Homa Restaurant
Jon and I really wanted to like Homa. We showed up on the Friday night after this super-positive (4/5 stars) TimeOut review was published on-line, and we were happy to see the place – which spreads itself over two large floors – full. The dining rooms are spacious and have a clean-lined Scandinavian look going on, and the menu offers crowd-pleasing Italian-Spanish-”Meditteranean” dishes at reasonable prices (i.e., with most starters less than £7 and mains less than £13).
So what went wrong?
As best I can tell, nobody warned the kitchen that there’d be hordes of people showing up after seeing that glowing TimeOut review. I’m ragging on the kitchen bc there were scores of waiters hovering by the kitchen pass, waiting for food to come out. So I don’t think there was a shortage of servers that night to explain my marathon wait for food.
8:30 pm – we sit down.
8:45 pm – we put in our order.
10 pm – we let our server know that this is the last time we’ll be put off with some vague promise that our food is on its way.
10:15 pm – our server shows up with a “free” cauliflower soup. It tastes scorched, but we wouldn’t have cared as much if someone had brought us this freebie, say, an hour earlier. Comped stuff should have been fast and furious long before this point.
10:20 pm – amusingly, this is when our starters arrive. It’s worth noting that we hadn’t ordered anything complex (though even if we had, waiting almost two hours would still be unreasonable). Basically, we were glad someone in the kitchen was able to find 5 seconds to ladle out a bowl of sweet corn soup for Jon and assemble mozzarella and tomato for my salad caprese.
"free" cauliflower soup
sweet corn soup with scraps of girolle
tomato mozzarella salad
Sadly, we were too hungry to notice much about our starters other than that mine tasted very cold (fresh from the fridge, I reckon). I’m amazed I even have photos of the food, actually. I probably had to stab Jon’s hand with my fork to shoo him away.
At this point, we thought we’d cut our losses, cancel the rest of our order, and see if Datte Foco up the street was still open. Another couple sitting near us clearly had the same idea – we enviously watched them head for the door after not having been served anything for the last hour.
Laughably, the moment our server came to collect our starter plates (i.e., when we planned to ask for our bill), the mains arrived. No pizza al taglio for us.
plaice with samphire brown shrimp potato puree olives
Jon’s plaice definitely had too much going on. And as a lover of all things buttery, I thought I’d never say this: too much butter.
linguini mussels
Re: my linguine. The good news was that it was perfectly al dente. Otherwise, it looked and tasted like a so-so self-cooked weeknight dinner. A bit soupy. No clear flavors.
At the end of our dinner, our server offered us free coffee and apologized several times for the wait. I liked the impulse (of offering us something for free), but the prospect of waiting for more “stuff” scared us. Why not comp us our wine? or just something we already ordered and had to wait for? Why comp us something that requires us to stay longer?
Because our server’s heart was in the right place, and because the evening’s disaster seemed to lie with an overwhelmed kitchen, we still left a full tip. But our dinner was 60 quid and three hours of life that I will never get back.
Based on the resto’s decor and well-intentioned service, I reckon Homa is a nice place to drop by for a coffee or pastry in the morning. But otherwise, either Homa should limit the number of diners to a size its kitchen can handle or else it should bulk up its kitchen staff. Either way, it’s embarrassing how unprepared they were to take advantage of a great TimeOut review.
Homa. 71-73 Stoke Newington Church Street, N16 0AS; 020 7254 2072. Tube? Not so much. Lots of buses run from the Islington Green, near Angel.
Oh, no! I am embarrassed for Homa. Hopefully, they would beef up their kitchen staff. There are no second acts in the cut-throat restaurant business these days!
Well, beef up their kitchen staff or limit the number of bookings they accept.
We went to Homa on the night that it opened for business.
They didn’t have any menus, but the waiter did have a handwritten list on a scrap of paper; They were only serving pizzas, we were told that there was a choice of six; although despite repeated attempts, he only ever seemed to name five. We were never offered any starters or salad. They really were only serving pizzas.
