Manjaros Restaurant Ilford — Restaurant in London

A long and eager wait was over today with our visit to Majaros Ilford Lane. We booked in advance thinking the restaurant will be packed but it wasnt surprisingly.

This review will take into account that the restaurant has just opened the door and will have teething issues. I will try to be constructive rather then judge our experience

As with all restaurants on Ilford Lane you have to be lucky or adamant to find parking which is free after 6pm.

Free wifi (untested)

We went as a family of three (2 adults + child)

The meet and greet at the door went without issue and was quite pleasant.

The decor is very vibrant and colorful. At the moment doesnt give off the aroma of a food place that would make it enticing and welcoming. The atmosphere isnt quite there yet.

We were shown to our table quite quickly.

I had to dust my seat, food crumbs from the previous diners all over. I wasnt surprised after a little while when I noticed how the tables are cleaned. The waitresses were using the cloth to wipe off all the crumbs and bits from the table straight on to the floor, resulting in bits falling on to the chairs.

The waitors and waitresses seem very young and very inexperienced.

The waitresses really do need to have their hair tied back in a food establishment. It is really off putting seeing them walk around serving food with really long hair let all loose. Very high chance of it falling into the food.

We also noticed too many staff loitering around, often grouped together without anything to do. I think they could have been more strategically placed to avoid making the restaurant look like it filled with more staff than diners.

The condiment selection and choice was very poor. With a place that has the vibe of nandos (music) and chicken focused need a much better selection with special choices unique to it.

The menu wasnt super appetising where anyone dish jumped out at us to be ordered.

We wanted to taste a variety of items as we were excited to try a new place out

We ordered the Hot shot chicken parmesan, the mixed grill which contains lamb chops, chicken wings, chicken boti, lamb boti and comes with steak chips and salad. We also ordered pasta from the kids menu.

We wanted barbican but they said they run out. We thought the soft drinks were priced quite high for the type of restaurant it is with prices between £2 and £2.50 for a glass.

Food wait time was 35 minutes. Understandable as they work into a rhythm.

Now the main reason for the rating is the actual food. It was very disappointing and did not provide any evidence of a skilled chef.

The mixed grill:

The flavours were way off, and left an unpleasant taste in the mouth. The presentation didn't do it any favours with it being piled on swimming in a puddle of orangey sauce.

The chicken wings were of poor quality, with veins visibly running through it.

The lamb chops (pictured) was very tiny and of a very poor cut.

Nothing premium about any it. Whether it was chicken or lamb chops it all tasted the same as it was swimming in that same sauce.

Chicken hot shot parmesan:

Chicken was very bland with chilli flakes sprinkled on top. This was a major disappointment as we were so happy that finally chicken parmesan had travelled down from the North to London. Sadly, if you want a decent parmesan its is still a long drive up the M1. (Bradford - Delicious Parmesan House)

The chips was over salted to the point it was inedible.

The kids pasta:

My son enjoyed it and ate most of it. It was a massive portion for kids.

Overall the portion size and the prices do add up and is priced reasonably.

Need for improvement:

1 - Marinade for meat/chicken 2 - Better quality Meat and Chicken including cuts (lamb chops and chicken wings especially) 3 - skilled workers - experience is key.

If this was an established business I wouldn't go again. Because it is new I will try it again in 6 months. I hope they improve and live up to the hype that they created...

Manjaros Ilford lane, Ilford.

The first night of a soft launch, hence the opening on a Monday usually the quietest evening of the week for the dining fraternity. The 10th location in the chain that originates from the Pindh (my hometown area). I'm just going to throw this out there's a new chic-KING in town, upping the anti with the signature dish of parmesan (if you can handle it)

The venue: taking on the location from rubys ambala, heavily revamped with lively wall art and an airy feel adds to the ambience. A wonderful prayer room with a small wudu area and space for a jammat of 10 (shoulder to shoulder and breathe in brothers).

The menu: a concoction of various Caribbean flavours cut over with a desi twist not for the purest more for the young at heart and adventurous.

The service: lots of training going on and not fully up to speed, plus the table buttons (yes you read that right) were disarrned. A few items were missing off the menu, but these were immediately highlighted.

