Shish Willesden

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

Service was good. Friendly staff and helpful in explaining dishes. However food was nothing to shout about. I had the sea bass patties which was quite bland and my boyfriend had the steak kebabs which he said was tasteless. The panacotta for desert was pretty good. Despite the lack of taste, the prices weren't too bad, but would have rather paid more for better food.

Atmosphehere was good, and interior design nice. Supposing the bar might've been good but didn't have time for that.
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JA
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 5
Monday, January 23, 2006

Shish is our local and despite going there quite a bit over the past three years we still really like it. Start with the cold mixed meze to share, followed by Salmon Teriyaki (perfectly cooked) and if you still have room the ice cream and baklava is divine.

Serivce is usually fast and friendly. Some nights have live music which makes for a great atmosphere.
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Sarah
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Friday, December 30, 2005

Another good food but bad service restaurant. It takes ages for them to serve the food. When I ve been there last time ; even people were served who came after us but we had to wait almost 45 minutes for kebab dishes for 2. When I asked nicely to a staff about the whereabouts of our food ,he almost told me off with an angry face.Besides, food is nice but not perfect, meat comes cooked too much and dry. Most off all 12.5% service charge is too much for that kind of restaurant.
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eleny - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Saturday, December 10, 2005

Have been going to Shish for a few years on and off. Probably going more now than I used to. No complaints at all with the food and service - certainly still a fresh dining out option in this area of London - people working their are casual and friendy. Have a few shish I could recommend from the menu - wraps are best. Bar on a weekend is also work a look as it is spot on with a good DJ
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Sophie M
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Thursday, November 24, 2005