Assaha Village

Lebanese·
££££
·
·
London, W2 3BX ·Website·Call020 7402 4985

SquareMeal Review of Assaha Village

It’s called a village because it is a village – or at least a cleverly marketed facsimile of one. Conceived as a deliberately orchestrated celebration of traditional Lebanese rural life – all strings of dried chillis, stone alcoves & pretend market stalls – Assaha is simultaneously twee & enchanting, & very carefully promoted by a Lebanese parent company with a social conscience. The food follows a comfortingly familiar pattern, from a harvest festival of raw vegetables & pickles to start things off, through assorted mezze plates (moutabal, garlic-scented labneh & hoummos) to shawarma & grills, plus fruit & baklava to finish. After a dazzling start, readers reckon some dishes now ‘miss the mark’; service also engenders mixed reviews, from ‘amenable’ to ‘the worst’. Expect juices, coffees & hookahs, but no booze.

Good to know

Average Price
££££ - Under £30
Cuisines
Lebanese

Location

29-31 Craven Road, London, W2 3BX

020 7402 4985 020 7402 4985

Website

Opening Times

Mon-Sun 12N-12M

Reviews

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8 Reviews 
Food/Drink
Service
Atmosphere
Value

Paul D

07 October 2013  
Food & Drink 5
Service 5
Atmosphere 5
Value 5
Authentic Lebanese Food Gem
Not sure why, but I've consistently seen this fine restaurant underrated by people who are either intentionally on an agenda to hurt the restaurant or people who don't get Lebanese food or worse have something against Lebanese food you draw your own conclusions. If you love Lebanese food then look no further. I've been to this restaurants no less than 7 times in the last couple of years and though I'm no regular (I live far) and it's never disappointed. They have very friendly staff, great food especially their tabouli, meat and poultry. They're very generous in their portions. Atmosphere is brilliant with lebanese village motifs/setting. You won't regret it!

Eyal M

08 August 2012  
Food & Drink 0.5
Service 0.5
Atmosphere 0.5
Value 0.5
AVOID THIS RESTAURANT. The service is incredibly terrible and the staff nothing short of rude. We made an order and the waiter forget one of the item. When we reminded, instead of apologizing, he blamed us for not ordering what we had definitely ordered and started shouting at us. Do yourself a favour and go somewhere else. The food was nothing to write home about and expensive for what it is.

Raed D

14 August 2011  
Food & Drink 0.5
Service 0.5
Atmosphere 0.5
Value 0.5
To the Director of Assaha head quarter We came in last night to break our fasten in a good spirit and lovely mood till we had been faced by the Worst service ever. AFter being offered a table we waited at least 10 minutes for service, but had to go ourselves to find a menu as they didn't come. When finally we call the waitress to take the order she took it, only to come back a few minutes later with pen and paper to take it again as she did not remember a thing. What else went wrong? - After taking the order she came back to say there was no side order of rice, so we order fries. The rice showed up anywas, as a starter!. - Drinks were served only after remembering twice, and they came after the starter (that we wanted as a side dish!). – We order houmus and cold Mezze < bred as starter, Houmus never showed up at the table but was happily added to the bill. - When main dishes finally came (Tawook) we said we'd like some other side, rice, fries or anything. It never came either! - Cutlery were disgustingly dirty! (we could easily tell what previous user had for meal!) – At the end, manager got angry for us pointing out the mistakes in the bill. - A group who sat at the next table waited 15 minutes to be served. No one showed up to welcome them and they wisely left. - We pointed out the very poor service only to be told that that's “how we do things” (I'm verys serious here) – The manager did not want to take credit card, we had to go to a nearby bank machine In sum the worst experience we've had in a restaurant ever. And we've been to many strange places with poor standards, but this was beyond comprehension. shame on you all destroying such a beautiful restaurant by hiring or employing unexperienced management and far from politness Food big zero service more than rubbish and we never ever go back despite that we are pro sayed fadlallah and the restaurant belong to his association we are going to tell everyone we know about our bad experience

