The Albertine has been one of the best things in Shepherds Bush for as long as I can remember. I…read morehadn't actually been for a couple of years and was pleasantly surprised that nothing much has changed despite its proximity to Westfields. The wine list is extensive and excellent and they now also offer a "take out" option - great idea. The bar is extremely busy, especially during the after-work hours. On my last visit it was almost impossible to have a decent chat due to the noise levels - and they don't even pipe music! The food menu changes regularly and includes a good selection of comfort dishes (pasta, bangers and mash), saladdy things and cheese or meat platters.

For some reason, even though I have these amazing places at the step of my doorstep it always takes…read moreme awhile to discover them, and another while to finally go to them. Such is the case of the Albertine Wine Bar. Lovely old wooden floors, chairs that seem to have belonged to a church, and its owner/ chef always having a glass of red wine at the end of the bar. There is an upstairs area which is decorated with photography for sale and chilled out tunes. Excellent selection of wine (130 wines from around the world), red Chilean 'Chocolan' is always our choice and the food is simply divine. A home-made feel, like carrot and pea soup, or duck salad, charcuterie selection, honey roast ham salad and amazing blueberry cheesecake. The menu changes on a regular basis this is one of the reasons you have to come back for more, and the other is to taste all the cheeses (about 20) it costs £5.95 for 3 cheeses of our choice, crackers and bread. Not a cheese connoisseur? not to worry, they are and can give you a guide as to what you may like. It can get very busy on friday and saturday evenings so get there early to get a good table, like the ones by the windows, or call ahead to reserve.

What a great and affordable meal!…read more I was with 6 other friends, so we proceeded to order a significant portion of the menu. And it was all really good. But the fan favorite was the Mix Grill (lamb fillet, lamb kofta, shish taouk Jawaneh, and shawerma served with chips and rice). We did not leave hungry. And when we got the bill, I was amazed at the price! So affordable. Definitely worth a try.

When I turned up here and walked inside I felt like I had been given passage to Damascus. From the…read moredecor to the patrons, it all looks the part and yet even if you don't, you'll be warmly welcomed. A visiting pal from San Francisco and I joined a regular here for dinner and he took care of all the ordering. I enjoyed everything we ate but one dish in particular stood out: Farrouj Abou Zaad. These three words I scarcely know how to pronounce must mean "over the top tasty." Or maybe the translation is grilled boneless baby chicken? Whatever the case, the farrouj abou zaad (grilled boneless baby chicken) is some of the most incredible chicken to ever pass my lips. It is served with a divine salsa-like tomato sauce that makes you want to lick the container it comes in. The baklava we ended our meal with made me reconsider every syrupy, unappetising baklava I've had in the past (and my stance on not liking it.) This stuff was flaky, light and absolutely worth going back for. Make sure to order mint tea to go with it. Why fly to Syria when you can take the tube to Shepherd's Bush Market and come to Abu Zaad instead?

We had the Ritz Meze at £14.95 person (min 2). 3-4 people can probably share the generous portions…read moreof food and dips and just might have enough room for dessert. Good food, friendly staff and clean restrooms. Will definitely be back for more!

We enjoyed our dinner here, the meat are well seasoned and flavorful…read more price very reasonable. Friendly service. I left my glasses at the restaurant and was grateful I was able to retrieve it. Thank you

I'm from San Francisco but was in town. I Lime biked here all the way from soho... because we don't…read morehave much Turkish kebob where I'm from, I just knew this was goin to be amazing. I limited myself on the rice but kept eating the protein. Nice plane in a famous neighborhood of London.

Generally I like small, family run places that look a bit haphazard and thrown together (much like…read moremy own family's business). Sadly this is not one of those. This place is just rubbish, not in a 'so bad, it's good' kind of way. Just not good at all. Arrived for a group dinner not really thinking about what to expect, but you know... expecting a cool Moroccan place. Especially since this street seems quite Moroccan influenced with grocery stores and shops selling traditional goods. But this establishment does a very good impression of a grotty kebab shop. Kind of a dive, definitely not somewhere you bring anyone on a date, or at all. Inside is bare and old fashioned and they had to turn the radiators on because it was so cold. Upon entering to see my friends, instantly my morale hit the floor as the place is so uninspiring and depressing. They were out of half the items on the cheap, plastic laminate menu. Basically you could have tagine, or... tagine. The service was slow, bordering on the ridiculous, as two of us got our food and the rest half an hour later. Everything came in drips and drabs, as if the chef was very slowly making one dish at a time. My vegetable tagine was totally overcooked and my chips undercooked. Asking everyone else how they enjoyed their food illicited blank stares and 'ummm it's okay'. All I ate was some warmed up pita bread and overdone carrots. Going to a little hole-in -the-wall place like this, you hope to find amazing food that you can tell all your friends about and Yelp it to the point it becomes totally popular and therefore uncool. But no, the food, much like the exterior and interior, was bad. I couldn't even summon up the energy to write a funny, cool, or useful review. Consider this a public service announcement.

