Abshar in Croydon

Perfect atmosphere and foold is extremely delicious and best food we ever had in Persian cuisine. Service was excellent and I highly recommend this restaurant to all my friends and definitely going back.

I had lunch here with my family. It's been a few years since we returned and found that the restaurant was under new management. It was to our delight that our latest visit here mirrored what we had experienced before. The food, atmosphere and especially the service was to an excellent standard and we all enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. I would recommend this restaurant to anyone who would like to experience Persian food. Shout out to Ali for making this visit special!

We came here for my cousins birthday. We had the most wonderful time, the food was delicious and the service was outstanding they allowed us to celebrate my cousins 30th birthday in a semi private section of the restaurant, we had music and karaoke and they were very accommodating. Thank you to Ali and Arman and all the staff. I will definitely be back.

It is the first time we were at this restaurant, every thing were very good. The food are very delicious and the attention to us from the restaurant staff was excellent. A warm and very pleasant enveronment was done to us.

I was apprehensive of going in for lunch at first, but Ali changed my view. Food was delicious and service very good. Ali was the man of the hour as he took care of us. It was a good dining experience. I recommend it, especially if you’re new to Persian cuisine.

Had a lovely night here! The food was authentic and service was great, the manager was very friendly and made some great food recommendations.

Absolutely lovely food, great service and a wonderful family run restaurant. We went with my family and we absolutely enjoyed the great food and the service.

Great dinner out!Fantastic food and great atmosphere. The manager was very attentive, would definitely return!

Amazing food and best service, I really enjoyed food quality and its best persian food in UK. New management has changed a lot and they have lot to say. thank you and service was amazing from staffs.

Absolutely brilliant, authentic food served by genuinely fantastic staff. Everything from the rice to the Sini Mezah was out of this world as was the Zereshk Polo Ba Morgh.

Very friendly restaurant with good quality and fresh food. Wide selection of dishes. Every time has been good and to be recommended.

Lovely food, the new owners are so welcoming and we are looking forward to spending the Persian New Year in the restaurant.

Had a beautiful lamb rice and salad meal, good value, superb meal and will definitely be dining in!!! The hosts could not be more gracious and passionate about their food. Recommended

After leaving Croydon nearly 2 decades ago, I wasn't disappointed with the recommendation from a friend to dine here for my birthday celebration. Like most places nowadays all the food is the same however, Abshar surpasses all expectation. The food may come across as just another Turkish type type of grilled meats but the marinade, preparation and taste was totally different. Appears they use butter and Saffron a lot in their but no complaints as the Platter for 4 was just the right amount for us all to enjoy. At a well priced £55.99 i felt it was worth it. We also enjoyed their hot flat breads together with some nice hummus and baba ganoush. First time eating Iranian food and will definitely return for more whenever back in town. Its a family run restaurant by 5 brothers who put a lot of love into the food and service. Highly recommended.

We ate in today, something we used to do regularly not to mention place numerous takeaway orders. Unfortunately our experience left a lot to be desired. The restaurant is under new management with a new chef and boy does it show!! The service was awful - we spent £60 but were refused tap water because we weren’t ordering alcohol (shock horror we’re muslims dining in a halal restaurant) However takeaway customers were being offered free bottles of water. We weren’t once asked how our food was despite the takeaway customers again getting five star treatment. Just as well I guess as the food had zero flavour and was soaked in butter. The salad olivieh was dry and also had zero flavour. The best thing was the bread. Needless to say we will not be returning nor placing further orders. There are other decent Persian restaurants out there.

A little hard to spot from the street, but OMG amazing! Easily the best Iranian food we've had - so yummy! We live in the US where this type of cuisine is not easily found, so it is a definite go-to when we visit family...

The food was amazing, soooo good I really enjoyed the tasty food served by wonderful nice staff “Meloriya” Keep up the great service !

Went with friends for our usual get together which we often do and was pleasantly surprised. The food was amazing and the presentation was very good . Would definitely visit again ...

If you fancy to have an Iranian food, then this is the only restaurant located in the South Croydon with fairly good food.

We had a good time at Abshar, good food as usual even though we haven't been there for a while. Also reasonable price and quantity.

Amazing food and brilliant service. I'm half Persian and the taste and smell of the bread takes me back to being a kid in Iran. Fantastic. Thank you we shall be back our next visit to London

We dined in a large group of 10. Excellent service and delicious food. Very impressed with the wine list. Overall very good vale for money.

Lovely meal at Abshar. Food was very good, we had various chicken & lamb kebab dishes (Chenjeh & joojeh). The Homous with Abshar’s freshly cooked bread was also very good. Definitely recommend a meal here.

What an evening spent at this beautiful restaurant. Great host both Homi and his wife. The food was delicious best ever amongst all the Persian restaurants I have ever eaten. You have to trust me as this is coming from an Iranian.

We went in Abshar restaurant as a group of 30 people is good restaurant for party very good service and risen able price we chose the set menu (manger offer us set menu) it was very nice and included all of the starters and bread,soft...

What a disappointment. Our waiter could not have been more disinterested in our custom if he’d tried. Piled our glasses on me to pass down to everyone when the restaurant was empty and there was no reason why he couldn’t have served our drinks to...

Get a bloody new staff if you want customers to come to your place! Incompetent, clueless and very very very rude! The most disrespectful person you will ever have a chance to meet in a restaurant! More than training, she needs to education and manners!

