There seems to be a consistency problem here. I haven't sampled nearly as much stuff as you did, but my experiences were all over the map.

I also found the lamb shank delicious and would have it again. The entire plate was delightful.

Another entree, a stuffed chicken dish, was not truly bad, but had a very weird undertone. I tried to identify the flavour (sumac? za'atar?), but concluded that it had been cooked with a strong dose of some generic "pickling spices". I would not have this again.

The lentil soup was pleasant once I added a lot of salt and pepper.

The cauliflower dripped grease and was neither hot nor crisp.

The falafel was crisp outside and moist within, but it tasted awful. I don't know whether it was a screwed-up batter or just my taste preferences, but I couldn't even eat half.

The service on one occasion was friendly and well meaning, but also ignorant and slow. On my second visit, there was only one other customer, who was already eating when I arrived. This server also knew nothing about the menu and made herself unavailable except when actually delivering food. Lentil soup took 20 minutes to arrive; other food took even longer.

I will likely go back, but it isn't a priority.

BTW, if they are letting you BYOB openly with no liquour license, they will likely end up in deep doo doo.

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I went last week with a large group and we ordered a variety of appetizers and we each had our own main. I tried as many of appetizers as possible.

It is BYOB only -- but there is a little LCBO just up the street.

Really tacky decor -- large pseudo-ancient Egyptian prints and paintings, coloured lights, hieroglyphic table-cloths. It was all a bit hard to take for a PhD student in Egyptology -- but, the food was worth it.

The Food:

Hummous:

Smoky and rich. Topped with olive oil, smoky cumin, chili, and sumac as well as a small spoonful of a mixture of onion, tomato and parsely.

This is the best hummuos I have ever had. Even though I had a tub of hummous from Akram's still in my fridge I bought two of these on the way out.

Nice fresh pita too. Not from Arz, but just as good.

Foul (broad-bean spread):

Served warm with the same dressings as the hummous plus some sour cream(?). This was also entirely excellent.

Battered Cauliflower:

Very good and I certainly will order it again. However, it doesn't rise much about the expectations based on the description and the batter is a little thick. If you like cauliflower and you like battered vegetables you will love this -- otherwise ignore it.

Stuffed Grape-Leaves:

As good as any. These are the small finger-size ones with a simply rice filling and then flavoured with a vinegrette. Nothing to right home about.

Lentil Soup:

Great! Creamy without cream and richly flavoured. The accompaning corn-chips are a bit odd.

Babaganoush:

I didn't get a taste -- it must have been good.

Falafel:

These were outstanding. They were really, really, crisp on the outisde and moist all the way through right from the edge. They were much herbier than most (well, than any I've had). They are a non-chick pea variety. However, unlike Akram Dow, the chick peas aren't replaced with Mung but with Fava and that made a much more fresh-pea flavoured falafel. Combined with the aforementioned herbiness it made for a very unique and delicious falafel. I can, however, see someone not liking these due to the over-riding parsely flavour.

For the main I had the Lamb Shank and it was devine. I want to go back right now to have it again and in lew of that I'm trying to replicate the recipe this weekend at home. It had clove and cumin with tomatoes and potatoes. But it was all really well balanced and delicious. The main came with a salad and some rice. The salad was very nice the rice was simply plain.

Desert:

I had the baklava (actually everyone did) and it was quite good.

Prices:

Well, we got a group rate so I don't know what it would have been all togetehr, exactly. However, when we sat down and ordered I didn't know we were getting a group rate and share the apps. so I did note the prices. The apps. were in the $5 range and the mains were $10-15. They had pita wraps that were much cheaper. All and all a cheap eats place with really good food.

I will be back and soon. I might get take-out though.

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This reminds me that I'm overdue for another visit to Prince of Egypt.

There was one thing that made our first visit really special: one of us was about to travel to Egypt, and had been reading about a popular dessert called Umm Ali. It wasn't on the menu, but he asked anyway if they had it. "Sure, we can make it," said the waitress. "It'll take about 15 minutes." 15 minutes later, we had two portions of a hot, decadent concoction that I can only describe as bread pudding made with filo. Later, the chef came out to find out who'd ordered this thing, and gave us the recipe.

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