In a word? Meh…read more Depending on how hungry you are, you could have two perspectives on this place. 1) Quirky, rustic and authentic OR 2) Understaffed, slow and bordering on being an overstretched local. I wasn't massively hungry, so I was in the first school of thought about this place and very open-minded about the possibility of unearthing a local gem. We (the gang of Yelpers who were here for the latest CMYE - Around the World in 80 Meals event) started with lovely warmed pita bread and an eggplant spread (unfortunately I didn't catch the name of it). Yum. The spread was so full of flavour, I could've eaten just that alone. We also ordered potatoes with a harissa sauce on them, that were far, far, far too spicy. Think the kind of spicy that overtakes and negates any other flavour in the dish. The kind of spicy that makes you urgently reach for whatever drink you have in front of you (in this case, a very refreshing glass of moroccan peppermint tea). Bad times. I ordered a lamb tagine with couscous for my main and was pretty excited about this, as I'd never had tagine before. The tagine arrived piping hot and the liquid in the pot was still bubbling, like it was still cooking. I hate eating super hot foods (goes way back to burning the roof of my mouth eating pizza when I was a kid), so I waited about 10 minutes for it to cool down. The lamb was nice and tender, but the vegetables was very overcooked, to the point of being mushy. The broth was okay, but didn't have the depth of flavour you'd expect from such an earthy dish. In all honesty, I'm voting for a do over in my first tagine experience. I'm erasing this tagine from my mind and have just become a tagine virgin again. Oh yeah - BRING CASH! They don't take cards and the closest cash machine in the evenings is a 5 minute walk away across from the Portobello Market building.

They play traditional Greek music outside. But when you enter it's the generic American radio…read moremusic. Disappointed there given that you call yourself the real Greek. Lot of tables and an open kitchen. Some large pictures of the Greek islands. They have a two course option with prosecco for £15. We just sampled some hot and cold meze. Jackfruit with mushrooms and pearl onions was just Ok, hardly any Jackfruit and just mushrooms and onions in red sauce. The chickpea pastry was very good. Thin crispy pastry, flavourful spice mix inside, very yellow from the turmeric, you don't want to drop this on your white summer pants. The cold eggplant mush with a long Greek name I forgot was my favorite, better than it sounds when I describe it. A refreshing taste. The spicy feta dip has a good spice mix to it. I'm tired of food advertised as spicy and then tasting bland. But not here. Here is where the real Greeks surprised me in a negative way. The lamb kefte was messed up - completely pink and undercooked inside. I get it should be a little pink for juicy flavor to avoid the dry meat. But this was simply put not cooked long enough. Lamb is a meat you can't just put on the grill for ten seconds and serve. So sent that back and got a new one that was so burnt black on the outside, assuming they were trying to cook it medium well, but it was still pink inside. They probably just turned up the flame. It's like the chef just started cooking lamb. You need to slow cook these things a bit so it heats through. The manager put her fingers in the meat when I showed her and said - hmmm it's the water from the feta making it pink. No I don't think that makes it ok to serve undercooked meat. I think just stick to the vegetarian options here and there are plenty of those. All meze platters are served on those tier level stands that you get at afternoon tea. I like that they leave you a full bottle of water at the table. Our waitress Gabi was very friendly and pleasant and had the perfect customer service attitude that you really want to see anywhere you go. They recommend 3-4 meze each. Prices range from 4-7 £. Pita should be included when ordering a dip and not a 3.5£ extra charge that I can put toward another meze. Samples served outside. Overall a good experience, but there is room for improvement.

We wanted something light and tasty for lunch while we were shopping so we decided to try The Real…read moreGreek. All the dishes were delicious, the service was good overall, and overall it was a nice experience.

Make sure you're stomach's empty before you get there. That's my first piece of advice. Believe me,…read moreit may not look it but order to menu to share and the food just keeps coming and is so tasty. There were three of us, we had the meal for two but seriously, that's enough and it works out as such good value for money. Including wine for three of us it worked out at around £7 a head, which was very reasonable for what we got. If you've had tapas, then it's like that, in individual dishes for you to share. Very very tasty! The waitress was really friendly although slightly difficult to understand and be understood. Highly recommend!

Had a lunch in Vine Leaves Taverna last week and was more than satisfied by the experience. Lunch…read morewas around £5 - a choice of filled pittas with salad and chips. The taramasalata and hoummus certainly seemed home-made rather than shop-bought and the chips were some of the most delicious I have ever tasted. It's unfortunate the other reviewer had a bad experience which brought his review down. I felt it was typical generous Greek hospitality and we walked out extremely full! Pretty quiet lunctimes but it's a bit of a walk from the other eateries around the bush.

2nd time in 2 weeks I have been here - this time with a small group. Having spoken to the excellent…read moreand friendly waitress on my last visit she said they do things such as Maqlubah (Arabic for upside down) for parties of at least 4/5. It is a dish with chicken or lamb, rice and vegetables which is all cooked in the one pot, and then tipped 'upside down'. We had the lamb maqlubah. It was £25 per head for 5 people and there was absolutely loads of food. You got starters included - a mix of hot and cold meze - yoghurt, tabuleh, houmous, falafel, lamb, sausage and bread. The centre piece though was the maqlubah - the lamb was falling off the bone, the rice well cooked and so we're the vegetables. We struggles to finish it. Highly recommended if with a group - must give them a day or two notice in advance to cook it.

Unfortunately it was disappointing I think we went at the wrong time and they wanted to close , so…read moreI wish they had just said that to us, Food was fine bread a bit cold but thought portions very small for the price, At the end of the meal the waiter told us they were closing and preceded to take our drinks and clear the table bizarre! Shame because it looked so beautiful and being from London I have always loved Golborne Road with the moroccan influence an the iconic Cafe Lisboa thought this would be fabulous Maybe just an off day and they just wanted to go home!!!