Hafez Restaurant

Best Persian restaurant in town! Been going there for the past 15 – 20 years. This restaurant has set the bar very high, no other places in london come close. Even in New York and LA, where they have Iranian communities, nothing beats Hafez.
It’s not a fancy restaurant but the food and service is good. It is best to book before going.
To start i reccomend, the bread (which is freshly baked) and mast o khiar (yogurt with cucomber and mint), other starters are good but this is nice and light.
If you have a bigger group, order the tadiq, the cruchy part of the rice with some stew on it, very tasty.
Main courses, the kubideh (lamb kabab), the joojeh kabab (marinated chicken served on or off the bone, both are great), or maybe a stew like ghormeh sabzi or gheimeh bademjan, all of which are served with rice.
For dessert, mint tea and baklava.
Overall, the food is very good and it’s not that expensive. If you’re in town, check it out!

HAFEZ is the most delicious parisian restaurant in London .l’m a customer since 90’s every time I visit London i insist to visit the resturant

Eaten here a few times with the family. Popped in today for some broad bean & dill rice, a regular Sunday special at Iranian restaurants. The rice was was not the best, due to being reheated I guess. Flavours were good, just overdone.
Was pleased to see a choice of three vegetarian stews. It’s unusual for Iranian restaurants to have any vegetarian mains. I had Ghorme Sabzi, made with fresh parsley, chives, fenugreek, dried lime and kidney beans. This dish is normally made with lamb, but works well without it.

Mix feelings.
The place is nice and the staff friendly even though they were overwhelmed on a Friday evening and kept forgetting and mixing up orders.
The mezas were very nice, served with warm bread, but I’m going to say a loud NO on the hummus (I lived in the Middle East for far too long to accept bad hummus).
For mains, the stews were good and the grilled chicken really tender and flavourful but served with rice is just too dry.
Tried the saffron as well as the pomegranate ice cream, both not great, too much cream not enough flavour.
The overall experience was ok, but I don’t think I will go back

We came here after reading excellent reviews. How dissappinting. We had some warm eggplant purée which was bland, the house salad which was Feta cheese and wAlnut which was basically a bunch of salad ingredients placed in a bowl. Not mixed herbed or dressed. Some olives which were ok at best. The main course was fish which was border line burnt and dry. The famous Persian rice was also bit bland. Perhaps the chef forgot to use salt and saffron?! The bread was ok. The staff are neither friendly. Cannot c how the other dishes would fare better. Avoid this place. Only saving grace is nice décor inside and good size portions. Why do they play Greek music?

I’ve only just moved to London, liked this place and review it. Then I found out that
out my grandparents and uncles been coming here since the nineties! On their London trips.
Now that’s CONSISTENCY in quality.

One of my favourite Persian restaurants in London. Nothing better on a summer day than to get a table outside, order a few starters and the Sunday lamb special. One of the few Persian restaurants that also serves wine. Their house red is quite good. Enjoy! PS — Still got room for a dessert. Have the rose water sorbet with Persian tea.

Love this place!
The lamb eggplant stew and the grilled meats are to die for, and the started dishes of dips with the crunchy bread are really delish!
You can have a full on dinner for about 20 pounds per person, which is not too shabby! the décor is also super cute and cozy, makes you feel like you’re right at home, but with superb food!
see pictures of this amazing place and read my full review!

Hafez is easily up there with London’s other stand out Persian restaurant, Alounak (see my review).
For my money, despite the service suffering at peak times, both are worth a wait if you’ve been silly enough not to book in advance. They excel in producing the tastiest kebab dishes in the capital sub £15pp. An excellent skewer of Koobideh is the benchmark to which every Persian restaurant must adhere and Hafez definitely delivers. You can get 2 skewers for 8.
Start with the obligatory bread with yoghurt and mirza ghasemi/​hummus to share. If you’re feeling a bit piggy, for a main I’d recommend ordering Chenjeh Koobideh i.e. 2 skewers of the most tender succulent lamb fillet you’ll find anywhere and 1 skewer of mouthwatering Koobideh. Finish with either Saffron Ice Cream or Rosewater Sorbet (or both to share) and then cleanse your pallet with a cup of tea.
The downside with Hafez is, unlike Alounak, it’s not a BYO. The wine selection is fine and there are a few winners in there but, aside from a new Persian beer that launched at the end of last year, the largers on offer are distinctly uninspiring Becks, Stella or Budwiser. All in all, starters, mains and desert shouldn’t set you back more than
£25−30pp before drinks.

Always a pleasure to eat here. The portions are generous, the prices reasonable and the food delicious. Do have the youghurt and mint drink which goes perfectly with the cuisine.

I love this place!
The staff here are really friendly and accommodating. The food here is delicious — they have one dish that is in a sweet pomegranate sauce, that tastes somewhat like Asian azuki/​red bean paste. The kebabs are perfect as well! I however, wasn’t a huge fan of their different tomato based stews, but just a small point — with the saffron rice, everything tastes amazing. The bread that they give you as a starter is a cross between a pita and naan, and it is delicious. In fact, I could probably eat a whole meal of just that. To end the night, they also give you some desserts that look like Indian jalebi/​gulab jamun (I wish I knew what it was in Iranian.) Also, the rose petal drink is amaaazing. So refreshing.
In a nutshell:
— the portions are huge and delicious!
— the prices are also not bad — mains run you from £8−20.
— the staff are super nice!
I will return again soon.