Aline Lebanese Kitchen — Restaurant in London

I came to Aline Lebanese Kitchen for the first time last night with a friend. We had booked ahead which I highly recommend. The restaurant is situated on Maddox street, in the heart of Soho. The restaurant itself is modern with a hint of coziness. Cutely decorated with vintage Arabic posters and plants. The ambiance of the restaurant is relaxed and there is lovely Middle Eastern music playing with a mixture of modern and old hits.

The owner as well as various staff members were extremely polite and courteous. My friend and I ordered a mixture of hot and cold Mezzas as well as a main dish which we shared. This included a Zaa’tar manoushe, spicy hummus, baba ghanouj, cheese rolls, and Fatah. They were also generous in replenishing our pita bread which was very much appreciated

For the main we ordered a chicken shish tawouk. It came with salad and rice and was absolutely perfect!! The chicken was tender and not chewy or hard, rice was light fluffy and delicious. I really enjoyed this dish.

Finally my friend and I had eaten so much we were going to pass on desert but the owner came and gave us a gorgeous desert of Mhalabia (custard) with a mint tea on the house. The generosity and kindness of the owner was very much appreciated. We loved our experience so much we will be recommending Aline Lebanese Kitchen to our friends and family. We will return.

For those of you on the fence of where to dine, let this review be...

I was looking forward to a great evening at Aline, however I was disappointed.

Upon my arrival, I was greeted as a Deliveroo driver. I kindly explained I had a reservation, yet it took several minutes to be seated. I was asked to wait, as they attended to more delivery drivers who arrived after me.

It took several minutes to just get a menu and then even more time just to order. The restaurant was not busy, however there was only one server and the manager. The manager spent lots of time walking around socializing with other tables, topping off water and drinks. Yet, I had to ask twice for simply water and the manager just kept ignoring my table. I was finally given a peasant-like one small glass of water from the half filled jug on the used table next to mine!! (while every other table had their own jug) Water is water at the end of the day, but really?

The menu had a great variety of selection. Pricier then expected for sure. I have strict dietary restrictions and I was glad that their menu was labeled. However, I was served food that I know and confirmed with the server, contained gluten, even though it was labeled as gluten free on the menu. I questioned this and it was laughed off. Maybe offer me the alternative, like the menu says.

I will say the Falafel, Tahini, and Hummus was good. Not worth the price, but it was worth mention. (Only reason they got 2 stars and not 1)

I hope my situation was a one...

Yesterday I ate lunch here at around midday. I ordered a starter of spicy cheese rolls, a main of marinated chicken kebabs, and a dessert of knaffeh and coffee. Although the food itself tasted good, after I got my dessert I started feeling unwell and initially I thought it might have been an allergic reaction or intolerance to something in the knaffeh such as nuts, but the waiter said there were no nuts, and I'm not lactose intolerant. The sickness feeling in the throat lasted for the next few hours and my stomach started aching badly too. Eventually I made it home and I felt so sick I had to throw up all my food. I believe the chicken was either out of date or wasn't properly refrigerated, or not cooked thoroughly enough, as nothing else I had would have caused me such sickness. The entire experience costed me £45, which felt like a rip off. The 3 course lunch wasn't portioned large enough and the food itself wasn't so remarkable to justify such a price, especially food that caused me to vomit everything out. I would have expected to not feel nauseated afterwards for that obscene price, and expected that they would care to insure that the meat was fresh and kept properly refrigerated. Due to my terrible experience, and the terrible price, I don't recommend this...