The best thing about working downtown is there are so many different restaurants to try! You can choose from a variety of chain restaurants or unique one-of-a-kind restaurants. My friends and I decided to try out Paramount Fine Foods - they also have locations in Mississauga and North York as well!
It is pretty easy to find: right on Yonge street very close to Eaton Centre. Their sign is also kind of hard to miss. We went around 5:30 pm so it wasn't busy at all as there were many open tables.
The inside of the restaurant is pretty spacious and you can view a lot of the food from the side counters. They also have an upstairs but I think they try to fill up the bottom floor before sending anyone up to the top which was a shame cause I wanted to sit upstairs.
When you first sit down, you get this basket of pita set down. It's definitely fresh out of the oven because it was still warm when we got it and you could even see the steam. Not to worry, you won't get charged for it at the end of your meal. We had a bit of difficultly figuring out how to eat it, whether to eat it plain or not so we asked the waiter and he told us it goes nicely with the hummus, which we ordered to try. He was right - it was delicious!
My camera failed me and the picture of the hummus got damaged for some reason =( Despite not having the picture, I highly recommend that you order the hummus to complement the pita. The hummus was so smooth and flavourful it's hard to stop eating the pita! There were many different hummus to order.
I'm always craving for shawarma so I ordered the beef shawarma. It fell a little short of my expectations; I've definitely had better shawarmas elsewhere. The beef was a bit too dry for me so there definitely could have been more sauce. I would definitely skip the shawarma but I've heard that the middle eastern version of pizza called Manakesh was one of their best offerings. I'll have to try that next time!
The hummus alone is worth trying out Paramount, and the price is great! It's easy to get dishes and share among friends. The service was good but a little over the top. We had 3 or 4 different servers asking us the same thing over and over again. Some might consider that being attentive but when you are trying to catch up with friends, it's hard to hold a conversation when you keep being interrupted.
Never been in Paramount before and I was wondering what food they are serving there. You mention of hummus and the shawarma. I love shawarma too and I like it more when it is fresh. Really nice I hope I can come by and visit the place.
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