The Secret Garden

Incredible shisha place from shisha to the food to the staff that works there. Great quality food for a very good price. Best shisha place in the area and my personal go to spot on a weekly basis. Amazing staff and would suggest to anyone in the area and anyone visiting.

The service here was excellent. The food was a slight let down. We ordered secret wings which were meant to he spicy. Unfortunately, it was just fried wings dipped in some sort of sauce which was not spicy at all.

For mains, we had the grill chicken meal and the secret gourmet burger meal. The chicken literally tasted like plain piece of chicken thrown on a grill without any marinade on it. Very bland!
The chicken in the burger was exactly the same.

The decor was amazing and the staff were really friendly. I was really glad that they allowed us to pray on site. This place would be perfect if the food improves.

So I've been to this place a few times now and I probably will go there again. I gave it a 3 star based on few reasons that I experienced per visit.

1. Food takes very long time to come - I understand food is gourmet and takes longer than fast food type, but other gourmet places deliver at a reasonable time. Especially considering how quiet it was (including in the lounge too).
2. Few times I've tried ordering stuff from menu and they didn't have in stock (I managed to have ribs on my 4th visit even wanted that from day one, and even then my friends couldn't order as only one rack was available).
3. At the shisha side, again, it takes so long for shisha and drinks to come - and coal change can definitely be improved - one incident we wanted to walk out as it had been so long we asked for coal change and it didn't come.
4. Drinks somehow doesn't always come - had to remind them to get drinks during more than one visit.

That was more of the negative side, but on a positive note:
1. Food is actually really nice - as you can see from my photos. Presentable and tasty.
2. Price is quite reasonable for gourmet place and also the shisha prices is great.
3. Staff are really polite when you speak to them.

A group of us (6) went to the restaurant on Wednesday around 8, we usually go to places we hear about to see how they are so we can give an honest review. As it was middle of the week and the restaurant was empty except for another table of 5 and later on a couple occupying 1 table. We measured the below items to see how the venue performs.

Venue: nice lay out, but was a little smoke filled, possibly because they did not switch the extractor on for the grill area. This was confirmed when 5 minutes before we asked for the bill the smoke detectors went crazy and the kitchen had a slot of smoke. no one switched it off to defuse the situation or put the extractor fans on.

Food: everyone ordered the mixed platter serving 1 image attached. (£18) except one from our group. The price for the platter not reasonable, the small steak pieces burnt on one side and faced down on the plate, same with the lamb chops. The spicy wings tasted like cooked a few hours or a day before and then dipped into the spicy sauce and served which was tough to chew for chicken wings. The turkey bacon was nice, the sausage was flavorsome, chips were decent nothing special. Two of use order the spicy rice, that was really nice. The worst had to be the pulled beef which is not on the picture but came in a separate plate, it was more watery than had to be for pulled beef, cold and a drizzle of BBQ sauce on it, no flavor at all. We all left nearly all of after one or two bites.

Drink: We order milkshake (5), this was really nice but took a while to serve everyone, we received 2 then it took 10 minutes for 2 more to arrive, and it took 35 minutes more to get the last one.

Service: Food was served really slow we got there at 8 placed orders about 8.20 took them to serve us nearly 40+ minutes. Staff looked like they didn't know what they were doing everyone in the kitchen area, more people in the kitchen area than customers. The food was served with time difference of 5 minutes between every 2 plates brought to the table. One member of our group did not get his Mac Burger for an additional 15 to 20 minutes minutes. Clearing the table must have been one of the secrets, took 2 plates back and the server went and sat down near the kitchen area.

Facilities: The ladies had a notice on "Out of service" luckily no ladies with us. The gents looked like it had not been cleaned during the opening hours.

Entrance: OK, but be careful on your way out, as the floor is not level at the door and you will probably trip over the really small rise as you exit, not really visible with the low light visibility.

Recommendation for the management:
1. Serve everyone at the same table at the same time, be that food or drink
2. Don't overcook the food and hide it facing down
3. Get rid of the pulled beef, it's like chewing on grass, really watery grass.
4. Keep the dining area smoke free, switch the extractor fan on.
5. More training to servers, the poor girl looked a bit scared.
6. Delegate the jobs properly, and don't have your server go to the kitchen area but be more attentive to the customers.
7. Sort out the Facilities, fix broken units and also have cleaning on a hourly basis
8. Sort out that small step issue as you exit the venue
9. The price is not worth the food quality and service, re-think the price for this platter.

Will we go again or recommend. We will not be going again, and if you want to visit, please do so at your own discretion.

Please note we did not go to the Shisha area, we were at the restaurant area so this review is for that area only.

Had one of the tastiest steaks here that I've ever eaten, the Tbone, & their onion sauce was incredible. Only £9 bill thanks to government scheme Eat Out to Help Out, WOW!!!

Incredible restaurant & next door stylish shisha cafe. Very very friendly staff.
Very highly recommended!

Irn Bru and Blue Mist £16
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Fancied a low key smoke so decided to visit a lounge I haven’t had the chance to visit. Although it was known as Zus before it’s now part of The Secret Garden Restaurant. The lounge is in the back of the restaurant which has a separate entrance. Ordered Irn Bru and Bluemist which is a safe option. Shisha came out within 10 minutes in a KM, I didn’t mind as Monday to Thursdays they have a promo of any al fakher for £10 and premium for £12 so this was more than enough for me. Smoke was quite good, really punchy flavour and thick clouds, coals were changed once. Vibe is ok we went in the weekday and was very quite to begin with but then people started popping up. Service is great can’t fault them on anything. The seating is comfortable but some sofas are worn and torn etc but overall a good lounge for a quite smoke while watching the footy.

Small portions. Food was tasteless and the steaks was awful. Lamp chops tasted of tea no lie. And the service is poor. Waited an hour for a mocktail and a steak.

Great burgers and excellent value for money. Shisha was also good.