Ayam Zaman Resturant

Note: if I could, I would give this restaurant 3.5 stars out of 5.
I have dined at this restaurant on two occasions so far (once on a Sunday evening and once on a Monday evening) and both visits were quite contrasting. On a Sunday evening the place is busy, buzzing with energy, the waiters were more efficient and welcoming, and the food was generally better (e.g. the olives on Sunday were mixed and ripe whilst the olives on Monday were all green and some excessively salty). It was glaringly obvious on the Monday that the male staff were more interested in the football match showing on-​screen than paying attention to their customers. This goes to show that even at the same venue the same rule applies that it is the team (from waiters to chefs) on the day that ultimately determines the quality of the outcome.
The consistently good features of the restaurant are that the inner décor is well decorated with arches, lampshades and urns that echo the middle-​east and the juices and teas are always well presented and taste good. Whilst the meat served is halal and there is a decent range of options on their menu, Ayam Zaman have failed to cater for vegetarians. There are a few vegetarian starters but near to none by way of choice for vegetarian mains. Luckily for me I’m not a vegetarian and the Kebab Hindi is my favourite main dish from here as the lightly spicy, red pepper and onion gravy submerses the lamb to good effect. Other highlights include the traditional cold hummus and the falafel as starters. Overall Ayam Zaman can and will, for the most part, serve up a good, hearty meal that is creative and filling so it is a good stop-​off for Syrian food.

I don’t know why I disregarded the group wisdom of Unilocalers, but I admit that I didn’t get the baby chicken here.
Greedy fatty that I am, I went for the mixed grill since I wanted some lamb in my system for a rainy day. My friend got the baby chicken grill platter and the morsel he lobbed at me was the tastiest and juiciest chicken I’ve had in a while. I seriously considered just invading his plate for the remainder of the meal.
All platters are served with a big heaping hillock of rice, an onion-​heavy salad, and a half pita. We also started with a mix of cold and hot mezzes, though none of these really stood out.
Complimentary Arab desserts at the end go well with the tureens of mint tea you can order.
Note that no alcohol is served here, so get your booze on elsewhere.

My family and I came here with my two cousins on the first day of Eid. It was very busy but our meals were ready in good time. The portions are good and I would recommend the ayam zamman boneless baby chicken. It was soooooo good! We ordered mint green tea with knafa w/​cream and it was really nice. My only problem was that when we ordered Kebba after our meal we had to wait half an hour and were then told they didn’t have any. In fact, it was because they wanted to make room for the people waiting outside. If they’d just said so from the beginning it would have been fine, but the wait was tedious. That’s why I’m taking a star off. Otherwise, it would have been a 4.