Bar Meze

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#11 of 277 Restaurants in St. Albans££ - £££, Mediterranean, Greek, Vegetarian friendly

+44 1727 847799+ Add website

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Hours

Sun

11:00 - 15:0018:00 - 22:00

Mon

16:00 - 22:0018:00 - 22:00

Tue

11:00 - 15:0018:00 - 22:30

Wed

10:00 - 15:0018:00 - 21:00

Thu

11:00 - 15:0018:00 - 22:30

Fri

11:00 - 15:0016:00 - 23:00

Sat

11:00 - 15:0016:00 - 23:00

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What is Travellers’ Choice?

Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.

Ratings and reviews

4.5

1,352 reviews

#11 of 277 Restaurants in St. Albans

Travellers' Choice 2024

RATINGS

Food

Service

Value

Atmosphere

Food and ambience

Mediterranean, Greek, Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options, Gluten free options

“The tuna was excellent and the chips fab as always.”

“On the night, the food was delicious (had lots of comments on the lamb and sw...”

“... and good portion size, the desert was delicious I recommend the baklava!”

“The tuna was especially delicious.”

Location and contact

8 Adelaide Street, St. Albans AL3 5BH England

+44 1727 847799

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Details

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About

Nimatt's Bar Meze in St Albans serves the native cuisine of Cyprus - the historic meeting place of Europe and Asia. The dishes have Greek, Ottoman and Arabic influences resulting in a unique blend. The company motto "Eat, Drink, Share" pays reference to the Eastern Mediterranean way of eating, that is both healthy and fun. There are no set starters or main courses, and you can order a snack or a main meal simply by varying the number of dishes chosen. Our meat, fish and vegetables are bought direct from the relevant markets. The dips and the majority of the prepared food items are freshly made in our own preparation kitchen to exclusive Bar Meze recipes.

CUISINES

Mediterranean, Greek

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options, Gluten free options

Meals

Lunch, Dinner, After-hours

FEATURES

Takeout, Reservations, Seating, Highchairs Available, Wheelchair Accessible, Serves Alcohol, Full Bar, Accepts Credit Cards, Table Service

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4.5

1,352 reviews

Excellent

962

Very good

192

Average

Poor

Terrible

Sameer R

1 contribution

What a night!

Aug 2020 • family

I had a superb dining experience yesterday at Bar Meze in St. Albans. Top of the range cuisine for splendid prices, I have recommended this place to all of my family and friends who weren’t fortunate enough to accompany me last night. The team at Bar Meze offer the best delicacies out of any place in the whole of St. Albans and on a broader scale, they certainly compete with the best restaurants in Hertfordshire. They offer an Extremely safe and hygienic experience to suit your dining needs, The food is of excellent quality, The staff pay extra special attention to safe distancing to ensure all customers have a hospitable and comfortable experience. If you haven’t been to Bar Meze, where have you been?

Written 8 August 2020

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

BaRMEZE

Thank you so much for your review. We hope to see you again soon.

Written 17 August 2020

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

PoodlerChick109

London219 contributions

Re: Wedding Reception during Covid 2020!

Oct 2020 • business

What can we say! My (now) husband and I knew we found the right venue to host our wedding reception as soon as we met Fowad and he passionately spoke of taking care of us with his brother (owner); Mido. To say they looked after us was an under-statenent! We were treated like royalty from following through our vision of decorating the venue to ensuring we had the venue for hire with no interruption. Our guests LOVED the food - especially the grilled swordfish and lamb! It literally melted in our MOUTHS and was so healthy. The Covid guidelines were adhered to, but the beautiful food, music, flow of drinks and professionalism of staff topped the experience and made our day extra special! We can't wait to come back for a meal as Mr and Mrs! Thank you Bar Meze and see you soon! Would HIGHLY recommend for a meal or celebration hire. Good people!

Written 1 November 2020

Kieran_The_Mountains

Berkshire7 contributions

Takeaway - great Mediterranean food

Mar 2020 • family

Family have been dining at Bar Meze for a few years now. It's a great restaurant with a wide and affordable range of options encompassing middle Eastern, Greek and northern African cuisine. Nice range of drinks too, both alcoholic and soft. Would advise booking ahead on busy days as demand can be high.

