Beirut Palace

by Roanne S.

I live within walking distance of Beirut Palace, and would love to give them my business.  They have great food.  But, as almost every other reviewer here has said, their service is absolutely horrible.  I've been there three times, and there is no way I can justify ever going back, no matter how great the food.  Businesses that care so little about the service they provide diners in their restaurant don't deserve my custom.

by Parisa K.

Personally, I enjoy Beirut Palace.  I like most of the food I've gotten from there.  I felt like the falafel was a little dry (though falafel is often a little dry), but I love the hummus.  They really have good hummus.  I also like the fact that they have hookahs.  I admit that it's a little weird to sit around and order a meal and a hookah in the same spot, but it's still fun.  You don't have to do both together if you don't want.  But the location is definitely a nice place to sit outside, smoke a hookah, and enjoy downtown Royal Oak.

by Eric P.

Believe it or not, I actually had a good experience here.  Yes, I've heard the story about them being racist many times.  But, I didn't experience any of that.The year after I graduated from college, I met one of my old professors here for lunch on a Saturday afternoon.  We received very good service, and the food was excellent.  I had no complaints and would gladly go back here again.

by Michael C.

Beirut Palace is small, but a pleasant place just across the street from the Main Art Theatre. Firstly, yes the service is slow. And actually I paid attention the last time I was in BP and it makes perfect sense; I realized that any time I've been there, there was only a few waiters on staff, and sometimes only one. So though I do take off one star for slower service, it's with the understanding that even the best waiters can't manage a whole restaurant with a skeleton crew.And if you're anything like me, not having a waiter coming up to the table every 5 minutes is welcome since I'm usually with a group of people that wants to talk a lot. All the food I've gotten here has been delicious; the hummous is great (and there's a definite art to making it, no matter what anyone tells you!), the chicken and lamb are perfect, and the portions are good. Because of the location you're looking to spend a little more than usual for certain dishes, but if you're in downtown Royal Oak, there's really no other place that does what BP does better. I'd suggest getting a table on the patio and a hookah to go along with your meal. It really makes for a nice experience.

by Jenn S.

I have to pretty much agree with most of the reviews. I live in Royal Oak, not too far from this place and sadly, I wish it was better. I admit, growing up in Dearborn completely spoiled my palate and set my standards unbelievably high for Middle Eastern food. I was utterly dissapointed and disgusted at the dried on the plate hummus we were served, not to mention it was covered with cayenne pepper. What the...? Next lets move on to the wilted, withered and brown fattoush salad that was mixed with mushed out tomatoes, wrinkled cucumbers and dressed with what tasted like water and red wine vinegar. My husband actually spit some into his napkin. When I pointed the rotting vegetation out to the waiter, he smirked and said "that is how our salad is today". I am not risking another bad salad day at this place. Yucky, icky and gross.

by Marc A.

I split a sampler and piled everything I could into my mouth because it was taaaasty.  Service was not so taaaasty, however.  Why? Why? Why do I have to drink from a six-ounce glass of water?  I felt a strong urge to demand that the neighboring table allow me to take a pull off their hookah.  It is good location for people watching and sitting outside though.

by Allen P.

Bad, just bad.Not only is it expensive but its dry, bland and tastes pretty plain. Hi, Can I have a plate of dry meat and rice for $15? Could I get that on a dirty patio table with little to no service? Thanks, also do you have some sort of sauce for this bland ass food? Ok, great, oh $2 extra, yeah that makes sense.Bad.

by Joe T.