The waiter didn’t know how much the pizzas cost; he didn’t have a wine list and was unable to tell us the price of a bottle of house white.
The waiter came back to us with a broad estimate of how much the pizzas cost, the range was between £8 and £14, he could be no more specific than that.
Griz ordered a pizza, she chose one that came with green olives, black olives, capers and anchovies. She chose to have it without the anchovies.
I ordered a Gorgonzola pizza, I asked for a list of toppings and was told that it was margherita with Gorgonzola
Our friend Bea ordered a pizza with Parma ham
When my pizza arrived it did so with numerous splodges of reddish matter, I asked the waiter what the reddish matter was and he didn’t know; he thought that the matter might be sun-dried tomatoes, but he said he would check. He also said that Griz’s pizza would be delayed as it had been cooked with anchovies.
The waiter returned and informed me that the reddish matter was sausage meat, I explained that I do not eat meat. He went off to confer with the management.
A lady arrived with an air of seniority about her, I told her about the various calamities we had suffered and she offered me a new pizza and said that I would not be charged.
Griz’s pizza arrived next, there were no anchovies, there was also no tomato sauce. I told the lady that we had not been informed that this choice was a white pizza, she asked what I meant by a white pizza. I explained and she offered to bring some of the tomato sauce so it could be added.
She also said that we would not be charged for any of our pizzas.
At no time were we offered any black pepper or oil, this was not that surprising as I observed that the restaurant only owned one pepper mill, and that it appeared to have originated from someone’s kitchen and was very small.
We could detect no herbs on any of the pizzas, no basil, no oregano; nothing.
Griz was presented with a ramekin of tinned chopped tomatoes for her pizza, which incidentally, lacked any significant amount of cheese and resembled a burnt poppadom with olives.
At this point our 3 year old son requested to go to the toilet for the third time, the toilet had no hand-drying facilities of any description. He is his own man these days and likes to stand up to wee. Unfortunately the toilet was too high and the resulting tantrum was like no other that I have ever witnessed.
We paid the bill of £13.50, for the bottle of house white, and left with a three year old who was screaming so loudly that cars driving down Church Street slowed down.
Apparently Bea’s pizza was somewhat bland. She only ate half of it. She had lost her appetite.
Hmm, you do wonder what underlies that 4/5 TimteOut review if you went the night Homa opened for business.
i would say that Time out must have been paid out if they give it that many stars.
My pizza??? Tesco’s one would have been cheaper and better..
If you guys fancy a pizza try Firezza or Trattoria Sapori in newington green.
Oh no! I had a long wait for dinner at a restaurant last night – not as bad as your wait but it really does put a dampner on things. Only so much two people can say to each other while ravenously hungry!
LOL. We mostly talked about how hungry we were and how long it’d been since we last asked our server where our food was and whether there were other nearby places to go for dinner.
It’s never fun for either the servers or the served when kitchen meltdown happens! I also feel sorry for your server in that no one more senior stepped in. When things go wrong, management should be intervening personally to resolve issues in a decisive manner.
Mr. Noodles – exactly right.
I have just spent a month working with Homa, trying to iron out some of the problems that pretty much every restaurant experiences in its opening few weeks.
As such, I had to be absolutely completely honest with the owner and management, and I carry that honesty through to this blog.
Sometimes in life you just have to hold your hands up and say, ‘guilty as charged’, and take it on the chin. I actually worked the friday night to which the reviewer referred, and admit that it was a horrible evening and that there was complete meltdown on both the floor and the kitchen. What could have gone wrong, pretty much did. Food was substandard, service was diabolical, too many people were seated and, trust me, everybody suffered the consequences. I think some big lessons were learned at the restaurant, but it is always a pity in the service industry that customers inevitably suffer too. I know for a fact that if the owner could have telephoned every guest that evening to apologize, he would have done.
But now for the flipside.
