Byblos Lebanese Restaurant

by Sheyanne M.

This place is all about the lunch time buffet. For ten dollars you can get all you can eat freaking delicious Mediterranean food. Hookah lounge is great though filled with high school seniors. A great healthy lunchtime deal, for people in a hurry. The atmosphere is nice, decent service and wonderful food.

by pete g.

Byblos is a casual place, with red lighting, big screen TVs in the corners showing Lebanese music and belly dancing videos, a tent-covering over the belly dancing stage. As we scarfed down hot pita and creamy hummus and baba ganoush, a belly dancer circulated the crowd, eventually pulling up a willing victim to join her for some hip shaking. The belly dancers seem to be good at reading body language and won't swing by your table if you don't want. The last time we were there I had the curious experience of watching a another table with their eyes transfixed on the belly dancing to TV while a real life (and more talented) belly dancer was dancing next to them. WTF? We always seem to eat too much. The portions are generous and the pita is quite filling. While most dishes are tasty and well made, the falafel plate is a big disappointment. Think 8-10 falafel balls stacked next to some lettuce and pickles. The falafels are delicious, for sure, but at most Middle Eastern restaurants this dish will include hummus, tabbouleh, baba ganoush, etc so you can fashion your falafel "sandwiches" with the provided pita. Because we had consumed the hummus and baba ganoush as appetizers, I was left with the falafel balls. Being of the quasi-vegan persuasion, I am always stoked to find a menu in Panther City that is fully stocked with veggie options. I like to conclude a fine Byblos meal with an order of Lebanese coffee. This is a thick brew that using finely ground coffee, finer than an espresso grind, so some of the "grounds" end up in your cup. It's best with a packet or two of sugar; I find this really brings out the cardamom flavors. With our bellies full and our hearts racing from the caffeine, we retired to the Hookah lounge. The Hookah Lounge is a good sized room with colorful fabrics draping down from the 20 ft high ceiling. Pillows litter the floor and comfy, inviting couches line the walls. Red lighting and Middle Eastern music made this a mellow place to take a Hookah, a water pipe through which one smokes flavored tobacco. At its best, the Hookah Lounge is a relaxing place to wrap up an evening, digest, have a final drink and mellow out. On the weekends, it can get quite crowded with Drakkar Noir drenched teenaged boys and their dates. I am not a smoker, but the flavored tobacco, especially after it's been cooled and cleansed by the water pipe is very easy to smoke. Hookah isn't dirty chemical vapor like cigarettes or a fistful of flavor like cigars; it's a subtle and casual form of smoking.

by Marisa F.

Soooo...the girls and I all headed out to Byblos on a Saturday afternoon for the brunch.  The food was...ok. Though, it looked like it had been sitting out for a while.  The salads were very good, but they ran out of the yogurt cucumbers and never "restocked" them.  Additionally, we killed the falafel and they didn't restock it.  I dunno if the cook was chillin' with a hookah or what but I was disappointed as that's the whole reason I wanted to go there.  The pita bread was dry and lacked flavor.  The desserts were not to my liking. oh - one last thing...my friend found a hair in her hummus.  A big, black, long one.  They didn't discount or comp the price of her buffet.Don't think we'll be going back.

by Eater D.

We did not eat here, so our rating is not based on the food.  We went to Byblos on a Friday night for the Hookah Lounge.  Some of our friends had gone before and had a good time.  One of them had a membership, which our group got into the lounge on.  The host of the lounge was a jerk the whole night.  He refused to make the hookah we wanted (cantaloupe mixed with mint) because he did not like the combination, even though they were both on the menu.  After we decided on plain mint, because he would not give us what we really wanted, he rolled his eyes, and left.  He never came back - with our hookah or with our friends drinks.  20 minutes later, another waiter came to our table to ask if he could take our order.  He did not know that we had been waiting in the lounge for a minimum of 30 minutes already.  Our first order was never put in by the jack a$$ that originally took our order.  While sitting there, the music playing went off and the host started yelling, using curse words for the whole room to hear him about how his magic trick was ruined.  Our hookah was never tended to and the waiter never came back around to see if we wanted more drinks.  As we were leaving, the host was trying to intimidate his new guests by getting angry that they were laughing at some joke he was not a part of.  This is not New York and host - you are not the soup nazi.  Our only regret is that we did not get up and leave after the first order was taken.

by Shane F.