Tried Abshar for lunch today - first time for us. Authentic Persian cuisine - Baba Ganoush and Khoresht Ghaimeh were excellent. Service was fine. Wine acceptable. Under 60 quid for two courses for two. Wasn’t busy when we went so perhaps the negative reviews are...

My husband and I dined here. We will not be going back again. We had to complain about the uncooked chicken. The salad was a bit of iceberg lettuce, a piece of tomato and a couple of slices of cucumber. Service charge was automatically put...

Some of the reviews on here are pretty obviously fake, this restaurant opened up a couple of doors down from an existing Iranian restaurant and I think a lot of reviews on both side are part of "restaurant wars"! We arrived and I was nervous...

I see a lot of negative reviews and I don't understand why! Their Joojeh Kebab on the Bone is one of the best I've had in London, in fact I really like the way they marinate their chicken. The freshly made bread is a nice starter addition with theit choice of dips. If you go with a group, the mixed grill gives you a nice selection at a really reasonable price.

We went to Abshar restaurant in Croydon yesterday the food was delicious and service was very good stuff very friendly we had special mix for four and cocktail it was so very tasty we definitely come back again thank you so much of the best manager Meloriya and your friendly team.

We have been coming to Abshar for years. It is our favourite go to restaurant. In fact we have tried and tested many dishes and all now have our own favourites which we repeat order. We went yesterday for fathers day and can honestly say it was terrible. We asked 4 times for our drinks. When they eventually arrived in dribs and drabs there was ice in drinks we had expressly stated no ice and the diet coke was flat.The calamari was a cheaper variety that came with what I can describe as lemon washing up liquid milk on 2 plates and nothing on the 3rd portion which arrived after we had finished our starters. The lamb fillet (my daughters favourite) was a lot smaller and dry. The mixed grill meat was still lovely but lacking its usual garnishes and they had forgotten the rice which came half way through the meal.They have definitely changed their sauces to cheaper varieties. We asked 3 times for a selection of sauces and got up 2 times to chase as the food was getting cold. Chips for the kids without ketchup and a mixed Grill without garlic and chilli sauce. Sacrilege!!!The lovely waitress we had was doing her best but said they were new and short of staff.The manager asked if everything was ok and I said about asking repeatedly for drinks, sauces and rice. She did not say anything. Another family asked for the bill and they were not happy with their experience so complained. A very heated argument took place with a lot of shouting. To my utter dismay the female manager followed the family outside and shouted "f--- off you bitch" to her departing customers. We asked for our bill which took ages. I refused to pay service charge but given the heated atmosphere just paid the remainder I said to the manager that we had had a very disappointing experience. She didn't apologise and said customers just kept coming in. We had booked our table a week prior.I guess we are now on the lookout for another Persian restaurant. Any recommendations?

Really bad management and service we have to ask them for our starter and drink every min and they don’t deliver it and management is the worse

Paid £51.00 for a family takeaway on the evening of 17 June 2021.This is a big restaurant with many covers.At 7pm in the evening it was empty with more staff than diners.This should have been a clue.I ordered 2 X kebab barge and 2 X Jujeh kebab.They gave us 5 small containers of salad with little containers of salad cream and tomato sauce. There was also 4 cans of warm drink.The food was atrociously bad.The Kebab barge meat tasted off and was chewey, the grilled tomatoes were burnt and old, as if they had been left standing for an age, the skin was like an eggshell.The salads were brown , old and limp.Disgusting.All binnedThe rice was ok, although I doubt if they used real saffron. The Jujeh kebab was tasteless and the whole experience was very disappointing and not worh £51.00.Most of it was binned.I am frankly disgusted.This is a personal note to the owner.The buck stops with you.Wake up and smell the coffee and dont bury your head in the sand.Sack the chef, stop cutting corners with the quality of your meat and ingredients, stop ignoring your apalling reviews.Do nothing and within 18 months you will have to close up shop.You ignore your diners at your peril. PS We will never be back and you don't deserve to be in business.

Six of us dined in Abshar. It was ok, nothing spectacular and all six of us agreed that it is not somewhere we would go back to. The starters tasted fine but for nearly £25 for five dips and having to buy the bread to dip with separately - it is a bit of a shocker on reflection! The mains weren't that great either. Lamb not very soft, salad was dry, basically inedible. Rice was nice and fluffy but just plain rice. No authentic sauces whatsoever - only garlic mayo and a ketchup mayo type sauce. In a nutshell, for £170+ bill . We were a bit disappointed and it is not somewhere we will go back to.

Over the past year, since the start of lockdown we have had several (at least 10 times) takeaway from Abshar. The food has been delicious, freshly delicious Persian cuisine, and the delivery has been on time. Thank you Abshar!

I ordered a take away from here recently. The staff were really accommodating and the night before I was able to place my order so that I could pick it up just after opening. It was a birthday treat for my mum and I needed to drive to deliver it. All items were well packaged and ample in size. I ordered two warm aubergine starter dishes, a joojeh kebab with rice and the okra curry. All food was phenomenal as usual and stayed warm for a while in their foil packaging.

Avoid! Rude, overpriced and money grabbing. They don’t provide Tap water for free in this place. They are too money hungry especially the manager meloriya. The staff are unhappy but I think she makes them this way. Food is below standard. Cold and burnt, it’s inedible . We didn’t even eat our £100 meal. No one wears masks. Hygiene very questionable as my daughter found a hair in her food. If you want a nice meal don’t go here. You will be kicking yourself when the whole family is complaining how terrible their experience is.

