Watan Ilford Lane
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Excellent food, service and ambiance! Great friendly staff too! We’ll be back!!
Great food, sometimes there’s a long queue outside, at peak times.Food can take a while to come but that’s fine.Good customer service
Amazing afternoon at Watan in Ilford! We were celebrating a number of birthdays and the food was delicious!
I have visited this place for the first time n meeting whole staff especially Miss Kiran’s hostpatality and food served by her was super amazing and fantastic must go
Stunning Afghan food, very authentic and incredibly tasty. My favourite is the Kubali pulao, which comes with lamb shank and fluffy rice. Chapli Kebab is also lovely and their salads are really nice. By far the best afghan/pak restaurant in all of East London, given how busy the place gets its no surprise why it has such a good reputation. Best time to come is early around 12-1pm for lunch when its quieter.
Beautiful place and very delicious food. This place is amazing to easy at. I loved everything they served and staff are very welcoming and friendly.
i had come here with my family and my friend as well as her kids. i had got exceptional service from kiran and shah. would definitely come here again
Really disappointed to see the sharp spike in price on food delivery platforms.items have increased by almost 50%In a time when people are struggling with the cost of living, a wild money grab from Watan.Sadly, for them, it’ll be the last time I’ll be ordered from you.
Excellent food as always, great service and great value. The food is always fresh and the staff are very helpful, friendly and attentive. The only downside is that parking can be difficult to find but it’s always worth it!
We visited the very popular Watan restaurant on ilford lane for my husband’s birthday. I have to say that I wasn’t disappointed.The restaurant is on the smaller side but clean and well maintained. It’s actually quite nice inside. We were seated promptly by our polite and friendly server.We ordered paneer biriyani, naans, chicken sheesh kebabs, masala fish, and tarka dahl mash. The food was delicious and portion sizes were perfect. Above all the food was served hot. The tarka dhal being the only exception, the portion size was very small. The masala fish was tasty but the sauce was very tangy and heavy with tomatoes. I would suggest that they go easy on the tomatoes. We ordered our large bottle of still water but hardly needed drinking because the food was just right spice wise.We had 3 different servers and they were all lovely people. I only remember Armaan, he is such a polite lad.Watan Chefs should think about increasing their vegetarian options because the few vegetarian dishes that they do have are amazingly delicious.The place is wheelchair accessible but you will need to ask staff for assistance.Thank goodness i ignored some of the negative comments on the reviews and visited this restaurant with my husband. I would definitely recommend this place highly to anyone who hasn’t yet tried proper Afghani food.One more thing, visit during the week when it’s less busy.
Very good and quick customer service. All staff were very lovely and the food was good.
As a very loyal and regular customer of Watan Restaurant, I am deeply disappointed to share what was the worst dining experience we’ve ever had. My pregnant wife and I traveled all the way from outside London just to dine at Watan, believing in the quality and service we once appreciated. Sadly, it’s clear that Watan no longer cares about its customers or their experience—it’s all about making money now, and they’ve completely lost their touch.From the moment we arrived, the red flags were everywhere. We were forced to place our order while standing outside—utterly disrespectful and inconvenient for a family, especially when one member is pregnant. Despite spending years as loyal customers and bringing significant business to Watan, there was zero care or acknowledgment from the staff.We ordered a mixed grill, fish with rice, and daal mash, expecting the high standard we were accustomed to. What we received was nothing short of disgusting. The food was cold, as if it had been sitting out for hours. The chicken was bright red, half-cooked, and completely inedible. The fish, however, was the worst—it smelled so bad that we couldn’t even look at it, let alone eat it. It was beyond appalling and made us question their hygiene standards. Even the daal mash, which should be a basic staple, was subpar and lacked any flavor or freshness.To make matters worse, the staff made us feel rushed throughout the meal. We were pressured to finish quickly because they had other people waiting outside. This isn’t just bad service—it’s outright insulting to paying customers who came for a family meal. It felt like they were running a conveyor belt, shoving people in and out with no regard for their experience or comfort.Watan has clearly forgotten its loyal customers and completely abandoned the quality that once made it special. Today, they’ve lost us as customers forever. This was our last visit to Watan, and I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone, especially families. If you value your time, money, and health, avoid Watan at all costs.There are plenty of better restaurants where you’ll be treated with respect, served quality food, and given the chance to actually enjoy your meal. Watan is no longer that place. Don’t waste your time—it’s simply not worth it.
Went with friends and found it to be a pretty good experience. First impression was that for a weekday it was really busy - a good thing. We ordered butter chicken, and the chapal kebab platter with naan. Both dishes were decent, although a little on the mild side. The naans were a bit of a disappointment as they dried out and became tough to eat pretty quick. We then decided to order some sheekh kebabs but for some reason it took them 20min+ to make them, to the point where we cancelled and then they arrived pretty pronto. They also have an open kitchen, where one can see the food being prepped, really interesting to watch. Prices were reasonable, parking terrible and customer service average. However, I would definitely go again. Recommended.
The food was nice but a little expensive.Order a mix plate for 4 people.+ whole chicken grill and lamb karahiCost around £120.Good place to eat with family but make sure you have the time to wait.It's a very busy restaurant.
It was my bday so I took my friends there. When we entered the atmosphere was nice and we sat down near the window.Firstly, the chairs are dirty, like we were trying to ignore the state they were in.Secondly, we ordered Mix Grill Platter for 2 people, the guy was nice and friendly.Thirdly, salad arrived first and it was very basic, like just very badly cut onion, lettuce, few very old olives and tomatoes.Fourth, the food arrived and smelled amazing but the rice was cold and dry. The lamb chops, kebabs and grills were absolutely delicious 😋 .However the food got cold very fast. The uncles sitting near us were making too much noise so the atmosphere wasn't really good.Another thing is the toilet is very dirty, like I wasn't expecting Watan to have such bad hygiene.I heard so much about Watan but then ut didn't live up to the expectations.
I head so much about watan. When for evening meal on Sunday. Unfortunately didn’t book in advance it was fully packed we had to wait about an hour to get a table people were getting angry coz of wait some people left because it was too long to get a table but good thing was you can grab menu and order so we did as soon as we got table our food was also ready didn’t have to wait another 20-30 minutes for food. It’s a small size restaurant on busy place. Food was great service wasn’t too bad. No parking!! make sure you park your cars wherever you find space and walk to restaurant.
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