Darbucka

One of the worst experiences I've had in a restaurant.

I ordered some food and it took ages and ages. When I complained to the waitress she said it had been forgotten, and that she would bring me some homus while I wait. That never came, then the food came after another 40min!

Then they didn't even give me cutlery to eat it with! Then I went to the guy at the bar to complain and he basically shrugged me off and said he wouldn't do anything about it.

He wouldn't even give me a drink on the house or anything.

When I asked him his name or who is the manager he just told me to go away.

Very very rude. I'm never going back there again.
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Max
1 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, May 17, 2011

I went to this Darbucka restaurant and the service and the food was very bad.

When we first walked in they gave us a toptable menu and told us we can get 50% off, we werent sure what the waitress was on about and not everything was on the menu therefore asked for the normal menu, she then asked did you book through toptable and I said no, then she said ok and got the other menu, it wasnt till we had decided to order they told us as you didnt book through toptable so you cannot get 50% off. Then when you need service noone was available, even though there was 3 waitresses and the manager there, and when they do come to your table all of them come one at a time.

Then when ordering the food on their website they had Tagine but when we went there there was no Tagine on the menu, when I asked the waitress she said let me go and ask she asked and I was told they do it but they didnt have it on the day we went.

My friend ordered a vegetarian dish for which the waitress returned and said they havent got some of the vegetables to make the dish so if she could order something else. She also ordered fries and the waitress knew she does not eat egg as she had previously asked if certain dishes contained eggs, but when the fries came they had put sauce on it which I would assume had egg in it.

Then when ordering the drink they didnt have certain alcohol to make the drink, a lot of the things we ordered had issues where they werent able to prepare it due to no ingredients.

When we received the starters they were ok, just when we finished the starters and they had taken our plates, the waitress said are you ready for your maincourse, and was just walking off, before she even got to the kitchen door the maincourse was on our table when we got the food all of us were complaining about the food just being a tiny bit warm, the food was not hot, the plates were cold, therefore we complained as we were unable to even chew the chicken as it had gone cold. The manager said well they cooked it in front of me, and I said well I dont know whats happened but its cold, he said maybe they served on cold plates, then he went on and said maybe it was sitting there, he made many excuses and asked us if we want another, we said no were ok and therefore he did not charge for the main course.

I would never ever recommend or go to this place again for the food. It seemed lively downstairs at the bar, but was too put off the food to go there as they were charging £5 to go in there as well.
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Miss Patel
1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Monday, April 04, 2011

Absolutely sucked! avoid at all costs. Food was average, service shocking, bouncers intimidating, drinks over priced and the wait between starters and mains was around and hour and half. Once the mains came, we were no longer hungry, got up to leave and simply refused to pay the full amount, we were trapped on the stairwell with the doorman refusing to let us leave. It's simply not a restaurant. End of.

Don't believe other reviews.

There is a happy eater on the A127 that I recommend far more highly.
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Sam Davey
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Saturday, February 19, 2011

This place is a complete joke, unfortunately it's not a very funny one.

Group of 16 of us, all we wanted was some simple food and a few drinks. Well the food is certainly simple enough, i wouldn't be surprised if the people leaving glowing reviews about it below are employees.

After getting our distinctly average starters within 15 minutes, we then proceeded to wait AN HOUR AND A HALF for our main courses. Within that time we asked repeatedly how much longer our food was going to be, to be told each time that it would only be another ten minutes.

It got to a boiling point with a few of us attempting to speak to the manager and stating that we had had enough and we were leaving, I offered him the more than generous compromise of us giving them £10 a head for our starters (instead of the £25 a head it was supposed to be for the full meal) but he laughed at me and said no....funnily enough our food arrived at exactly that moment.

Regardless, we all gathered our belongings and went upstairs to leave, only to be STOPPED FROM LEAVING THE PREMISES by the doormen!! It all started getting quite heated at this point, i have never in my life been actually held to ransom in a restaurant before!!

We continued our heated discussions with the staff and manager (who had absolutely no time whatsoever for our side of the story, as far as he was concerned we were just trying to get away without paying.....even though we still hadn't touched the main courses that were bought out) and eventually we just collected the £10 i had suggested a good half hour earlier, left it on the counter and walked out.

The singularly most terrible dining experience i have ever had. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!!!!!!!!
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Saam Hodivala
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Saturday, February 19, 2011

Went to darbucka with a group of friends, we had the 50% set menu offer. The food was fresh and plentiful. we also booked a table in the bar downstairs where we enjoyed the bellydancer and the Arabic music untill 1am.

Great night out. we'll be back to try the shisha
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sami - View all reviews by this user
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, February 03, 2011

25 of us came to darbucka for a birthday party. What a big mistake! We came into find that despite insisting to have one table we had been separated into two tables, one on one side of the room, the other on the other side. After demanding to move, they moved us and made us wait 20 minutes for our starters. I have never ever had such bad food in all my life!! It was one single waiter for our table who brought all our food on rubbish shared plates, including our dessert! Coke was watered and served from bottles rather than the mashine! And on top of it they had the cheek to demand for service charge!! What service they were talking about I don't know!!! Anyway we went dowstairs to the club after passing extremely interrogating and rude rude security to find a potentially nice atmosphere downstairs. Great Arabic and Turkish music but the whole lot of the bar staff and everyone who were working were terrible. I have never ever been to a restaurant where I've been told to get my own cutlery from behind the bar and cut my own cake because it's "MY CAKE" and not theirs and they are too busy to cut it and serve them to us themselves! I cannot come to terms with how bad this place is. Don't spend your money. It definitely is not worth it! It would have been such a fantastic place but what a shame that some undereducated people can get hold of a place and call it a business. All the good reviews are a pack of rubbish. They obviously haven't seen a good restaurant before. If dry meat and watered coke is what they call delicious then omg I can't say much more!!!
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1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Sunday, October 03, 2010

A friendly place with a great atmosphere. I went there with a group of friends and your service was great :))))
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10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, September 15, 2010

I ate here on 17 July 2010 with my boyfriend. The overall experience was a bit mixed.

The bad - When we arrived the restaurant was empty. Only 2 other couples arrived to eat there that evening. Because of this there was no atmosphere. They also seemed to have the same song on loop which started to drive me a little crazy. They did fix this when I asked them if they had any other music. The service was ok but not very welcoming.

The good - We ordered a meze to start which was delicious. For main course we had the mixed grill which was ok but the meat was a bit dry. We then had mint tea and baklava which was absolutely delicious. The best mint tea I have ever tasted.
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3 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 3
Monday, July 19, 2010

Last Thursday, we had our colleagues leaving drinks in Darbucka.

We wanted a place to eat, chill out, listen to music and to dance, certainly Darbuck did not disappoint us.

The food is real authentic delicious Lebanese food; the falafel is hot and tasty.

We asked for the set menu and guys I can vouch for it, it is huge.

Excellent service and excellent atmosphere. I recommend this place any time.

PS: if you really want to dance ask them if there are any bands or DJ playing on that evening.
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Dominic
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, March 30, 2010

This is a cracking restaurant. Been here numerous times and can not fault the food, service or reception. I highly recommend this establishment.

Going back next week again with guys from work. This time we are going to try the club downstairs as the atmosphere sounded great.

Dont take my word for it, check it out!!
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ian miller - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, March 24, 2010