Ba-Li Laffa

This is a take-​out review.
Walked here for some quick take-​out and it ended up taking out 45 minutes of our evening – with a puppy and an infant waiting with us for the food this made for a major inconvenience. I think, even under normal circumstances, 45 is a long time to wait for food (two sandwich meals – kabob and shawarma both with salad), even if we were sitting at a table.
While we were waiting we saw plenty of people come in to sit and to pick up take-​out (already ordered on the phone), we saw customers by-​pass waitresses and ask the cooks for things like soy sauce and ketchup and we saw one big group leave because they couldn’t be accommodated in the dining area.
The food was good. The laffa itself was very tasty (probably prepared on site?) and the shawarma was excellent, the kabob was a little strange consisting of three large balls of meat – but good none-​the-​less. The salad was salad, i.e. it was green.
My advice? Call and order ahead if you want take-​out, and if they don’t take reservations, call and order ahead and take-​out.

So I came in to eat dinner with my girlfriend and we were waited for about 5 minutes to be seated which was fine they were busy. After getting a table our server took another 15 minutes to come take our order. I ordered the kebob with rice and the meat was dry and the rice was cold. I asked the server I dont want it, she said ill be back. Never came. My girlfriend ordered a sandwich she liked it but the portion was very small. Overall we had a bad experience, the service was super slow and don’t I recommend it!

I have a friend who works at Bathurst and Steels area and only eats Kosher food, so we decided to meet for lunch at Ba-​Li Laffa. Other reviewers write about friendly service… well, the service we received was very indifferent, or rather emotionless. We ordered shawarma and chicken shish-​kebab in laffa and salad combo to share. The meat was bland and dry, laffa was cold, the green salad that came with food wasn’t green at all, it looked like it was sitting there for a week.

My friend and I entered this restaurant as they were closing up after being turned away from a different place, we came in to ba Li lafa, first we were told we can only order wraps (sandwiches to go) which we were more than happy with! After we were in order food the owner offered us to stay and eat there, we were treated in an extremely welcoming Manner by all the staff (i’m sure all they wanted to do is go home but they all smiled at us and treat us amazing!) The food was delicious! I highly recommend this place and I’ll definitely be back!

I was craving for Shawarma and Laffa, took my bf there to taste what is Laffa about, but they serve a cold Laffa, and when it’s cold it has a rubber taste. Very disappointing. They have good chicken shawarma and salads, but if it’s wrapped in cold Laffa you will never enjoy it! Too expensive, waste of time, money and huuuuge dissapointment. You just lost 2 more potential clients «Ba-​li Laffa». Lo bali Laffa anymore from your place…

Took my in-​laws there for dinner tonight, had the three salad combo to start. The waitress was very busy and we had to ask for everything twice. We ate our salad combo with our main course, and at the end of the meal we noticed a nasty black hair in the hummus. When the waitress came to pick up our plates, my wife politely told her about the hair. She told us she would remove it from the bill, but when she came back with the credit card machine, she told us her manager would not take it off the bill because we waited too long. I was a little shocked but paid anyways. On the way out, my wife went to see the manager to voice her disgust, and he listened for a moment, then told her to shut up and get out of his restaurant. The whole wait staff and management in this place really need to work on their manners and respect. Will never go back again…

Great dinner experience!
Very reliable and consistent menu. They have a very attentive staff with great customer service.
Try the shwarma, you wont regret it.

I came here with a friend for lunch. I love middle eastern and mediterranean food so I was pretty excited! There was only one other occupied table, though parking took a while because the lot was pretty full from the other businesses in the plaza.
There was only one waitress working, which made sense considering the number of patrons in the restaurant. She gave us the menus and brought out the usual side dishes but we had to ask for utensils… but it took a while to be able to ask her because she kind of disappeared after bringing out the sides and our waters! As a result, there were a few minutes where we were just staring at the food, contemplating whether to eat it with our hands out of desperation because we were so hungry, even though the lettuce was kind of wilted. Luckily we were able to hold off until our utensils came, which is when we ordered our food. The waitress was nice enough but the service wasn’t particularly friendly or memorable.
I got a kebob (beef and lamb) in a laffa with a side of fries, and asked for fries to be put inside the laffa too. My friend got something similar, also with fries inside. Of course, when the food came out, there were no fries to be found inside either of our wraps. We had fries on the side anyway, so we didn’t bother waiting for the food to be remade after telling the waitress that there were no fries inside. But seriously, we were two of four customers inside the restaurant and the other customers already had their food. There’s no excuse to NOT have the order done correctly.
I’m still giving three stars because even without the fries, the kebob in a laffa was really, really good. The laffa in particular was really nice and chewy. The fries on the side were also good, but it’s hard to mess up fries.
Despite the issues I had, I would consider coming back here one more time to see if this was just an off-​day.

