Often ate here whilst on business in Watford. Really quirky restaurant where Bill, the owner, did everything! Really sad when it closed down. Hope it re-appears when the economic climate is more stable. A great loss to Watford!

This place looked modest. It was small by any standards, only five tables. The bathroom was up a dark hallway, shared by the neighboring building. The kitchen was on a loft, separated by stairs and a wooden rail. The food was delivered to a platform between the two levels. The cook—also the host, also the server—placed food on the platform so he can squeeze down the stairs without stumbling. He greeted us with an accent that blends local English with his home country. It’s a bizarre mix that went well together.

This was a lovely little local restaurant. Everything was natural wood. Photos and other ethnic knick-knacks hung from the halls or adorned the tables. The server was equally as pleasant. They menu was unforgiving in its lack of translation, and I loved it for that. It's separated into cold mezza, hot mezza, wraps and mains. It offers fattoush, makanek, and foul moudemes…actually foul. Mezza, by the way, is a Middle Eastern version of tapas, and Nana's offers seventeen varieties. Lebanese cuisine is a colorful mélange of other Middle Eastern traditions with quite a few more carried over from Greece. I know it sounds as if I am implying a country of origin, but I'm not. I'm only saying that from my perspective, the food offered much of what you'd expect in a Greek restaurant, only better. Middle Eastern spices were more pronounced, and the over saturation of starch was thankfully lacking. As expected, we started with the hommous.

A lot can be said be said about a restaurant on how they spell hummus. Hommous is a much older spelling and does speak of the traditional nature of where you eat. Ours was creamy, strong, and the best I’ve had so far…outside of my own house, of course. We followed that with a pair of mains. I order the lahem meshwi—char grilled skewers of lamb, garnished with onions, pickles and tahini sauce. Just saying those words sounded good. It came with a side of rice or couscous. Couscous….in every Greek, Indian, and countries in-between restaurants, I have never seen that offered. My mother fondly remembered eating couscous. I get the rice.

This was all for 6 pounds 50, by the way. My mother ordered similar, but replaced chicken with lamb. She also ordered the couscous. This was a lot of food for very little money. My butwas flat from lack of cushion, but if I lived in Watford, I could totally see Nana’s being my regular establishment. It would be the place where the owner would recognize you and direct you to your usual seat. Wonderfully inviting with decent prices, this was a great way to start our journey.

Lebanese…check. What’s next?

Food: 5/5
Service: 5/5
Presentation: 4/5
Value: 5/5
Recommendation: 4.5/5




NANA'S
129 St. Albans Road
Watford, Herts WD17 1RA
01923 440055

The restaurant is really good for the people who like to try some lebanese in watford, though its a small restaurant but the quality of food really makes it unnoticeable. Will be back sometime again

A very small restaurant with Mediterranean food. Friendly and cosy but they do not have a drinks license which means you have to take your own ( they charge you corkage as well!). If you underestimate your alcoholics drinks you have to swap to soft drinks or pop over the road to the local CO OP for more. We visit it once in a while when we fancy a bit of a change.