Sofra (Mayfair)

My partner and I had a pre cinema dinner here last Friday. For £10 including a glass of wine. The lamb (neck) tagine with vegetables and rice was tasty and wholesome. My partners chicken brocette equally so. A £1.50 cover for olives and houmus was not wallet busting so we had no complaints when we saw the bill of £25 inlcuing service. Service was efficient and far from pushy which others have mentioned. It can seem a little crowded downstairs so my advice is try and get a ground floor table with windows.
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dp
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 9
Monday, April 21, 2008

I have to agree with the lady below... the service was so bad! The food was ok, but seemed very rushed and badly presented.

The waiter was constantly hovering over our table (but not to be attentive) he was desperatly trying to clear our plates so we would leave quickly. This is something that I find very frustrating when you are trying to enjoy a meal.

As soon as our last bite was consumed the plate was snatched (no lie!) from underneath me.

I generally found the whole experience awful, especially being hussled out. The food was okay but nothing amazing. For the price of the food I don't think its justified and should be reduced if only for the disgraceful service!

I work in the area and would not ever go back here again have have advised collegues and friends of the area not to either!

Sofra manager - take note of what people say!!
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Ben J
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Thursday, February 07, 2008

Our first visit will also be our last. We (husband, friend and I) were looking for an early evening meal in the area and liking the look of the menu, entered just after 6.30. The greeting was abrupt and unfriendly - had we booked - no - but we could have a table but only until 7.30. We accepted and decided to order some wine and first courses, don't know about you, but I can't really enjoy a 2 or 3 course meal in about 45 minutes! This order was ungraciously taken. I must say the food was good but the service dreadful. A waiter was hovering over us constantly to try and clear unfinished plates and as soon as we had finished slapped down the coffee and dessert menu. With about 20 minutes to go, we decided to have some more wine, again the order was obviously not to the waiters liking. Wine was almost thrown into our glasses from a great height and we despatched it as quickly as we could. The 12.5% service charge was an unwelcome surprise but like idiots we paid it despite the fact that the service was appalling. So in summary, good food, poor (intimidating) service - pity.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 5
Friday, January 25, 2008

A group of 7 of us went to Sofra for a friend's birthday a month ago. I'd love to be able to give this restaurant a good review as it's my favourite type of cuisine.. But, I have to say both the food and the service especially was shocking - My mousaka was burnt (how can you burn something as simple as Mousaka?!!) , i had to ask 3 times for some houmous and it was 'thrown' on the table when it did finally arrive! The service throughout was abrupt and rude and short of ruining my friend's birthday evening. When we refused to pay service charge as it had been so bad, the manager came over and started behaving in a very aggresive manner and was extremely intimidating.

I would not recommend eating here unless you're not bothered by rudeness!

The only good thing in it's favour is the location in St Chistopher's Place.
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Friday, January 18, 2008

Just had Sunday lunch here and i dont know why some reviewers didnt enjoy it.

Our party of four were given a warm welcome and treated wonderfully. The menu was expansive and our waiter couldnt have been more attentive. Our mixed meze to start was lovely, really tasty and plenty of variety. We wolfed it down. The wine list was fine, if a little pricey, so we stuck to what we knew, a robust Shiraz, or three! Very nice! Our mains were just as good,my chicken shish was perfect, really succulent. All in all the four of us had a great experience.I couldnt reccommend this place enough,Just be aware of loud American women on thier mobile phones! She seemed not to be able to talk quietly, but maybe thats everyone on a phone! PLEASE switch them off when in a restaurant, you really can wait untill later!

Many Thanks,

Malcolm.
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malcolm Turner - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Really really bad food. We had borek, which was meant to be spinach and feta parcels, they were cold, greasy and mostly empty. We also ordered 'rocket and tomato salad' which was made up of iceberg lettuce, copious red onion, 1 minute tomato cut in half and about 4 rocket leaves. Then i had fish with a distinctly meaty gravy. Teh very nice waiter said he'd take the borek off the bill when we said it hadnt' been good. However, the waiters were very nice, and gave us some baklava as a consolation prize.