Went on the last day before Lockdown 2.0 hoping to enjoy a last meal at a restaurant before it closed. We expected it to be busy, but didn’t excuse the poor and unfriendly customer service. Had to wait 20 minutes before our orders were taken, another couple had to help us flag someone to both our tables just order. Also wasn’t provided a drinks menu after ask three times for it.Other tables that arrived after us were getting there food before us which was silly as they were a group of 6 and we were just a table for two. Overall disappointing experience, was excited to enjoy this restaurant but the service just let it down. Only good thing was the food was good. But won’t go there again.

Nice decor, great food and good service. We had three different mains with kebabs either lamb or the chicken with rice and salad. The portions are huge! It was wonderful. The chicken wings starter and halloumi salad were amazing. Personal favourite is the shirazi salad. Excellent coffee and baklava to end the meal. Definitely coming again.

Been going here for years. Delicious fresh naan, huge kebabs, range of dishes. Service can be slow sometimes, but staff are always willing to help. Went here today for a double birthday celebration and was treated superbly.

Nice restaurant and good atmosphere food is excellent that why we keep going in this restaurant again and again.

Been to this restaurant a few times now and it’s a real favourite with us ... food is amazing tastes really lovely .. service was great and it’s really reasonably priced! I will continue to come here as it really is a great place with a great atmosphere... some of these negative reviews are clearly written by one unhappy customer with fake accounts ... but honestly would recommend!!

As usual service it’s always a top priority in this restaurant.. we had a very pleasant evening.. on arrival we have been greeted by a blond lady later found out was the manager we go escorted to our table only 3 of us but got a nice table for 4 so had plenty of space for our self.. my son is very picky with his food and he was looking for a chicken wrap and guess what, not on the menu.. however the staff Went the extra mile to make it for him... happy days.. i had lamb shank it was delicious and my wife had lamb skewers with Persian rice.. moral of the story.. IT WAS AMAZING.. so much so we booked a table again for next week see u soon

This evening with my husband we had the best time and food that I think we ever had!Amazing food and service first class!Definitely recommend this restaurant !

Just came back from a another wonderful evening at Abshar Persian Restaurant, South Croydon. My first dining out venture since lockdown and it didn’t disappoint. The food was great, big fresh portions of my mouth watering favourites were a heart-warming delight. More importantly it was a pleasure and relief to see COVID 19 social distancing precautions in place from the Manager and all staff wearing masks and gloves, ensuring guests (tables) were seated at an appropriate social distance from one another. Looking forward to my next visit with confidence for my safety and a hearty appetite for one of the best restaurants in Croydon!

I would never order from this resturant for the following 5 reasons:1) Overpriced (compared to similar Iranian restaurants) 2) Food quality is poor3) under staffed (possibility because they dont expect many people to go there)4) Appalling customer service. Every time we have ordered there has been a new person to deal with who was new to business and didnt know much! Not to mention a LONG waiting time when they are busy. 5) Order errors. This is a very usual occurrence for them to mess up orders. Not only they dont deliver but even when you go there to pick up order, be prepared to go back after getting home and realising that part of your order is missing! Whats worse is that they are not very apologetic about their mistakes.Overall all, avoid going there at all cost. Poor poor management! We have given them few chances but not much has changed!

Place is over crowed at half past six for a booked table, time was alllowed to look at the disposable food menu and the same old drinks menu… place the order for four starts and two main (hindsight wrong menu choice) the person taking the order came with a negative attitude and raised her voice because they could not here what was being said; Three out of the four starters arrive after a fashionable delay. The atmosphere was of people being at the tables favoured someone a cattle market shouting at the staff regarding anything they did not do right or in a timely fashion. I got up to speak with the staff behind the counter and finished with the sentence “ you don’t understand what I am saying… to which she got someone who may have been the kitchen manager who was able to understand what I was saying. As I explained I had wait forty five minutes for a starter and explain the rest of the party had finished. I did get the chicken wings but I agreed to have the main dishes at the same time so the rest of the party did not need to wait any longer. Asking for anything was a wait and quicker to go to the counter to get something done. I did get a quick apology for the kitchen manager regarding the delay.While at the counter there were arguments over the bills, even when sitting at the table the behaviour on another table said they not going to pay their bill, most of the party had left the building leaving the other two people to argue away…After we finished we asked for the bill and was told it would be quicker to go to the counter and pay there, we waited five minutes hoping the request was made but gave up waiting… at the counter no such request had been and again the staff were quick enough to understand when we asked for the bill.Yes we had a discrepancy … gave up with the challenge to the bill, paid and left…We was a party of four, we have been a party of up to fourteen before now.Conclusion . we are not going back or recommend to go there as we left the was about thirty five people waiting to go in, having not booked a table.

Avoid at all costs. Very poor service, food not that good either. Would not recommend. Very lazy and rude staff

Me and my family (about 14 of us) decided to eat there as they were a part of the eat out help out service. So we sit down and no one came to take our order and it had been 20 mins until my uncle signalled a waitress to come over.So we ordered a homous and naan bread as a started but instead they served the naan bread to us and totally forgot about the houmos so we told them to take the naan bread as it had gone cold after waiting for the homous for about 15-20 mins. Anyways, we asked for tap water and one of the waitress said that they RAN OUT OF TAP WATER!! Like wtf how can you run out of tap water? But then I went to the bar section to ask for tap water again and I got it this time which means that the waitress was trying to make us pay for the sparkling water on purpose and lying!! Moreover when they brought the homous this time they forgot the naan bread even though we asked them several times! This was soo irritating . Plus the Waiter and waitresses had so much of an attitude. They even forgot to give us cutlery!!! I would never go back to this place again

