Isis Restaurant & Bar

I went here on Saturday 1st March with a group of great friends and high expectations of the venue. Despite reading a number of bad reviews on this website before booking, we decided to see for ourselves and took the plunge.

When we spoke with the restaurant on the phone to book a table, they gave us details of the set menus: A £26menu consisted of 2 hot, 2 cold mezzes, main dish, deserts (fruit platter), tea/coffee but no entry to the club.

A £40 menu gave access to the club and in addition to the £26 set menu, there were supposed to be 4 additional mezzes and a glass of wine or non alcoholic drink on reception. We naturally decided to go for the £40 menu as it seemed like a good deal.

Boy, the phrase appearances can be deceiving has never meant anything to me until when we got there.

The decor was amazing - cool lighting and furnishings, a real talking point but as the evening went on, it just went downhill from there. Strangley the venue was quite empty on a Saturday evening - now i realise why!

There was no glass of wine on reception and when we enquired, they said it was never on the menu - how i wish i had printed off the booking and menu before coming and shown it to them that night!

We ordered a bottle of rose instead - the cheapest on the drinks list at £23 a bottle - it was the worst rose i had ever had - almost tasted as if it was corked!

Mezzes were ok, nothing to write home about. The vine leaves and hoummus were good. The main course was even more disappointing, soggy rice and a moussaka that looked more like ratatouille - I have tasted lebanese moussaka before and the place did not do it any justice!

However i have to say the belly dancer was fantastic and entertaining; she got us to dance with her and elevated the atmosphere.

The deserts were a quick affair - 4 pieces of baklava - where was the fruit platter? No tea/coffee either and they tried to chuck us off the table when handing us the bill. The waiters charged us for an extra person and if one of my guest hadnt had her wits about, we may have ended up paying for it.

The service is appalling, really slow to start off with and incredibly fast when it comes to paying the bill and taking our table from us!

The club was even more disappointing, full of teeny boppers and tiny space to dance in. It seemed the owners didnt really care about what when on inside the club, as long as they managed to sell drinks and make a tidy sum! Needless to say we didnt stay long!

My advice - only go if you have money to burn! There are far better places to go in London. My evening was not totally ruined however, i had great friends to share the experience with!
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Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 4
Monday, March 03, 2008

We had chosen Isis to celebrate my friend's hen night, as she wanted to have dinner at an exotic and glamorous restaurant - the decor certainly was, but a shame about the food.

We arrived at 8.15pm and had booked the set menus. Some of us were staying on for the club, we weren't served starters until an hour later. The both the veg and non-veg starters were tasty, as were the flat breads. However, the main course was absolutely awful - think tinned ratatouille from Asda with rice, for the veg option. The lamb in the mixed-grill main was very chewy too.

We weren't served mains until 10.30pm, when they started getting all irked and ready for the club - we were rushed to finish and had baklawa flung at us for dessert. We never got any coffee as promised either. The waiters were hovering over us, just pushing to get us out of there as soon as possible which was incredibly rude.

The food wasn't worth the money at all - they seem to work better as a club, because it makes the most of the beautiful interior. I wouldn't recommend going here for a meal!
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Mimi - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 2
Sunday, March 02, 2008

My best friend arranged for her hen night to be at this place on the 26th January 08. Each person (16 of us) paid £45 for a meal, entry and 1 drink. Not being here before i would assume a meal was at a proper table and chairs. Not here. We sat round on couches with very low small tables. The 'meal' consisted of pita bread with dips for starters and some kind of deep fried mince meat for mains. There was no sides i.e. salad and potato. Everything tasted of salt; I think this is because it dehydrates you so you buy more drinks. After we had finished our so called 'meal' the music started, we were then asked to move from our tables. we said no but was told we would have to pay £5 for each table we wanted to sit at. My fiend complained about the services and we received 3 complimentary bottles of wine, although this was something it did not make up for the night. Drinks were also expensive, 2 single JD and cokes, 1 small glass of Rose wine was £27. I usually don’t pay any attention to reviews as people tend to only complain when things aren’t very good but I promise you this place is terrible.... I would never waste my money in there again. It ruined my friend’s night and she was apologizing to everyone but it wasn’t her fault she chooses the worst place in London hoping it would be ok.
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Chloe Hodder
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Monday, January 28, 2008

