Vine Leaves Taverna & Restaurant

I first visited the place back in 2007 as it was featured in Time out London cheap eats, at that time the restaurant was great and offered delecious food.
When I came back the quality went downhill, it is still at an acceptable level but not really that much. I really hope that they improve.

We were stuck for ideas on what we wanted to eat for dinner, so we headed out into the rain to find somewhere local and came across this place that I had walked past so often. I’d been intrigued by the plants in the window and the cosy look of it so was glad to give it a go.
On entering, it’s a little underwhelming as it turns into more of a café and less cosy than expected by the window display, however we were seated and served quickly. We both went for the ‘mini meze’ £11.95 each. The dishes came out quickly around 18 in total of traditional greek dips, cold dishes and hot dishes such as little spicy parcles, greek sausage, meatballs and chicken wings. We loved the hot pittas to go with it which were replenished when asked. For nostalgia lovers, they serve Skol lager in here (remember, from the 80’s??!) .
We left full and satisfied. I wouldnt say the food is out of this world, but it was very nice, great value and gave us an opportunity to try lots of different dishes when we weren’t overly familiar with greek food.

Make sure you’re stomach’s empty before you get there. That’s my first piece of advice. Believe me, it may not look it but order to menu to share and the food just keeps coming and is so tasty.
There were three of us, we had the meal for two but seriously, that’s enough and it works out as such good value for money. Including wine for three of us it worked out at around £7 a head, which was very reasonable for what we got.
If you’ve had tapas, then it’s like that, in individual dishes for you to share.
Very very tasty!
The waitress was really friendly although slightly difficult to understand and be understood.
Highly recommend!

Had a lunch in Vine Leaves Taverna last week and was more than satisfied by the experience. Lunch was around £5 — a choice of filled pittas with salad and chips. The taramasalata and hoummus certainly seemed home-​made rather than shop-​bought and the chips were some of the most delicious I have ever tasted.
It’s unfortunate the other reviewer had a bad experience which brought his review down. I felt it was typical generous Greek hospitality and we walked out extremely full!
Pretty quiet lunctimes but it’s a bit of a walk from the other eateries around the bush.

Ich war auf der Suche nach einem guten griechischen Lokal und habe einem Restaurantführer vertraut. Das geht bekanntlich nicht immer gut. Da das Lokal bei uns um die Ecke ist, haben wir nicht lange gezögert und sind dorthin. Leider war das Essen eher mittelmäßig. Ebenso die Bedienung. Wir mussten ewig auf das Essen warten, die Getränkebestellung wurde vergessen etc.
Gyros, Souflaki etc. suchte man auf der Karte vergeblich. Wir versuchten unser Glück mit «Chicken Kebab». Das waren trockene, gut gewürzte Fleischstücke mit wahlweise Reis, Pommes oder Kartoffeln. Nicht wirklich schlecht, aber auch nicht umwerfend.
Vielleicht hätte das Restaurant noch 3 Sterne von mir bekommen, wenn nicht die Sache mit dem Bezahlen passiert wäre. Der Chef weigerte sich, meine deutsche Kreditkarte zu akzeptieren. Er nehme nur britische Karten. Die haben einen Chip. Sowas kann ich überhaupt nicht leiden. Er schickte mich tatsächlich nach draußen zum Geldautomaten. Damit war ich da zum ersten und letzten Mal essen und suche mir ein anderes griechisches Lokal.
Für Rollstuhlfahrer: Das Restaurant ist über eine winzige Stufe zu erreichen, aber relativ eng.