Written 9 April 2020

Mandy G

1 contribution

Great food but service let them down

Jan 2020 • friends

Went for dinner with a friend and everything was lovely until towards the latter part of the booking. Initial service was brilliant, the food came and it was beautiful as always, but as we were towards the end of the meal we had various staff coming over to us asking if we had finished when we hadn’t. I told them between 4-6 times that we were still picking ( we had about 7 sharer plates) and by the last time we just wanted to be left alone so told them they could clear the food. Then we got chased to ask for the bill ( at this point we still had a bottle of Prosecco on the table and the restaurant had several free tables so they weren’t after a table to be cleared), once the bill arrived it took over 20mins for the payment to be taken. This just annoyed us and if they’d given us more time we would’ve order another bottle of Prosecco as we were catching up after 6 months and so just wanted to sit and talk. We ended up leaving and going to a bar nearby. Overall the initial service and the food were amazing but the last 45mins just left a sour taste in our mouths and I’m not sure if I’d return in a hurry. A shame because the food is perfection!

Written 5 January 2020

Matthew D

Hemel Hempstead68 contributions

Very expensive for what you get, very small portions but great atmosphere.

Jan 2020 • none

I don't mind the fact you are squashed in together, it creates a very bustling atmosphere and you all share each others tables. If you're looking for a romantic dinner or a quiet family dinner, then I would avoid. The food is quite okay. Very small portions for the price you pay, it's not bad food, just very average. It's difficult to make a fair comparison to other restaurants, but for £30 a head, i would say it didn't compare favourably with other restaurants for value/quality. The service is fine, although you do feel under pressure to order as quick as you can - you can take that to be attentive or pushy, take your pick. Nobody asks you if you would like another drink, its more a case of please order and eat as quick as you can. Would we go here again? Probably not. Nothing wrong with the restaurant at all, but to me it felt like fast food with mid-range prices.

Written 24 January 2020

Sir R©️

London696 contributions

Just cant see how it gets 5* sadly, it’s average at best

Oct 2020 • couples

Sorry to say that I was underwhelmed by the meze, used to come here regularly with friends from London and I would say it’s lost it’s way and sparkle. Meze for 2 @ £22.50 each plus 10% mandatory service for 7 small dishes and 2 slices of pitta bread, followed by some 3 nice but small hot dishes and then a mouthful of fish and the worst Greek salad I have ever had. This was completed with a plate with 3 pieces of chicken and lamb which came with what I can only describe as microwave rice, I’m sure it’s not but..... It was a very poor meze at top price and I can see why we stopped coming. It’s a damn shame as we currently only want to support our independent local business. Remember the prices were at 20% and now vat is 5% so the restaurant are making an extra 15%, but not rewarding the customer for its support.

Written 25 October 2020

LF09

Hatfield22 contributions

Starters good, mains very overpriced

Feb 2020 • couples

Very busy and they squeeze tables in, but we had a nice time. Cold mezze dips were delicious, asked for more pitta but it never arrived. For main I ordered tuna shashlik because it says “not to be missed” on the menu and at £18.50 I expected it to be something special. It was just two skewers of overcooked tuna. So overcooked that I thought it was swordfish! My husband ordered the sirloin steak stuffed with blue cheese and it was overcooked & charred. Chips were very oily and the Greek salad definitely wasn’t Greek... very disappointed with that. There was also an hour between starters and mains being served. We didn’t stay for dessert. We would come back, but would only have the starters because the mains are very overpriced and not very good.

Written 15 February 2020

Poppy

16 contributions

Bad customer service

Aug 2020 • friends

Went to dinner with my friends here for the first time. Took a while to order food although there seemed to be lots of staff on. When my greek salad arrived there was a hair in it, the waitress was lovely and sorted it straight away. One of the main meals was forgotten about so took around 45 minutes in total. When it came to the bill they left both meals on which we refused to pay, the manager did not apologize for the troubles and scoffed at us as if we were in the wrong. Overall, very expensive for little food and bad service.

Written 16 August 2020

BaRMEZE

We are sorry that you felt that you had bad service and little food. We pride ourselves on the quality of our food and service. Your table were served their drinks and starters with no issues, and your mains within 15 mins. You say that you found a hair in your greek salad, and also that your waitress was lovely and sorted it straight away. We were unable to identify the hair but replaced the salad straight away with no question. We did forget one Chicken Tikka for which we apologise, but it was sent out as soon as possible. We were busy on Saturday and are operating with limited staff in the kitchen due to current circumstances. Your table ate both the replaced salad and the Chicken Tikka. When it came to the bill you raised the issue with regard to the salad, chicken tikka and the service charge and our manager apologised and these were all removed from your bill at your request. You did not want to pay the service charge despite saying your waitress was lovely and sorted your issue straight away.

