Ishbilia Restaurant

This review is just for items I got for takeaway: the moutabel (char-​grilled aubergine blended with tahini and lemon juice topped with fresh pomegranate seeds) and the makdous (baby aubergines stuffed with walnuts, herbs and garlic, marinated in olive oil and lemon). Man, they are both SO DELICIOUS, bursting with roasted aubergine flavour in the first and stuffed to the gills in the second. I’m only dinking a star because the portion for the second was kinda dinky: only three mini aubergines for 8.50 pounds. The moutabel though was hefty and provided several servings. Several loafs of pita bread are also provided gratis which is a nice gesture but they are flavourless.

Amazing! All fresh and great dishes. Well worth a trip. Service is attentive and the atmosphere is warm and inviting.

This place has a bit of a double standard going on. The service I get when dining with my Arab friends is noticeably different. Went again last night, usually at the end of the meal they give a complimentary platter of fruit and another with baklava. No baklava this time. I called out the waiter on it and he said they stopped giving the baklava a long time ago. Busted — I was here with Arab friends 3 weeks ago at the most and we still got it then. I’m not keen on pandering to ethnic discrimination and won’t be going back any time soon.

The best Lebanese food I have ever had! And friendly service. Thank you Unilocal for helping me find this place on a trip to London!

The food is excellent, we have come here twice now. The waiter misunderstood our order multiple times, I gave up and just accepted it and was charged an extra 10 pounds for it.
Incredibly disappointing, particularly for a place that seemed to value service. If eating here and there seems to be some confusion, require the waiter to look at the menu with you prior to walking off to avoid our situation.
Not only were we very overcharged, since we didn’t speak up at the beginning of the meal and instead at 2 of the 14 pieces of lamb served, but instead of trying something that seemed interesting that we had never encountered before we had something we could have gotten anywhere.
Incredibly disappointing

We have been to this restaurants many many times since around 2000 if I remember correctly, way before my Unilocaling days. It is probably one of the best Lebanese restaurants around London at the moment. The reason for the 4 stars is basically because I feel that around the Summer and early autumn time, the service seems to deteriorate in these restaurants while the prices increase simply because of tourism to the area. So, I would recommend visiting this place basically at an off-​peak time for better quality food and service. Today, the lemonade with mint was very watery, the bread they bring on the side was a bit too doughy as if it had not been fully baked, the fatoush was not as flavourful as usual as though they didn’t put enough sumac and dressing on it. The other mezzes — labneh, moutabal, hummus were very good as usual. The Lahm-​ib-​Ajeen was alright but a bit cold and the kibbeh was made smaller than usual. The meat was very good today so it was a mixture. We still like to come here but it needs to be timed to ensure a better service and food!

Finest Lebanese I ever ate. Every dish is creative and beautifully executed. The shish chicken has amazing seasoning and is succulent. Ground lamb on flatbread xlnt. Salads fresh and crisp. Reasonable prices for London. Service is just ok. Nice people but we had to request forks, wine list, and some other things.

An interesting find in this neighborhood and this place delivers. This was an unplanned visit at an odd time for dinner but the place was packed so that’s a good sign. Service was poor at the start as we had to wait out a bit to even get attention.
After we were seated it got a bit better. Here is what we ordered
Aryse. One of my go to dishes for Lebanese cuisine a smaller serving with the spice a bit held back but it still delivered.
Haloomi Cheese. Hard to mess this one up IMO. Decent
Shish Tawouk a decent sized serving. Done very well. High marks here.
King prawns. We had the fried version. These are very delicately fried and the sauce that covers them is spiced quite well.
There was free side of bread and a salad.
3.5 Stars.

I have gone to Ishbilia for many years and it’s always good. Today remainder me how good it is and I felt I had to write my first Unilocal review. The food is fresh, and flavorful and the staff attentive. I was introduced to this restaurant by someone from the Middle East who knows good Lebanese food. He was not wrong, and been coming back ever since. I hate to write this post — maybe I won’t get in next time…

Best Lebanese food we have had so far in London. Good and attentive service. Good value. Will definitely go back.

