Food fiend's Reviews

Give Jamie a break!! I was told they got 5000 calls in the first hour! Definitely requiring sorting out though this place is sure to be popular. We also booked well in advance to get a weekday evening but had to move it – after a long time on hold, i managed to get a Sunday early evening slot. If you call, i recommend during the day/afternoon as ive always got through in reasonable time when calling.

Food was generally rather lovely – we started wit the chicken liver (good texture but slightly too generous with the salt) and welsh rarebit (slightly warm rather than hot). Mains – we shared the special of pulled pork – great flavours and lovely rustic presentation on blocks of wood all round. I also had the rump steak which was perfectly cooked. We had sides of creamed spinach and fries – both far too big portions in my opinion, at least three could have shared the spinach alone and we ended up wasting half. There is no salt/pepper so they obviously assumed its seasoned enough. The chocolate nemesis is truly delicious – i had heard stories of its loveliness at the River Cafe and i completely recommend it to anyone. Looks stodgy but was actually very light and enough to share. Service was great – very friendly, well informed staff. Our bill was £70 for 2 starters, 2 mains, 2 sides and one pudding (and a couple of non alc drinks)

Downsides – early on in the day, i tried to reschedule my booking slightly earlier online but it only had availability in Dec – when we turned up, it was 3/4 empty (around 4) and got a table earlier – despite the maitre D making out that it was a one time offer of an earlier table! Where were the other diners who booked!?

My thoughts – good food, well worth repeated visits – avoid the starters i picked, have mains but share the hefty sides and puddings to save money. If you have a big group, ask to sit in the cage things which looked funky but are for parties of 8 or more. The funky booths/leather area near the front is also somewhere i would like… More

I had exactly the same experience as those below – this was my second visit to Colbeh and decided to take a friend because the food is always very nice and it seems to always be full of iranians so must be authentic.

We had the Kashk-e Baadenjaan and the yoghurt dishes – and our mains were beautifully tender lamb shish as well as another walnut/lamb stew with pomegranetes. Both were delicious and the flat bread is worth going alone.

Service – and i swear its literally one middle aged woman as the rest are very friendly – is appalling. Asked for tap water but ‘they didnt do tap water’ – like the others here, her attitude was such as they were doing us a favour for serving us. The bill also had no breakdown of the dishes so we couldnt be sure it was correct though came to roughly £40 for two so seemed reasonable given the amount of food we had.

If you are literally looking for good food regardless of the service, then this is ideal. If you are looking for more atmosphere and want the whole package, then id recommend many of the middle eastern restaurants in the area which have similar standards of food and much more welcoming.

Del Aziz is one of the gazillion choices of places to go at Westfield. It was very busy surprisingly for a Tuesday. Service was absolutely atrocious. Many people still waiting for meals – our starters took 40mins – mainly because the waiter had forgotten our order but several tables were complaining too. When the meals finally came, they were fine – actually reasonably tasing. The falafels tasted fresh and the lamb skewers were ok (bit overdone). We didnt order any mains but they looked standard middle eastern type fare. Nothing to write home about.

Id reconsider coming back because of the service – twice i asked about what type of cake i was looking at on display (whilst standing there) but waitress shrilly said ‘wait a minute!!!’ – and never came back. Terrible. They really need to recruit more staff as these couldnt cope. One waiter for about 10 tables!? Once a place gets a bad rep, it sticks – especially given the many other choices at Westfield (Comptoir Libonais for one). Id recommend this for mezze only – for a group wanting a chat and nibbles but keep chasing the service in case you are forgotten about!

I wasnt hugely enamoured with The Botanist – there just didnt seem to be anything special about the food. The place itself is hugely buzzy so i felt you were paying for the atmosphere rather than anything else. Full of Alexa Chung lookalikes or glam people coming back from Ascot.

I decided on steak which was pretty decent and a better piece than expected. Chips were average as were the other sides. My friend had the gazpacho soup and risotto for main – all part of the set menu. Id say that the selection on the menu was much more limited than the one you see on the web but all the standard fare is there (except a choice of about 5 mains rather than the 10 or so on the web). Service was very inexperienced but friendly enough. Pudding again was relatively average – a Knickerbockerglory – no real skill here but was good. Overall the bill for my steak and pudding and one drink was £45 for pretty hefty bill!