The food: So things were kicked off with mango lassi (I'm a puritan and prefer salty, sadly not a choice) well put together and hits the spot. For starters we opted for the flambet chops lovely tender and smothered in manjaros signature sauce, got to say a gem on the menu. Next up garlic cheese bread with achari keema, it came slightly burnt underneath (highlighted to the staff) immediately offered a replacement, but we declined and enjoyed the rest as the flavours really worked and the right amount of bread.

On to the mains it's all about the PARMO aka the chicken parmesan, please be warned it's not for the faint hearted and made mice of many a so called man.

For me there was only one choice even the newly trained waiter couldn't stop himself from waxing lyrical about the achari keema parmo (a twist on the Bolognese original served in the other locations). In the red corner, A solid chicken breast covered bechamel sauce, a subtle hint of achar in the mix of keema that was lined up with explosive flavours.

My friend opted for the waka waka chicken in waka sauce, it was a delight, sadly this was ruined for him as I let him taste the achari parmo (another convert). To wrap things up a portion of veg rasta rice was ordered adding to the symphony of flavours and textures.

Battle commenced and I fought like a champion bite after bite as the parmo fought back with its calorific awesomeness and side of thick chips and a mini salad. Midway through my friends comment on the parmo was "That's just on another level!!".

Feeling like Rocky after the penultimate round deep breathe the final bite and the parmo was beaten and I was just about hanging in there looking down at a bloated belly as second trimester food baby took shape.

All the dishes were well cooked and well presented.

Finally making to the dessert biscotti cheese cake (no dessert menu yet). Individual portion rather then a slice, got to be honest this just had too much creme cheese and that drowned out the rest of the flavours.

The bill was reasonable at £50.

Final thought: Gasping for breathe and waddling out of the restaurant with a food baby in tow, this is a once a...

I've had food from Manjaros through UberEats on many occasions, mostly it's been great, there has been a few times where it's come cold, but this was probably down to a few factors, be it cold weather, delivery person not having the right bag etc., My impression of Manjaros has always been good. 👌💪

Decided to eat in with a couple of friends, we went around 10pm, it was still very busy, quite late for Dinner, but it's probably the best time you are likely to get a table within 15-20 minutes of waiting. Between 7-10pm it's way too busy, and unless you got tabe booked the wait can be over an hour.

The restaurant looks good, clean, spacious, really nice decor, lighting, it's all round a very well maintained place. The one positive about the service was it was consistent, and not in a nice way, it was consistently bad, from the moment we walked in to the last. We walked in, guy said wait is 10-15 minutes, we waited, then after 15 minutes later a girl comes to the front and asks if we are waiting, we said yes and already in the queue, further 10 minutes later we get a table, not too bad so far. We get seated, no one seems to acknowledge us or wants to take our order, 10-15 minutes in, we have to call a waiter to take our order, still not terrible so far. We order, food comes pretty quickly, more about the food further down, we finish our food, no one seems to want to clear our table, 20 minutes after we finish eating, a lady comes to clear our table, we ask for couple of containers for taking away our left overs, she goes to get it, disappears, 15 minutes later we ask another waiter to give us some containers. All the time we are there, staff never make eye contact, don't seem to want to acknowledge the customers, never ask if we need anything, never ask if the food is okay, never ask if we are finished, and even in the end, we had to ask where we pay, they never once said we pay at the counter when we finished 🤦🏽😏

Food wise, we had the Lamb Chops, the quality of the meat was terrible, really poor, hard, chewy, you will have a workout cutting it with a knife, maybe it was a bad day for lamb chops, the Mini Mix Grill was okay, and the 2 Lamb Chops meat was better with the Mix Grill, the chicken, beef and chicken wings was also really good with the Mix Grill, maybe they use a different marinade, the Chicken Rasta Pasta was really nice, along with the Gourmet Burger, they were by far the nicest dishes. The Chips were soggy and wet, not crispy at all, really poor showing. The Salad was well below standard, the cucumber looked like it's been there for days. Overall the food was okay at best, it's a shame that the take way delivery food has been much better from here, pretty ironic as it should have been the opposite.

Overall, I think I will stick to take away if I want Manjaros, and will not be eating in here again, and recommend the same to...