Gosht — Restaurant in Epping Forest

Impromptu visit to a restaurant we used to frequent pre Covid. What a shame it’s gone downhill. From service to food quality. Only 2 staff on duty in a virtually empty restaurant bar 3 tables. Server seemed disinterested and only came to life when he would leave to drop off takeaway orders. This meant we were left waiting to be served until he returned. Food quality is average at best. No menu for dessert was offered and we were left waiting at the table until we called for our bill and even then server didn’t ask if we’d like to see the dessert menu.

This used to be a fairly decent, vibrant place and when we asked about the owner, we were told it’s still in the same hands but he no longer runs it. That explains the lack of energy in Gosht.

Won’t be returning and we didn’t seem it necessary to take photos of the food but for context, ordered:-

Hummus Suksuka- not much aubergine and green peppers not cooked down enough, lacked flavour Meatballs - average Mushrooms in creamy sauce - a gloop fest of stringy cheese with chopped mushrooms (we sent this back because it was horrid) Oh my gosht platter- husband said was nice as it was a plate of grilled meats!

Chicken avocado walnut salad - chicken was nice, two halves of a walnut and bog standard Turkish salad thrown together with no real flavour. I left most of this dish unconsumed and server didn’t even...

I have been this this restaurant multiple times now and I think it deserves my first ever review on google.

As a Turkish man I can say that this restaurant is the best place for amazing Turkish food.

Every single member of staff I have encountered have been wonderful, They are quick and extremely friendly

But the thing everyone wants to read about is the food.

The cold meze is a great starter. You can tell that it is freshly made and I had to ask for a extra basket of bread because i couldn't stop eating it.

The Gosht grill is to die for. All meat is moist and tender with plenty of flavour and rice is cooked to perfection. The salad they provide is light and it compliments the dish well.

I have also tried the iskender and i was not disappointed. It really does remind me of my family's cooking.

I had the baklava for dessert and this is proper authentic baklava. It is not too sweet and has a lovely pistachio taste to it.

I did have some cocktails there and they are generous with the alcohol :) so its great if you would like to hang out with a few friends.

The environment is great with live music on weekends and a nice modern aesthetic to the place.

I would highly recommend going to this place as it is definitely...

Visiting on business trip and decided to try this restaurant out. The food was good but there was a lack of engagement from staff, we are used to excellent customer service from other local restaurants.

We were offered water and accepted but believed this was complimentary due to how it was offered, we were astonished to find out we had been charged around £5. It should have been made clear that there was a charge for this.

The food,albeit good, took a while to arrive with little interaction from the staff who appeared to be chatting amongst themselves.

We were further shocked and surprised by the service charge on the bill. This is not so.ething we are used to or have experienced before, as I say, we are visiting on business. I have since learned that this is optional and we could have refused it but this was not made clear and we felt forced to pay it.

All in all this visit left us feeling somewhat disappointed and underwhelmed. Please be more clear with what is being charged for and the options to those...