Haz (St Paul's)

Absolute disappointment.

We usually walk past this place during lunch hour and after hearing a lot of happy/glowing reviews from work colleagues I booked a table for 4 there for Christmas lunch with my workmates.

Booking was fine for 12PM as it was reasonable quiet at the time - we got a table next to the window

On arriving at our table, we were given only the Christmas menus. We asked for the other menus and were told that we weren't allowed to book from the normal menus nor the bistro. I was under the impression from others we had the choice of booking from the bistro or the restaurant menu. We interpreted this as probably a logistical thing with christmas lunches going on around us.

We had to keep calling our waiter to come over and explain how/what we could do with our menu options and order drinks. He was ok but then it got worse. For our 3 course meals, we had to keep requesting when our food would actually arrive. Once we'd asked that, suddenly our food would actually appear on our table. It was annoying since the other tables around us arrived after us and had finished their 3 course christmas meals already! I had to ask 3 different people over the course of 45 minutes to get another drink which was also annoying considering we sat 2 tables away from the drinks bar.

By 1-1.30 the restaurant was full and heaving with people standing waiting to their tables for lunch. We were still waiting for our mains to turn up and had to ask our waiter for the food. When we asked for our desserts, they were already melted and swishing around on our plates when served to us. This is when I finally got my drink.

When we finally could request for our bill it was heading towards 2.30 (2 1/2 hours!) and they had overcharged us on the drinks since I kept asking for my 2nd drink. I complained and said we would not pay for the service charge since it was pretty atrocious having to ask for our food all the time and asking or my drink repeatedly. The manager came and checked and then dumped the updated receipt on our table without any apologies/customer service.

Food was pretty average .. more like microwave food - falafel was flavourless and stacked with baking soda, the tagine was mostly bone rather than meat, the aubergine lasagne was 1 layer of aubergine sitting on top of 1 layer of potatoes, spinach falafel pasties were flavourless and mostly just layers of pastry which was not fully cooked.

Absolute joke - am v. disappointed and would never eat there again nor recommend the place.
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3 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 1
Saturday, December 31, 2011

If you're feeling cold or too energetic, pay a visit to Haz by St Paul's station, as you're certain to return with meat sweats and the lethargy of a sloth after Christmas dinner on the beach.

Things started brightly with bounteous baskets of Turkish bread and dips delivered to our table before we could even say taramasalata. Suddenly, there was a turn for the worse as our coca colas arrived tasting flatter than a deflated pancake. We then realised that they were serving us drinks 6 months out of date.

Finally, the darkness that was filling our hearts and bellies vanished as we got down to enjoying our meals. Meat and veg alike, we were all in harmonic agreement over the quality of the food, with the only dispute being over which spicy sausage was the spiciest.

Aside from the aforementioned low points, we were seated downstairs where there was no natural light (a shame on a sunny day) and the meal came to £17.50 each, which is a lot more than your average M&S burger meal.
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JC
7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Monday, November 14, 2011

it was my friends birthday party and it was my first turkish dining experince. l tell you what the food and the service was absolutly fantastic. l would recommend everyone to go to haz restaurant st pauls,

praticularly the staff is very friendly and smiling at all the times,, probably one of the rare place that can exceed the customer expectaions
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JOSHUA DAVIS
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, July 29, 2011

Having made a reservation and arriving before it got busy we were surprised that our table for two was stuck right at the back between much bigger tables, the noisy open kitchen and a waiter station. The food was also a disappointment, the spinach and feta parcels were luke warm and hard, the normally lovely pitta bread was doughy and the bread served with my main meat was soggy and inedible. My guest had the lamb with walnuts and cheese, it was ok but looked unpleasant. I have eaten at Haz before and it was much better then, so maybe we just chose a bad day. However this is Cheapside and the choice got even wider today with the opening of One New Change so very unlikely I will return.
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4 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Thursday, October 28, 2010

i had lunch in the cafe side with a few friends ...we had some mezes...value for money is good..service is great ,there was a smile on all the staff .from now on my lunches gonna be there......
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george
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, September 15, 2010

I had dinner here on two consecutive evenings this week with different friendes.

our meals,circumstances,were completery different but on both evenings the food

was absolutely delicious.service was great,atmosphere buzzing.

cant,t wait to go back.
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alexs
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, August 04, 2010

My first turkish meal ever,and boy was it good. Literally melted in your mouth.The service was great,efficient and friendy

A beautiful introduction ta turkih hospitali.

highly Recomended.
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stefano
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Monday, August 02, 2010

i had dinner with the missus yesterday and had a great night.

we were looked after all the way through and service was inpeccable. cant

wait to go agan.
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jordi
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Saturday, July 24, 2010

Over priced average food! Went with a friend for lunch and was seated next to the row where the staff passed. My chair was bumped over 20 times without an apology. When I moved it so they could no longer pass, they told me to move it back forward as I was blocking their way! Very rude.
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2 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Thursday, June 17, 2010

I attended Haz at St Paul’s for lunch with a party of six- the restaurant has not been open very long. I have eaten at the Haz near Houndsditch many a time and pride them for not only the quality of food but the friendly service. This was certainly not the case here. In all honesty I cannot fault the food however the service was rather appalling. You would expect a restaurant in the city to "know it's client" most of whom only have an hour or slightly more for lunch. We were served our starters after 30mins and our main courses did not arrive until an hour after ordering. When I tried to speak to the manager (I think he was the manager), he was extremely rude and said that I cannot expect my main course so soon after having eaten my starter! hmm..I explained that it was not our fault that the starters were served so late. One of our party of seven had to leave before his main course had arrived as he was running late. When we asked to cancel his order of steak as he was no longer here to consume it and it had taken over an hour to arrive, we were told that for future reference we should not order steak at lunch time if we are in a group, how ridiculous!

It is a shame that the visit was so disappointing I suggest they take a leaf out of their other restaurants and follow suit.
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5 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 6
Friday, April 02, 2010