805 Restaurant

Esquire Lounge And 805 Restaurant When there with the taste of London meetup grp Comments From The Night
«I really enjoyed the evening, lots of interesting conversation. Plus delicious Nigerian food :)»
«Was a pleasure meeting you guys, hope you all got home safely.»
«Great event, thanks for organising! Nice to have spent the evening with a lovely friendly group of people. Hope to see you all again soon»
«Enjoyed the Okra, fish and Garri.»
Leslie (West Africa Cooks

Normally I would give 805 a 4/​5, but my experience today was sub-​par.
805 prides itself on being a stylish and contemporary option for lovers of West-​African cuisine. While their food is always great, their service is lacking. This afternoon, we had to practically beg for our drinks, which came minutes after our appetizer. Now if this was a pasty shop I wouldn’t be too bothered, but let’s be real here, West African food is SPICY. Sadly, we had the opposite problem with our mains. They simply arrived too late, and the kitchen made two people in our party wait for an additional fifteen minutes.
The devil really is in the details, and while I think 805’s mission is great, it would greatly increase its appeal to non-​West Africans were it to address some of its pitfalls in service. Despite my disappointment, I will of course be back on my next visit to London. I’ve loved their food for the past two years– joloff rice w/​mixed meat is my staple– and their sticky toffee pudding (!!!) is simply unparalleled.

After hearing mixed reviews about 805 myself and my partner decided to try it out for ourselves. When we arrived we were seated pretty quickly. We ordered chicken and beef suya to start and pounded yam with egusi for mains. The suya came fairly quickly. The chicken suya was practically all bones, very moist and sloppy, with far too much chilli and not enough actual seasoning. The beef suya however was… ok. My main then arrived and 10 minutes later after asking the staff twice my partners finally arrived by which point mine was almost cold. However it was very nice with plenty of meat and flavour. This was only thing which saved the whole experience.
Overall all for the service and food we received it was largely over priced despite the main being quite tasty. I won’t be going back anytime soon.

Nice restaurant, good food. I went there with my brother at about 4pm so we got our main course in about 20minutes, starters came out on time. Place was clean but easy to miss (very dark). Excellent service!

Went here and totally loved it. Def the best Nigerian food I’ve had in UK. Highly recommended is the pepper soup with fish, if you can take it.

Been here many times, and I can’t say I have ever had a 5 star experience. Though I have continued to give it the benefit of the doubt and go back.
I don’t think I’ll be going back anymore. The lengthily wait for your food waiter errors, lukewarm-​cold food and rude service is not worth their ever increasing prices. £13 for rice and meat!!!
Been there on a few occasions with birthday groups. On one of these occasions– because we were quite a young crowd the owner (male) felt the need to babysit us, he would sit on a chair very close to us and stare us down. He kept telling us off for silly things and telling us to be quite or leave. Erm… We were paying customers!
When I was pregnant I had a very strong craving for moi moi… I made the mistake of deciding to buy a takeaway moi moi from 805. I ordered, they swiftly took my money and I told them I’ll be back in 10 mins… I came back like 15 mins later, the moi moi still was not ready, I decided to take a seat, I was told I’d have to get up as the seats are only for eating in customers — bare in mind I was heavily pregnant. A good 30 mins after ordering I got my moi moi. Got home the moi moi was cold, tiny & tasteless. Nothing like eggs, prawns, meat in it. Nothing ! What a waste of £10!
The toilets are dated, smelly & rundown… On a good day there is toilet roll on there, last I used them I had to use serviette tissue. With you outrageous prices they charge, they can surely afford to give the toilets a major revamp.
I don’t even recommend this place to people who are in town from abroad or new to London. It’s a shame.

Excellent place that offers interesting and unfamiliar food Nigerian. Everything was so strange for me when I went there for the first time. But then I got used to the décor and the food and started loving it. The meals are great and would be a shame if you haven’t tried the place, even once.

805 was a mixed experience. My meal was excellent and there was plenty of it, BUT there were ants on the table, the service took an age, half of what was on the menu was not available, and our waiter kept telling me I «wouldn’t like» what I was asking for. I know and love okra. Don’t tell me I wouldn’t like something unless I ask for help.
Be aware, the menu you can download from their website is either a lunch menu or an old menu – the prices are about a third higher at the restaurant. Also, if you don’t know Nigerian food and don’t want to be too experimental, maybe stick to one of the jollof rice based mains. «Assorted meat» in the stews is tripe, pig ear, trotter, and other odds and ends! Just what I wanted, but not what my partner had in mind – luckily they will wrap your leftovers to go, so I’ll get to have his meal tonight at home. Having a hard time resisting til dinner time!

Gorgeous Nigerian food. Service can be quite hit-​and-​miss. Last time I dined here several of my friends waited ages for their food to arrive only to ultimately told that the dish they’d ordered was in fact not available — they then had to wait even longer for an alternative order to arrive.
Wine choice is horrendously limited — expect to be offered Jacob’s Creek. The best idea may be to opt for Palm Wine instead.
But the food is usually absolutely delicious, authentic and cannot be faulted.

I love this place and have been going for years.
Simply put, it’s authentic Nigerian food, cooked well and serves enough to feed the 5000. I really really really wanted to give five stars but sadly we had a few uninvited guests join us… we had some ants running around the table. :o (
As I said I have been going he for years and this I am assured is a one off. I would still recommend this joint to anybody and if you have never tried «Nija grubs, arhh, I go be very ‘appy to take you der to try some fine fine chop!»

Nice atmosphere and service compared to other Nigerian restaurants.
Can be slightly noisy at times, especially when people are celebrating their birthdays! Service is very good and staff are polite.
As for the food, it is very nice. However, the roasted fish sometimes seems to lack taste. I would recommend any other dish on the menu except for the roasted fish which I think is over-​rated.

Loved the food and the service I had an excellent time would highly recommend it
Signed
Native Jamaican

Naija food proper!!!
Had me some Eggusi soup with Aballa
Tried the Jollof rice with beef, the Pounded yam and Okra soup & washed them down with some Super Malt.
I lived in Nigeria for quite a while and i gotta hand it to the cook. Everything was on point. The service was awesome too. The older lady treated us like royalty even though the actual service was trying to juggle more tables than he could handle.
Love it Love it Love it!!!

Great Nigerian restaurant in South East London, Old Kent Road.
A place to get a true taste of Nigerian Food & Culture from Pepper Soup and Fried Fish to Ground Rice, Okra Soup and Fried Rice, Plantane and Chicken.

I went to 805 about a year ago and it was my first time trying Nigerian food. The food was great. We ordered fish and spinach with spicy sauce, pounded yam, and fried plantains (dodo) and they were spectacular! It was not particularly expensive either.
If you want the Authentic Nigerian experience, you are supposed to eat with your hands, grap a small piece of pounded yam, dip it in your main dish, and eat! I loved it. It was a lot of fun~I would go back to London just for 805.