Souk Bazaar

What a rip-off. We had visited here previously in the evening and had a lovely experience. However, we decided to visit on a Sunday afternoon, having noticed the advertisement in their window advertising 50% off all food between 3.00 and 5.30 pm seven days a week.

Although the food was good, when the bill arrived we were charged full price! When I queried this with the waitress she called the manager who then tried to fob us off when excuses about only applying if we vacated by 4pm. I showed him the sign outside which clearly stated 3.00-5.30pm seven days a week. His response simply that the till does the calculations so if did not show on bill does not apply!

Basically a very expensive Sunday afternoon meal. With so many other good, reasonably-priced restaurants nearby, no wonder the restaurant was empty.

Food enjoyable, but couldn't help but feel I had been conned!

(score for service in reference to customer service shown by manager - waitress service was good)
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3 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 1
Tuesday, June 26, 2012

food was very-very good, good atmosphere and will be back soon.

Thank you
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Micheal Lee
10 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, May 11, 2012

Using a tastecard i went here on a Thursday night and I have to say my overall impression of this restuarant was disappointing

The food was at best average, at 50% off it represented reasonable value, but only just.

The restaurant was not full but the service was unacceptably slow, on three occasions we had to go to the kitchen to ask for something (clearance of our plates, drinks and for the bill -twice). As this was the case I was disappointed that 12.5% was added to the bill automatically - I always leave a tip but on this occasion would have left less than 10% as I believe a service charge should be earned not expected.

I won't be visiting again.
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Chris
3 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Monday, October 17, 2011

Went here with a friend after work on a Thursday night. The pressure was on as I suggested the restaurant.

The pictures on their website give the impression of a cosy, chilled vibe. In truth the restaurant felt like an outdated, hippies living room. The sofa's weren’t particularly comfortable, especially with the large brass tables, which were unsteady and seemed to always be in the way.

We ordered the Feast Set Menu (they didn’t give us the option of the main, but choose to give us the "Tagine of spinach, Feta Cheese ". When the desert arrived we had to ask ourselves if that was the end of the meal. We were still hungry, and certainly disappointed.

On top of this, we had to ask several times for new drinks and for our plates to be cleared at the end of each course. There were only 4 in the restaurant.

On the plus side the restaurant is different and the staff were friendly but I certainly won't be recommending it or going again.

Even with the tastecard (50%) the bill came to £40 (originally £60), and was certainly not good value for money.
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Sean
3 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Friday, October 14, 2011

I went to this restaurant in September 2011 with my sister and a friend.

We order a mixed mezze plate to start, which was very tasty indeed. We also ordered calamari, which they forgot to bring to the table. I had to remind the staff after we had finished our mezze. The calamari arrived cold and quite frankly, soggy and tasteless.

The mains arrived in good time, however were quite average in my opinion. Just lumps of meat with no real flavour. Once again part of the main was not brought to us, as they had forgotten again. I didn't remind the staff on this occasion, as I was quite fed up of having to do the waiters job.

After finishing our main, we sat for almost an hour without anymore communication with the staff. They did not ask if we required dessert, coffee or more wine and I took it upon myself to go to the kitchen area and ask for the bill.

We used a taste card, which enables 50% off of the bill. When the bill arrived, they had added the rice to the receipt that we had ordered with our main but never received.

They did deduct to this from the price but to our horror, they added approx. 25% service charge to the bill - although we received a 50% discount, they added the service for the full price of the meal without the discount at 12.5%. Considering the service was poor we collectively decided to leave 10% only - In my opinion, this is the UK average and service charge is not obligatory anyway.

As we stood up to leave, the waiter came up to me and rudely asked "I want to know why you only left £5 tip, it is not what was stated on the bill". I of course calmly argued my point that the service was not up to standards, as food was forgetten etc. This caused the waiter to get very aggresive and he began to shout at us loudly so that all of the other customers could hear the confrontation. This was embarrassing, as we were extremely be-littled and shown up. I told him that service was not obligatory and he did not ask us if we required coffee etc....his response was "I asked you whilst you were eating your main if everything was ok". We should not be required to request coffee and dessert whilst eating our main! Considering we sat there another hour without any communication, I did not think he was appropriate to argue this point. We told him "it is not the USA and you cannot expect to charge 25%" and he shouted back "I didn't say it was the USA and I want you tell to tell me what was wrong with my service".