Written 17 August 2020

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Jackie B

5 contributions

Disappointing meal and service

Jan 2022 • couples

No welcome Poor quality tasteless food, poor service - had to ask for sauces, drinks etc. no staff wore face masks and stood very close when serving. Very cold in restaurant. Rice was like packet rice Overpriced ,Wouldn’t return even though it looks inviting from outside

Written 10 January 2022

Andrew

St. Albans7118 contributions

Good food, but did not quite work as a takeaway

Jul 2020 • none

Bar Meze is one of my favourite St Albans restaurants – every time there is a street food festival I head to the Bar Meze stall for some delicious food; I have also eaten some excellcent food in the restaurant. During the pandemic we decided to try a takeaway Special Meze – the size of the cold dips for the first course was very generous and was sufficient for more than one meal (in hindsight we should have ordered some extra pitta bread). The next three courses were ok, but not as good as eating freshly cooked food at the restaurant. For a final course, we ordered some Baklava which was excellent (fresh and moist as he should be).

Written 6 July 2020

JJR

1 contribution

Never going back

Jan 2022 • none

On arrival, the staff were welcoming and attentive. They insisted we get the set meze (most expensive thing) which is 4 courses each, we decided to get 2 set meze, one fish and one vegetarian. The first and second course was ok, the fish in the third course tasted bland and old. The final dish was supposed to be made from quorn mince however it was 100% lamb, the staff we're adamant that it was vegetarian however we've used quorn mince for 10+ years so know what to expect. The mince in question had fat grissles, pink and extremelly chewy which doesnt happen with quorn. The staff made us feel stupid for even questioning whether or not it was was meat and was shocked when we didn't eat it. The baklava was delightful none the less. Sadly we all went home with extremally upset stomachs due to being fed meat despite being vegetarian. The restaurant itself was freezing and lacked ambiance. We came here during lockdown for outdoor dining however they were completely full and were unable to sit us despite having a booking, so we we're keen to give them a second chance. Sadly it is not as good as it used to be. We're not the first to have had this experience either, a lot of people we know all agree that it has gone down hill.

Written 8 January 2022

Fouad H

Thank you for your review. We are pleased that you found our staff welcoming and attentive. We would never insist that anyone have our Set Menu, it is always the customer's choice. The staff merely make recommendations and the Set Menu has a selection of our most popular dishes and works out cheaper than buying them separately. Our staff were not trying to make you pay over the odds as you suggest. You were a party of 3 and you were only charged for Set Meze for 2, but our staff still brought out extra food for you to ensure you had enough for 3. Our staff checked on your table several times to ensure that you were ok. You raised the issue of the moussaka on the evening and our staff member addressed this with you. We are deeply sorry that you feel you were given a lamb moussaka. We use quorn mince for the vegetarian moussaka and have been doing so for a while and have not received complaints. We have procedures in place and specific labelling for the meat and the vegetarian moussaka to ensure that they are not mistaken for each other. If a mistake had happened our staff would have apologised profusely, however having spoken to them, they said that they had checked with the chef and checked the dish themselves and it was a vegetarian moussaka. Our staff member checked on you as you left and thought that you were happy leaving. We are a small indepedent family business and are very sorry to hear that you feel our restaurant has gone down hill. We take all reviews very seriously and investigate matters with our staff, if we are not present on the date in question. We are doing our best to survive and trade through this pandemic. We are very grateful for our customers and the many positive reviews we receive.

Written 8 January 2022

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Drogias

5 contributions

Lovely setting, tasty food

Aug 2020 • friends

Food was delicious and can't be faulted except it's price. This is a tapas style restaurant and the expensive plates are really just a few pieces of meat and not what you'd expect for the price you pay. Make sure don't buy one type of plate thinking it's going to be your main with some sides, it won't be, they are all sides. Service and atmosphere inside is great.