This place is horrible. One time when they told us they don't serve hookah after 10pm, my girlfriend said "shut up, no way!", and the Arabic guy at the register was like, "I would never let a girl talk to me like that!" I stuck up for her telling him that it's an American phrase of disbelief. He continues arguing for 1-2 minutes and then proceeded to tell us "get out of here, we don't serve your kind." I was in disbelief that this ARABIC immigrant; well post Civil War, post 9/11, would say that to us. I should complain about them to the BBB.Let's get to the food. The hummous and shawarma sandwiches here are overpriced, dry and bland. Just horrible. Metro-Detroit is known for high quality Arabic food. This was about as good as Arabic food would get in Mexico.The hookah is overpriced at $20! Ridiculous - and they don't even use Starbuzz - the best kind of hookah tobacco. I asked them and they said "it's the best kind." I asked them to show me the packaging to it - it was some no name generic stuff. No surprise there - they buy tobacco for a few bucks, then charge $20 a hookah - when each tower itself could sell for $40. Money hungry bastards. I went to Adonis, a poshy hookah/music cafe in Dearborn. Nice seating, 3.5 star service, live music, belly dancing, and serves alcohol all on weekends - and even there Starbuzz top quality hookah was $16.99/tower. So where does this hole in the wall come off charging $20/hookah!?!?!This is a racist establishment, over priced, sells bland food, and did I mention they are Arabic racists? Go figure. The waiters/waitresses are OK but the upper management/staff are despicable. Avoid this place at all costs.For a good hookah/food experience with great products and fair "you get what you pay for pricing," go to 360 Lounge or Sinbad in Dearborn. And if its a Friday or Saturday night go to Adonis in Dearborn. Great places!

by ryan k.

One star about sums this place up. I went here with my mother for lunch the other day and I ordered the chicken shawarma sandwich and I was intrigued with the lamb tongue sandwich (I'm adventurous) so I ordered one of those to try as well. My mom ordered the shish tawook. Our food sat up on the counter ready to be brought out for about 5 minutes, which is unacceptable because we were 1 of 2 tables in the place. Finally they bring our food. They present my mom with this plate full of dry looking bland rice and 4 pieces of chicken tossed about on the side of the plate. They give me my two sandwiches and a side of the same nasty looking rice and I politely informed our waiter that I ordered fries and not this rice. With a huff he took my plate away and about 10 minutes later he brings it back with fries. The same shawarma sandwich sitting there, now over 15 minutes old. Well as you can imagine, it was cold, dry, bland, and generally the worst shawarma I have ever eaten. I only ate half. The lamb tongue sandwich was actually not bad, but i don't think I'd order it again. It was really minerally like liver, but not as irony (as in iron flavored, not ironic). At least it wasn't a mouth full of sawdust like the other sandwich. Oh and I forgot, the bread they serve you was cold, like straight from the refrigerator cold, and hard. After reading others reviews and allegations of racism on the part of the management i can say I will avoid this place at all costs and direct all of my friends and family to do the same. That is downright awful. Could you imagine if a white business owner were to shout at a group of Arabic girls that he "doesn't serve their kind"? How disrespectful and awful. I'll never go here again. I'll be sticking to the fine Arabic cuisine offered up at the Pita Cafe.

by Krupa U.

The first time I went to this place the owner kicked me and my friends out before we could even pick a seat. He didn't want to serve "our kind" (My friends and I are Indian).... well he's some kind of Arabic... what makes him any better? Anyways, I vowed to never go to this place again and for 3 years I stuck to that promise. I went here again last weekend, maybe the ownership changed because they actually let us sit down. We ordered a hookah tower, which was smoking really good.... i think that's the only thing I liked about that place. After we ordered the tower, our waiter informed us that we couldn't just order a hookah, we had to order some food item.....???um ok? since when can a restaurant force you to order food? I mean we were already paying customers... we bought the hookah didn't we????? I was actually really irritated about that especially since my friends and I had JUST ate, so we weren't even hungry. I didn't want to fight and head to another hookah joint in royal oak, so I just sucked it up and ordered a plate of hummous which was only ok... we didn't even eat any of it.I get the bill..... the hookah is $20???!!!! WTF... that's outrageous! They are overcharging for the hookah AND they forced me to buy a plate of food i didn't even want??? And that small plate of mediocre hummous was $8!!EFF NO... I should have stuck to my guns and just gone to Coffee Net on John R and 19. Or the other Beirut on 15 and Dequindre which I have had better experience at. Don't go here, it's a freakin rip off!