Mandaloun Café

Situated on the main st. of Achrafieh, this restaurant/café is not to be confused with either of the other Mandaloun concepts, Mandaloun sur Mer, Mandaloun Grill or Mandaloun the nightclub. Yet, like its cousins, the Mandaloun pulls off its café version with class and poise.

Upon walking in, one notices the warm, woody decoration that isn't spoilt by anything but being slightly too bunched up with tables being too close to each other and the fact that there's a flatscreen tuned to a football match on the back wall bookshelf, a feature that has the potential to encourage antisocial behavior. After being greeted and politely lead to our table we forge on to ordering our food and drinks.

The service is attentive and friendly, with staff that give and take when casually spoken to. They aptly answered any questions we had and took our order.

The food arrived promptly tasting "good", leaning towards "safe", all while looking scrumptious. For an entrée, the lentil soup was served as mashed yellow lentils with mashed potatoes, a side portion of croutons and a lemon slice served alongside. The fish brochettes, came next and had a pleasing, tangy quality to them. The Funghi pizza also, was "not bad". After the meal came degestion time.

By the time we finished our meal, the café had filled, and the volume level rose a little. We enjoyed each other's company and the waiter managed to take an order for tea from us on his second offer.

We drank a nice digestive tea, which also turned out a little more standard tasting than what the menu makes it out to be, paid, got our cars from the valet, and returned home for the night.