We had decided that we would take part in the Eat Out to Help Out scheme as it was beneficial to us, but also would support local businesses in a time of national need.We were a party of four and had booked the table some days prior. On entering we were very aware that there was a distinct lack of social distancing and perhaps it could be argued that we should have left immediately, and with hindsight we all wished we had, however we were shown to our table which was a side table squashed between 3 others, there was so little gap between the tables that even the waiting staff had difficulty getting to and from tables.When we were first seated we discussed how close the tables were between ourselves but at that time the table to our right, which was less than 2 foot away, didn't have anyone sitting on it so we thought that perhaps it would be left vacant, unfortunately within about 10 minutes we found that that wasn't going to be the case as customers were sat there. We immediately asked to speak with the manager who took ages to appear, infact we had to ask at least 3 times to speak with the manager before she appeared. When she finally appeared she said it wasn't her fault, they were very busy so needed all the tables, she then went on to say that it was the Governments fault anyway, we tried to discuss it with her for about 10 minutes but it was impossible to get her to either take responsibility or see the potential danger that she was putting the customers and her staff under. Eventually, the couple on the table next to us said they would move and we asked that the table would then be left vacant while we were in the restaurant, within an hour they were trying to seat some people who walked in off the street at the table, we reminded them that it was to be left free and they re-seated the people. We also noted that between sittings the tables were cleared but we did not see them wiped with anything let alone some sort of anti-bacterial spray. Also, there were no cleaning products whatsoever in the toilet to allow you to clean any area you might wish to.The appalling service we received would make an excellent comedy sketch for TV, to be brief about it, they only brought us one starter, then our main dishes were brought to the table while we were eating our starters and although I am sure they will deny it and I have no proof we all felt that the mains we eventually received were the same ones and they had just been hanging round in the kitchen until we were ready, as a result we barely ate any of it.As tax payers, it should be remembered that we are paying this 50% subsidy and if it were in my power I would absolutely refuse to pay this restaurant and any others found to be abusing the scheme, their staff and their customers in this way! I will however be voting with my feet and never visit this place again.

I would give zero stars, one of the worst restaurants in croydon very very poor customer service, I will not be going back to this place again, the waiters/waitresses are clueless they don’t even know what drinks are being served in the restaurant.. the worst thing is the restaurant has completely ignored SOCIAL DISTANCING rules. The tables are so cramped together.When I asked one of the staff members why are you not following the social distancing rules she said “I don’t know I’ll get the manager for you” 30 minutes went past and no manager came over eventually the manager came over to our table after asking 3/4times. And the answer we got from the manager to why the restaurant is not following social distancing rules “she said it’s not my fault the restaurant is busy” she becoming very defensive and rude she was so ignorant and had no clue of how to manage a customer care issue. This was the worst customer service experience I have ever had in a restaurant from start to finish.

We have been to ABSHAR on Many occasions. We are aware there has been many changes of management, but on the whole the food is good.Service has always been slow.However, last night obviously due to " Eat out to Help out" initiative the service was almost at a standstill. The main concern here was that the restaurant was HEAVING. There was NO social distancing factors put into place.There was NO track and trace system in place.Many people were complaining, and quire a few people eventually left. A shame really, as the good remains good.

I've been coming to this restaurant with friends and family since it opened and unfortunately it's just gone down hill, mainly the service. Also, there is no such thing as social distancing in the restaurant, everyone is crammed together in a small space. Apparently they have air conditioning on, but I'm less than 1m away from other tables. Starters and drinks came quick after waiting 30 mins to order... Tip, order EVERYTHING at the same time.However, we waited another 40 mins for the mains to come... Kebabs were beautiful and moist, my baghali polo bamahiche was AMAZING as always (pictured below).We booked at 7:30pm, we are still waiting for tea after at 9:20pm.I think the restaurant is taking on FAR TOO MANY guests, they can't handle it, and unfortunately it is ruining the experience which is a real shame as we make a special trip here from Sussex.

We went there last night for two birthday meals. They were quite busy from the looks of it but managed to find us a table. What happened next is what i can only describe as poor customer service from all the waiters and waitresses. We sat down at our table and it took them 20 mins to come and take our drinks orders, this is only after my partner got up and went to the bar and asked for someone to come over. Drinks were taken, these arrived pretty quickly. Although the waiter did not know what drinks are being served in the restaurant..Anyway, we didn't fancy waiting another 20 mins for them to come over and take our order, so we did it there and then straight after we got our drinks. We ordered 6 starters, only 5 arrived. We waited to see if anyone would bring it over but unfortunately no-one seem to care really. The waiters/waitresses were all hanging around the cash till aimless looking at people with no real purpose. So again my partner signalled someone and i advised them the chicken wings were missing. These came out within 10 seconds and can only assume they were forgotten about and left in the kitchen. We finished our starters and our glasses were dry again. As any normal restaurant, the waiter would come over clean your table and ask if you would like more drinks. Not in Abshar!!! We had to ask them yet again to take our 2nd drinks order but also to please clear the table. Drinks arrived but also the mains arrived whilst our table was full of dirty plates. So the waitress was holding our mains whilst also juggling dirty plates and cutlery.The mains were really good, however, all of our dishes arrived on a white plate whilst my father's seabass arrived on what i can only describe as a "metal oven tray dish" (picture with review) this also can be seen as quite burn and destroyed!We did not say anything as we did not want to wait another 20 mins or so to catch someone attention. We left pretty quickly!I can say that the food is pretty good and the chicken and rice is one of the best chickens i tried, HOWEVER, the service we received last night has really let the restaurant down and we will not be going back there again. I hope management takes the time to train their staff properly as i am surprised after all the bad reviews on here nothing as been done yet!