You know, having lived in the middle east for all my life, I know quite a bit about middle eastern cuisine and culture. Let's start with the ambiance. Overall, the place is not badly decorated, with a minimalist approach although the lebanese embellishments do not seem out of place. There is a large screen projection TV in the back near the hookah "lounge" (which is more of a small sectioned-off area) which seems to constantly play Lebanese music videos (Nancy Ajram, anyone?). The buffet is actually fairly well done. The Hommous was actually quite smooth and well-made, the Tabouleh is suitably fresh and the Falafel is crisp and not overly oily. There is only one meat dish on offer, roasted chicken. I'm not sure if it rotates during the week, but the chicken was surprisingly the worst part of the buffet, since it was very dry. Fresh hot arabic bread (a flatter version of pita bread) is delivered to the table.The live "entertainment" was the reason the rating is a 3 and not a 4. Let's get one thing clear right off the bat. Belly Dancers ARE NOT STRIPPERS. Unfortunately, this particular dancer, who did not seems to know the mechanics of belly dancing in the first place, had dollar bills in her belt. Thankfully, she didn't drag anyone from our table up, although she did manage to get someone to dance with her from another table. So very much a negative point toward the overall score. Perhaps other belly dancers who work at Byblos are better, but do not come here just for the entertainment.Thankfully, the food does save the restaurant's reputation somewhat. This is a decent place for a good meal and conversation (especially during the week when it is quiet). The waiter was superb and very well versed in the foods. He was quite attentive, so that's a definite plus.Thursday night buffet is $11.95 per head. Drinks average 4-12 depending on complexity and shelf.

by Katy g.

There is a waiter at this establishment (self proclaimed name: MAGIC) who is the type of person who thinks that he's witty, funny, and well liked by everyone. He is an egomaniac, who will take up your entire meal by telling you about how good he is at magic tricks, while telling you jokes that are not funny. You don't get to talk to whoever you are there with because he can't stand it if he's not the center of attention at your table. If you do the Hookah Lounge, he will smoke out of your hookah, and no matter what type you order, he'll bring you whatever flavor he thinks "you look like." He claims to have an ability to interpret, based on someone's looks, what type of Hookah they should be smoking and doesn't let you get what you want to try.Saturday night, (the last night I'll ever go there) I ordered a sandwich with no tomatoes and he told me a story about how his uncle didn't like tomatoes and he held him down, sliced one open over his face and forced the tomato down his throat. Then he told me that it was good that I didn't eat tomatoes because it would make my vagina taste bad. He said this in front of my boyfriend and a table right next to us with a family and a little girl. If I wanted to go to "Dick's Last Resort" I would have.   We were seated in the Hookah lounge for dinner because the restaurant was packed that evening and we were promised we could have Hookah while we ate.  Then we asked for Hookah, shortly after being seated.  Magic said we couldn't have any because we didn't have our membership cards with us. He said he was going to look us up in the computer but never did. (even though we bought a membership the last time we were there.)  Then he started talking about us to another couple, using us as an example for why someone should bring his membership card.We got up and left, because we had been seated for 40 minutes in the hookah lounge with no hookah, a waiter who sexually harassed me because I didn't like tomatoes, and without food. We were also nervous that this weirdo was going to purposely screw up our order to mess with us, and we were so hungry, we had chipotle instead.I should have slapped his face or called him several names, but instead we paid for our drinks and left him no tip.  We stood up and left in front of other patrons, which was the nicest we could possibly stand to be.

by Solomon W.

Definitely a reasonable buffet, but nothing was too great here.  For the price you pay, you get a nice selection of pretty good Lebanese cuisine.  Lamb, chicken, eggplant, and hummus are all offered.  Your typical Lebanese offerings are good here, but I can't remember anything outstanding in particular.  If you are in the Stockyards and want something really different, give this one a try.