroom, and as I expected, I was disappointed there too. The toilet paper dispenser was broken - you know how it's a large round metal case with the toilet roll inside? Well one of the sides of the metal case was broken, so I couldn't roll the toilet paper out, other wise the roll would fall on the floor because. I had to hold the toilet roll in my hand and then put it back in its place when I was done. When I came to throw the tissue in the garbage bin, the pedal was broken too, so the lid wouldn't open. What do they expect, for me to bend over and open the lid with my hand? Clear indicators of carelessness and lack of maintenance.

As we paid the bill, I filled out a comment card which asks the customer to drop the card into a box on his/her way out. As I walked out, the box was nowhere to be seen, so I asked a waiter what to do with a card. He took it from me and gave it to the receptionist, who placed it in a shuffled pile of other cards on a table next to entrance. I was completely reassured that someone was going to take a look at those cards later and take each of their comments into careful consideration...

Not.

So, with only 6 positive observations and almost double that number of disappointing ones, we can easily conclude that  service is not Cafe Hamra's strength. In fact, it is something that they really need to work on and upgrade. Sure, they delivered our food fast and it tasted pretty good. But we all know that eating at a restaurant is not just about the food, but about the entire experience. If you're just looking for  quick good meal, then go for it, but don't expect anyone there to be attentive or show you that they actually care about your experience. And expect lots of noise and weird music in the background. Next time I'm in that area, I will definitely choose to eat across the street - I like people to smile at me, just like I like smiling at people.