Tabouli Terrace — Restaurant in Cheltenham

I have pondered which star rating I should leave for a long time. I have an intense aversion to people who give one star ratings when they’ve never eaten at the establishment. However, I think the exception is, if it’s concerned with Health & Hygiene. Recently I discovered that I have a gluten intolerance which means I experience unpleasant side effects if I consume anything containing wheat, barley or rye. This is one of the dozen or so ingredients that appear on the FSA’s (Food Standards Agency) list of food allergens, knowledge of which is a legal requirement of anybody in this country working in the production and or serving of food. My friend and I booked a table on Wednesday lunchtime 21st Aug’24. The restaurant appeared very clean, nicely decorated and furnished, and the manager and waiter both seemed pleasant and smartly presented. We were shown to a table in the window and the menus were brought. Although not law at this moment in time, environmental health officers strongly recommend that menus display a legend of all allergenic foods and each dish should indicate any ingredients on that legend. Their’s did not. I went to the bar and asked the waiter about the starters that weren’t pastries or breads containing gluten. He looked to the manager to whom I repeated the question. He told me the Hummus didn’t contain gluten, which of course is true. I asked him what it was served with and he replied I could order pitta bread to go with it adding “Its unleavened so it will be OK. “ I asked if it was made from wheat flour, he replied that it was I said if it’s made from wheat flour it would have gluten in it so how could it be “OK”? He paused and then said “I didn’t say it would be ok”. I thanked him and returned to our table. My friend said he’d heard what had been said and if I felt uncomfortable about eating their food we should go elsewhere, which we did. I’m lucky, I only have an intolerance to gluten. If I was celiac and had taken his word that it was ok to eat pitta bread, I would have suffered a serious allergic reaction, even death. Not just this restaurant but ALL of them, please, please, please properly train all of your staff in FOOD ALLERGENS. IT’S...

Unfortunately our experience at Tabouli Terrace was not quite up to the standards you’d expect for a new restaurant… upon arriving, we felt rather pressurised to order quickly - red flag. When we decided to order of our own accord, all seemed good, until the food arrived and we were informed the prawns were coming rather than the salmon. Easy mistake to make, but the way it was rectified was not. The waiter was lovely and smiley, but do not be fooled by this facade. The salmon was brought out quickly in response, however we paid the price by finding it was dark pink throughout the middle. We would have preferred to be told that it might take a little longer to ensure it is properly cooked. We informed the waiter who returned again with more salmon and a message from the kitchen - apparently, some people don’t like their salmon ‘well done’ and it’s perfectly okay to eat salmon that’s RAW in the middle. I think not. Following this rather patronising response, we proceeded to eat our now ‘well done’ salmon, which was frankly, hard and not particularly pleasant to eat. Usually salmon leaves me wanting more, however this one certainly didn’t. We proceeded to politely raise this again with the waiter at the end, as we are frequent salmon-cookers and we did not appreciate being patronised. He pretended not to understand us and talk over us, asking ‘are you German’ to interruptingly change the subject rather than deal with the matter at hand (we are not German). If mistakes are made, we can accept this, however we would prefer to be met with honesty and integrity in response. The aubergine pide was okay, albeit and little soggy on the bottom. The bread was overpriced, the halloumi was overly chewy, and the baba ganoush and salad were average. The falafels were the best part, but I have still experienced much better elsewhere. We wish this place the best of luck - they’re...

Here's a draft review:

2/5 Stars

I recently visited this Middle Eastern restaurant with high expectations, but unfortunately, the service was a disaster.

The food was nice, and I'll give them credit for that. However, the service was abysmal. From the moment I sat down, I wasn't even offered water to drink. When I mentioned it to the server, he had the audacity to claim that he had asked me, implying that I was lying and there was not even a jar of tap water on my table which was evident that I had no water to drink. I knew he hadn't, as he was too busy scrolling through his phone to pay attention to his tables.

What's worse is that another table of two waited for at least 10 minutes before anyone took their order. It was clear that the server was overwhelmed and not interested in providing decent service.

I left the restaurant feeling upset and disappointed. With better service, this place could have been great. Until they improve their service, I would caution others about dining...