I’m worried that this review is going to feel a bit like kicking the Andrex puppy. How can you be mean about something so cute?

The backstory to the restaurant is fantastic: A Syrian restaurateur and entrepreneur, forced to flee his home through war, comes to London as a refugee, and opens a wildly successful restaurant. It is the kind of thing that the majority of us can never imagine, and is a heartwarming reminder in a sea of hate and disinformation that Britain is, at heart, a liberal, tolerant democracy.

It is also in an amazing location. For me, Carnaby Street brings back memories of Sta Press trousers and wedge-toed bowling shoes (from the amazing Shellys shoe shop), but while it was a wonderful place to escape to from suburban Havering, it was pretty dingy and dirty. And then Carnaby Street became Disneyland, a must-visit place if you were a tourist, and a must-avoid as a resident.

So when I first went to Imad’s a few years ago, I discovered what felt like a secret passage into a new world of food, squeezed between Carnaby Street and the rest of the world, at Kingly Court, which has about 20 restaurants of every hue. I also discovered that while I still felt on the inside like the 80’s teenager, in actual fact, I was now, on the outside, the oldest person by about 30 years. But don’t let that put you off, as there is a lot to be found here, and there is even a lift for us oldies :-)

For the most part, you can’t criticise Imad’s on the food front. But the cost and the service do have a bit of a sting.

On our first few visits, we followed a more traditional Dips, Mezze, “Large” Plates flow.

That stopped once we had the Amarah. Strictly speaking, the menu says “Chicken Thigh”, so perhaps we should not have been overly surprised when only one thigh turned up, but for 20 quid, we felt that really was a bit much, so this time, we opted for Dips (with our cocktails) and then Mezze to follow.

This is where the service went badly, badly wrong. We had booked a table for 6 of us at 6pm for an early dinner. One of us was rather hungry, so rather than have a drink and then order, we decided to have the Dips first with drinks and then move on to Mezze, what was for us the main course. The waiter, to the point of rudeness, would not take our order unless we ordered everything at the same time. “Look around you, can’t you see how busy it is? You have to order everything so the Dips and Mezze come together, followed by the mains. And if you don’t you will lose your slot in the kitchen”. I mean, he was getting pretty unpleasant about it.

A standoff ensued. We did not want to be out by 6.30, and were quite happy to wait for our “slot” in the kitchen if we ordered the Mezze as a separate course.

I was very pleasant about the whole thing, in the face of some aggression, and in the end prevailed, although that did not stop the waiter spending about 5 minutes complaining loudly to another waiter about how we would not order our Mezze at the same time as our dips. Loudly enough so we were meant to hear it.

Here’s the irony: The Dips arrived before the drinks.

And when we ordered the Mezze after said Dips, they arrived within 5 minutes. The whole thing was bollocks.

It is a disgrace that any restaurant dictates how its patrons eat their meals (so long as they don’t stay for 3 hours over a glass of tap water), and it is even more disgraceful that a waiter is genuinely combative about it.

Onto the food.

Looking at the priced of the Dips, rent in Kingly Court must be a fortune. Almost £10 a pop, and that is without Pita. And the Pita price is per slice. I think that has to be the most expensive Hummus in London, once you factor the starch in. Thank goodness it is all very good!

We had the Hummus, Labrot, Muhammara and Baba Ganoush, along with some Plain Pita, Za’atar Pita, and Garlic Pita.

All excellent, but the Za’atar Pita was outstanding, as was the Labneh with the Labrot. So a perfect selection of starters.

To follow (not all shown above), we had Kalitoos, Zahraa Harra, Falafel (x2), Samra, Fattoush (x2) and Batata Harra.

The Falafel here are outstanding. Too often you get something that could double up as an ice hockey puck or cricket ball, so over-fried are they, but at Imad’s they have it exactly right. I also particularly enjoyed the Saroja (I am in love with both Aubergines and Pomegranate Molasses at the moment) and the Zahraa Harra (ditto Cauliflower). Not sure I’d bother with the Kalitoos (Squid) again, as while it may well have been fresh, it was overcooked and a bit rubbery. I would have liked the Suda, but as the sole lover of liver in the whole party, I was vetoed (and as I am not coming back, someone else will have to tell me if it is any good).

No meal with my extended family is complete without pudding so we had a good go at the dessert menu as well.

This little lot is Syrian Ice Cream, Noria and Baclava. Got to love the candy floss on the ice cream (much better than the pink stuff at the fair!), and the Baclava was excellent, except for the addition of a large piece of pistachio shell, which almost added large dental bill to the evening.

Drinks-wise, we had a good selection of cocktails (now all the obligatory £15 each), including some very servicable Margaritas and a Negroni. There is no point at all trying to find wine at a reasonable price here, so we went for a £40 bottle of Verdicciho (as we had a Marche dweller with us, and also because it’s about the cheapest), which was perfectly nice and at £15 retail, the right price for the menu, but there are much better examples out there, so it seemed a bit lazy. And, as ever, glasses of wine are 125ml, in some sort of weird effort to convince you that it’s not overly expensive. This is a new and irritating London trend.

To follow, we had a couple of Chai Tea. Don’t bother, as it is not particularly well spiced, and bizarrely, has no milk in it. I discovered Chai Tea in India 30 years ago, and never turn down a cup. I wish I had this time.

The final insult was the service charge of £35. Had I not had people with me, I would have asked to take it off. In addition to the nasty initial waiter, service varied between curt to neutral. No-one seems to really like customers here. Should I ever get granted my three wishes, one will be that all tips have to be added on at the credit card machine: I have no problem tipping, and am happy to tip above the amount mandated (and did just a few weeks ago). But I think adding the “optional” service to the bill and giving you the machine is just plain wrong.

What can I say? The food here is great, the atmosphere buzzy, the prices toppy and the service terrible. I keep giving it another go, but I think I’m going to stick to Ceru for my Middle Eastern fix.

Conclusion

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

• Food: 5/5
• Drinks: 4/5
• Service: 2/5
• Atmosphere: 4.5/5
• Value for Money: 3/5
• Would we go back: 2/5

Imad’s Syrian Kitchen: https://www.imadssyriankitchen.co.uk/