The owner is absolutely passionate about food and service, and will do all he can to get this right. I have worked in some of the best and busiest restaurants in London – Caprice Group, Capital Hotel, Anthony Worral-Thompson (when he was genuinely good) and Gordon Ramsey – and would say the food is some of the finest I have served and eaten ….. on any other night than the friday the review refers to. THe Head Chef is ex- Zafferano’s, ex-Nico’s and has just spent three years on a private yacht, and he was one of the most passionate and professional chefs I have ever worked with. He did not need telling that service had been horrible, because he was distraught about it.
Like I say, I think every business has disasters when opening and trying to train a team to work seamlessly in unison, but in a restaurant you cannot just leave an answer machine on and deal with customers when you are able to give the service you would wish to. There might be another hiccup but, if there is see, Han (the owner) or leave him your number. He will put it right. He cares. It is not just a business to him, but a dream, and every customer will be valued.
So, in conclusion – give Homa a try. Do not let one review of a friday night in its opening month put you off.
Go on a week day evening, and have a genuinely delightful time. The food is absolutely excellent, the atmosphere is lovely and I think you will have a wonderful evening. 99% of the time.
I am definitely going to go back as a customer.
Ben, you have to admit that that Friday night was more than a “hiccup.” By that Friday, the TimeOut review had been available on-line for over a week, and I’d imagine Homa had had a soft opening as well as some time to do business before the review came out.
Additionally, the fact that Homa has been working with you suggests the restaurant is savvier than the small mom-and-pop operation that is more usually the type overwhelmed by a positive TimeOut review.
If the owner is as passionate as you say he is, why didn’t he tell servers to comp everyone’s drinks or mains that night? Offering me coffee was a paltry (however well-intentioned) gesture.
Also, I really don’t think the issue that night was with the service/front of house. The kitchen seemed to be the source of all the waiting that night, and until someone explains exactly what’s going to change at Homa to improve things (i.e., will Homa cut down on bookings or increase kitchen staff?), I’m skeptical of returning.
Gordon Ramsay is spelled with an ‘a,’ by the way.
WHOA. That is an unacceptable amount of time to wait. I’d have gone mad.
Yup, I know. After the first hour, we were ready to leave, but our server kept reassuring us our food was coming, and we were happy with our wine and the atmosphere. And we weren’t sure where else to go in Stoke Newington at that hour. So yeah, that’s how it happened.
Oh my God – I would have been gnawing on the table legs by then. Not the first time I’ve seen a restaurant unprepared for the crowds after a good Time Out review. Hey, thanks so much for adding me to your blog roll – chuffed!
True that many restos get overwhelmed by positive reviews, but in my experience, that happens with small restaurants, usually. Homa is pretty large. I really have no idea why they’d have so much seating if they don’t have a kitchen that can accommodate that number of covers.
My thoughts on that Friday, if it was that dreaded Friday, was : food good, service atrocious and packed in sardines. As it was so bad we complained and you’re right, no freebies, just lame Time Out apologies.
I might give it a second chance as it should be good, but I think I’ll wait a while!
whoops, packed in LIKE sardines! I blame my computer, but that did make me laugh when I read it again!
I completely agree with you on this review. I went there for brunch a few weeks ago and despite the fact that there were not many people there, I had to waited at least 30′ for my food. And it was not tasty at all. The place looks nice and impressive though, too bad that the food just does not keep up to the same standard
@banhmi11 – A shame to hear that things don’t sound much improved at Homa.
I have not yet tried Homa as I have been put off by the fact that it may still be owned and run by the awful Hassan (and his most dreadful wife) who owned Booths. (Homa’s previous incarnation).
Booths was so badly run. And was more renowned for what you could buy in the toilets than from the kitchen!
Do you know who owns it now that it is Homa?
I so hope that it is completely taken over by someone new so that I can give it a try
What’s being described above doesn’t bear any resemblance to my experiences at Homa. Firstly I want to make it clear that I am not connected to anyone involved with Homa. I’ve lived locally for over 20 years and honestly think that Homa is the best thing to happen on Church St in nearly 10 years ago (since the sad closure of Mesclun). I’ve eaten at Homa four times since it opened including New Years Eve and have more than enjoyed the food, service, booze etc. I really rate it! Really tasty food that hits the spot!
