Damastique — Restaurant in England

Great food but be careful. Excuse the long review but there is a lot to say, some good, some bad. The manager tries to do everything but cannot cope. It can be very busy. We made a booking for 5 people by Dojo, Dojo confirmed by email but when we arrived (exactly on time) manager disregarded booking and apparently doesn't reserve tables when it is busy and he could not read the Dojo booking email. Most tables there are for four, close together and no room for extra chairs. Very crowded, put us (five people) on a table for four so three of us had to share across two chairs (painful balancing for the middle one!) and manager thought that was OK. Shortly after, a table for four but with two benches became free as other diners left, serving staff kindly suggested we swap tables (bench easier for 3 people), manager tried to intervene and prevent it (why?) but we moved anyway. Serving staff are not allowed to take orders for food (only drinks?), the manager insists he alone takes food orders. He tries to suggest extras. It seemed that, because we had moved to the adjacent table, the manager kept us waiting and avoided contact (in an obvious way, very rude), we timed it as 55 minutes before he took the order. Surprised a manager is so inefficient, so impolite, and does not know what hospitality is. I assume it was a bad day for him and he was stressed. Needs to delegate and trust his two staff members to have a fuller role with guests.. Now the good part : food is delicious, a grilled meat platter for four is plentiful, includes lamb kebab, chicken kebab and wings, lamb shank and delicious pilao rice. Several vegetable dishes as sides also excellent. Freshly made arab-style bread, lovely. Alcohol is BYO so if you know in advance, you can bring from home a wine or beer you really like, or in any case a Tesco is just a few doors away. The food, once finally ordered, came quickly. About 50% of diners seemed to be middle eastern and appreciate their wonderful traditional food, and bring family with children so it is noisy, crowded, and friendly. The balance of visitors are local York people or tourists. Lovely mixed community. The restaurant used to be Babtooma, essentially the same food still, but now slightly simpler menu. It seems to be packed around 6pm onwards with families, and on the day we went (a Tuesday), people were waiting in the street for a table in the period 7pm to 8pm, but it starts to empty out after 8pm. If you want a quieter evening and quicker service, best to eat late. My two stars on "service" are a combination for management plus staff. Unfortunately zero stars for manager (total lack of management skills) but a lovely and merited gold star each for the two staff ladies who bring food and clear away, they work hard and are very cheerful. Hope they get the tip I left. They are great with the visitors and the situation, and deserve to be trusted with a larger role. So, reservations may not be honoured, rather chaotic and stressed management, be prepared for for a long wait initially, just bring your own drinks, relax and make conversation, and when the food comes, it is definitely...

Horrible owner, bullied his way to our overspending as he came over three times in five minutes, demanding, "You decide?!" in a next to empty restaurant.

The food was average, despite a complementary spicy soup.

We hadn't finished our starters, when it was taken away from us to "make space" for our mains. We had to refuse to accept a sweet. When we asked for the bill, he suddenly demanded £100 in cash, though the bill was £70 (no alcohol on the menu) for two people, even though it clearly states you can pay by card.

This was because we had become very aware of his incessant bullying of a young member of staff who looked very frightened.

ANYTHING that went wrong (eg: wrong meals made / delivered of which we saw many, perhaps to make people accept more expensive meals) seemed to be blamed on the serving staff, even though he made sure all they were allowed to do was deliver the food to the table. He decided where we sat; he took the order; he gave us the bill.

The serving staff largely delivered food and constantly walked up and down the restaurant, watching the diners.

The young girl, possibly a member of his family, was close to tears. She asked us if we were ok. I said, 'Yes, but are you?" She shrugged her shoulders, her lips quivered, eyes watering, and scuttled off, never to be seen again. Watch out for random men coming into the restaurant, and hanging around the till with its screen that has access to the many cctv cameras around the restaurant and in the kitchen.

Overall, would we go back again, and put money in a bully's pockets? No. Was the food good? Not really. Were a couple of salads, a couple of mains and a nonalcoholic drink worth £70+ ? No. Was the ambience nice? No. Did we expect to be intimidated to order food? No. Did we expect to be asked forcibly to pay cash? No. Was the service good? No - for all...

First thing I am walking through the streets of York I pass many great shops and restaurants but then there is one hiding in the corner with no one inside but since I had to get halal food I was forced to go. I should have read the reviews ; never coming back. This is not a great place if you have kids because chicken nuggets is bloody £10 which is so overpriced. Everything here is overpriced Like my friend had shuduk shawarma and was sick all night. My other friend ordered chops and guess what they full of FAT (40% bone 30% fat which is outrageous). I ordered some shish taok and it is £13 just for 5 small chicken cubes, I also ordered the chips which can’t be messed up right well guess what the chips had no potato in it felt like I was eating poo. All the chicken was so undercooked wasn’t even warm the chips don’t get me started on more rant about that. We even tested the staff if they deserved £5 And it was if they packed our food away and put it in the box they would get a tip because we did not finish this awful food and wanted to do something better with our lives. Never coming never reviewing again never saying this name again never recommending again. Don’t listen to some of the 5 star reviews it is all full of bots. If you want an honest review then come and read the lowest 1 star reviews. We had 9 people come together so we would expect that they would actually cook food maybe next time they need to let me cook. Rude staff some were just in the corner with their mates and were just messing about. Thank to whoever read this detailed explanation about why this place stinks. I hope you had time to do other stuff as I have been writing a super long review Have a great day. 11:12 uk time Sunday 3rd of November Sincerely, Raystar2099 also...