Zeitoon: A Review

I like supporting local businesses.  I also like discounts that enable me to try out a new, local establishment for a diminished price.  And so it was that I got a deal for a local Persian restaurant: Zeitoon.  After sitting on it for a couple of months Michael and I decided to go tonight.
We arrived and decided to sit inside.  We asked for a booth but, because booths are for four, we were told we could only take a table for two - fair enough.  Unfortunately the one offered to us was right by the entrance which neither of us were keen on and so we chose another table that hadn't yet been bussed.  The hostess said she would have someone come and clean it.
A young man arrived and essentially dragged his semi-moist cloth across the table top a few times, essentially smearing the food that was already there, except for the crumbs which he missed entirely.  He informed us - before I had time to object - that he would be back momentarily with our cutlery.
I will interject here that we noticed a "Help Wanted" sign up in the window as we rocked up to the place.  In retrospect that explains a lot.
Our cutlery showed up at which point I suggested that our table was not, in fact, clean and could he please do a proper job.  He agreed and came back with a wet cloth and cleaned the table thoroughly.
The restaurant was surprisingly busy and it appeared there were only two waitresses working.  We probably waited twenty minutes before the hostess came over to ask if we had placed our order.  I advised her that no one had yet to help us.  Michael told me that she literally ran to take and place our order which was hummus to start, a salmon kabob, the veggie dish, the beer special and (and this is where it gets complicated) originally I ordered a glass of the Jackson Triggs Sauvignon Blanc but then asked her to please change the order to the Malbec.
A while later another waitress brought the hummus.  Just that.  The hummus.  She said she'd be back with the bread.
Look: if you're slammed?  Why are you making two trips back and forth to the kitchen?  She should have been bringing out both of our drinks, the hummus and the bread in one shot.  But hey, who am I?
The wine that was brought out was white so, clearly, not the Malbec.  I knew they were busy and didn't want to push it so I let it slide and sipped on my $5 glass of JT.
Again, I will interject that this restaurant isn't new: our local rag reviewed it a year ago.
The food comes out and the rice was absolutely delicious.  I then bit into what I thought was a piece of grilled green pepper.  Turns out it was actually a green chili pepper and I'm glad I didn't take much more a small mouthful since the water that I had also asked for wasn't there and my wine was out.  We ordered another round.
The food was good.  I had some of Michael's salmon and he polished off my grilled vegetables which were really flavourful.  Again: the rice?  Absolutely superb.
When we were finished we asked for the bill, all the while noticing a couple that had come in and were exhibiting the same signs of exasperation at the exceptionally poor service.  They were seated diagonally to us and, when the hostess came again to ask us how our food was and we said fine, she promptly left our table and went back to the kitchen, absolutely ignoring the people who had been waiting and very much wanted to order.
Prior to receiving the bill I said that perhaps the service was a blip on the radar and they were abnormally short staffed (though the level of inefficiency they espoused was outstanding).
After I received the bill and saw that I had been charged for two glass of Ganton and Larson Pinot Grigio at $7.50 a glass I opted not to return.  I took the bill to the till and informed them of their error (not even bothering to mention that I had ultimately asked for a glass of Malbec) and they knocked the $5 overcharge off the total.
We left a minimal tip and I doubt we will return.  Divan Kitchen, around the corner from Zeitoon, was a much more enjoyable experience when I went there with R some months ago.  And the reviews support it: Urban Spoon rates Zeitoon at 64% while Divan Kitchen gets a whopping 91%.
Bottom line?  We're in a recession and most smart people are being picky as to how they are spending their money.  We're trying to limit our dining out experiences and so Zeitoon basically had one chance with us to get it right.  Having been operational for a year now, it was surprising to me that they hadn't yet ironed out the kinks and that they were employing such inexperienced staff.  The food was good, but not good enough to have to put up with such substandard service.