It was blah, that’s about as high praise as I can give it. As the only proper restaurant that isn’t Nando’s or Macdonalds on Crayford High Street, we had high expectations when we visited this place for a date night. We called to make a reservation for an hour’s time because it always looks packed when we walk past and we wanted to make sure we got a table. After some umm’ing and ahh’ing, they booked us in for 8pm. This should have started alarm bells ringing because you either have the space or not, right? An hour later, we walked into the restaurant and were greeted by… no one. In fact, we had to wander halfway through the place before we found someone who worked there and were shown to our tables. The atmosphere also left something to be desired. It’s sort of nondescript really. I mean, the walls are painted and there are menus on the tables but it all doesn’t seem to have had much effort put into it. There are no pictures on the walls, no music playing(other than a VERY loud Happy Birthday song between our starter and main course), the cocktail menu is a bit of laminated card with some pretty garish pictures of cocktails on a neon background and the menu itself is just lists of dishes, in Helvetica with not much else. There’s no flair. Nothing special. Nothing memorable. It just… is. Nonetheless, we ordered a couple of cocktails, our starters and mains and took to waiting. About 5 minutes later, our starters appeared, which you’d think was good and speedy service… but I’d ordered borek, feta and spinach parcels, Matt had ordered mitite kofte and both dishes should have taken longer to cook… They both tasted okay. There was a LOT of sauce in Matt’s and not much else, and my ‘crispy’ pastry parcels were soft and tasted vaguely of egg. We were also still waiting for our drinks at this stage. Another 15 minutes pass and we’re sitting there with empty plates, no drinks and being completely ignored. Now I see why they weren’t sure if we could reserve at 8pm. They were BUSY. Too busy to attend to all of their customers it seems because it took probably about 20 minutes in total before anyone realised we’d finished and still had no drinks. Of course, they apologised but, you know, starters and no drinks? Not good. But as it’s a steak and wine restaurant, we decided to put that aside and wait for our steak and chip mains with anticipation. This had to be good, right? And it was. The steak was perfectly cooked and melted in the mouth, and it came with a generous helping of chips and salad. Almost too generous. The portion was HUGE. So huge we couldn’t finish it and dessert just seemed insurmountable. I’ve had better steak elsewhere but I’m not knocking it, it was good. We skipped dessert thanks to the cow-sized main and asked for the bill. And this is where the final disappointment of the night came. Our bill, for two starters, two drinks and two mains, in Crayford, was £80. NOT. WORTH. IT. I mean really? That is a LOT of money for preprepared starters, late cocktails and steak and chips. The pub around the corner does better food at about a third of the price. OUCH. I think it’s safe to say we won’t be coming back. Next time? Nando’s, here we come.
Ahmet K.
Place rating: 5 Bexleyheath, United Kingdom
This is a fantastic restaurant offering mediterranean food. Had a three course meal which was served on time, the food was delicious, well cooked and served with a smile. The amount of food was just right, the atmosphere was pleasant and value for money. It has a very nice décor & romantic, would go again.