I visited Ba Li Laffa on a busy Thursday night, and the first thing I appreciated was the kosher menu, which is useful when dining with allergies to shellfish. The falafel was super fresh, and the wait staff were helpful with all of my inquiries and concerns, which is a rarity in a small restaurant on a busy night. The starters, salads and sandwiches are all reasonably priced considering what you get for the money.

I read Anat B.‘s review and I think she is either mistaken or showed up on an atypical bad evening. I recall that, on opening, the staff was confused. Now that the restaurant has been around for a few years, everything is fine and the laffa is deeee-​licious! Anat B is invited to join Steve and Rhonda R anytime she finds herself in Thornhill. And, please bring Rutie B, too!

I have passed this place time and time again and have always wanted to stop by.
So I conveniently took the opportunity when I had a Doctor’s appointment in the area to grab lunch from there. I even got a great referral for the place from my Doctor itself.
There was only one choice here for me, I got the shawarma in a laffa pita to go.
The place was clean but there were less people than I had expected at this place. When I finally got to sit down and eat my laffa, I could only think of one thing throughout my meal was the meat was WAY too salty. It’s not the first time I’ve heard that review/​comment on their food. It completely turned me off their food. I couldn’t finish it.
I’m going to give them another shot in the future, but I couldn’t find anything worthwhile eating off their menu other then the shawarma.

I tried this place to gauge what another «laffa» restaurant could offer, after eating at Dr. Laffa.
This ain’t close! Yes they have laffa, but it did not seem ‘right out of the oven”.
The Sabich (a laffa filled with egg and grilled vegetable was just so-​so, and their shawarma was tasteless. They did have a tasty soup (perhaps Moroccan inspired).
This is not a place I would come back to.
You can get better middle eastern food at many many many restaurants in the GTA. At leas I have been.
Next time it will be Sababa, Jerusalem or Me-​Va-​Me.

I have returned to Ba-​Li Laffa a number of times since my prior review, and I’m happy to say both the food and the service have improved. The meat is well seasoned and consistently nicely cooked.
Wait staff at the tables is still far from perfect, and I’ve been left waiting for quite a while at the entrance waiting for a table with a half-​empty restaurant, but improvements have been made.
I have also used the take out– yes, you can pick and choose what goes into your sandwich as it does get assembled at that counter.
Great for when it opens late night after Shabbos.

Now I know why they say that you should wait a few months before trying a brand new restaurant. We heard about this place while at Mi Va Mi (which I go to whenever I’m in town) and decided to try it. Do yourself a favor and stay away from Ba-​Li Laffa. The humus with mushrooms was ok but the lamb kebab with ‘special’ rice was awful. The lamb was basically pieces of grilled fat. And the rice was overcooked white rice with canned peas and carrots. Not so special after all. The server-​Anais-​while sweet wasn’t all that well trained and kept apologizing. We asked for the chicken Shish Kebab and it was just OK. Nothing special or even good. They left off the potato garnish on this one so I can’t comment on what potentially could have been the only edible item. Needless to say, the experience left us cold. And hungry. We gave our feedback to the server but got the feeling that it would fall on deaf ears. While I’m all for competition, I don’t think Mi Va Mi has much to worry about. Unless that is Ba-​Li Laffa gets a real chef and someone to run the place. I was shocked that no one came over to get a read from us. After all, in this age of customer crowd sourcing they’re missing out on not only constructive criticism but a chance for redemption.

Excellent! Very clean and tidy inside. Has a great menu selection. Has 4 different types of salad, sandwhiches, which you can get in a pita or laffa, burgers, hot dogs, home made soups, 6 different types of hummous, numerous appetizers, entrees, that come with a house salad and fries, sauteed veggies or rice. There is also a kids menu which is VERY resonably priced, but a small selection, as well as desserts!