Karv Steakhouse — Restaurant in London

Went to this restaurant after recommendation from few friends. First of all getting there (London! ) from reading took us as long as it takes us to go to Birmingham (almost two hours). We had pre booked table so wait time was zero which was very good.

We got served by an eager passionate guy who took us to our table through a maze of small cramped up tables and people sitting and eating. To be honest I didn’t expect to be sitting next to another family on the right and left and front and back literally it was so small a space between tables that I just couldn’t have a conversation with my friends in any privacy or leisure. We are not at school canteen where you can over hear every conversation yet they all sound like crowd noise. Wasn’t pleasant at all.

We ordered our food which was prawns and main was platter.

Prawns were absolutely amazing with subtle hint of spice and flavour topped up with sauces. 5 ⭐

Platter had bit of everything Steaks were done perfectly medium to well done had body of meat as well as distinct flavours amazing 5 ⭐

Potato mash wasn’t up to mark wasn’t buttery enough or smooth enough. In fact it was bit coarse and grainy not to our liking. I like mine smooth buttery that melts in your mouth. 3 ⭐

Gravy that came with the platter was bland however but more black pepper and hint of tangy lime would have been perfect however it’s more of personal taste over all did the job 4 ⭐

Rice were very good and had plenty of flavours proper cooked and fresh. Really likes them however portion was too small for three of us 4 ⭐.

Smash burgers was the best part. Juicy smooth cheesy flavoursome and really felt the full body of meat so flavours were not overpowering to neglect the real gourmet meat.

Salad was good and worth a mention as well. Overall absolutely amazing food would definitely give 5 ⭐ overall.

However all that long a travel and high end pricing to go along with cramped noisy atmosphere I can’t give 5 ⭐ overall am afraid. In summary if you are looking for amazing food with zero atmosphere ambience and are happy to eat among crowded tables and noise then you should not look any further This is the place to eat. Not for me am Afraid as I expect calm serene quiet atmosphere where I can enjoy small private chat and enjoy hearty five star food which they certainly offer. One more thing to watch out for is their service charge as it wasn’t mentioned or advertised. I have dined in many restaurants and places service charge is only applicable if there are 8 or more people which is fair as you occupy a server just to yourselves not here though as we were only three of us. Perhaps politely decline the service charge and they may waive it off like they do in most high end...

Very very average. Travelled 90mims for this place. Very tight seating. We ordered bone broth which we couldn’t taste as it’s covered in herbs and salad, dynamite prawns were ok and lamb tacos which again I couldn’t taste as there was hardly any lamb and it was covered with salads. Ordered the whole platter to sample everything as a main.

Steaks were bang average, chicken wings were awfully marinated and portion size was in the small size. Bill was £125 for 2 people and at this stage I couldn’t be bothered to order dessert as I felt so disappointed. Sick of influencers hyping up places when they don’t deserve it. This place is an average local steak place that is on the pricey side.

After your bitter response I thought I'd add some more information to enlighten everyone else. First and foremost learn how to spell and write basic grammar. Secondly I ordered the whole menu so I could sample the best of everything you had and it fell short unfortunately. Your point about the pricing is valid I accept that and perhaps the average bill would have been more like £80. Everything else was exactly what I said bang average and i can understand why thats difficult for you to comprehend but it's the truth. By the way over ordering doesn't affect my taste buds and some advice for the future, please dont get your knickers in a twist when someone critiques your average food, instead try and improve yourself. As someone who has multiple restaurants and use to run and own one of the busiest franchises in London I can tell you that it wont benefit you in the long run. Your chicken wing marinade is awful and the quality of meat you are using is very standard. I appreciate the majority of your clientele would not notice these things but the only reason Im going out of my way to critique is because the hype simply isn't real and all these paid youtubers should be ashamed of themselves. Sorry if the truth hurts but maybe elevate...

I don't usually like going to Halal smokehouses/steakhouses because most of the time the food isn't that great, despite online ratings, purely because a lot of the Muslim community won't know what they're meant to be tasting, having probably not eaten at the non halal counterparts. However this place is brilliant.

I went with my father and we got the bone marrow for starters, as well as the grilled prawns. I'm not a massive bone marrow fan but this was delightful and seasoned well. The prawns were quite possibly the most succulent I've ever had, and often restaurants tend to overcook but these were perfect.

For mains we got the platter for 4(in hindsight this really was a silly idea as we barely finished). The steaks were pretty good quality wise and actually cooked to medium rare like we'd asked. Could do with a bit more salt, but they do place a pile of salt on the board it comes on so perhaps you season to your liking? The chicken wings and half chicken were good, nice flavour, tender. The burgers were pretty good as well. Similar to most higher end smash burger places popping up in London. The sides we had included mash which was standard, the rice which was fine too, but the chips were the star. All crispy and just the right amount of seasoning.

The staff were lovely and attentive, although I feel at times were a bit flustered as one of the servers forgot to give me a glass with my drink. We were sat on a table for 2 but before our food came out we were asked if we wanted to move to a bigger table due to how much food we ordered and that was a nice touch.

The restaurant itself is very small and could feel a bit claustrophobic when at peak hours. But we came at a time where it was just getting busy after we left.

Overall id give an 8/10 and that's being quite harsh. Good value for money which is rare in London nowadays. Would recommend the bone marrow and prawns if you get a...