So glad I didn’t read the reviews for this restaurant before I ordered as I might have been put off. We ordered 6 main meals of various kebabs and rice with 4 starters and 6 fresh breads. We are a bit out of the delivery zone so arranged to pick up 45 mins later. All the food was well packaged and still hot when we got it home. The portion sizes were larger than expected and 6 complementary drinks were added as well as some side salads. The food tasted amazing and was well priced. Would definitely recommend A***

I went to abshar with my fiancée, because I heard that the restaurant is really good. I ordered Chenjeh, my partner ordered chicken on the bone. Before we ordered, we had to get somebody’s attention for them to take our order. We waited about 10 minutes for somebody to come. Also there was only 3 tables (including us) and 6 floor staff, which really didn’t make sense why the service was so slow. My fiancée told me to be patient and just wait, because I wanted to leave straight away. We got our food, I asked for medium rare, and I got fully cooked meat. Also the meet was cold and the saffron rice didn’t taste anything like saffron. The rice tasted like plastic and it was really chewy. The drinks we got only after we got our food. We were eating the food, and the waitresses were keep coming every 2 minutes asking if everything is alright. Now you asking me if everything is alright? Where was you lot before? We finished the food and I asked for the bill, I couldn’t stand a minute in there no more. It was cold in the restaurant, the music was keep going on and off, they were keep changing the music which didn’t make my experience really good. When I got the bill I saw that the prices doesn’t match the total. I asked the waiter to remove the additional service charge, because I didn’t get any service and they told me that the waitresses doesn’t get the service charge. I asked them who gets the service charge and they told me that the boss gets it. The boss gets that service money while you all just work your butts off? Unbelievable! I don’t think I will be coming ever again in abshar, because this type of restaurant is really not for me. You should improve on your staff and make sure that the manager is there when they are needed! I should of read the reviews before I came to this horrible restaurant!!!

Honestly the worst place ive been to in a very very long time.These were the 'highlights':- Displaying a 4 star hygiene rating, when in reality the hygiene rating is 1! The review was carried out back in June 2019 and since then the restaurant has STILL been showing a 4 star rating on its window! We only found out when one of our party decided to check the rating as we were leaving.- They served us bread with grit in it! We questioned that something was wrong to e told 'ah yes we had our oven fixed and this must be from that' - and yet they still carried on serving the bread and refused to remove the starters (which you eat with bread!) off the tab.- They add 10% to the bill - but dont show it on the receipt so you cant elect to not pay it. I asked the manager where it was and he looked at me blankly - utterly clueless. I think they do this to get an extra 10% off you, or assume you will tip on top - though why anyone would even consider tipping here is beyond me.- The prices on the menu arent the prices you pay. When i questioned this, i was told 'must be an old menu you have'. Once again, another tactic to prise more money from you.- Service ... wow... just wow. I was expecting a punk'd camera crew to jump out as it was so so poor. Ordered a drink - asked for it 4 times, before it was delivered. Staff trying to clear plates as you were still trying to eat. Staff unable to think for themselves in the slightest. Manager unable to remove items from the bill 'you need to speak to the owner - who isnt here'.The whole place is just appalling from start to finish.Do yourself a favour - go elsewhere, maybe even your local kebab shop.We went for my mums birthday lunch and the only thing we could do after is apologise to her.

Ordered food last night from Abshar using Just Eat, but when we received our order, the meals were missing and they only delivered some bread and a bottle of water. The delivery driver took no responsibility, Just Eat refused to refund anything more than £20 (order was £29). Have had an issue with this restaurant before when I called regarding gluten in the foods and it took an hour and three calls (they kept cutting me off) to get an answer. Won’t be trying them a third time.

We ordered from Abshar Persian restaurant in south Croydon... £29 of food (two meals, and some fresh bread) but only the fresh bread was delivered (£1.70). The delivery driver laughed it off and said it must be the restaurant. We called Just Eat and were offered a £20 refund for the missing £27 of foodWe called just eat and spent an hour on the phone trying to resolve the issue. Just eat refused to share the name of the delivery company, or their company number, or the company number of just eat

Really nice kebabs, favourite being the mixed chicken with kofta kebab. Decent portion sizes as well.

Just had the most appalling meal here. Inedible half cold main course, that had clearly just been heated up in a microwave. Staff that had no idea what they had served us, brought out the wrong meals and continued to argue with us until we complained to the manageress, who was as useless as her staff. They then tried to over charge for wine we did not have. Just terrible from start to finish. I am actually shocked how bad our experience has been. I will never return and would advise anyone to find somewhere else to eat.

We visited Abshar for a family gathering last evening. The booking had been made a day in advance via a phone call & there were eight of us. The table was ready for us & the waiter was kind enough to guide us through the order. Their fresh bread & baba ghonoush was mouth-wateringly delicious & the halloumi salad was good too. We ordered the Special grilled mix of meats for four and the joojeh chicken. However we added to the order in the middle of the meal & Abshar were able to provide the additions quickly enough so that we didn’t really feel any gap in the enjoyment & flow of eating our meal. All the grilled meats were tender, juicy & delicately seasoned. To top it all, we ordered some desserts to share & some mint tea! The mint tea was just divine! However the desserts were not up to standard. To be fair, they were out of our first choice desserts!All in all, both the starters & the mains were excellent and the service was very good! Thank you Abshar! We will be back!