Take my advice and don't bother with this place. There was no atmosphere, and unfortunately we never got to find out what the food was like because having ordered a bottle of wine, a starter, a salad and two main courses between two of us, we were told we would have to order more because the minimum spend is £40 a head! (something that wasn't mentioned when we booked). Well we thought this was extremely rude and left.
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Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Sunday, February 11, 2007

This might be a nice restaurant. UNFORTUNATELY, I never got the chance to find out. Having booked a table for twelve and given my card details to secure it, I then had to cancel the booking some 5 days before we were due to go. To my annoyance the restaurant still took £240 from my card in return for nothing. £240 later I'm still wondering what the food is like.

Moral of the story: don't give them any credit card details.

On the plus side the manager is very good at handling customer complaints...but then again what does that tell you about the operation?
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jh - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Friday, December 22, 2006

Don't bother! The venue itself was fantastic, but that was it. The food - well, small portions for big prices, very expensive. The drinks were over priced too. The waiter and staff were carrying on like they were doing you a favour to bring you a drink with your food. After 11pm it turns into a club and the staff get worse, thinking they are big time club promoters and get very rude. The bouncers think they are running an A class club, with attitude.
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Shinal
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Sunday, November 12, 2006

I went here for a birthday do and I have never encountered such a terrible dining experience before. The food was terrible and totally over priced (£16.50 for a minute kebab without chips/rice anyone?) and the service was just awful. You will find much better cooked meat at any high street kebab shop. Our table ordered a wide variety of mains which all turned up looking suspiciously similar and tasting like they'd been plated up long in advance and then kept under heat lamps until they were needed. A few of the orders were forgotten and replacements took ages to arrive and when they did they were the wrong dishes, not that it mattered as everything served was equally bad. The staff gave the impression that they simply didn't care about the sub-standard service and food and seemed as though they were slightly amused that people were mug enough to pay for it. All complaints made were ignored. Oh and £20 for a house red that was so sharp it set your teeth on edge, meant that drowning your sorrows about the standard of the meal would hardly be economical.
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Tom
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Saturday, October 28, 2006

I went to the Isis on a special occasion, had booked the dinner online but unfortunately the booking seemed to be 'lost in the post'. That was gladly the the lowlight of my visit. They managed to find me a table and the food they served was amazing. There was so much food and unbelievably tasty. Such good value for money. I thjink the service was good, but i was so busy tucking into my seabass, that they never needed to bother me.

The set menu is such good value for money, and i would definitely recommend it.
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- View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, September 13, 2006

I had been there once or twice for a drink. I liked the snacks, the overall look of the place which had a stunning Arabic vibe, so I thought I’d give the restaurant a try. Three words that can only describe Isis’s service,’ horrendous, unsatisfying’ and disappointing.

I took a family of six to Isis and on arrival I had discovered that our table had not been booked in the dinner area, instead it was booked in the lounge area. The manager did not do seem regretful, neither did he show any sympathy and pointed the blame at us! Eating on low cushion stools was uncomfortable and having very little light made it even more unsatisfying.

There were several tables available and neither of the staff nor the manager attempted to sit us there? On two occasions we caught the staff taking our plates away with our food unfinished. We were shocked.

The management and overall service was ghastly and the prices were exorbitant. The average cost of a cocktail will cost you about £8.00. We didn’t think it was worth it. The bar service is average but it seems as though it takes a decade to get a drink. We will never go there again. This ranks one of the worse places I've been to for service and hospitality.
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Vanessa, Surrey
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, August 29, 2006

AWFUL. Six of us arrived at 9:30 Sat. night and 3 of us didn't receive our main course until 11:15. By then our friends had finished eating and we weren't even hungry anymore. The manager did nothing to compensate for the ridiculous wait. Just a depressing dining experience when you're starving at 11 pm. It was a great Sunday night club event and should never have reverted to being a restaurant.
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Sweta
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 4
Tuesday, August 22, 2006