I feel really sorry for all of you who had a bad time following teh Time Out review and I agree it sounds like they were a victim of their own success. I’m planning dinner there in February to say goodbye to someone I work with, so it’ll be interesting to see how/whether things have changed.
I’ll let you know how it goes!
I agree with Ben and Mike. Han is passionate about the restaurant, the service and food has gotten better and better, And it is definitely the best thing to happen toChurch st. since Mesclun which closed about 10 years ago. It’s especially nice to go to a restaurant that isn’t corporately owned and the food is fresh and seasonal and not another ethnic repeat of all the other restaurants on the streets. Good luck to them and Yummm!!!
My most recent experience of dining at Homa was last Friday evening – a notoriously busy evening for most London restaurants. My previous three visits had been mixed. On each occasion the food had been very good, fresh and seasonal, and reasonably priced, but each time the overall experience had been marred by different aspects of poor service and attitude from some staff. Do I need a “discussion” about poor service? When it is blamed on a staff absence but the restaurant is half empty? I don’t think so.
As a Stokey local of 12 years however, I wanted to check whether Homa could yet measure up to an objective if tough yardstick – that of a passionate eater, traveller and cook of Italian parentage. Stoke Newington Church Street is not devoid of eateries, but beyond Rasa it has not had a dining destination I would advise people to travel to visit. I think Homa may be getting to be a place to add to that short list.
I had booked for 7.30pm, and my partner was delayed on the Overground, but that didn’t cause any problem. The Turkish owner, with whom I had had very honest and open exchanges about my previous experiences, came over to say hello and was very solicitous, and not in an unctuous way – he does care about his restaurant, food and customers it is clear. A pretty decent pomegranate cosmopolitan appeared soon enough on ordering, and I was left in peace to read my paper until joined just before 8pm. By now Homa was buzzing, and my apprehensions about poor service increasing from past experience…
With no fuss though, and with no undue delay, very well judged and sparklingly fresh seared scallops with saffron fennel (blanched but still toothsome), and sliced veal with tuna sauce and capers (yes, that is authentic) starters arrived. Both were spot on.
We only wanted a simple supper, so shared a perfect wood-fired pizza Homa and a rocket and parmesan salad. Two glasses of decent and well priced Fatalone primitivo partnered the main part of the meal. By the way, there are a good 10+ wines by the glass available, and one can buy from the well stocked wine shop upstairs and drink that in the restaurant. That, on a Friday night, together with no upselling of bottles of wine, when one only wanted a glass, or of bottled mineral water (London tap is automatically placed on the table), I loved.
After the plates were cleared, looking again at the menu I noticed that a fondente pudding was clearly labelled as requiring a 12-15 minute wait. This was something I had suggested to the owner on one of the previous, less succesful, visits. On that occason, a similar pudding, but of unannounced timing requirement, had been the subject of at least twice that long a wait. Fed up, and having ordered the bill, that arrived… along with the pudding. Not ideal. Having eaten well and happily, we didn’t try it this time either, but I suspect I will one day to see what the kitchen can do with desserts, never a strong point of most Italian places in Italy.
So, I am reassured by a restauranteur who is receptive to customers’ constructive suggestions, and delighted to have nearby a restaurant I am now pleased to visit regularly. I’d even go so far to suggest that people hop on the 73 from Islington and see what they’re missing. From further afield? Let’s see how much further Homa can go first…
We went to Homa and would never ever go there again. The food was diabolical and the service unacceptable. We ordered the salmon and I instead of getting a cooked salmon with salad were given warmed smoked salmon!!! I ended up being sick after a few hours along with the two others who ate there. My daughter had the pizza and she was the only one who did not fall I’ll after eating there. I paid 120 pounds for the meal and was charged 12percent gratuity even though the service was dire. We were not impressed with the waiter walking around with a mop in his hand which was during food service. DO not go there for a birthday meal as we did because you will be incredibly disappointed.