Reservations
We hold tables for two weeks out. Fill in the form below and one of us will call or email you back the same day — usually within a couple of hours, unless we are in the middle of a dinner rush. If you would rather just talk to a person, ring (604) 555-0147 between 11am and 9pm.
Request a table
Everything marked required helps us seat you properly. Tell us about allergies, a birthday, a high chair, or a guest who needs the wheelchair-accessible side of the room, and we will have it sorted before you arrive.
A request is not a confirmed booking until you hear back from us. If you have not heard anything by the end of the day, call the restaurant — our email filter has been known to swallow things.
When we are open
The kitchen takes its last order thirty minutes before close. The charcoal grill is lit for every service, lunch included.
- Lunch, Tuesday to Friday
- 11:30am – 2:30pm. Quick kebab plates, chelo, and the daily khoresht. Most tables turn in under an hour if you tell us you are on a lunch break.
- Dinner, Tuesday to Sunday
- 5:00pm – 9:30pm, and until 10:30pm on Friday and Saturday. Full menu, including the stews that need the long simmer.
- Weekend brunch
- Saturday and Sunday, 9:00am – 2:00pm. Barbari bread out of the oven every twenty minutes, haleem until it runs out.
- Closed
- Mondays, and for two weeks around Nowruz each spring. We post the exact dates on the door in February.
Parties of eight or more
Large tables are welcome, but they need a little planning. Call us rather than using the form so we can talk through the timing and what you want on the table.
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Eight to fourteen guests
We seat you at the long walnut table along the north wall. We ask for a set menu chosen three days ahead so the rice and the stews are timed to come out together instead of in a slow trickle.
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The back room
A separate room behind the dining room, sixteen seats at one table or twenty-four at three. No rental fee; there is a food and drink minimum of $650 at dinner and $400 at lunch. It has its own door, so a speech does not have to compete with the grill.
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Deposit and confirmation
Groups of twelve and up leave a $150 deposit, which comes off the final bill. We take it by card over the phone and refund it in full with five days' notice.
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One bill, or several
We will split a large table up to six ways. Beyond that, one bill is faster for everyone, including you. A 18% gratuity is added to parties of ten or more.
Walk-ins, waits, and cancellations
We keep about a third of the room open for people who simply walk in. On a Tuesday night you will sit down straight away. On a Saturday morning, you will not.
- Saturday brunch, 10am to noon
- Expect thirty to fifty minutes without a booking. Give us your mobile number at the door and go walk the Quay — we will text when your table is ready.
- Best walk-in times
- Before 9:45am or after 1:00pm on weekends. Weeknights before 6:00pm or after 8:15pm.
- Holding your table
- We hold a booked table for fifteen minutes. Call if the bridge is backed up and we will hold it longer — traffic on Lions Gate is not your fault.
- Cancellation window
- Tables of one to seven: let us know any time before your booking. Eight or more: twenty-four hours, please, since we will have shopped for you. Back room bookings: five days for a full deposit refund.
My father ran the room the same way for fifteen years. If someone is standing in the doorway at 9:20 on a Saturday, you find them a chair and you bring them tea while they wait.
Nasrin Ehsani, who now runs the room
Finding us
We are at Lonsdale Avenue, on the east side between 12th and 13th, with a red awning and a samovar in the window.
Parking
Metered street parking runs along Lonsdale and is free after 8:00pm and all day Sunday. The side streets east of Lonsdale — 12th, 13th, and St Georges — are unmetered and usually have space within a block. There is a City lot on 13th Street just west of Lonsdale, a two-minute walk, flat rate after 6:00pm.
Transit from Lonsdale Quay
From the SeaBus terminal at Lonsdale Quay, take the 229 or the R2 Marine Drive up Lonsdale and get off at 13th Street. It is about eight minutes on the bus and a one-block walk south. Walking the whole way from the Quay takes roughly twenty-five minutes and is uphill the entire time, which is worth knowing before you start.
Getting in the door
Street-level entrance with no step, a door wide enough for a wheelchair, and an accessible washroom at the back past the private room. High chairs and booster seats are by the host stand — ask and we will bring one over.
Booking for a crowd instead?
If you are feeding twenty people at an office or two hundred at a wedding, that is a different conversation and we would rather have it properly.