Harry R

28 May 2011  
Food & Drink 0.5
Service 0.5
Atmosphere 0.5
Value 0.5
This by far has to be the worst Lebanese food I have had in London. The time we spent there, me and my partner witnessed about 4 people come in and leave out within the first 7 minutes because of poor service.A casual dressed waiter with poor English communication lost his smile till someone passed him a penny. even the glass windows are decoreted with heavy dust and fingers prints floor is so oily and merged into dark The music was terrible and the food even worse. The shish tawouk came pinkish and all that i could taste was the heavy sauce the chicken was drenched in. The fattoush was as terrible as it tasted nothing like fattoush. The only semi decent thing was the decor. I would not recommend anyone go there as it is a total waste of money

Jo M

13 December 2010  
Food & Drink 2
Service 3
Atmosphere 2.5
Value 2
As a local, I know that this area of London is a bit of a waste-land when it comes to good restaurants and Assaha does not buck the trend. This is such a shame; as I'd love a great local restaurant to frequent, I was hoping it would be in the position to write a very positive review. No so. The menu is genuinely interesting but the quality of the cooking really lets it down. Although ingredients are fresh and service is very amenable, every dish our party of four ate lacked flavour and was very bland. Even basics like the hummus were nondescript. The desserts were amongst the worst I have ever had, comprising gelatinous ‘Angel Delight’ type mousses/blancmanges in various flavours. I have a sweet tooth but after sampling all of them (to see if at least one of them would be tasty), I laid down my spoon. The restaurant has obviously spent a lot of money on theming – to make it appear like a traditional Middle Eastern village inside – but it really lacked finesse and seemed very crass. Maybe all the tourists (apparently the majority of its clientele) will like it for novelty's sake. However, I'm afraid Assaha Village really missed the mark for my friends and I; we will not return.

Ron Y

04 December 2010  
Food & Drink 1.5
Service 0.5
Atmosphere 1
Value 1.5
On arrival I was quite surprised how nice the restaurant was inside however, it was all downhill from there I had hummus to start, the , bearing in mind the price on the menu for the dish is just under £12, I don't feel it would be wrong to expect food of good quality. The chicken wings were not as described on the menu, a bonless chicken we ordered as main To even try and get meat off of it was a mission as the meat was so tough. The dish had been deep fried and was served with some cheap tasting chips. If I wanted fried bird and chips, I would of gone to KFC or even Dixy chicken!!! It would of been a fraction of the cost and quite frankly, better quality and a lot more tasty! We ended up leaving the main courses and had to make ourselves something to eat when we got home. From what I can tell, it seems like they have compromised on the quality of their food in order to reduce costs. Please do not bother with this restaurant, you will only be disappointed at the poor quality of the food.and the waiting time of a non professional waiters..good decoration does never satisfy my aim of having good time and good dining.

nicola S

17 November 2010  
Food & Drink 0.5
Service 0.5
Atmosphere 0.5
Value 0.5
Well, I would have liked to have said this place was good after the reviews i read recommended it so highly but…unfortunately it was less than average. The 1st problem was that it was quite cramped and although I'd booked a table downstairs for 2 more than a week before, and asked for a nice table, we were placed directly in front of the forever open door with people pushing past us…not exactly ideal for a romantic evening. The 2nd problem was the service… I ordered a soup to start with and a cold starter… these both arrived together on the already crowded little table. So the 3rd problem was, having eaten my soup and about half way through my starter the waiter then came and announced that the main courses were ready and he would like to serve them. The obvious response was "No, come back when we've finished our starters. This he did after buzzing around us 3 or 4 times and leaning in to place the cutlery while i'm ‘still’ eating my starter.unfortunately the place is no more attractive as it was before food is pre prepared and more than two days old is not fresh .service is the worst we do certainly avoid this place and removing out of our agenda .

Tareq O

31 October 2010  
Food & Drink 0.5
Service 0.5
Atmosphere 0.5
Value 0.5
IT is really a shame to see this dramatical change after a great success .Food is no more as fresh as it was service is equal to any coffee shop at a low class area and atmosphere is an anxious wave .we do ask anyone who knew this place before to re review it again in order to urge them to recorrect and be realistic worst than we have expected it is a shame to see this jewel going down
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