Al Casbah

I just had one of the worst dining experiences of my life here. The food was delicious, when it came, which was by no means guaranteed. It was also served in meagre portions. When after 2 hours a few of my group still hadn't received their order and the rest were missing side dishes we decided to complain, at which point the waiter/manager got aggressive and suggested that we had made the wrong order. This was followed by a 30 minute ordeal of trying to make sure we only paid for what we ate and getting the hell out of there. He finally agreed to offer a discount after a lot of strutting about and ignoring us. Incredible that someone with such terrible customer service skills would want to run a restaurant. The decors nice though and great bellydancing. Just don't go if you're hungry.
Comment on this reader review

anon
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 2
Saturday, June 07, 2008

I went to this restaurant for a late lunch on a sunday afternoon. It was rather empty, but the unusual decor attracted us in. The service was moderate, the waiter serving us was quite friendly, although he did seem to be the only waiter! the starter came which was meant to serve 2 people, the portion was tiny, and didn't taste fantastic, it hardly tethered my palate!. For the mains we ordered a meat platter, again it was a minimal portion and the flavour wasn't anything special. I was left feeling quite hungry and luckily went to the hampstead creperie which made up fo the lacklustre dinner

I wouldnt advise paying Al Casbah a visit...there are so many other nice places to eat in Hampstead. It has tiny portions, food wasn'y anything to write home about, and it was overpriced. All in all a real let down.
Comment on this reader review

naveed
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Tuesday, March 18, 2008

In summary, great food, BUT bad service and seating arrangements. Went to Al Casbah last Saturday night with my girlfriend and two friends. We had a reservation for four, but when we arrived they couldn't/didn't find it and seated us at a table for 8. Around an hour later we had to move to one of their low tables (you sit on cushions basically) when a party of 7 turned up who had booked the bigger table. Our low table was very hard to eat from - cold starters are one thing, but hot plates of tagine are almost impossible when you can't get you mouth over the table top because you're sat back on a cushion. The entire evening the waiters mostly ignored us, forgot to bring our deserts, drinks etc. To top it off, a number of items were not available on the menu, allegedly the head chef was in hospital, but we only were told when we tried to order them. Having said that, the lamb tagine was great as was the couscous. Belly dancer was cool, too. But not sure it was worth the bad service and cramped seating.
Comment on this reader review

David NW11
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Sunday, January 27, 2008

I went to Al Casbah with a group of collegues recently and was somewhat disappointed with the food and atmosphere having been recommended it by a friend. The food was in short supply and several of the party of 20 went without lamb chops because insufficient were provided. The belly dancer did one dance and that was it. Wine was expensive at £4.50 a very small glass and the lackustre food was £25.00 per head plus a service charge. The management started turning the lights up at 9pm encouraging us to go because our room was expecting another party of people !

I will not visit this place again.
Comment on this reader review

Keith Ashton
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, December 18, 2007

i went to al casbah with a good friend during the summer - i just have to say, i LOVE the decor! its beautiful, authentic and very middle eastern, and being a middle eastern myself i LOVED it!

the pot of mint tea i had was one of the best ive ever tasted, and the staff were quite friendly...though the service was a little slow, and the baba ghanoush we ordered was forgotten...

other than that, if you want somewhere atmospheric to have a nice long chat and a nice drink, this is the place to go!
Comment on this reader review

nikoo
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Saturday, November 24, 2007

If I have to vote for the worst London restaurant without a doubt Al Casbah will be the winner. I went there for lunch, ordered two dishes from the set menu, lentil soup and meat balls. After waiting for 40minutes (I was the only customer) my lentil soup was presented in an autenthic bowl with boiling hot water and almost 10 little lentil pieces floating in it. Due to steam rising from the bowl at first sight I couldn't see how full my bowl was but soon realised that It was almost empty, after few spoon fulls, it was finished. Another 20 minutes wait for meat balls... I was still hopefull then, thinking meatballs might be ok. When I saw the waiter bringing the food, all I had was another dissappointment. Only but only 2 little meatballs with boiled egg which had meat bone stuck to it for some reason??? I then was too furious to touch my food.

I asked for the bill and discovered that I was being overcharged. When I called the owner, (rudest person you can imagine to run a bussines) he was unappologetic and insulting.

Poor service, tastless food, rude management.
Comment on this reader review

Selma
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Unfortunately I can not write about the food as we never made it further than the mint tea before being told that we would not be served. We had booked a table for 4 and when we arrived were shown to our table which was one of the cozy places upstairs on cushions. After sitting for awhile enjoying some tea and watching the belly dancer we ordered our food. We were 4 people and ordered 2 main courses and 4 starters. This was obviously not meeting there financial needs as they then asked us if we minded moving downstairs as they wanted to give our table to a party of 5 coming in. We said we preferred to stay upstairs as we had called and booked the table. The owner said that we were not ordering enough food and that he could make more money on the people coming in. Suddenly it was not an option any longer as the owner very rudely stated that he would not serve us unless we moved!! We decided to go around the corner where we knew our money would be welcomed and we would have a fantastic night.
Comment on this reader review

Tina
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 0
Sunday, November 18, 2007

I'm a little bemused at some of the harsh comments as I really loved my visit to Al Casbah. There was a huge selection of vegetarian dishes on the menu, which can be quite a rarity. The service was prompt and the food was a delicious concoction of sweet and spicy aromas all sizzling, bubbling and served in authentic clay pots. The bread was a soft and doughy and provided the perfect accompaniment to the homous, which was the best I've ever had.

The only snag was me being given a glass of red wine instead of white. Aside from that it was an extremely, pleasant meal that really does give you a taste of Morocco. I'd definitely recommend it and intend to return.
Comment on this reader review

Greta
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Thursday, July 19, 2007

i went to the restaurant a couple times now and every time left with the feeling that i paid too much for what i got. the atmosphere is quite nice, but the food is not very impressive.
Comment on this reader review

Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Thursday, July 19, 2007

So, so god awful. There are two great seat ing areas with cushions and traditional tables, lanterns and candles etc - however they seem to be reserved for the Moroccon mafia types and no-one else. Otherwise you are rammed school dining-room style in a corner on tables so close together you are actually penned in, once someone sits next to you. The staff speak NO English and the service was haphazard at best - all of them were more interested in giggling at the bar than taking our order. However the final insult was being charged £16.00 (the cheapest wine there) for a bottle of Rivercrest Chardonnay - (it costs £2.99 in Tescos). We had planned to have a leisurely meal, enjoying humous, tagines and couscous - instead we drank one glass of wine, ordered some humous and bolted. The entire experience, including a service charge cost £27. I feel robbed. It nearly runined our night.
Comment on this reader review

Emma
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, May 08, 2007