Wow 🤩 I do love Abshar so far, we did back to night again everything was fantastic and great also the food it was absolutely delicious 😋 love their food, their drinks their service! I AM ADDICTED TO ABSHAR 👍 🍹🍗 🍲 🥗Thanks a lots

I went to Abshar to celebrate my cousin’s graduation and it was hands down the BEST experience I have ever had in any restaurant! Service - All the waiters and waitresses were so warm and friendly. They really looked after us despite being such a large group. They checked on us all through out asking as if we needed anything, they were truly brilliant. Food - WOW. I have never tasted such flavours and I am a massive foodie. It’s so refreshing to eat great food and not lhave the worry of the fats because it was not oily AT ALL. The presentation was absolutely amazing and the portions were just enough. Atmosphere - 100/100. Abshar it’s a really beautiful place. We had our own little section and we took some brilliant pictures. As it was my cousin’s graduation, the Abshar staff were really accommodating even letting us play some of our traditional music whilst she cut the cake and throughout the celebrations. They really did everything to make her day special and great a warm, comfortable atmosphere. Location - It is right in the heart of Croydon’s food spots. Very accessible. There is a bus stop 2 mins away and a spacious car park holding over 150 spaces just 3 mins away. It is the perfect location.Space - It is very spacious. We are were a party of about 30 and we were very comfortable. So Abshar can host you whether it’s 2 of you or more, they have enough space. I think I have covered everything. Overall it was a wonderful experience, my family and I will definitely be back! I would 100% recommend.

I wouldn't have picked a better Restourant to have my graduation dinner at than Absher south Croydon. Absher is the one restaurant that has ever provided me with 10/10 best services. Hospitality was great, presentation of food and the layout of the restaurant, customer service was brilliant. Always smiling making us feel welcome, part of them. Food was served in intervals allowing us to have fun and interact well with the family. We had a three course meal but between each meal we had a new table layout. Kids were catered for well. Everyone in the family enjoyed themselves, appreciated the over all services. Thanks so much absher soon we will be back

I've been here 3 times in the past 6months and all visits have been terrible. Service is dreadful, on my recent visit I asked for a draught peroni. However, I got a bottled peroni passing as a draught peroni. And it was warm beer. So I returned it back. The waitress said she'll personally take it off the bill. However when it came to bill time it was still on there along with rice which already come with the main meal. My previous visit, they did same. However instead of peroni bottle they were serving Carling from cans and saying it was peroni. All I wanted was a nice cold draught pint. But they failed to provide that. They should at least warn customers before pouring. They looked like they were struggling with 5 staff members on the floor. In that place 3 people can easily manage it. Food is ok. Service is just really bad.

We visited this restaurant in December, we were seated in the new decorated room and it was quite cold. Service wasn't really attentive. Food was ok.Last night I decided to ring the restaurant to order a take away. We were interested in a mixed grill with rice. When I rung, I told the waitress who answered the phone, if we could request a change in one of the dishes. It was a matter of substituting lamb with chicken. This is because my daughter is intolerant to some food including Lamb. It can cause her rashes, itching, an upset stomach and difficulty breathing.I was expecting the waitress to give me a solution at least, I wouldn't have mind if I had to pay a difference for the substitution on my order. The waitress' answer was a very cold and unhelpful "NO", she didn't even bother asking the kitchen. She clearly didn't want to help me. Nor she seemed to care about the fact that we were dealing with food intolerance.I asked her if she could find a solution or if she had any suggestion since we are dealing with a child who is intolerant to a specific food. All we wanted is 3 portions of chicken and 2 rice after all, We weren't asking anything complicated. The waitress, rather than offering me solutions, she kept replying "NO, we can't do it", I reminded her AGAIN that we were dealing with a child with food intolerance but again she kept saying "NO".Perhaps the person who answered the phone should look for another job that she really likes, perhaps the restaurant wants customers to spend money somewhere else.Which is exactly what happened afterwardsIf you can't accommodate people with food allergies and intolerance, that it's really bad and serious. I won't be going back .

It seems that the main owner (Ahora) of this restaurant has sold it to another Iranian entrepreneur (Fakori) As a result they put better decoration with full alcoholic drink bar on the side. Unfortunately on the day we were there, the waitress who was serving customer with dishes of food, was sweeping the floor without using proper gloves. Also for some reasons she did not serve our food with small size butter that we used to get it. Kebab of a friend was burnt.

Excellent service and food delicious worth it 100% very clean location staff very polite and well coming

Not a good experience since change in management, weekend set menu / free menu works out more expensive than weekdays menu. The deposit for large groups is a bit dubious,and nothing displayed on website about weekend menu.

We had a meal last night at Abshar. The kebabs were of poor quality and pretty much tasteless. The only good item was the yoghurt drink. Will not visit again.

Sadly Abshar which was once the best food in South Croydon has gone down. Take away is full of oily white rice (no sauce) n very little meat or chicken. The food is not tasty n yummy as it used to be. It’s a BIG DISAPPOINTMENT. Please can the Management review n address promptly? Thanks

Visited here spontaneously on a Saturday night. I've heard good things about this restaurant from other locals, so was excited to try it. Sadly my experience was poor. We ordered the chicken skewers with rice dish, and I had the slow cooked Stew which was recommended to me by the waitress. The chicken dish was very average, and padded out with an unnecessary amount of rice. My stew was extremely salty and definitely did not taste fresh.Our soft drinks were also ridiculously watered down with no fizz to them at all. Service was slow and not communicative, despite the place being so empty. I'd not visit here again.

