Shish Willesden

This used to be quite a good place and for Willesden it was one of the few places where you could sit in a nice environment. However, the restaurant seems to have gone down hill.

We went for dinner during the week. The restaurant had between 3-5 other tables over the course of our dinner and appeared to have only 3 waiting staff and 2 kitchen staff. Obviously not expecting to be busy. Neverless it seemed as if there was 1 waitress as the other 2 spent most of the time chatting in the kitchen or cleaning cutlery, crockery and glasses. Unsurprisingly, we had to wait to be seated even though it was half empty.

We ordered the bread which apparently is made on site. This took nearly 20 mins and this was only starters, You get three different types in the basket, one was bland and the other was too salty. (You can see into the kitchen and see the staff not doing anything which makes it even more infuriating).

The main course was ok althought this took another 20 mins, not sure why when the kebab meats are the only thing that needs to be cooked. We had the Afghan Chicken and Chicken Satay wraps with salad. These were ok, nothing special. Considering this is in Willesden, you would hope for amazing kebabs given the competition nearby and the prices they wish to charge. We also had 2 mint teas which were a little bland.

We also used a 2 for 1 voucher on the main course and the total for the above was £18 (inc. using the voucher).

There are much better restaurants in North West London serving Middle Eastern Food and for much better value. Unless somebody promised me that it had improved, i would not be returning.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 3
Friday, March 20, 2009

Our drinks took 10 minutes to arrive, which wouldn't be too bad in some circumstances but considering there were only 2 other couples in there it wasn't acceptable.

We had the mixed hot mezze to start which to be honest were very nice if a little bit small. The mains were a different story - I ordered the kashmiri lamb wrap with chips and vegetables. The wrap came served in paper (which I found a bit weird) and when I tried to unwrap the paper I found that it was actually stuck to the pitta which meant that however softly I tried to remove it the contents spilled out everywhere. The chips (all 11 of them) were soft, soggy and salty. The veg turned out to be a small bowl of pickled raw veg (cauliflower, carrot and an unidentifable melon looking vegetable) which were all fowl.

Jen went for the haloumi shish with cous cous. The haloumi cheese was nice but the cous cous was really dry and came with a strange looking, fowl vegetable broth.

To her credit the waitress was open to the criticism we gave and fairly apologetic. Unfortunately the damage was done and the service charge which was added was destined to be ignored.

Maybe we were unlucky and the price was reasonable (£30) but I wouldn't go back.
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Dan
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 8
Thursday, March 19, 2009

I love the cocktail Bar upstairs, and their Private Function room and roof terrace was perfect for my Birthday party! The cocktail menu is fantastic and I like how they serve food in the bar as well. The Bellydancer is really cool as well, she preforms on the last sunday of the month. And I love the music from their Dj on Fridays!

The staff is friendly and know thier job- could maybe be a little more attantive at times... I really enjoy the hot and cold mezze, and the salmon shish is fantastic. I agree on that the portion zise could be bigger- but there is always the option of "dubbel shish" for half of the price!

And last week me and my friend had a dinner on Monday evening, and they offered us a 2 course meal for £9.95 ( Monday evening deal) including a beer- that was a good deal!

Because I live locally its great for a small night out!
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Messy - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 6
Wednesday, January 28, 2009

To sum it up "Not great".

The restaurant downstairs has uncomfortable chairs and is pretty draughty. The starters have an out of the freezer feel to them. There's nothing wrong with the kebab mains. Staff are pretty good and service is quick.

The cocktail bar upstairs is a pleasant place for a drink or two - the atmosphere up there is an 8 rather than the 5 I've given for downstairs.
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John
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 6
Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Went there for a quick dinner on a Wednesday night. The atmosphere is pretty good and the staffs are friendly.

The only issue I have is the portion of the dinner is a bit too small. For £8, I have one medium size skewer of chicken and salad. I don't eat alot, but it is way too little even for him. However, the chargrilled chicken skewer was impressive, it looks, smells and tastes great!

I will go back again when i am not too hungry.
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Vie
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Thursday, August 28, 2008

Shsih is one of the very few good local restaurants in Willesden Green. I've been going for the last five years or so on a pretty regular basis. It's fairly reliable, though it seems to have a reasonably constant turnover of kitchen and serving staff, meaning that both food and service are a little variable.

The ground floor restaurant: At it's best: good fresh ingredients cooked simply in a zesty healthy way. It used to be nearly all seating at the bar overlooking the kitchen which was great. They knocked out the old "s" shaped bar to fit in many more tables - not as good as it was and means you are less involved in the charcoal grill cooking.

