Given his track record on this board, the OP knows his Middle East nosh quite well. So with his eight-month-old review of Ba-Li above in mind, I tippy-toed into this Dr. Laffa copycat resto a few nights ago - and found it not nearly as good as Toronto's original laffa house. It was certainly serviceable, as the noisy full house attested. But Dr. Laffa, to my mind, beats it by a wide margin in almost every category. For comparison's sake, I ordered exactly the same items as I'd had at Dr. Laffa a few weeks previously. Dr Laffa's soups are more flavourful (a big improvement from its early days), its hummus had more fresh and tasty zing, its sabich sandwich in a laffa much, much zestier. My friend, an Israeli, also didn't find the food up to much (mind, he doesn't care for Dr. Laffa either, crank that he is), but then, Israelis are always moaning about how many light years better (and cheaper) the nosh is in Tel Aviv - and they're probably right. Though Ba-Li's menu insists its laffas are freshly baked, it certainly didn't taste like it. Dr. Laffa, with its dedicated laffa oven, does it infinitely better. Still, my friend and I sampled just the first part of the menu -soups, salads, starters, sandwiches and such. Most of the other tables were digging into the main course entrees, and seemed to be enjoying them. Lame French fries, though. Service was overwhelmed by the crowd, unlike Dr. Laffa, where staffing levels - and food quality - have improved over the past six months. Menu and prices are pretty much the same at both places, with Ba-Li a buck or two less for some dishes. Up against Dr. Laffa, the only thing Ba-Li has going for it, in my view: a licence. Though I'd give it another try sometime, when Dr. Laffa is mobbed, as it invariably is nowadays. It's only a 10-minute drive away from Dr. Laffa.
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