Beirut Express Lebanese Food

As a bit of background, I am unsure about how to remain unbiased in my reviews of any Lebanese or Vietnamese restaurants I come across. The reason for this bias is that I once lived in Ottawa, which is deliciously overrun with top-quality shawarma and pho spots. Hence, I have been spoiled.

However, my random selections have inevitably led me to a Lebanese restaurant, and I will try to be fair in my evaluation of the food at...
Beirut Express Lebanese Food at 787 Fort st!


Access: Ok. Getting in the (sans-wheelchair-button) door was no more difficult nor easier than anywhere else. Navigating in the restaurant was tight, and getting to the till involved minorly disrupting other patrons. There was also only one table at which a stroller could be comfortably pulled up -- luckily, that one table was open.

Food: Not great. The falafel was a bit dry, and the sauces and veggies packed no punch. Even the normally-zesty pickled turnip was bland.

Service: Good. Fast, efficient, and friendly.

Cost: Ok-- A big (and filling) falafel shawarma and an Orangiata soda was just under $10.

Baby-Friendliness: Ok. Bustling atmosphere of busy street is good, and the staff was kind. Lack of places to park a stroller wasn't great, though. Also, I am unsure whether there was a washroom, and did not check about a change space. No obvious, comfortable spots to breastfeed.

Overall Grade: C-

The good service and relative stroller accessibility save Beirut Express from a D grade. Next up, another Mexican restaurant! Stay tuned...

Happy One-Month Birthday, #StrollerFriendly!

To celebrate, I'll go through a few questions I've gotten about the website, and a few modifications that will be coming in the future.

Comments
I've opened up the comments section to allow for discussion and feedback, and I invite anyone to respond.

Also, I wholeheartedly invite anyone in any city to do a #StrollerFriendly review of their own -- just be sure to address all categories in a sentence or two, and be sure to let me know what city you're hailing from. I would love to publish your review! :-)


Breastfeeding Clarification
Someone once asked me what I'd meant, when I said I was looking for a place to breastfeed discreetly. Was I requiring a comfy chair in a large, private washroom, or would a spacious booth in a secluded section of the restaurant suffice?

Basically, having a comfy chair in a washroom is ideal, and will fetch extra points for the restaurant being reviewed. I am looking forward to reviewing The Cactus Club, as it does indeed have this feature. However, I will settle for any secluded and moderately comfortable spot to breastfeed, and restaurants only start losing points when there is nowhere that is both suitable and accessible.

Note that booth seating is not always a sure thing for discreet breastfeeding, as the sometimes-immoveable booth tables can often be too close to the seat to fit both mom and baby.


Coming Soon: Restaurant vs. Retail
Lastly, I was reflecting on the standards I've been holding all restaurants up to, and realized that there is a problem with holding a food-retail-type establishment (such as Pink Sugar Cupcakery) to the same standard as a restaurant-type establishment (Nautical Nellie's).

While access, service, cost and food are equally important in both categories, a retail establishment should not be expected to offer the same amenities (change tables, comfy place to breastfeed, etc) as a sit-down-and-take-your-time restaurant. Therefore, any retail-type places I review henceforth will only take into account basic Baby-Friendliness (noise level, staff attitude) and not the presence of amenities.

The distinction between retail and restaurant-style food establishments will be as follows:

• Restaurants serve food that is assumed to be eaten on premises; Retail is mostly a take-out operation with limited seating for the rare on-premises-eaters.
• If there is an onsite washroom available to the clientele, it's a restaurant. If not, it's retail.
• Restaurants offer availability and variety of both food and drink; retail is more limited, often specializing in a very specific food.

Naturally, there are places that are clearly restaurant or clearly retail, but there will doubtlessly be others whose classification will be unclear. When in doubt, I will err to restaurant standards.

So, that's it for the one-month writeup! Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for our next review!

No Spontaneous Lunches for You!

I have since uncovered two more restaurants which are, apparently, uninterested in spontaneous patronage by strollermums. Why can I say this, you ask? Because, while they all HAVE wheelchair-accessible entrances, NONE have any means by which these entrances can, indeed, be ACCESSED at the clients' timing.

All require advance warning and/or sending an able-bodied companion to notify staff of your presence.

So, if you're on your own with a stroller, looking for a quick bite while the baby naps, these restaurants are not for you!

Milestones at 812 Wharf st
Japanese Village Restaurant at 734 Broughton st.

...and as previously mentioned, Ric's Grill on 910 Government st.

These entries fall into a newly-dubbed category: THE WALL OF SHAME. Who will be the next entry to The Wall? Stay tuned to find out!

Nautical Nellies

Today's review is for Nautical Nellies, found at 1001 Wharf st.

Access: There are a few small stairs and a raised doorway, making getting into the restaurant a bit tricky, but not impossible. Upon entering the restaurant, I was asked to leave my stroller at the entrance, even though there was sufficient room to manoeuvre and park without being in anyone's way. (Also, I was fairly certain that I'd seen a table with a stroller parked next to it in the other section of the restaurant.) Nonetheless, I didn't kick up a fuss, and the staff was quick to furnish me with a high chair.

**NOTE, this therefore makes Nautical Nellies a bad choice for cases in which a baby is too young to sit in a high chair, or where one might not want to remove the baby from the stroller and/or leave a stroller unattended. (E.g., sleeping babies, or strollers packed with post-errands goods).

Food: Though I'd been craving a burger, I could not resist the description of the Ultimate Lobster Sandwich, which I opted for instead. It was pretty straightforward -- two slices of grainy bread, some tender greens, a yummy aoli, and big, honkin' chunks of lobster. It was tasty, but not terribly exciting, and it was (imho) somewhat overpriced.

Service: Not great -- It was fast enough on the basics (food order, delivery), but I had to go to significant lengths to flag down my waitress to ask for an extra spoon. Note that the restaurant was almost totally empty at the time, so it wasn't like she was busy with other tables.

Cost: My meal cost $30, which I think is a lot, considering it was for a sandwich (albeit one with sizeable lobster chunks) and a beer.

Baby-Friendliness: Wins some, but loses overall. No change table in the bathrooms, which is VERY inconvenient. Though this dark restaurant with lots of hidden corners leaves several options for discreet breastfeeding. Noise level was good, if a bit quiet.

Overall Grade: D

Next up is a double post of stroller-friendly FAILS -- stay tuned for more details!