Cassandra Johnson

After wanting to try Phoenicia for quite some time, my husband & daughter took me there for dinner on Mother's Day. While the food was tasty, it was not all that different from many other Middle Eastern restaurants we've dined with in the past. The only thing that really stood out were the prices. Maybe it's location in Birmingham allows Phoenicia to charge twice as much as the average restaurant for the same quality of food. Our bill for three people (without drinks) was $185. If we are splurging for a nice dinner out, I want it to feel as though we've had something special. While the restaurant is lovely, it is rather small and crowded. We were seated very close to a large party on one side and a table of four, loud children on another. I'm not sure why a nice restaurant allowed four kids (three of which were very young) to sit at a table without adult supervision, but it definitely affected our experience. One very positive thing about our experience was the Hummus & Hashwi. This dish was new to us and stood out from the otherwise tasty, but ordinary dinner.