Love the Iranian food at Abshar. All the traditional dishes beautifully and authentically cooked. Will continue to eat there many many times! It’s loved by Iranians and others alike.

Booked our table in advance, we were served by Mahdi he was super and very helpful and accommodating. We started with cold mezza served with warm home made tandoor bread, then we all ordered different dishes they all were very delicious. Followed by dessert and finally the Persian tea.it reminded me of the Turkish tea very tasty. We all had a great time delicious food great service.

Delicious dinner - very tasty Baba ganoush and chicken kebab for starter followed by superb lamb shank pilaf. Staff so welcoming. Definitely the best restaurant in South Croydon.

Have been here a few times. Understand it is under new management. Frequent it as there are not a huge selection of Persian restaurants locally. The food is good, but seems recently that the portions may be smaller than usual for the mains? My main qualm, however, is the service. When we entered to a restaurant which was clearly only half-full with half the tables not even set up so clearly not reserved, when I said we didn't have a reservation for a table of 3 the waitress sighed and said she would make a table ready for us. The service remained mediocre during the day but we were very upset that despite asking for our significant leftovers to be taken away, the waitress discarded them in the kitchen and said she didn't hear us saying we wanted to take them away. Just an apology, no offer for a small refund or alternative take away or deduction of service charge etc. Will avoid this place in future as much as I can, hope another Persian place opens close by soon. Alternatively waiting staff should be trained in customer service.

Friends and I met at Abshar, South Croydon on an incredibly rainy Monday evening - the staff were excellent, attentive and very prompt. One of our group was delayed in arriving so we shared a warm flatbread and bowl of delicious silky smooth baba ganoush while we waited.When we were ready to order the dishes came very promptly and were generously sized. For a group of four we had two mains, two salads, two dips and one more flatbread and we were defeated. Beware of the bones in the sea bass - I found I had an unexpected mouthful of them.Although not on the on-line menu there is a selection of wine available.There was traditional music piped through the speakers which set the atmosphere but in no way interfered with the conversation. Would definitely recommend and hope to return soon. A most enjoyable evening.

Do not go to this restaurant. Waitress is extremely rude unhelpful was a effort for to bring us are food. I am from Iran and the food is not authentic Avoid this overpriced place

We ordered a take away from this restaurant. When we got home we found that our order was not all there. When I phoned the restaurant to explain the lady who answered said they were dealing with customers and too busy to take my call. I was mortified to hear this and questioned whether she saw me as a customer. Terrible Service and definitely not going back

Very good food and good service, High recommend , the chicken it’s very soft and tasty and also fresh bread;)

I had very bad experiences in this resturant food was not tasty at all and very bad service, I'm not recommending this restaurant to anyone just waste money

My son booked a table for 6 people for my Mothers Day. At the last minute 3 members of family including a child couldn't make it. Table booked for 5pm arrived 4.55pm. Entered restaurant .manager asked have we booked a table. Yes was our answer for 6 people but 3 people couldn't make it. Managers said I can't accomadate you. We were absolutely shocked as made the booking 3 days prior to Mothers Day. He said you booked for 6 people but only 3 turned up. We said that table is vacant, he said the people for that table are arriving in 1 hour. Managers behaviour was disgraceful, how he runs a restaurant I never no. We as a family have visited the restaurant many times but never again . Having made a booking and to be turned away by a manager who's attitude towards customers is despicable.

My family of eight visited this restaurant for the first time tonight.The food was excellent and good value.A very relaxing atmosphere with good service.The waiter recommended a starter of various dips and freshly cooked bread which was delicious. Our main meals all arrived together and were equally as good.The rice was some of the best I have tasted.We will definitely be coming back to this lovely restaurant.Enjoy.

Four of us went, the Restaurant was pretty full and noisy but we were given a table in the backroom and there it was pleasant. We ordered, the dish I wanted was not available, no problem. When we got our food we were served one wrong dish which we initially did not notice. We called the waiter and it was changed and offered a bottle of wine as a compensation but we opted for free desert. We all liked the food and the mistake was nicely dealt with. We would go again.

Fab food, fab service! Relaxing atmosphere, can talk without background music taking over, excellent food service!! Waitresses and manager looked after us all night, personable, friendly and polite! Highly recommend anything from a quiet evening for 2 to family and friends party! Thank you to Ioana, Anna and Turgut for making our evening so pleasurable :)

We visited Abshar this evening, we didn’t book a table and were happy that the new manager Turgut found us a table. We have been here before and loved the food, so we’re really keen to come again. We all ordered the lamb chops and they were divine! Rice is so lovely and fluffy and well cooked. Great atmosphere and service from Turgut and the team.Will be back soon for another visit!

Let start with that I'm a bit fuzzy about different cuisine rather than European and when my friends proposed the Persian one I was scared...but I must admit that it is nice to be wrong sometimes!The place and the atmosphere was nice, the service was perfect, the staff very polite and the food was WOW!What can you ask more? About the price? Honest!

I came here yesterday with my mum and between us got the warm aubergine dip with naan, a grilled vegetarian main with chips and a grilled chicken kebab main with rice. I no longer eat meat, so did not get my usual chicken shish kebab and went for the grilled veggies. They were quite nice but the chips weren’t that great. I think next time I’ll stick with a few starters and salad instead.

