HELVADERE — Restaurant in London

Alright hear me now, me and my friends went out to eat to celebrate me and my friends recent graduation and picked Helvadere as the special location. Having high hopes for this Turkish grill and shisha lounge. This restaurant had a real inviting night vibe with the leafy forest decorations, lit fires outside, incredibly comfortable seating literally sitting on sofas with cushions for even more comfort, it was bliss. They have great staff and the music isn’t too loud unless it’s someone birthday where the blast the song birthday. I got the 3 cheeseburger sliders for a starter and the combo special for one for my main.

Cheeseburger sliders

These buns filled with joy were an absolute delight. The charcoal buns which were a surprise, were spongy and soft which really complement the beautifully constructed. It had the best seasoned patty I’ve ever tried, with a perfect amount of sauce and lettuce with everything rationed soo elegantly there wasn’t too much of anything. The three were a delectable start to this culinary experience and probably the best starter I’ve ever had. I was genuinely upset when I had finished them. 9.5/10

Combo special for 1

Overall it was a pretty good meal, but I am in two minds about it as there were things about it that were good and somethings that could been improved upon. The white rice was buttery and well cooked and worked brilliantly with its phenomenally seasoned sautéed veg which was a shock to me how well it tasted. The chicken wings although grilled well and retained that flavour they weren’t seasoned which was unfortunate because it definitely could’ve elevated it, and they were also really small so it wasn’t significant. The lamb and chicken Kofte were both succulent and seasoned beautifully pairing perfectly with white and seasoned rice and veg. The lamb cutlet was a bit tough and there wasn’t much meat on the bone. The lamb shish was good, again was well seasoned like most of the meat, however I didn’t enjoy the chicken shish as it lacked flavour and was dry also. 7.6/10

Overall rating 9/10

All costing a nice £45 which is probably the most I have spent on food in one go but it was worth it. They have a good selection of drinks I tried their their Turkish tea and Lychee martini both really good drinks but if you get the tea you don’t need anymore than one cub of sugar anymore and it will be overly sweet.

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Worst service I have ever received. Would never go here again or recommend anyone to go here.

Made a booking weeks in advance, arrived on time and were left waiting in the entrance while several members of staff just walked past and didnt acknowledge us.

After 4 or 5 minutes we were told to take a seat in a room with 10+ other people. We was there for 25 minutes before a member of staff tried to seat someone who arrived 15 minutes after us. The people kindly spoke up and brought to the staff members attention that we were waiting longer than them (otherwise I'm sure we would've been waiting much longer).

After being seated we were bluntly told "scan the code for the menu. All tables get one hour and thirty minutes maximum".

After waiting nearly 20 minutes somebody came to take our order, as we were about to speak the member of staff walked away with no explanation and went to speak to his colleague for a minute, then returned and said "yeah, go on"

15 minutes after that we were told "we have another table for 2 for you, because we have a group of 4 that need your table" Already being unhappy with how things were going, we were debating if we wanted to move. The member of staff then said "I'll give you a free drink" we reluctantly moved. We never got a free drink and weren't even shown to the new table, but left to walk to the other side of the restaurant and seat ourselves.

Food was decent, but nothing special at all. We would've liked to order dessert as it was a special occasion but after our plates were taken nobody came near our table. After 20 minutes we finally managed to flag somebody down and order the bill. This was brought to us promptly with a service charge included.

While sitting we saw people getting sat on tables that hadn't been wiped down. A group of women actually brought out their own wipes to wipe down the table because it was still filthy from the group that had left a few minutes before.

The restaurant clearly overbooked and was on a cash grab.

I wouldn't even of cared that much about the waiting and lack of organisation if the staff had basic manners and professionalism.

Not at any point were the staff apologetic or remotely polite.

Would never go here again or recommend anybody...

Came here for a birthday meal last night. Cocktails we're good but the service was slow. The starters came out a different times and all the food was an average portion and overpriced in regards to the experience we had. At one point I asked a waitress where our starter was when everyone else had almost finished theirs and she said "Well you can see how busy we are so it will come out when its ready" 😐😐😐 3 starters, 10 cocktails, 3 soft drinks and 4 mains came to £217! Ordered a £25 pound steak rare and it came out medium. Adding a £25 service charge when the service was mediocre at best. One waitress looked after us in the end but only when she realised we wasn't best pleased. The belly dancer was a nice touch but most probably underpaid bless her. I feel earning money is more important to the owners of this resturant then their reputation. Probably have more new customers then reoccurring ones. You would think with all of the tables they have and ours a table of 4 coming to a price like that then they are earning enough money to be able to invest in their customer service. As a customer I want to go out and have a dining experience not feel like I'm left slightly inconvenienced. Someone else left a review which I also agree with... Most of Helvaderes good reviews are one liners and most probably not authentic. If you feel the need to write a review it's because the experience to had left you either with good memories or ones bad enough you feel the need to tell potential customers so they don't waste their money on a overpriced night out. If the restaurant cared about their reputation and customers they would reply to their reviews.

EDIT: Since posting this review I have been contacted by Helvadere and they have offered me a chance to return so my faith can be restored in their resturant. I gratefully accepted. All businesses have teething problems and hopefully with constructive criticism Helvadere can overcome theirs in...