Mahdi Restaurant — Restaurant in London

The Food: Lamb chops were nice. tender and juicy. Boneless chicken was tough and the lamb kobodeh gritty and chewy, Salad was just plain lettuce leaf with some chunky chopped cucumbers and tomatoes with a sprinkle of sweet corn. No dressing.

Portions are smaller than they used to be, but the prices have really increased in the 1.5 years since we last visited.

Weirdly, some customers seem to get barberries, but we didn't. The chef seems to randomise every plate. Salad isnt dressed and was cheap and nasty lettuce, sweetcorn, and some dry slices of cucumber that had the texture they'd been sliced 3 days earlier and left uncovered in the fridge before landing on my plate.

They squeezed us onto a table for 4, though we were 2 adults, 3 young. children and a baby.

Oh yes, the bill arrived with everything written in Persian!

EDIT

As perfect, an example of denialism I've ever seen. Compelled to reply to the restaurants comments replete with misinformation or ignorance, who would do better to take stock of the reality and demonstrates humility and a desire to fix rather than deny honest customer feedback.

I attend restaurants to 'Eat', not photo the food. And I certainly would not photo the haphazardly placed lettuce, corn, and cucumber you call salad.

You ask a silly question, "How it would not be fresh when we sell 100 per day." Batch prepping ingredients in advance and storing in a fridge. That is obviously what you do to enable you to serve such a large menu to over 100 guests.

You did not address the fact that you handed us a handwritten bill with products written in Persian. Upon payment you took back this bill and provided no receipt. Makes impossible to know what customers are paying for, whether the bill was correct or to prove later on what exactly was sold. The impression is that you cheat customers and the tax man!

Seating I had called in advance to ask if you could accommodate 2 adults, 3 children, and a baby, you said you could. When we arrived as planned, the restaurant was half empty. You directed us to a 4 seat table. The adjacent table could easily have been joined to increase the capacity to 6. There also were other suitable tables, and this remained the case for the 50min we were with you. Would have been common sense to have provided a baby chair as well!

Portion size and price. Note that you did not address my comment about the massive price hike, but I am left wondering if the final eye watering bill had a bit to do with a slip in maths on the Persian invoice! Your portion sizes have certainly been reduced. It is dishonest to deny it. You have reduced the rice quantity and increased the undressed assembly of dry lettuce, cucumber, tomato, and sweet corn to fill the plate. We used to eat at your establishment once per month before we moved away 1 year ago but continued to recommend your restaurant to anyone we knew looking for good value in you side of London - but no more! You used to give large portions, although admittedly, much of that was rice. I suppose the cost of rice has gone up!

Barberries. Never in any of our previous visits did we need to request them, nor where we charged an extra for the given barberries. Clearly your chef does what he likes or makes do with what he has.

Everyone makes mistakes, and it can't be easy to running a restaurant where much of the staff don't understand English, but we will not return BECAUSE of your attitude to our honest review. With soo many Iranian restaurants in almost every major city and town there really is no need to return to an establishment that chooses to ignore honest customer feedback. You always were a 6.5-7 on quality but a 8-9 on value. Now the value has gone and your attitude is awful.

Advice to anyone who dines with you. Insist that the bill is written in English, the removal of any service charges where service has been substandard, AND a receipt. Also check to make sure that you receive exactly what is expressed in your chosen menu...

Nice decor, Very quiet, maybe too quiet.

No one at the front to greet.

Feels small and like a family house when you enter. Staff were sat at the front table eating and looked at me but said nothing, just motioned for me to go further to the back.

When you go through to the back it opens out to a much roomier and well presented dining area.

Very comfy sofas covered with Persian rugs.

Service was quick and somewhat friendly from the female server. The men were a little quiet and pre occupied with phones.

Feels a little cold atmosphere wise, not much of a vibe. The type of place where if you are loud/laughing you might have eyes on you, judging you. Not good for a first date. More like a place for an intimate dinner.

Really nice decorations.

Persian tea is bland. Not as aromatic as a Turkish tea but, you do get a tall glass which is good as you get more but, more of a not so good thing isn't necessary good is it?

Staff seem... Bored... Lifeless, disengaged, not even talking to eachother. Once seated the staff ignore customers, communicate poorly and although they try to put on a polite act, it falls very quickly.

While they are not rude they are simply just not friendly.

An interesting selection of sauces packaged in what you would get ketchup and mayo at a chicken shop along with some lurpack was brought to the table but nothing to eat with it or use it on...

10 minutes and my main (Chelo Bhakhtiari) arrived, which was good.

Salad was your regular garden salad of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and sweet corn. Was fresh but unexciting.

Chicken was soft but a little dry, not much flavour, no real taste, no charcoal flavour to it .

Lamb was the same, soft but a little dry and largely blend

Comes with a LOT of rice white and yellow basmati, well cooked and buttery but again, very plain and boring. When combined with the meat, it's all very... Dry

Grilled tomatoe was tasty and juicy, more of them instead of rice would be better to go with the meat. Had to use the salad to wash down the meat for to dryness.

No bread (despite there being fresh bread made at the front in a stone oven), salad or anything for the table was brought. A little disappointing.

Maybe I'm just used to being spoiled in a Turkish restaurant

Was charged unknowingly for a large glass which was £2 as opposed to the £1 I thought I was being charged. When enquired I was told I was given the large glass.

Service charge also added on to the bill bringing total to £24.50, more than the expected £21.50 for what I ordered.

Overall, 2/5 bland and boring food,...

My family and I revisited this restaurants after many years . To say we were disappointed at the dramatic decline in the quality and portions of the food is an understatement. The food was simply terrible besides being far too salty . The rice was old . The koobideh smelt bad and was not tender . The barg was yellow and oh so salty . I don’t know what the kashk bademjan was to be honest but it definitely was one of the worst foods we have tasted . It didn’t have the garnishings on it . I wanted hot water to add to the teapot we had already ordered and was told it was not possible . It was indeed very sad to see such a huge dip in practically every single thing in a restaurant we favourited and frequented often 5 or so years ago . Servers were unfriendly with no manners whatsoever . They didn’t remove our plates and cutlery from the starters before bringing the main course . One waiter attempted to remove my starter plate whilst holding my main course in the other hand as I was still eating. Being an Iranian myself , I do not write this review lightly . We will not be returning there again . Finally, I don’t know why it is that in these Iranian restaurants you are put on the spot to pay in cash ! Ps. The bathrooms were beyond filthy and in need of a complete overhaul , a deep cleanse and fumigation .

To whomever who wrote the below I suggest you perhaps try sth else besides copying and pasting an irrelevant response . Everything I have written above is FACT and the truth . I suggest you speak to the Manager who actually refunded one of the meals as it was so salty . Furthermore maybe try and be a bit more professional in your responses and try not to disrespect your customers . And the only FAKE thing here is you and your lies. Let me add some more just to reassure you of how fake this is lol . Both orders of The jujeh kabab in the chicken makhsoos were awful . Both barg makhsoos were terrible . The chelo kabab was tough . Oh sorry , the only thing that may have been okay was the sabzi khordan which I don’t believe required...