The Hampstead Kitchen — Local services in London

Worst experience. My friend hired saima for a dinner party for 9 guests. The food was takeaway. She sent a lady to serve who didn’t know what the food was (could not tell us a basic dish) and before a serving dessert (mid way through the main meal) plated it up and asked to leave. To be fair it wasn’t her fault as she was hired for the night and didn’t know anything about Hampstead kitchen. Saima then didn’t apologise but admitted she had two parties on one night so had given subpar service. We paid £90pp which is the high end of a catered dinner party and cheap dry and non seasoned takeaWay way not expected. Hampstead kitchen has had some success with celebrities so obviously doesn’t care about local families who want to support local businesses.

Please don’t accuse me of lying this is a legitimate review. You were willing to cater a dinner and then had two booking on one day so didn’t show up. It indeed did cost £90 per head and the women server was indeed female. I suggest you retract your comments or I will be forced to provide further evidence of the emails of this dinner and photos of the event to show the poor quality. I also expect a public apology. Hampstead kitchen is terrible.

Response to feedback from business:

This review was indeed delayed but a recent (excellent) dinner party the same group attended was the impetus for the feedback as we were all hugely disappointed.

With regards to your comments

(1) the hosts did attempt to complain but were blocked as Saima did not care about our feedback or our poor experience (we have email traffic to confirm this and can post if needed)

(2) the date mistake was not ours we had always clearly stated the Saturday. Saima realised she had double booked, she first tried to cancel close to the date which had been booked two months in advance and then said she would send someone (who was essentially a waitress who reheated the food). Saima had a large party on the same day so this may have been the reason for our poor treatment but instead of apologising as you can see from her response she would rather argue and say ‘amit and his friends are not our target audience’. I am not sure what this is meant to imply but we are local to Hampstead and young professional. We all monthly host a dinner party with a different chef and they have all been absolutely brilliant with the exception of this dinner.

(3) prior to this response Saima first accused this is being a false review, accused me of making up the price and said they don’t have female staff. She has since retracted that as she admits she did in fact cater the event, the cost I said we paid was correct and the staff she sent was female.

(4) we never asked the staff about previous event or celebrities (in fact the host said she had booked Hampstead Kitchen as had heard from reviews they had indeed catered for celebrities so through it would be high quality, this was something she said to us and not to the staff). Furthermore the lady sent to staff the evening did not directly work for Saima and had been hired for the night (because of the double booking). Given she didn’t even know what the dishes were (we had to check on the menu sent) we wouldn’t have asked her about previous events.

Saima clearly wrote this to discredit us and imply our feedback was not legitimate. I rarely post reviews, but given how poorly we were treated I would hate for someone else to have the same experience. Saima asked me to contact her and I did. She then hung up on me and told me I have too much time on my hands to write this review and I was ‘sad’.

Please avoid this business there are fabulous caters who genuinely love providing a good...

I recently had the pleasure of working with Hampstead Kitchen for a very important personal event and I cannot recommend them highly enough! I knew from several friends who had previously used Hampstead Kitchen that they were highly recommended and that Saima has an amazing reputation but from start to finish, her team’s professionalism and attention to detail were well above my lofty expectations.

From the initial contact, Saima immediately replied and her communication was always prompt and helpful. I did have some challenging issues but Saima always sought to find a solution. The menu options were diverse catering to various dietary needs, which made the planning process seamless. On the day of the event, the staff arrived ahead of schedule, setting up everything efficiently and ensuring that the food was fresh and beautifully presented. The highlight, of course, was the food itself—each dish was a masterpiece! The flavours were exquisite, and every guest raved about the meal. Saima has got 10 new clients as all my guests want to use her in the future.

I have seen the review from SJ that was heavily critical and recommended that Hampstead Kitchen is avoided. I can only assume that the issue is with the reviewer and not Saima as everybody I have spoken to ( and I carried out a lot of due diligence) has raved about the service that is provided. There is no question on Saima’s communication - she communicates brilliantly and provides you reassurance that everything is going to be just so - it was !

The food is exceptional but Saima also creates an event which makes the meal truly memorable. Overall, I would highly recommend Hampstead Kitchen for any event. Thank you Saima for making our dinner a...

Avoid Hampstead Kitchen if you expect clear communication and professionalism. From the start, my basic questions about logistics were met with erratic, defensive, and bizarre responses from founder Saima Khan. Despite constant name-dropping of “celebrity” and “royal” clients, her communication was anything but professional.

When I carefully raised concerns about staffing and service from other reviews only to understand how our event would be staffed, she took it as a personal attack, accusing me of showing “a lack of respect.” She refused to take a phone call, making direct communication impossible, and after weeks of inconsistent back-and-forth, she abruptly canceled the booking—a blessing in disguise.

Saima’s erratic behavior and unpredictable tone made the entire process feel chaotic. For a company claiming to serve “elite” clients, this experience was anything but. Avoid Hampstead Kitchen if you want to save yourself stress and frustration.

A word of caution: Beware of fake reviews. Salma even left herself a 5-star review in response to this one, and new reviews seem to target it without being involved. Easily the most chaotic caterer I’ve encountered—we’re glad we chose...