Basically it resulted in me having to tell him I was not having this conversation and we literally had to push past him to get out of the restaurant.

The waiters aggressive, confrontational and rude behaviour completely spoilt my evening and I will definitely NOT be visiting again. I have never been so upset and affected by poor customer service and his behaviour was very unnecessary.

It is very poor ettiquette to question money left for service, especially if that service was flawed.
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Victoria Lambert
3 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Where to start ....... (this was a date by the way)

On entering the restaurant , it had a very cosy and ethnic atmosphere. it is quite compact and decorated with dark reds to set a great ambiance, i had booked online and asked for a private area, which was no extra charge, we was lead down stairs to the basement, with candles on either side of each stair as you go down, when we entered the main area, i honestly thought WOW, the setting, ambiance and cosiness is amazing. at this point i had still not seen a menu. so i didn't know what to expect, and i my date was a veggie!. in our lovely cosy area, which she adored (brownie points), there was only a set menu laid out, when the waiter came over, i had asked him was there any other options, he was very nice and polite, and said to us that on weekends they prefer to go by the set menu but it was fine if we wanted to order from the a la carte menu, which we did!.

i had the chicken couscous (AMAZING) and she had some vegetable dish which she really enjoyed, we also had 2 bottles of red Merlot, which was tasty.

when it came to the bill it came to £65 which i was expecting it to cost far more. the most expensive part of it was the 2 bottles of red which was £15 each i think.

oh and the belly dancer part, brilliant!!!!!! i have never laughed so much when another customer, got up and started dancing with her. hahahaha.

all in all it was a great night, and quoted by my date "THAT RESTAURANT WAS PERFECT" (lads its a definite thumbs up from me)

all the staff were so friendly we had a great time, thank you so much souk bazaar.

WE WILL RETURN.
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Dave
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, February 20, 2011

Went there for Valentine's day, had booked a table - we were told we could only order the Valentine set menu which was £24.99 per person.

The food was about average, nothing amazing, I've made better tasting tagines myself from recipes on the internet: the lamb wasn't nice, the chicken was dry, nothing felt like it was freshly cooked, it all felt like food that just had been heated up... Very disappointing feeling when you go to any restaurant and you feel like that food hasn't been prepared for you right then and there. And we just double checked the menu online just now and realised we were actually missing two of the main dishes.

The bread was shop bought pita bread heated, not the kind of bread you'd expect from an authentic moroccan restaurant, espcially at this price. The food was luke warm / cold, the tagines didn't come with a lid to keep it warm, which is quite uncommon. On top of that, no place to put your plates on the table: everyone was eating from a plates on their laps.

The music was loud, and we also weren't expecting the belly dancing bit, which made the evening very awkward for almost everyone who were trying to have a romantic Valentine's dinner.

On top of all this, considering we were told we could only have the Valentine's menu at a cost of £24.99, we saw a couple across from us with the 'A la carte' menu. This is obviously a way for the restaurant to make more money by forcing people to believe that they only have one option. Very crafty indeed...

The service was fine, but the food was definitely not of a quality worth £24.99 and I definitely won't be going back for another visit, and wouldn't recommend this restaurant to anyone.
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Antoine
4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Monday, February 14, 2011

I took my husband to Souk Bazaar on friday night to celebrate his birthday, and I have to say that I was shocked at the bill of 83 pounds for 2 set meals, I think the food was very basic, served luke warm and the quality was not worth the money. The so called 'Belly Dancing Show' lasted no more than 5-10 mins and that was it. Very very disappointing evening and will not be returning
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Leeze
4 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 1
Monday, December 13, 2010

I had a good experience in Souk bazaar, I have been there with my Husband last week and I was empressed with service we have received, I have asked to replace a dish as it wasn't to my taste, It was replaced immediately and the Manager even offered us a free Desserts and tea to my satisfaction, Prices are not bad for freshly made food, I would recommend
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Paula
9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Sunday, September 05, 2010

I have came across this restaurant when I was checking on the Internet, I have been there last Saturday, I was impressed with the friendly service, Food was great and the atmosphere was just great for a special date, I will surely go back as I would like to take my girlfriend back there.
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John
10 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Thursday, September 02, 2010