Beit el Zaytoun — Restaurant in London

I visited Beit el Zaytoun with my partner on 25.02 / time on the receipt is 19:31:22/.

We were asked by the waiter whether we were there to have shisha or have dinner. We were quickly seated in what seemed to be the main dining area of the restaurant. The first thing that we both noticed was how unbearably cold it was in the restaurant. To the point that we had to keep our jackets on while having our meal. On the table next to us there was a group of three people who were all wearing their jackets and one of the guys even had a hat on. My partner brought this up with the waiter as I could barely feel my hands, just to be told that the heater is on and there was nothing they could do.

I was forced to order falafel instead of what i originally wanted - vine leaves. They had run out of vine leaves which in itself is quite odd for a Lebanese restaurant. We placed our order - mix grill, houmous Beiruty, falafel and tabouleh. The houmous was mediocre and tasted of raw chickpeas. Tabouleh needed more lemon. The falafel was ok. My partner said that the mix grill was good which was why we decided to give a one star review. However, we had to ask for sauces /garlic and hot sauce/ which was a first for us in a Lebanese restaurant.

When we were first seated and looked at the menu, we had planned to have coffee and desserts after our meal. However, it was so cold that we wanted to get out as soon as possible. We went to the restroom just to wash our hands before leaving. This was when I felt the heat radiating from the shisha area. Without even walking into the shisha lounge, just by standing next to the toilet door, we could both feel the heat radiating from the shisha area. We were furious!!! We were so appalled by the lack of empathy and care about customers at the restaurant. At that point, we both realised that the waiters could have seated us in that area as there were other people having food in the shisha lounge and it wasn't an area strictly just for shisha. Instead they seated us in the main dining area although we did bring up the fact that we were literally freezing.

We definitely didn't enjoy our time at Beit el Zaytoun. As i mentioned earlier the food was mediocre. Staff didn't really seem to care about customers. The fact the we left the restaurant not feeling our limbs should definitely be a good enough reason for people not to go to that place.

We got in our car and drove to Patchi which is literally a minute away from Beit el Zaytoun. We were greated at the door by the loveliest waiter. Everyone at Patchi was so attentive and freindly. The most important part - it was so warm inside. We were able to take our coats off and actually enjoy our amazing...

Service was fine until we ordered food. Out of 4 only 2 of us ordered a dish and a dessert as one of us was feeling sick and the other wanted to share as they weren't to hungry. From this moment the waiter serving us was borderline rude.

He only bought 2 sets of cutlery clearing seeing that there was 4 of us. He could have at least asked who was eating before assuming and setting the table (without plates).

After waiting the dessert was served before the meal which I found weird. So we asked him why it was served before and he argued that he found it weird that we ordered it at the same time as the meal. Either way its common sense for the meal to come before the dessert, but he could have at least asked us would you like to have your dessert served before or after the meal? He didn't even offer to keep it in the kitchen while we eat and have it heated up later.

Maybe I am oblivious to this way of serving/way of doing but I feel like the service could have been communicated in a better and clearer way from this waiter, we didn't feel like costumers but a burden to him.

At the end we had asked another staff to please take the dessert back in the kitchen and if it could be heated up after we finish our meal, this was kindly done by him.

The only reason why I rated it 2 stars was because at the end, a new waiter who was respectful and understanding bought the dessert from the kitchen serving us with 4 spoons. He gave us his time and served us in a professional way. If it wasn't for his kind service we would have refused to pay the service charge, as it was not worth it.

Over all I guess it depends who serves you but I didn't have a nice experience. The atmosphere and rest of the staff were lovely and welcoming. Food was nice and there is even a praying area...

Shame as i would love to give more stars

I was so much looking forward to taking my children for their 1st Iftar experience Having looked at the lovely videos we had high expectations

Disappointingly they ran out half of the food & what was promised on the menu buffet you didnt get , when your kids have been fasting all day, plus they charged full price! & more as i mentioned had food run out , so they gave us from additional menu & added to bill at the end!!😂…Which we had to pay The ambience was lovely but were plonked right in the middle of the smokers when i specifically said i had children with me No table reserved in the children's section for us I didn't enjoy eating inhaling the smoke The staff / servers were super friendly but very over worked perhaps, as kept forgetting to bring us our things i almost felt embarrassed asking for the 5th time I felt they had more focus on the smokers than the other non smoker diners, we asked for desserts after 5th attempt, they brought 2 small things yet on menu there was a variety & we were a party of 4! I love desserts & was much looking forward to it for iftar especially after watching the lovely videos When i asked for more they said they ran out, yet i could see them bring a variety to the smoking diners after us, by the stage i had had enough to keep asking What food we did manage to have mainly rice😂 from mains, tasted good The starters on the table were amazing but we had to ask for bread again several times

Shame, as i thought i found place we could regularly dine at but sadly we were let down by the experience & we drove an hour to get there

I would suggest the owners take note of the negative reviews & focus on improvements as it could be a fabulous place to eat &...