Baroushka — Restaurant in England

This has been one of the worst lunch experiences I’ve had in a long time. I travelled 45 minutes to try their food after seeing their reviews on here. Really disappointed with the food and the staff today especially after seeing all the 5* reviews. I was expecting more than what I got.

I came in for lunch and being vegan I ordered the aubergine frites, stuffed vine leaves, and sweet potato fries. I asked if the aubergine frites could be made vegan and the waiter said they were vegan “it’s fine”. I corrected him and said that the feta it comes with is not vegan. He didn’t seem to understand which made me nervous about ordering so I asked for another waiter who was fine and made the adjustments for me. The food came and looked so unappetising especially the stuffed vine leaves which were poorly wrapped with white gooey?? stuff on the outside- nothing like the images they have on their socials. The aubergine frites were supposed to have pomegranate and tahini on top (minus the feta) but it came without anything, just plain aubergine. It turned out that it usually comes with a sauce that combined all those ingredients together and so by omitting the feta, I couldn’t have the sauce. Neither the menu nor the waiter made it clear, it sounded like separate ingredients.

No one came to check how our meal was the whole time we were there and considering there were only 5 customers in the restaurant at that time, I find that strange.

When we requested the bill, I queried the vine leaves and was told that the white stuff was congealed olive oil from transit because they buy them in. I just wanted to understand what I was ordering and judging by their tone it seemed like I was inconveniencing them just by asking which made me feel bad. It was also so cold in the restaurant we felt we had to wear our coats. I didn’t feel as if I could ask the waiter for the heating to be put on because of everything else that had gone on. It was a sad meal and so disappointing when I had such high hopes for...

We thought we should try something new this time, so we booked a table at Baroushka. We called ahead, some days prior, to reserve a table. We were told there was a two for one voucher promo going on for £20. We paid for this online.

When we arrived, the place was relatively free and we got the opportunity to move to another table as we didn't like the one reserved for us. It was a bit close to the bar area.

Order time came and we presented our voucher for scanning and got handed the Autumn menu to make a selection. For appetisers, we ordered the Pomegranate Molasses with Pita and Lamb Flatbread. These were quite tasty and well done. The Pitta was an interesting choice. There was a consistency to the chew and it tasted somewhere between hardboiled egg and cheese. It was delicious!. The lamb flatbread tested like an oven baked pizza but with less dough. The main course was a plate of Meat and Sausage Skewers, Paring Salad, Egyptian Coleslaw and a side of Rice and also Mince Chicken & Lamb, tobouleh and rice.

We thought these weren't going to be enough to go round for three and so we ordered the Mix Grill (costs £38.2). This took about fifteen minutes to be ready and when it was delivered to our table, we realised it was a little bit more than we had hoped. We instead opted for it to be packed as a takeaway, which the team obliged.

The staff were polite and helpful, willing to go an extra length to delight patrons. The interior itself was relatively clean. I do think however that the ambience was a bit dark.

Overall, we had a good time at Baroushka and would be back to try something else on the menu. There is an optional service charge on the bill, to be paid at the discretion of diners. I think this should be discussed before being put on the bill for payment.

P.S there's no free parking but there are loads of paid parking in the city centre and around...

Described as Lebanese on the web, I was upset to see the menu proudly featured several ingredients, such as cous-cous, as ‘Israeli’. The wine list included a £69 bottle of Israeli wine. We should be boycotting the produce of the apartheid state which is committing daily war crimes. However, I won’t let this affect my review and rating.

The staff were very nice, our seating was very comfortable, and the ‘Middle Eastern’ fusion menu was highly imaginative and tempting.

When I explained my food intolerances (onion, garlic and chilli), the server was fairly helpful in offering some choices, but didn’t offer the whole sea bass, which was what I chose, but with rice rather than garlic mash.

The fish was large and really, really good. However, I was surprised to see 2 pickled chilies on my plate, given that I had specifically excluded these.

My partner had 2 small dishes: frito misto (fried seafood), and lamb with cracked wheat and pomegranate and said both were very nice. She also enjoyed her white wine.

It was very noisy, with a large party who had clearly been enjoying their drinks, and music playing. I couldn’t hear what my partner said until the noisier parties left (we had arrived relatively late).

A 10% service charge was already added...