Al Dar

Service is very poor they focus on few customers which I don’t know if they are maybe owners of the restaurant which make me feel bad as every minute they changing the fire for their shisha and totally ignoring us

First time trying Lebanese food! Loved it! Great food. Clean. Seating space is small. Really liked the spicy Lebanese sausage, meat filled dumplings, and the mixed meat shawarma. The staff did seem to a little pissed off not with the customers, but each other. All and all it was good food!

Atrocious service.
Dirty tables.
Avoid! Avoid! Avoid!
There are so many Shisha/​Hookah lounges on Edgware Road so choose wisely. We’re local Londoners, with friends visiting from San Francisco, and sat down for a casual evening of mint tea and shisha… however the waiter was extremely rude to us and blatantly trying to take advantage of our «tourist» appearances. We tried speaking with the manager but he was not all that interested in sorting things out, it was just one of those situations where you just don’t feel right about what’s going on. I recommend passing this one by and seeking out another lounge, especially given you’ve got so many options.

We loved this dinner. Group of nine. Table FULL of lots of food. Music playing. Friendly waiters. Everything was a hit. BYO. Tuned out to be about £10/​person. So great!

The ingredient missing in this place is training the waiters.
There are equally balanced local Londoners, and visitors from other part of London. Arabics, Iranians, And White locals, and me, an Asian.
I used to live in Edgware Road 15 years ago. Most of the neighbors were from Iraq and Some Iranians. And, this last visit was my homage to the school days and my student life. Bakc then, Al-​dar then was new and nobody really cared in the 90s. Now, locally well-​established Maroush moved across the street/​perhaps downsized? and having had few competitions, this place seems to be crowded at around 8pm.
Casually set, the local waiters greet us in. The tables are quite small for dinners, and very tight next to other guests. You will feel your privacy is compromised.
After seated, we didn’t get our menu for next 15−20min. Then the older manager/owner?(I recognize him from 90s) brought the menu, and we ordered our smoothies and appetizers, main. Well, 3 more groups were seated. They got their drinks. I knew our drinks were sitting on the counter, prepared by the juice guy, across our table, but the servers neglected it for next 20 min. We had to grab one waiter to wait on our table properly.
The juice was fresh, but not cool enough.
The appetizer, selections of Mezze were good experiences in the eyes and mouths. So were the thin bread. well-​toasted.
Main was fresh enough, knowing that Lebanese foods does not have much of the spice or full flavor, but freshly cooked ingredients are the key for their reputation.
But, when I find that it is as simple as 7 – 8 variations to create all the menu, and once I got bored finding how simple the ingredients actually are, half way to swallow the main plates, that was it. NO Ingenuity, No Interpretation, No Inspiration. And, the worst is their absence of Serving skills. I figured their limit to the road to the success.
The Older manager/​owner, may be friendly, but very bossy with us. Then I vaguely remembered he was a very arrogant one, who was harsh to my Iranian friend who did not wear those conservative head pieces, showing her naturally long curly hairs, becoming a quick but bizarre argument back in 90s. And, we walked off during the meal. Today, he is slightly intimidating, and often pushy. Now, the waiters, although they seem to appear busy. they are quite useless. It wasn’t just an efficient service. They need very serious training. But, I felt that they would never figure out the issues to cover, due to the cultural differences.
For the locals on Edgware Road, this will be still a better dining place than the others, but I have seen posher, better Lebanese in Queensway and other areas in W1 than Al-​dar, with higher prices to pay.
But, if you happen to be in Marble Arch, try Maroush Café or Al-​Dar. They are casual enough, inexpensive, and authentic enough.
+ They include service fee of 12%+ in the bill. That is new.

My sisters favorite lebanese. It is very tasty actually as well as clean. Overall a great place.

Where to get the best shawarma in London? RIGHT HERE!
When ever anyone says Edgware Road, I will direct you to this place. They recently refurbished it, so now looks up to par with the rest of Edgware Road.
At times service is questionable (less than average service mean I just wont pay your service charge/​tip you). Though when ever the old guy was there he’d always throw in free extras. So for that I salute you Al-​Dar!

Bare with me here, it’s been 7 years since i’ve been to London so I’m not used to waiters/​waitresses not doing their damndest to serve us. The waiters at Al Dar really went out of their way though to not service us. I may have also been in a slightly cranky mood as I landed in London at 7:30am yesterday and went to Al Dar at 4pm.
Discounting the pretty terrible service, as I am starting to see a lot of in London, the shisha was some of the best shisha i’ve ever smoked. One of my best friends is Palestinan, and he’s a big shisha conneseur. so I’ve smoked a pretty good amount of shisha. (This friend wraps apple tobacco in an actual apple and burns the tobacco from there… it’s pretty much gangsta).
Anyways, the coals on these hookahs burned super slowly. The hits never got harsh and the tobacco had a very potent flavor. The waiters did do one good thing… they replacied the coals at good intervals.
The atmosphere was pretty legit too. The weather was around the 55 F (13 C) so it was somewhat nice enough to sit outside on the sidewalk and chill.
Aside from the shisha, I also had a Turkish coffee. Holy pick me up. The coffee was served in an espresso type cup. The flavors were pretty amazing. Nothing needed to be added to it, and it was a super jolt of energy.
I’ve adjusted my ratings for non-​tip driven service. Normally because of such poor service I’d knock 1 or 2 stars down, but in this case I’m just ranking this place based on product, and overall I have to say it was something worth going back to.

Not the best Lebanese on Edgware Road. The meat tasted stale and they were stingy on the meat and sauce… it was more like a salad shawarma with a hint of lamb, slight exaggeration; but you could easily get bigger and tastier shawarma elsewhere. The inside of the restaurant is very café-​like and service is cold. I didn’t enjoy my short-​lived time here unfortunately. However they’re open quite late which is a small pro.

Al-​Dar fits in with its surroundings perfectly on Edgware rd. Simple, delicious, and relaxed – of course, Arab style!
The food comes out quick here and the staff is extra friendly! They have an assortment of shisha and outdoor seating for the warmer summer months!
All in all it’s a great place to hang out with friends and grab a bite to eat – especially if you are a carnavoire (like me) there is a plethora of items to choose from!

the best lebanese restaurant out of all of them
nice food, very clean, loads you will be full on leaving. 15 per head. lots of meat salad not too noisy and great juices. friut plater is amazing flooded with ice cubes really nice.