The Real Greek (Bankside)

The Real Greek is an insult to greek cusine . Went there yesterday, total shambles - service extremely poor, we were waiting 1 hr for 4 souvlakia - thats a record for fast food tardiness !!!
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Alexandros Scountjos
1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Monday, January 17, 2011

Shocking value for money - I don't know how they can get away with serving such ridiculously small portions - I am surprised that anybody ever goes back. Went with a friend and had the 'Anatolian' sharing menu for 2 at £23.95.

This included: 10-12 carrot and celery sticks, a couple of tablespoons of hummus, a few beans in a tomato sauce, a small bowl of potatoes (approx. 3 each), a tiny green salad, one (yes one) small halloumi skewer to share and one lamb skewer.

The stingiest restaurant I have ever been to - does paying £12 each not even warrant at least one skewer each?? Definitely not 'real greek'. Really shocking. Don't be sucked in by the nice looking menu and location. You will be disappointed.
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5 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 1
Saturday, September 11, 2010

I wish I had read any reviews about this restaurant before going there.... very disappointed!! After we were seated it looked like they have forgotten about us, nobody seemed to bother to come and take our order until the very last minute before we were just about to stand up and walk out. The starter was ok, mind you it would be very difficult to get flatbread and tzaziki wrong!! The souvalaki however was rather disappointing. We had a platter for 2 to share, which meant for £19.99 you got 6 rolls and a tiny greek salad to share! You kidding me??? The rolls very pretty tasteless and lacking of meat (each had one or two tiny cube of meat in it, most of which was fat). The greek salad that it came with was quite small, really mainly for 1, but definitely not for 2 to share...

All in all very disappointing, do not recommend the place and will definitely not go back again.
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1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 1
Friday, August 20, 2010

I ate at the Real Greek at Bankside last night with my family, and I'm afraid I can only echo some of the previous comments. Although the food on a whole I found to be good, portions were tiny and it was very overpriced. We were in a group of 8 and as a result two members of the group got their food about 20 mins before the rest of us, very annoying considering by the time the rest of the food came they had finished. The waiter gave the excuse that the kitchen was busy, which I think is an invalid response, I mean you're running a business, if the kitchen isn't busy it means your restaurant will go bust! When the main dishes arrived we noticed our dips, olives, Greek salads hadn't arrived, by the time they did most of the food was gone so we sent these back, at this point we thought there little point in sitting dipping our fingers in the dips due to all other food being eaten!

Overall in terms of food it was okay, if there are 2 of you looking for a quick bite it's ideal, however I feel they lack ability to deal with larger groups. A 'real Greek' experience...no, head to the independent tavernas for that, as this restaurant provides little authenticity. Would I go back? I have my doubts...
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H
4 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Thursday, July 22, 2010

If only I had read these reviews before our visit, I would definatley have saved myself alot of time, not to mention the dissatisfied feeling I gave my stomach upon eating here. The restaurant was not fill too fill when we arrived, despite this we waited for over half an hour for 2 kebabs and some flat bread and dips.

The kebabs (or souvalaki) as it was refereed to were a joke, for 6 pounds I couldnt beleive the small quantity served up. Not only that but the description on the menu fell short of the small tasteless roll that was put in front of me. Not only that, but it wasn't even warm! On of our guests ordered the flat bread and a selection of dips, after the waitress had incorrectly brought her a single dip instead of a selection. Fortunatley, there was enought to fill the huge space left in our stomachs after demolishing the souvalaki's in about 4 bites!

Never again.
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1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Monday, April 12, 2010

My partner and I went for a meal here this evening. Staff were pleasant and the ambiance was also very nice. Ordered a range of cold and hot starters as well as some souvlaki. We waited 45 minutes for the cold starters and a further 15 minutes for the hot starters. The hot prawn starter was very cold and was sent back. As was the fried squid. The Souvlaki was warn enough but by this time we were very disappointed, not to mention hungry.

Service was poor and all we were told was that the kitchen was slow today! How long does it take to place some humous on a plate and warm up some flat bread? Very disappointing and not somewhere we'll be eating again. There are many other better served restaurants to visit!
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James
2 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, March 24, 2010

last night, we had our first experience at the real greek in putney and it will be our last !!

to summarise :

no greek atmosfere at all

"fresh" olives came from plastic boxes (marks&spencer???)

lamb skewer was coarse as hell, unchewable, uncuttable with normal knife, tasteless and served cold)

taramasalata had nothing to do with fish roe, it tasted sour as plain yoghurt.

Dolmades were completely dry and were forgotten to serve as a starter when ordered.

chicken souvlaki was a plain kebab, as you find on every street corner (undoubtably with more taste and chicken meat and cheaper).

they claim to serve daily fresh cut fries from finest potatoes.... I noticed no difference with a frozen pack from the cheapest brand of any discount supermarket.

the kataifi - desert - was dry, hard and disgusting to swallow

fresh mint tea is more to us than pooring hot water in a cup with three mintleaves

we are experienced greece travellers but this to us was an utter disappointment !!!!!!

price for this nightmare . 54£ - a total ripp-off !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

to make up for this horrible experience, tonight we are heading to a REAL TRADITIONAL GREEK restaurant !!!!!!
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William and Elisa
1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, March 10, 2010

I can fully understand the awful reviews given to this 'restaurant', and hope the company directors have taken note and acted upon them. When the Bankside branch opened, I was pleased, being a local and being fond of the original in Hoxton, and indeed enjoyed several excellent evenings here. When I returned in Sep 2009, I could not believe how much the place had gone downhill - surly staff, appalling, abrupt service, disgusting food and dirty glasses and cutlery.... a blight on 'The Real Greek' chain, and this experience has certainly put me off visiting another of these outlets when there is so much better choice in London.
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Simon
2 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Sunday, February 21, 2010

Went with the work team for our Christmas lunch. I am always suspicious of an empty restaurant, especially at Christmas, and the subsequent experience easily explained the dearth of customers.

Despite the absence of any competition from a full restaurant the service was pretty absymal. Despite signalling again and again I had to walk to the bar to collect a friend's beer which had never been delivered. While over attentive front of house staff can be a trial, the opposite, I have to say is worse. Despite running low on wine and a number of us telling the waiting staff it took an age to persuade them to deliver another bottle of house red.

The design of the tables is not consistent with putting food on them, the tables being too narrow with the result that one pass of a hand knocks your neighbour's wine over. To make matters worse the restaurant insisted on serving the bread and dips on what I can only describe as a high tea cake stand - again, a clear case of accidents waiting to happen, which duly did.

And to the food... Like another reviewer, my lamb kofta was virtually tasteless and hardly recognisable as lamb. While there may have been lamb in it I have no idea what bulked it out. The chicken kebab was chicken but characterless and cold. On complaint it was replaced by another kebab which was freshly cooked but obviously bound for another table. So somewhere in the sparsely populated restaurant someone was fuming and looking at their watch.

There was no pudding on the menu whatsoever - a bit of a blow for anyone on a Christmas dinner. So be aware all Greek pudding lovers - you'll find nothing here.

Finally, how to sum up the "real Greek?" this restaurant had no discernible Greek atmosphere and no Greek staff I could detect, the cooking lacked colour and conviction and I won't be returning in a hurry.
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2 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 2
Monday, December 21, 2009

I went there one lunch time with my daughter and found the staff charming, the vegetarian food excellent, wine lovely and toilets exceptionally clean. It was excellent value too.
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Judy Foody
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Saturday, November 07, 2009