I think the owners also own the Cadogan Arms which is further down Kings Road and offer 50% off food via Squaremeal so i did find myself wondering whether i was paying just to be near Sloane Square if its all the same owners. I think if i were going on food alone, its nothing too special but if you are looking for a buzzy place to meet friends and have a buzzy vibe, then the Botanist should suit.

How good is this place! I took my sister here for her birthday and initially had reservations as i was worried it may lack atmosphere plus would it live up to expectations given there are a lot of decent indian restaurants in London. Fantastic is all i can say. We decided to share a starter of lamb kebab – moist tender lamb which was deliciously spiced for such a simple dish. Main was a shared traditional biryani which was more than enough for the two of us. We had non alcoholic drinks which were lovely. Overall the bill came to £75 for two which was quite pricey but the quality was much higher than anywhere else ive been in town. Service was also very good, very helpful, non intrusive waiters who were well informed.

Ive recommended this now to all my friends – well worth a visit for a special night out only because of the price but id go all the time if my waistline could take it!

There are quite a few foodie places in Belsize Terrace and we decided Greek food was the meal to try this time round. The place was half empty though it was still early evening so i wondered whether id made a mistake. I then spotted what looked like an F word trophy next to the till – so my anticipation grew! I later found that this place was in the semi final of the show but didnt get put through due to lacklustre service…

Anyway – we had two starters – spanagopita (feta cheese and spinach parcels) – simply delicious and filling. The other starter was plain humous – nothing impressive in the least, actually having a weird aftertaste, like the olive oil was off or something. Not worth having at all.

The mains then arrived – absolutely massive. I had the lamb souvla – diced lamb, with tzatsiki – this was almost £14, plus you had to order sides. My friend had the kleftiko – similar price but came with sides. When they arrived – id never seen anything like this – huge and delicious. I was stuffed after just a small amount and took the remainder home. I think this will serve me for lunch for the next two days – plus it was delicious. My friend's kleftiko was similarly lovely – melt in the mouth tenderness – i half wished id had that though again, huge. These were meals to share, not for just one normal person (and i love my food!)

We passed on puddings – looked quite tacky a la the ones you seem to see in cheaper chinese restaurants on laminated menus! Overal the bill for two huge mains, two starters, a side and a glass of wine came to £45. I agree the service was lacklustre and the place was half empty when i left – but gave the overall rating because of the mains alone.

Updated

Went back again a few times here – constant table turning has really annoyed me, plus the whole table allocation meant i was given tables near the loo/bar area where you just know youve been placed because you dont seem hip enough or ‘look’ right! Its a shame because the food is good – id recommend insisting you dont get those particular tables when you actually book or just go elsewhere to some of the many other haunts in Notting Hill. Its sad because i think the treatment of customers in this way has really put me off recommending this place anymore.

Previous review

I'd wanted to go to E&O for ages having heard the great reviews. I called up on the Thursday morning and the only tables available were half 6 and 10 so took the earlier option. For anyone else, remember to book early to get yourself a reasonable time. When we got there, the dining area was empty but many had congregated at the smaller bar area.

Foodwise – i started with baby pork ribs which didnt have too much meat on them and seemed covered in black bean sauce – nothing special. My main was much more delicious – a medium rare sirloin steak with some sort of horseradhishy sauce and soy, together was ‘proper’ egg fried rice and bok choi. I thought it was beautifully prepared and the flavours worked together perfectly. My friend had squid to start which again didnt seem much to rave about but had the biggest plate of pad thai you could imagine! Also extremely tasty but in my opinion, very gingery.

Pudding, i had the non Japanese chocolate pudding which was divine – though i felt myself thinking a la Masterchef ‘Ive had this soooooooo many times before, it had better melt in the centre’ – but it did and was excellent, together with some sort of green tea ice cream. Friend had the banoffi pie – hardly very japanese but very light, just enough of every ingredient to make it a very well made pie!

The food here is great – id recommend passing on the starter, and really going all out with mains and… More