Written 17 August 2020

Georgia M

21 contributions

Terrible Service

Sept 2020 • couples

I had booked a table for 2 for 6pm on the bank holiday Monday. We arrived on time and waited at the front of the restaurant and tried to catch the eyes of the waiting, however we were not acknowledged by any staff for 5 minutes, even though they could clearly see us and were walking past to take orders to tables. We walked across the restaurant to the back where the counters were and let a waiter know that we’d booked a table. They told us to go back to the front of the restaurant and someone would be with us shortly. We waited another 5 minutes and then finally a waiter came over and asked for the name on the reservation. They the explained that our table was still in use by another party and they were waiting for them to finish and asked us to wait outside. We waited outside for a further 20 minutes without any update from the waiter and groups of people were forming outside - I asked them if they had booked a table and they had also booked for 6pm and were in the same situation as us. By 6:30 there were at 8 - 10 people standing outside with bookings, yet there was zero acknowledgement or update from the staff. Likewise, I could see and hear customers who were sat at their tables complain about the very slow service. Myself and my partner were calling other restaurants to see if we could get in, but obviously as it was bank holiday Monday and the last night of eat out to help out, there was zero availability anywhere else. After waiting over 30 minutes without any update or acknowledgement, I went back inside and let the waiter know how many people were waiting outside, all with tables booked and said it was unfair for them to just ignore us. I explained that we weren’t prepared to wait any longer and would try and find an alternative restaurant, even thought this would be hard for us to do. I had planned this meal for a good few weeks and was looking forward to it very much, but I was very frustrated and disappointed with the terrible service; to the point that we went home and did not go for dinner that night at all. The restaurant was packed, so I understand they may have been under pressure with it being the last night of eat out to help out; but this is not an excuse for ignoring us and giving no explanation or apology for the situation. Furthermore, the restaurant was absolutely packed, and it seemed as though the they had double booked multiple tables by the number of people standing outside. During the corona virus pandemic and the in a period where businesses should be following social distancing rules, it is quite concerning about how many people were in that restaurant.

Written 1 September 2020

BaRMEZE

We are very sorry that you had to wait for a long time, this was not intentional. It was bank holiday Monday and the last day of Eat Out to Help Out. There was queuing everywhere. We are sorry you had to wait outside, this is due to our Covid policy. Our waiting staff were very busy, we are sorry that you did not feel they gave you enough attention. We apologise that we were unable to give you a table as they were occupied. Please do give us a call at the restaurant and we can discuss.

Written 1 September 2020

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Neil G

2 contributions

Best food in ages.

Aug 2020 • couples

Bar Meze has possibly the most beautiful lamb I have ever tasted. All the dishes we had were amazing. The Egyptian parcel with Swordfish filling was also divine. The service was excellent and very friendly. My wife personally thanked the chef after our meal and he was genuinely moved by our sentiments. It is clear that the ingredients they get in are top drawer because the food reflects this. Superb all round.

Written 31 August 2020

BaRMEZE

Thank you very much for your review. We are so pleased you enjoyed your visit.

Written 1 September 2020

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

FredH

1 contribution

Friendly restaurant with authentic and tasty food, but be wary of potential cost...

Sept 2022 • family

I had been wanting to to Bar Meze for a while after hearing good things about it and took my family for a treat. There was a lot to enjoy about the experience: The welcome was great and the kids in particular were very well looked after and entertained. The restaurant was unpretentious inside with an informal and relaxed atmosphere which, along with the friendly service gave the place an authentic Greek feel. Perfect for a family meal. There was lots to tempt us on the menu with most tastes being catered for - with meat, fish and vegetarian options. There was a focus on items from the traditional charcoal grill. Among other dishes, we enjoyed grilled prawns, swordfish, chicken and mushrooms; lamb kleftico; spanakopita; haloumi; Greek-style chip; salads and dips. Everything was as you would hope for and expect in this type of restaurant - simple but tasty dishes, with everything seeming homemade and freshly cooked. Delicious. We really felt we could have been in Greece rather than in Hertfordshire. Unfortunately the experience was rather tarnished by the eventual cost. Being a mezze restaurant, you need a number of different dishes to make a full meal and we felt several were overpriced for what they were. For example, a portion of 4 grilled king prawns were £14.95; two smallish swordfish skewers were £16.50. You expect mezze dishes to be modest but for some of the prices we would have expected either larger portions or else dishes that were more special than they were. With all the different dishes the bill really added up and, ultimately, we didn’t feel the food and the experience were special enough to make the £200.00 bill seem justifiable (that included only £17.50 for some house wine). If I return I will ask about portion sizes and be more circumspect about what I order. Definitely recommended but be wary of how everything can add up!

Written 25 September 2022