Balena Afghan Restaurant & Karahi House

We dropped by at Balena last Friday for a meal with a friends couple. Greeted warmly by the server and seated after only a few minutes wait even though was busy as I could see. We started by ordering the Afghan flatbread shared by all. It was light and tasty. For our main course we ordered a mix of lamb and chicken dishes from the Kabob menu and the Signature menu which we shared among the four of us. The food was excellent, nicely flavoured though a bit strong. The lamb was my favourite - tender and spicy as I like it. The downside was food took some time to come, but may be it was the weekend, and also some found the chicken dish spicy. We definitely over ordered because there was no room for dessert. Our first visit and will be back.

Service was great. I went around 3-4, werent many people. The quorma was great and the complimentary naans are the best.

Party of 20 on Christmas Day, great customer service, huge portions with a very nice presentation, cool platter for 6. Loved the salads and the Lamb chops dinner. Very neat place from the dining area to the washrooms. Staff were extremely helpful and accommodating. Would recommend to friends and family.

Okay so, their service was nice and the woman manning the clerk was extremely understanding and friendly. Wait time was relatively quick and reasonable for such delicious food (plus we ordered two things. it took 15 mins), OH THE FOOD. it was just... GOOD! never too spicy, and even if it is, its not overwhelming. The meat wasn't dry or tough (even tho goat meat is usually tough. they made it relatively soft) and the prices were the best for such good food. restaurant looked clean and really pretty inside, gave me home style vibes while looking elegant and simple. 10/10 would come here again!

The mantu here is delicious! I've been craving my mom's home made mantu, and when I found an Afghan restaurant near me with this on the menu I had to order it. I'll definitely be trying the other items as well as I'm sure they'll taste just as good!

This place has really improved since it’s past owners.The food is AMAZING. Most dishes are too heavily portioned for 1 person alone.The interior of this place is beautiful - can’t wait for the post covid world.

We had reservations and came a few minutes early. The hostess waitress didn’t recognize the name and when I mentioned it’s for 13 people she sat us at the reserved table and asked if she could remove the reservation stands. I said sure it’s fine as we are here & waiting for the rest of our party guests to arrive. We asked for water for all of us while waiting.When our other guests arrived- we asked for water again while waiting to order and our food.As everyone gave their order and we gave ours I said please no rice. Just fries, salad and chicken with the chutneys for each of us and ketchup for the fries & water please.She repeated our order and added rice in it. I corrected her and said no rice pls. Just this. She nodded and the menus.As we waited for awhile for our order we wondered where the water was.First appetizers and we asked for plates, utensils and napkins & our waters.She brought our plates, napkins and utensils yet no water.As we had that slowly my kids order came. I asked for ketchup and more chutneys and water please.The ketchup took a long time and water was asked again from us and the other guests at our table. Their platters took a long time and turns out they never added it and brought us other stuff we didn’t order which was other people’s order. They had to request it again and explain what they wanted.We asked for ketchup and chutneys and water. It seems they didn’t want to or could not remember.Then as my cousins got annoyed with it and frustrated they finally brought the other guests food and our ketchup which most of the fries were cold or eaten as is.Overall didn’t have a great time. To ask for water 5-8 times then even after refill it and other things they were not doing a great job.I think they need to work on the service more. This is my second time. My first time was a few months ago and I came with friends and I had ordered pickup through DoorDash. Many restaurants let you order ahead of time and pick up & dine in. But this one refused to let me open my take out box to eat even though I paid for it.I don’t know. They need to work better at serving their customers. Will I recommend it to others ? No. Will I share my bad experiences on here and our community local Facebook groups and other social media sites yes! Sorry. But I wasn’t satisfied.