Good food and atmosphere. I live in SF and long for good Lebanese food and this place hits the spot. I like the lively atmosphere and the crowd can be chic. I have been eating here for over 12 years and still one of my not to be missed when in London.

I had tried many Lebanese restaurants in London, but by far nothing gets close to Ishbilia. Their food is very fresh and light and their Kebab meat taste amazing.
My favorite dish is their Lamb Cubes, very tender that it melts in your mouth.
Their staff is friendly and their service is very good.

Were in town with kids and decided to have Lebanese food. The baba ganoosh was awesome. The rice and kabob was great. The hummus was very tasty and overall service was great. Great experience in our first venture in London.

One of the best Lebanese in London. Go on a Saturday night & sit downstairs for the ‘nightclub/​cabaret’. Upscale area, decent clientele (generally) and good fresh food served in good portions.

While in London we took the metro over to see Harrods. While in the store we discovered Ishbilia Restaurant.
Excellent food and service! While there the owner came over and visited with us. He said the Harrods location was closing but did say their main location on Knightsbridge is still operating!
Loved their tabouli, grape leaves and this lamb dish cooked in tomato sauce! Attentive service and very nice atmosphere!
If ever back in London I would make a point to visit this restaurant again!

I think Lebanese food is definitely much better in London vs. NY but have to say Ishbilia dishes out the best lebanese dishes. The ever popular Maroush doesn’t stand up to the grilled dishes, hommous and delicious salads. Portions are huge so becareful when you order. For 3 ppl, 4 meze’s and 1 main is more than filling. I’ll get to compare it to the real stuff in a few days.
Service — feels a little eccentric but well catered to their customers.
Ambience — It’s nice yet cozy.

A great stop of Arabic food in Knightsbridge. The falafel in particular was scrumptious, however the salads and shwarma were also outstanding. Very favorable pricing too. Worth a visit!

Great place, close to Harrod’s, yet far enough to have a peaceful dinner.
Food:
— Complementary bowl of veggies, so big it reminded me of a cornucopia from thanksgiving: carrot sticks, a whole cucumber, a WHOLE head of lettuce, and more!
— Bread: tasted home made and SO fresh.
— Hummus: really great creamy texture, but lacked the kick (needed more spice/​garlic/​something).
— Grilled chicken skewers were SO good and so great for the price. Couldn’t finish it all because I was too full :(
Service: pretty prompt, food came out a little slower than expected but still pretty good.
Ambiance: peaceful, open-​aired, relaxing… nice.

I love Lebanese food. It’s one of my favorite regional cuisines. When I knew I was coming to London I quickly sought out Indian and Lebanese. Ishbilia fit the bill since it was fairly close to the hotel and I got good feedback to a friend who lives out here. It’s located in the tony area of Knightsbridge. I don’t recall seeing so many nice cars like Ferraris, Maybachs, Lamborghinis in one area and I basically have lived in Beverly Hills for 10 years. Went there on a Saturday with two work friends and the place was packed. My friend who speaks Lebanese told me that everybody there was speaking the language. This always makes me happy. Nothing is worse than when you go into an ethnic restaurant and none of the patrons or staff are FOBs. If you don’t know what a FOB is don’t worry I probably won’t be reading your reviews for dim sum and Indian restaurants.
The food here was very good. Everything was very fresh and definitely authentic. My friend ordered for us in Lebanese but I was still able to get some dishes I recognize. Labneh, hummus, tabouleh, and foul moguela from the cold mezze section were great. The pitas came out piping hot which is always nice. We also shared some falaffel, kefta and shish taouk (chicken). The falaffel was great, crispy not dense and nice flavor. The kefta and shish taouk had great flavor. I liked to put pieces of meat into hot pita throw some hummus on there and scoop up some juices. MMMMM. The only thing that’s been throwing me off is that all of the falaffel I’ve had while very good is green in London. They must all be putting some parsley or something into their mix.