Chef Shabbas Kitchen & Cocktails — Restaurant in Leeds

We went to Chef Shabba’s today at 19.40 pm. The location is extremely small so there’s only around 5 large tables, so not many people can fit inside.

We did call up before hand to reserve but we’re told we’d have to just walk in. We waited and were given water and dates to open our fast which was really nice.

We were seated at 20.20 pm.

The menus not got a whole load of variation, so we’d decided quite quickly what we wanted. Now getting the wait staffs attention to actually place an order was near on impossible! It was as if staff were actively avoiding looking at you/speaking to you, which was very frustrating.

We finally manage to grab a member of staff and order our food, but dear Lord almighty, the length of time it took for us to get our food was a joke.

More so, when you realise there are only 5 tables inside, one of which had already been served. So essentially there were 4 tables to be served. I have no idea how it took over an hour for us to receive our food.

It probably had something to do with chef Shabba walking around the place, rather than cooking, which would be nice generally, but not when you’ve got people who’ve been waiting for so long.

We asked a member of staff for an update and she told us our food was being plated and would be out but again, we were waiting a good ten/fifteen minutes.

So our food finally comes and it was a good sized portion (if somewhat overpriced for what you actually got).

We ordered the “Jerk One” and the “Surf and Turf”. Now for the Jerk one we were missing our Mac and Cheese and on our Surf and Turf we had no steak pieces, but at this point we were too hungry to care, so we just ate.

The plate largely consisted of rice and fries. The salmon was really good. The Lobster tail was ok. The prawns were nice. The food had a lot of flavour and was cooked really good. The chicken was flavourful, but dry and the lamb chops were the same. For the amount it was thought, I did not think it was worth the price.

Once we’d finished we again tried getting staffs attention for the bill, but got nothing. Now again, remember, there’s all of 5 tables, none with food, so there’s not exactly much to do. They were managing customers outside, waiting for tables, but again, I don’t see how that would take your attention away from customers.

At this point, I just got up to go and pay the bill at the till.

I raised the lack of steak and Mac and cheese, to which the staff member said they no longer do the steak and replace it with one lamb chop and that they’d run out of Mac and cheese m, so had given us extra chips - not that I could tell. I just think if you’ve changed the menu / plates, you really need to inform customers prior to us ordering, so that was annoying.

I asked to pay, but was told the bill would be brought to the table, so went and sat back down….and waited.

The bill finally came and the guy said he’d knocked £6 off for our drinks, which was nice of him, but honestly, I just don’t think i will ever be returning.

The wait and food time were honestly not worth it. The food was good, but not worth the trauma of that...

Seen some reviews off YouTube and thought I’d give it a go.

Ordered the Jerk One for 2 of us. To be honest, I did ask if this would be enough for 2 people and was told yes it would be, but it wasnt. Quarter chicken, a lamb chop, 2 wings, 4 prawns, corn on cob, 2 pieces of fried plantain, a tiny portion of lukewarm mac n cheese (I did enjoy it though, its a shame that it was premade as the cheese was chewy - I understand not being able to cook fresh pasta every time but at least put it under the grill or in the over after putting fresh cheese on), seasoned chips and rice n pea (which was very dry).

Okay the jerk chicken itself was amazing, piping hot, juicy, succulent and perfectly cooked. I usually dont prefer jerk flavours but I really enjoyed this, had a nice gravy around it which was a great combo when dipping the chips and corn on cob. The lamb chop was good - slightly undercooked but definitely flavoursome. The prawns were fine, nothing special but i enjoyed the red sauce it was smothered in. Its a shame about the mac n cheese as I did enjoy the flavour but was thinking to myself; if it was thoroughly warmed/heated again and a fresh cheese pull coming from it, would’ve been the showstopper. The plantain, I thought it would be crispy as it said fried but it was just soggy and mushy, couldn’t tell what i was eating at all.

The atmosphere is lovely, felt like a real shack vibe with the outdoor seating and all. Staff are really friendly and approachable too.

I feel like for £27 that plate, felt overpriced for the amount that was there. (It might seem full but its a bed of rice n pea and half a plate of chips which shouldn’t cost much). Felt like I wasted my money a little bit and we were both still very hungry after but didn’t want to risk ordering more and receiving another disappointing small portion.

Perfect for one person to eat for sure. Won’t be coming again but if you’re about, and craving jerk chicken, get it from this place!

Note: food is halal but they do have a bar inside serving alcohol. Music is a little loud inside so outdoor seating would be better if you like talking to each other whilst eating. Resident Parking all around - no...

I apologise in advance for the fact my review is mostly negative. The event started an hour and a half late (no food served until around 8:30), and no explanation was provided as to why. The complimentary drink "on arrival" was provided after the first course, with the hosting staff being unaware when asked about this being offered. The starter was alright, but mediocre. It took around 20 minutes from the starter being over for the mains to start being served, and they came out very slowly with only 2-3 at a time, and gaps of around 5 minutes per table. Our table was one of the last to be served, and we waited another 20 minutes on top of the aforementioned 20 minutes for our main. The gloves provided were very small in size, and did not fit very well. The ingredients were either overcooked or tasteless, with the prawns being very tough/chewy, the corn tasteless, the egg very overcooked/dry, and the lobster did not taste fresh. The crab was the best part, but there was no easy way to remove it from the claw which lead to me having to awkwardly dig it out for 10 minutes. The sauce was not very flavourful, just salty and mildly spicy. The chef asked if it was too spicy, it was definitely a mild/alright level of spice. We did try to dicuss this with the chef, but he deflected our concerns about time, quality, and flavour and said "It's all about the sauce" when asked why the corn was so tasteless. I do unfortunately think this was a waste completely of £45 per person, and we had to find other food afterwards as the portions left us both hungry and very disappointed. We hope you reflect on tonight and do better in future, because we were so hopeful after seeing the adverts/insta posts of your restaurant and expectations were high. I wish no harm upon your business, but just wanted to discuss thoroughly how disappointing tonight was.

The staff at the venue were rude upon arrival, ignoring my partner. This also happened at the table when a lady serving walked away mid-question. This doesn't reflect upon yourselves though.

Edited to add: As per the stories viewed on insta other customers received mussels in their...