Darbucka

Me and a group of friends went to this place to celebrate a birthday. There was a large party of us, and between us we spent over £500.

The show started late, because the sound system was not working.

The area we had booked, had around 15 other people all crammed on cushions on the floor, where we were supposed to eat.

It is impossible to see the show from half of the areas around.

The food came after a very long wait, and was not served with any cutlery, meaning we had to continually weave through a mass of people to find somebody who could help.

The food was over priced and very simplistic.

The staff were arrogant and very rude.

Even though we had booked in advance, we ended up having to sit on stained carpet floor and eat like peasants.

I left the place feeling like a had been robbed.

DEFINITELY NOT RECCOMMENDED - BEWARE.
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Minda
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Friday, April 25, 2008

I had my 30th birthday celebration at Darbucka. I went to the restaurant couple of weeks before to check it out and give it my stamp of approval. I was promised LOTS of food (we went for the £20 per head set menu) and VERY tasty. The person who showed us around was very friendly and helpful and I paid £100 deposit to book the restaurant section (low seating) and the tent area in the club downstairs for afterwards.

WHAT A LET DOWN THIS PLACE WAS. I have never been so dissapointed in my life before. The food portions was really tiny and certainly not worth £20 per person. THe low seating area was WAY too cramped for my group which were 20 people (although I was told the area can take 25 people!). The waitress was not very friendly at all either. The ambience of the place is nice tho.

NOW FOR THE BIGGEST DISASTER - we went downstairs after our meal (which took ages!) to go and dance. As we went down we noticed that the tent area that I booked out was full of people. I discussed this with the door lady and the bouncer and they were extremely rude. There was another person (I think one of the managers) who tried to tell me that I did not book the tent area! That really really ruined my evening. I was in tears on my 30th. We left after that.

In summary I would not recommend this restaurant/club to anyone in a bigger group than 15 and please make sure you go REALLY early as if you go to the club area after 9 - you wont have your booked seating area!
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Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Monday, March 03, 2008

There have been very mixed reviews on this place but when i went there on a Wednesday night i found it to be a great place. The decor and atmosphere were both perfect. You can try out sitting on the floor with lovely traditional cushions or simply sit on a normal table with chairs. This time i decided to sit on the chair as i was wearing a skirt and didn't want to keep moving around feeling uncomfortable on my first date with my man.

Anyway the staff were very friendly and there was a great choice for my veggies and meat eaters it was great value for money and overall a great place! I would defo recommend it to others.

Just thinking about it i got water in my mouth!
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Sheetal
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, November 19, 2007

We recently had a meal on a Saturday evening in Darbucka and found it a quite nice place. Food was good, really nice decor, good service and we had 2 super friendly waitresses. The atmosphere was good too, with good music and even a belly dancer for about 20 mins.

Overall, I would rank it as one of my better London eating out experiences.
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Ed
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Thursday, November 01, 2007

I am almost lost for words here, a number of the reviews of this place are quite positive but that definitely wasn't my experience. Staff were basically rude, I tried to order drinks and the waitress turned on her heel to dissappear into the kitchen as I broke eye contact to find what everyone else wanted.

I am wondering if those reviews stating that portion sizes were great managed to get the numbers game just right, we were a party of 11 and having eaten this cuisine at other restaurants in London I was expecting a sizeable meal. What we got was enough for maybe six based on portion sizes at other restaurants. Is it too much to ask for more fallafel per person. The baklawa comment was spot on, we received 12 pieces. The mixed grill was badly cooked, I know some people like their red meat pinkish, but I'm not sure about chicken.

I guess I rumbled this from the starters. I did ask the waitress whether this not the same amount of food that they'd provide for a much smaller group and she denied this. As everything had been eaten I asked if they could bring out the some more starters, and she stated that wasn't possible and we should see if there were any leftovers on other people's plates.

I will not be going back and feel it's my duty to warn others off too!
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Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Sunday, October 28, 2007

This was my first visit to Darbucka, it was recommended to me by a friend. The decor was lovely, the food was plenty and fresh for a reasnoable £18. We went for the vegetarian option and it was delicious. To finish our evening we went downstairs to the bar were the DJ was and danced away till 1am. Fabulous place! we'll be back again!

Abby
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Abby
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Friday, May 18, 2007

This is not the place to go for a tasty meal!

The starters were ok but overall it was very bland and the portions were certainly not worth the money. Don’t bother going if you are vegetarian, the vegetarian options were flavourless (sneak in a packed lunch if you have to go!).

The set meal consists of baklawa and mint tea. That’s 1 piece of baklawa and a shot of mint tea at the end. Wow, not.

The setting was lovely, however the music being played was on repeat; hardly invigorating. Oh and by the way, you won't be able to have an audible coversation whist munching. Make sure you go to the toilet before hand, for a pricey restaurant they could have invested in a cleaner.

The service was incredibly slow and we had to remind the waiter several times that…yes we were ready for our meal.

Overall, not for food fans.
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Rani
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Friday, May 11, 2007

Awful. The only way to describe my night at this venue. Our party of 20 were received rudely by the staff who didn't seem bothered to serve us at all, despite us having paid a £100 deposit. Not only were the portions of food minute but the staff showed no problems with openly displaying their, what seemed like contempt for my group of friends. I have never felt so insulted.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Saturday, February 24, 2007

I went to Darbucka last night and what a wonderful experience. Great food, fairly priced, friendly staff, welcoming management and great great atmosphere... and the club downstairs is just a perfect continuation of a perfect meal. I highly recommend it.
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Marie
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Sunday, February 11, 2007

Lovely place!

Excellent, friendly and fun atmosphere!

Food was genuinely Lebanese, fresh and fantastic!

Belly dancer and Arabic beats made an unforgettable impression.
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Leila
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, January 23, 2007