Noa Lounge — Restaurant in Watford

Very disappointing, on Instagram this place is made to appear very appealing whereas in reality it lacks significantly.

Starting with the decor, although it looks good in pictures, it is quite tacky in real life and lacks any character or charm. Although I’m sure this is subjective for some. There was a lot of waiting and we we not able to receive service unless one of us went up to the bar. This must be due to the limited staff members and how busy the restaurant was on this day. The menu is a little limited but this wasn’t a big issue, the problem was that some of the items were not available to order. And when we had placed our order, the server mentioned something along the lines of “hopefully these all are in stock”. The missing menu items and unsureness of the staff should have been warning signs for what was to come. The food was so unbelievably anticlimactic that I immediately lost my appetite. It looked absolutely nothing like the pictures. The burger buns were very soft, cheap and crumbly. The fell apart in the way frozen buns do and were not the delicious looking slashed brioche buns plastered all over Instagram. The meat in the burger was quite tough and grisly. All the burgers were extremely dry and barely contained any of the sauces which they were advertised with. The portion of fries were also sadly very small and could not be swapped for any other sides which are not a problem in other establishments. Some of the drinks were mostly all style over substance and could be heavily improved. All in all, the food looked considerably different to the images they have posted online and what we have seen served to “insta famous” individuals.

Most worrying of all is they do not accept card payments and neither is any type of receipt provided. This is concerning for me as there is no excuse for a business of this scale to not take card payments unless there is tax avoidance taking place. If you do not wish to support possible illegal activities, please do not waste your money here.

On the positive side, staff were all very polite, chirpy and charming. The nature of the environment also meant we could be loud and raucous without being told off. We left feeling disappointed and cat-fished but thankfully this was made up for with...

We’ve previously been here once and put multiple hundreds of pounds in their pocket. Food was very average at best, but was fasting at the time so food does taste better when you’re hungry. Shisha was okay and service was okayish.

However.. big however..

Went there couple days ago. Booked. Paid the deposit. Called them up saying we could be 5/10 mins late, arrived on time.

Get to the door now, and see a security guy there, soon found out that he’s very illiterate and a total jobsworth! We said we’ve booked, gave our names, he went in and told the owners. He comes out and asks for ID.. two of us had ID’s and the other two had photographic ID’s. He says he can only accept physical ones. As soon as he says this, a little road man walks up and asks to use the toilet, the security guy being the beg friend that he looks like, so desperately in need of some validation from this road man, asks him for ID, he shows a picture on his phone and he says cool go in. We then question him saying you just let him in with photographic ID, he replies he comes here everyday. Which then we reply well if he comes in everyday why the hell you asking him for ID. He then waffled a load of nonsense but it was clear that he made up his mind and the ID was just an excuse to not let us in. I would say it’s racism but we’re near enough the same race so I dunno.

But but but, despite having a whole baboon of a security guy, I’m not mad at him. I’m more annoyed at the scrawny little owners, who took our money for the deposit, made us drive a whole hour and a half, 50 miles!! To then deny us entry with no valid reason and then not having the balls to come and speak to us themselves and saying it’s up to the security.

People like this shouldn’t be in business if you don’t understand customer service and just genuine courtesy. I feel sick at the fact that I’ve put money in their pockets in the past. Maybe they need to go back to business school or some school cos boy do they have a lot to learn.

Anywayssss, my advice to you my friend who is reading this is save your TIME, save your MONEY, save your ENERGY, and avoid these little thieving, confused humans who have no clue about business and how to run...

I visited Noa Lounge today for the iftar platter. The decoration was lovely, and the service from the waiters was definitely commendable, as I like to be completely fair and honest with everywhere that I go.

However, to be completely honest, the food did not meet my expectations at all, especially considering the high prices. I had heard about the food at Noa not being the best beforehand but wanted to experience it myself, as I do not like to listen to what others say until I go to places myself. The butter chicken, unfortunately, did not taste like butter chicken at all it was more like a chicken masala, even in terms of the colour.

On the positive side, the masala fries were delicious, and I definitely think they got that right! The naan, however, was very dry and unappealing, and the raita was so watery that it felt more like a drink than a dip. The mini beef burgers were a major disappointment as well, as they lacked any sauce, making them extremely dry. The dynamite chicken was okay - not the best I’ve had, but nothing to complain about to be completely honest.

The Dubai French Toast as a desert was also extremely bad in taste, dry and was hard to swallow. The vanilla ice cream used was also very bad quality and you can tell just from tasting it, that it was from a local supermarket or one from Tesco, which was disappointing as we were really looking forward for it, as a result we were glad the portion was small as we struggled to finish it because of the taste.

One of the most disappointing aspects was being refused tap water, especially during Ramadan. While I would understand if they genuinely didn’t have clean drinking water, this wasn’t the case, as another waiter later agreed to provide it.

Additionally, the drink prices were shocking - ranging from £9.75 to £14.25, which is worse than many Central London spots.

Overall, I’d rate this place a 5.5/10. While the customer service was good, and staff made us feel welcomed with a smile, the food quality and taste could use significant improvement, especially to justify the high prices the usual menu has. For the iftaar menu deal of £20, I would definitely say it’s worth it to try out once to see...