Tas (Borough High Street)

I am a regular at Taz because in my opinion it represents the best eating-out value in London, especially if you have the special menu.

I have eaten at most of the big name restaurants but I defy anyone to eat as well for the money. The staff are always polite and cheerful and the decor and table appointments are tastful
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Lawrence
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Sunday, June 28, 2009

We went to this restaurant as my Dad often recommended it. However this time we were all a little disappointed.

It wasn't terrible. Just disappointing.

Our starters were very tasty. The main courses were average. My boyfriend and Dad both ordered the kidneys and they were not properly cooked. My dish- Salmon grill was, a little bland.

Service was good- however they did forget some of our drinks.

The worst part was the desserts. a shallow plate of yogurt for over £4! Three tiny tiny pieces of baklava again for over £4! So this is how they are paying for the ornate mosaic tiles in the beautiful bathroom!
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Samina
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 2
Sunday, February 15, 2009

Having suggested trying out this restaurant to a friend who loves Turkish food, we attended on 15th July at 8.30. We were guided to a two seat table downstairs without any choice. The downstairs part of the restaurant was full and very noisy and although the staff appeared efficient and took our orders speedily this seemed to set a precedent for the duration of the meal itself. My friend's entree plate was whipped away from her with food still remaining on it and unfinished by her and replaced with the main course. The waiting staff were not friendly or talkative and gave me the impression of their taking part in a race or working on a commission basis. Apart from the food which was small portioned but tasty, this was the only clue that this restaurant had anything remotely to do with Turkey. The restaurant lacked Turkish ambience, decoration and the reknowned hospitality of the Turks. It is not a restaurant I would go to for a relaxing meal, on the contrary it was uncomfortable and I could not wait to leave, especially when the SPANISH?? live guitarist started to play. As an ex-pat living in Turkey, I expected more from this restaurant and have been disappointed.
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Christine Ebdon
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 2
Saturday, August 16, 2008

This used to be a guarantee for a decent tasting meal for a reasonable price. However, the latest time I went the service was poor and far too overcrowded. Sadly, the food has worsened, with it being hard to distinguish between the different types of meats! The best thing is the free chilli sauce they give with the mains.
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Purpura - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 4
Thursday, July 10, 2008

I have been here for lunch with colleagues and clients a few times as it is very convenient for our offices. I have never been blown away by Taz, but my most recent visit was especially disappointing. The hummous (spelling??) was very bland, and as a fellow diner pointed out, bore an uncanny similairy to Sun Pat smooth peanut butter (although I wouldn't actually go so far as to suggest it was.) The meat in the main course was very dry and the service exceptionally slow given the fact that the place was very quiet.

On another note - there is a takeaway section to the restaurant which is not very good either - expetionally mediocre food at inflated prices...
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Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Monday, July 07, 2008

I had always been fairly impressed with this restaurant. Clean, good service, good food and convenient.

A excellent venue for a working business lunch or catching up with old friends in the lunch hour without breaking the bank.

But today, service was decidedly slow and a bit surly. Lost a bit of their edge perhaps. Also lost the nice sofas at the front of the restaurant for more tables right against the window. Still good food and good value but losing its edge.
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David Gardner
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, May 21, 2008

I once was a big fan of this chain, however concur with the negative review below the service & food at this branch is diabolical !

We has our starters thrusted in front of us randomly when enquiring as to which dish was which we were told "dont you what you ordered"

Main dishes arrived seconds later. All dishes were hurriedly prepared & bland !

Ordering wine was a feat in itself ...

When pointing out this dire called service to the manager the staf in question actually attempted to walk over 7 cahllenge my complaints..

Dinner was free but will never return !
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Mesh69
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 1
Thursday, May 15, 2008

The Tas chain is very special. On many occasions I went there with my friends, girlfriend and family for special occasions. The restaurant has it right for everything. It's low lit, the service well above the menu prices and if you're hungry you can ask for more bread, sour cream dip and olives as you want.

About 2 years ago they started to offer bottled and not tap water as before you could get a jug of tap water for free. Having not been back for 12 months [due to living in Spain], I do not know if this has continued.

Their house wine isn't too bad, but I'd recommend getting a better quality wine. Also, I'd recommend getting a red - they have a not too bad merlot on the list.

The chefs specials are worth watching and it's one of the fewer restaurants that has a HUGE selection of vege dishes. There's at least 6 main dishes. I recommend trying the apple stuffed with rice and cream if you're a vegetarian.

I highly recommend BOOKING before you arrive. Mid week it's not too packed. On Thursday to Sunday its packed after 8.

Most nights there's a flamenco guitarist playing classical and other classical versions of popular songs. He does do requests as well. You can ask him to play a special song, very good for someone's birthday, but he won't mariarchi himself at your table.

For special surprises, the hotel will provide a cake [many times FOC] for a large group of people for a birthday. They will come and sing happy birthday and que the guitarist for melody!

The service is attentive and on the whole excellent. Sometimes reserving a table can be a bit hard over the phone with junior members of Staff. I think a previous review has noted this.

During the daytime, if you fancy a filling dish of starters, this place is ideal for a pica-pica. I used to go to their other restaurant for this.

The only downfall is natural light. Their flagship restaurant has a large window which is ideal for candle lit nights. This one has only spaces for 2/3 tables next to the window.

There again, it's borough high street and only really of interest to people watchers!

I always return there when i come back from Spain. That must tell you something....
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Anthony Squirrel
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Went there about two weeks ago, have visited the Waterloo branch before but I must say this was a memorable experience. The food was timely, in good portions but bland, atmosphere buzzy. Service was appalling. Three things happened, any one of which would depress me under normal circumstances for a mid range place such as this.

Firstly our mains turned up while our starters had not been cleared, we had hardly put our forks down before the waiters tried grappling with the dirty plates whilst simultaneously serving our mains.

Secondly, in the confusion I lost a fork which I asked to be replaced, the waiter (I watched him) first went to the cutlery station but had run out of clean forks, and then I saw him take a fork off an uncleared table and present it to me in his hand, he clearly could not be sure if someone had used it before as the table had just been vacated, add to this the poor presentation by hand.

Lastly, once I had finished my food, as I got to the end of my meal I discovered a plate with several dark brown cracks across the base had been used to serve my main dish. The chef must be working in the dark or clearly does not give two hoots about hygiene or presentation. This I pointed out and the embarassed manager took off the service charge and recompensed me with sickly banana liqueur shots. ho hum ..will never go there again.
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Maux
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Monday, May 12, 2008

Went there on a Wednesday night and it was packed, a good sign as it shows the popularity of this place. Great food, service was a little slow but the waiter didn't make any mistakes with the order. Food here actually has flavour, great if you want to get away from British blandness. The wooden floors make the restaurant quite noisy but that was my only complaint.
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Khaled
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 6
Friday, August 18, 2006