Aksular Restaurant — Restaurant in London

This has been a long time coming, as despite being a customer since 2005 when we moved to the area and thinking that the food here is amazing (it mostly is), the place keeps consistently letting itself and its customers down with terrible service.

Tonight we visited with our young daughter, we had a table booked as we know it gets busy. Despite this we were made to wait outside (holding baby) for 15 mins past the booking time. During this time and despite our constant protestations I'm pretty sure they were letting others in who did not have a booking as they knew them / they were regulars in the restaurant etc etc.

Once inside the place was rammed and so noisy that you had to shout across your own table to be heard. This is not a fault of the staff but I would not recommend parents of young kids to bring them here during peak times as it would not be suitable.

Once inside we were forgotten for around 10 mins. We finally managed to attract a waiters attention and order after this. We asked if our daughters food could be brought straight over as soon as it was ready we had by now been waiting around for 30 mins. We were assured this was fine and it would be over as soon as it was ready.

After literally 5 mins my wifes food was brought over by itself. Calamari which was massively undercooked. Took us almost 10 mins to send it back as no waiters were available. My daughters food had still not arrived by this time.

Another 10 mins and my wifes food came back, still no sign of the other 2 dishes.

Wife finished her dinner, then mines turned up. Still nothing for our little one. We were raging by this point and complained. Finally her food came over but by this time there was no salvaging the experience - toddler was cranky and wife was angry. We all basically ended up eating our meals in turn.

Asked for the bill which took over 10 mins to arrive, then almost 10 mins for the credit card machine to come. I am not exaggerating any of these timescales by the way! We left fairly angry at the whole thing.

I will also add at this point that the booking & telephone order system is incredibly hard for non-Turkish speakers when dealing with Aksular. Most of the people who answer the phone have very basic English and they can get annoyed with you if they do not understand you. If I am going there for a take away I don't even bother calling ahead anymore...

Palmers Green currently has a very poor selection of restaurants, and we keep going back to Aksular (usually take away orders) as the food is great, however it is very hard work and we will definitely not be going back anytime soon to the sit-in restaurant, way too much hard work.

I highly doubt anyone from the restaurant has ever looked at any of the reviews online, but as someone who has owned and managed food premises in my time I would strongly suggest a dedicated Maitre D' to run the staff (at least at peak times), and very importantly they should zone off the restaurant, giving each section its own waiting staff. At the minute all of the waiters are all running all over the restaurant, often leaving 25-50% of the whole shop floor with no waiter and therefore no point of contact - this leads to utter chaos!! The place could add £1 or £2 on to every sit-in order to cover the extra costs and still be a cheap meal.

I've given the place two stars basically as I know the food is good from being a regular customer on the takeaway side of things; would have been zero or one star if tonight had been my...

I am writing to express my disappointment with the experience I had at your restaurant after making a reservation a day in advance and eagerly anticipating my first visit. Unfortunately, the demeanor of your staff significantly marred what could have been an enjoyable dining experience. Despite inviting friends for a gathering, we encountered unwelcoming attitudes from certain employees, which detracted from our enjoyment. Additionally, there were noticeable discrepancies in service, such as the premature delivery of our tea order and reluctance to accommodate a second round without extra charge. As patrons, we expect respectful and attentive service, regardless of nationality or arrival time. Regrettably, these expectations were not met.Furthermore, I must emphasize that the quality of service and hospitality at your restaurant was notably inferior compared to other Turkish restaurants I have visited. Sadly, the staff exhibited clear signs of discrimination, which is utterly unacceptable. I have never encountered such blatant bigotry in any dining establishment before.When a restaurant fails to treat its guests with basic respect, it speaks volumes about its values and professionalism. Therefore, I cannot in good conscience recommend your establishment to anyone, nor will I ever...

Great food, excellent service at unbeatable prices.

The Government's Eat Out to Help Out offer means there is no excuse for not eating at Aksular in Palmer's Green.

First, the service, even in these difficult Covid times, is quick and friendly. As you are just making yourself comfortable, a tasty complimentary salad, humus and tsatsiki arrives. The starters are scrumptious - try the grilled Turkish sausage; but be aware that the portion sizes of the mains are extremely generous so pace yourself. Anyone with a limited appetite might wish to forgo a starter.

For the mains, the classic mixed shish kebab is mouthwatering, the lamb and chicken melting in the mouth. The portion is equivalent to any kebab shop's single shish.

For the main, I tried the Sarma Beyti, mince wrapped in small flatbread parcels with tomato sauce, chilli sauce optional with rice or couscous. An absolute delight and a very generous portion.

All this at under a tenner a head (excluding any alcoholic drinks) makes eating out a joy. So catch the offer at Askular while it lasts. Even afterwards, the prices are too good to be true.

One final word of advice - if you wish to savour the food, fast...