Toronto Moroccan Restaurant Drops Lamb Tagine as Costs Soar, Cuts Prices by 25%
In Toronto, Wafa El Rhazi has taken lamb tagine off the menu at her Moroccan restaurant, Rayah. Faced with rising costs and a dispute with her landlord, she has also cut her prices by 25%. The gamble is starting to bring customers back.
“Lamb has become the new caviar,” says Wafa El Rhazi. For the restaurateur of Moroccan origin, who lives in Canada, the price of meat is now incompatible with the prices she wants to offer. Her lamb tagine, one of Rayah’s specialties, has therefore disappeared from the menu. Serving it for more than 35 Canadian dollars would, she says, go against the spirit of her establishment.
The decision comes alongside a 25% cut in the price of main courses, which are now priced between 17.90 and 24.90 Canadian dollars. The restaurateur had noticed a change in her customers’ habits: some were skipping starters and desserts, while families were ordering fewer dishes to share. She wants everyone to be able to enjoy a full meal for around 30 dollars.
Wafa El Rhazi opened Rayah on May 25, 2025, at 507 Parliament Street in the Cabbagetown neighborhood of Toronto, where she lives with her husband, Zaky Hajji. Inspired by Moroccan and French culinary traditions, the restaurant is the culmination of several years of preparation. The entrepreneur says she invested more than a million Canadian dollars in it, after, among other things, working in the technology sector to finance her project.
But the couple’s financial difficulties go beyond the cost of ingredients. For several months, the restaurateurs have been embroiled in a dispute with the landlord of their premises. In June, the landlord demanded 7,536 Canadian dollars in additional charges, including maintenance, insurance and taxes. Wafa El Rhazi disputes the amounts and says she has placed the money with her lawyer while awaiting supporting documents.
Price cuts bring customers back
The situation became even more complicated in September. According to Zaky Hajji, the amount being claimed had by then approached 20,000 Canadian dollars, including legal and accounting fees. The couple had already received a formal notice in June threatening to terminate the lease. Fearing the premises might be repossessed while they were away, the restaurateur’s husband even spent several nights on a camp bed set up in the dining room.
Faced with these difficulties, Wafa El Rhazi chose to rethink her business model. In an interview with Canadian outlet TorontoToday published on November 6, she says she is counting on higher customer numbers to make up for reduced margins. The strategy means offering less expensive dishes and more affordable bills.
To launch her new menu, she offered meals for 15 Canadian dollars from October 21 to 25. The result exceeded her expectations: all 60 seats in the restaurant were occupied every evening during the five-day promotion. Wafa El Rhazi says she even saw familiar customers she had not seen in some time among the diners.