It's almost cheap - the lunchtime deal in particular is very good.

Order mixed hot mezze when you arrive with your drinks and a shish for main (Afghan chicken may not be very recognisable to a Pathan, but it's very tasty).

Always a good mixed crowd of locals.

The recently refurbed bar is a good place to spend an evening with friends. I only tried the second floor restaurant (more involved menu, higher prices) once a few years ago - and was disappointed. I believe it has been done up since then.

This is not the place for a gastronomic extravaganza, but it's a very welcome local.
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Kwev - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Went there last week and really liked this place. OK, this is not one of those "best ever restaurant i've been to" reviews, but it was hard to find fault.

We came here as a large group for some drinks and some food. At first we sat upstairs and had some cocktails. Waitresses knowledge of cocktail was very limited but the guy making them knew his stuff which is really all that matters. Took a while to make but not the end of the world.

Upstairs was nice and friendly and the staff very pleasant. Live DJ was pretty good. Funky interior and clean toilets.

Downstairs for food, was much the same, friendly staff and good food.

Food was good and as you would expect it to come and we ALL enjoyed it. There was no "wow!" when the food came but not one person was disappointed.

Will come here again with some other mates for sure.
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DJFearRoss - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Monday, July 30, 2007

Fresh and healthy mezze shish and cocktails. casual and friendly place!

tried their brunch last week. the english breakfast shish is tasty, healthy and amazing value. the fresh juices and the apple melon cucamber is highly recommended.
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Dean B.
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Shish is a good value, friendly local restaurant with good food and smart modern decor. Shish is not worth travelling miles for, it is not pretentious and it is not going to be the most amazing dining experience of your life, but Ilike it. When you arrive in Shish you tend to notice how mixed the crowd is; mothers and fathers with there kids, young and pretty couples, whole families and everyone else. Shish is by no means exclusive to one age range and this works in its favour. The ground floor, where i have always sat, is modern and quite simply laid out and also quite cramped so as you know the topic of the next tables conversation. This is not necesarrilly a bad thing.

The food has always come quickly and the starters (the cold selection) are excellent. The humus is creamy and tasty, the aubergine dip is cruchy with delicious red onions and sweet. The taboulleh is fresh and the coriander in it is strong and delicious. The red pepper and feta salad is also fresh and excellent. The main course does not, unfortunately, live up the promise of the starters. I had the sesame coated tofu with portabello mushrooms on a bed of couscous. The tofu and mushrooms were excellent, the tofu was well flavoured and crispy on the outside and the mushrooms were very tasty. Unforutnately i only got 3 small slices of mushrooms which was unfortunate. The miso sauce was good but the couscous was unfortuantely quite dry and rather bland. More miso sauce might have made this ok but i only recieved a small pot. The main course was however filling and i was relatively pleased.

With our meal we bought a bottle of red wine for £11 which was ok, although the wine had some sediment in it and was not the best. The total bill, including service, was £45 which isn't too bad, although the fast service means that that price only covers a short dining experience. I think Shish is worth a visit if you live nearby or are in the area and I think you'll have fun. Me and my girlfriend have been back many times and always like it.
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Matthew
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Monday, January 15, 2007

There aren't many restaurants within walking distance for most of the residents of Willesden Green, so I do try very hard to like the ones we do have! However, try as I might, it is impossible to really like Shish.

Over the years I've visited the portions have shrunk in both quantity and quality. I have sent chicken back on two separate occasions, once for being practically raw and the second time for being overcooked. The meals were replaced but without apology. On my last visit, the startes were slow to arrive and were rapidly followed by the mains - the waiter tried to take the half eaten starters away and when I asked for them to be left he just shoved the plates around on the inadequately sized table until they reached a precarious balance. Our wine bottle was shifted to a nearby empty table to accommodate this and the taken away, half full and with no explanation, by a different waiter. We asked our waiter for our wine and after some delay a bottle was produced - half full so hopefully the same one that left us!

We canceled dessert and asked for the bill, providing a credit card to facilitate the process. When the bill arrived the desserts were there, as was a service charge. We demanded that the desserts and service charge were both removed which was eventually done by a very surly man, not our original waiter who had apparently left for the evening.

Raising all our concerns with the man who appeared to be in charge, he told us that we should have booked and we wouldn't have had any problems.

Can't recommend this place.
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Fiona - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, October 25, 2006