They lured us in from the street by thrusting glasses of ribena-y wine into our hands - why this didn't ring alarm bells i have no idea, we thought it looked good as it was so busy... but anyway, learn from our mistake.
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Albert
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, November 07, 2007

I cannot understand the negative reviews of the Mayfair restaurant. My friends and I enjoyed an extremely good meal, the service was excellent and friendly and the prices very reasonable. Also. unlike most other restaurants there was no irritating musak so that we elderly people were able to have a conversation without shouting at each other.
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David Fielker
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Sunday, October 21, 2007

I can't speak for the Mayfair branch but the Exmouth Market one isn't listed on this website. I think this is one of my favourite ever restaurants. We first went there because of the Times £5 deal a couple of years ago only to find that they have a similar £6ish two-course deal all the time, any night of the week.

The whole experience at Sofra is brilliant. You arrive to lovely bread, humous and olives and all the food is great and generous. I particularly recommend the chicken and potato stew - sounds simple but the spices are great and it's melt in the mouth. The wine list is reasonable but nothing special.

For my friend's birthday 10 of us went and we had champagne brought to us on arrival, plenty of fuss made of the girl and all sorts of requests and changes to the set menu accomodated etc.

It's a great atmosphere and the value is exceptional for that bit of London.
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Georgia
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Friday, September 08, 2006

Went to Sofra last night and can safely say that the experience left a bad taste in the mouth...in more ways than one. Yes, we experienced all the (evidently far too frequent) problems listed below - unhappy waiters/waitresses; hurried service; four different waiters to a table, etc...could have let this go as the food was good...but, astonishingly and really quite worringly, we were given meat dishes when we had very clearly asked for the vegetarian varieties. My friend - who has been vegetarian for over a decade - bit into her food in good faith that they had brought over the correct order (word of warning to anyone thinking of visiting Sofra...do NOT make this same mistake; please check your food first!!), and discovered that there was meat in it. She was understandably distressed; we alerted the waitress who 'explained' (with an attitude only marginally worse than her English..which was scarely existent) that it was the kitchen's fault. We received no apology; just our replacement dishes - thankfully correct the second time around. If we hadn't already ordered and drunk some of our wine, I think we would have left. On reflection, we should have done and I wish we had. Naturally, we refused to pay their laughable 12.5% service charge (does ANYONE pay this??!), but considering their serious error and subsequent behaviour, this just doesn't really seem enough.

Sofra's utterly unapologetic and dismissive attitude to someone who's just had the principles by which they live their lives undone by pure incompetance on their part is unforgivable. Yes, the food was good, but not sufficient to atone for the atrocious service. I for one will not be returning.
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Cat
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 3
Friday, August 25, 2006

Went to Sofra last night and can safely say that the experience left a bad taste in the mouth...in more ways than one. Yes, we experienced all the (evidently far too frequent) problems listed below - unhappy waiters/waitresses; hurried service; four different waiters to a table, etc...could have let this go as the food was good...but, astonishingly and really quite worringly, we were given meat dishes when we had very clearly asked for the vegetarian varieties. My friend - who has been vegetarian for over a decade - bit into her food in good faith that they had brought over the correct order (word of warning to anyone thinking of visiting Sofra...do NOT make this same mistake; please check your food first!!), and discovered that there was meat in it. She was understandably distressed; we alerted the waitress who 'explained' (with an attitude only marginally worse than her English..which was scarely existent) that it was the kitchen's fault. We received no apology; just our replacement dishes - thankfully correct the second time around. If we hadn't already ordered and drunk some of our wine, I think we would have left. On reflection, we should have done and I wish we had. Naturally, we refused to pay their laughable 12.5% service charge (does ANYONE pay this??!), but considering their serious error and subsequent behaviour, this just doesn't really seem enough.

Sofra's utterly unapologetic and dismissive attitude to someone who's just had the principles by which they live their lives undone by pure incompetance on their part is unforgivable. Yes, the food was good, but not sufficient to atone for the atrocious service. I for one will not be returning.
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Cat
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 3
Friday, August 25, 2006