Lebnani Restaurant — Restaurant in Reigate and Banstead

Lebanese vs Turkish? As kebab & grill restaurants take over our town centres, we visited our first Lebanese. At Lenani we opted for a takeaway as the restaurant is tiny, was packed and noisy.

The online menu was unfortunately not very clear with numerous spelling mistakes and no real description of the food.

Our food came to £63 for two of us with 3x starters and 2x mains, which was expensive but about the right amount food. The main difference with Lebanese food is the spices used. All the usual suspects were on the menu including shish kebab, Adana style kebab, shawarma, hummus, halloumi, cold and hot mezze selection. The main difference is the Lebanese food was spicier (hot) with more lemon, thyme, rose, mint, cinnamon and allspice. Turkish tends to use more bay leaf, paprika & oregano and is not so hot.

The mixed kebabs we had were sadly all a little dry, although the flavour was very good. You get a tiny slither of bread and a ton of red onions flavoured with sumac (lemon spice) but no salad! The chicken Shawarma was mostly meat and onion and tasted tangy of preserved lemon. It was a truly delicious flavour but again came with just a tiny slither of soggy flat bread and no salad.

A starter of Sticky chicken wings was a large portion (similar to a main) but was not very sticky and was served the same as the main courses with a ton of red onion and a slither of bread.

None of the main courses (like in a Turkish) come with rice, bulgur wheat or salad. This is charged extra, adding to the overall cost.

Don't get me wrong, the Lebanese food here is good, but I missed the large salads, rice and the normal delicious bread selection served with Turkish food, that is all so welcome when eating a large platter of grilled meats.

Value for money was also not as good as our local Turkish (Shiraz Horley) restaurant that charges a lot less for a lot more food!! For that reason and in our own personal opinion, Turkish food wins. Lebnani is however well worth a visit to try the very different unique...

Today me and my sister went to Lebnani for lunch as its a lovely little place that we like to visit often, however today we had a terrible experience with one of the waitresses. I found a hair in my food which completely threw me off, in which I told one of the waitresses and she was lovely and took the food away immediately, she then offered a complimentary starter, after this a second waitress then came back to the table to say that the previous lady made a mistake and that if I wanted to order anything else I would have to pay for it and the food I initially had would be deducted from the bill, I didn't want to make a fuss so I mentioned it was fine. When we received the bill I noticed that i was still charged for halloumi that was inside the wrap, however I didn't finish it because their was a hair, the waitress then proceeded to be very rude and say I had eaten nearly all the wrap and the hair was only the size of one of my eyelashes, which is completely false. We were quite confused because of the rude approach and continued to ask why we would pay for something we didn't even have despite raising concern over the hair and she said if we don't pay she will call the police. We never said we were not going to pay, we visit Lebnani quite often as well so it was shocking that a member of staff could be so rude to regular customers. We then paid and when she came to give us our change back she threw it on the table and walked away, we didn't even get a apology from her and we felt as though she was against us in this situation rather than trying to help us and get the best outcome. We will NEVER be returning after this. The other waitress was lovely and helpful however and if you visit you will definitely be able to differentiate...

It's a shame that there is not an option to add a bonus star to the ratings, because this restaurant more than deserves it. it is a complete standout in the restaurant world and, although, we are fortunate enough to have a vast selection of restaurants in Reigate, this is a complete gem, which keeps me coming back and back, for either lunch or dinner. They are also now starting to do outside catering, which I know will be as equally successful , as the restaurant currently is. I can't wait for an occasion to use them, though no excuse is really needed!

The space itself may be small, but it's beautiful and vibrant, and the welcome you receive from the happy (and still very efficient) staff is both warm and friendly - a true neighbourhood restaurant. The kitchen staff are amazing; producing wonderful , delicious and beautifully presented food and drink (in record time), with what appears to be very little space and still with a smile on their faces - big shout and thank you to you all in the kitchen. I could happily eat the whole menu, with the incredible price point, I probably could too.

Thank you to you all, so very much, for such a fabulous restaurant; I'm already looking forward to my next...