Had a family meal which was excellent. Checked bill for items consumed and was happy but felt it was more than I expected but paid as we were slightly pushed for time. On checking the bill carefully the next day found I was charged for a bottle of wine rather than the extra glass we ordered. I phoned the manager and he was most apologetic and offered a refund with no quibbling. As I live 5 minutes away I went round and the matter resolved. Excellent customer care!We will be back.

Cucina persiana. Ottimo e prezzo intorno alle 22 sterline a persona. Ho mangiato qui molte volte con i miei colleghi sempre tutti molto soddisfatti. Personale gentile.

First time ever visited a Persian cuisine and I was genuinely impressed with the food quality and presentation, definitely go again!

I can here and had another fantastic lunch with my good friend here at Abshar. We always come here because the food is fantastic and reasonably priced. The only slight difference I noticed was a lot less salad with the main. Usually there is ample salad with olives and this time we were only given a few salad leaves with some cucumber and tomato. The food was still delicious though.

Roof had a leak from flat above and they pretended like it’s no big deal, no apology or concern to customers oh don’t worry it’s rain water What a lie flats above ruined a good night with friends.Lousy waiter services too Keep forgetting forks, plates, I’ll not be going there again.Food was cold too, they don’t cope well. STAY AWAY

Service slow. Ordered starters and only two out of three received, luckily on receipt not charged for. Cold plates. Not good when winter. Warm plates so much nicer and helps keep the food warm for longer. Half of the desserts not in stock. Why bother bringing out the menu!!

Good meme but indifferent mains. The service was not great. There is no one to take your coat and no where to hang one. Wine menu is poor. The flat breads are really good, but aren’t an incentive to come back. Great for vegetarians though.

I am sorry not to be writing a glowing review but my partner and I felt that last night wasn't the best spend of £50.THE GOODThe interior décor of the restaurant is beautiful. Since it first opened (over a decade ago) they have acquired the unit next door and knocked through to create twice the space. The "new" section is a stunning setting - all white walls with gold coving, chandeliers and jewelled prints on the walls. But unfortunately if the food and service isn't as good as you're expecting, the surroundings don't make up for it.The freshly baked flatbreads and the selection of dips we had for starters, were absolutely delicious. As a large group we were recommended a set menu and these appetisers were all suitable for vegetarians. The mixed grill main course was tasty - marinated chicken, lamb and adana kebabs - but a bit more salad would have been nice (there was just a tiny bit of garnish)THE BADOn arrival some of us waited a long time to get a drink. OK we were a large party (probably about 24 of us) and having experience as a waitress I know big groups aren't as easy as smaller tables, but the first people to arrive got some bottles of sparkling water and it would have been nice if they had put out enough glasses that we could at least have all had some of that. Once everyone had arrived it took a while to order food (OK the place was busy and there were other large groups as it was Saturday night) and after we had finished our appetisers it took ages for anyone to come back and clear for the main course... eventually we called over the waiter and asked when we would be getting the main course and from there it came out quickly BUT it would have been best if they had kept an eye on us to see when we had stopped eating. We arrived around 7:30 but didn't get a main course until gone 9pm!Also, it would have been nice if someone had checked on us from time to time to ask if we needed any more drinks. We had to keep calling the staff over which made us feel impolite. None of us were drinking alcohol either, so it wasn't as if we were a rowdy groups of drunks more interested in wine than food.THE UGLYTwo of our party were vegetarians and OK perhaps a Persian restaurant that mainly serves grilled meat, wasn't the best choice for them. But there were only two or three main courses suitable for vegetarians... they avoided ordering aubergine-based main courses because two of the appetisers were aubergine dishes. The dish which the waiter recommended turned out to be some kind of spinach (the frozen kind that goes all bitty and it was a sloppy texture and didn't look nice either) with red kidney beans and some kind of preserved mini citrus fruit which was SO bitter and dominated the flavour. I'm not veggie but I tasted it and said yuck. So my two veggie friends asked for something else, they then got an okra-based dish which they said was a slight improvement but nothing to write home about. And the one vegetarian who eats fish, had ordered salmon but they seemed to have forgotten about it it because it wasn't brought until she eventually asked where it was! When it came it looked nice but it was full of bones (a salmon fillet is boneless but a salmon "steak" cut across the body, often contains bones but not usually this many!) so she didn't enjoy that either.It was raining heavily and we noticed a leak, dripping through one of the spotlight fittings into a bucket on the floor. This made us a bit nervous - would the ceiling collapse, would the lights short out?When the bill came, we split it equally between the number of diners and each person put down £25 in cash or paid £25 on the card. Being a big group, people started leaving gradually and handed over their money as they departed. When only a few of us remained the waiter said the bill was £21 short... We couldn't understand how this could be... I know my friends, we are all honest people who wouldn't duck out of a restaurant without leaving our share, and none of us were drinking alcohol so it wasn't like someone was drunk and forgot to get their money out. In the end, a couple of our guys persuaded the waiter to write it off as a human error, given that we had left £580 between us and had not been entirely satisfied with the service or the vegetarian meals. But it left a further bad taste in our mouths.The reason we chose this restaurant is because the friend who organised the booking had eaten here a couple of weeks previously with her partner and they'd enjoyed it immensely BUT perhaps they were unable to cope with such a large group on a Saturday night, and although the vegetarians were the minority perhaps we should have chosen somewhere that had more choice for them. The disappointment makes me disinclined to give the place another go. I eat out frequently and post regular reviews on TripAdvisor and I don't like writing a negative one but I have been honest and thorough.

Avoid. I have been there many times. The food is good. But i suspect the restaurant is involved in illegal practices as their card machine breaks down very often and they ask customers to pay cash. For such a large business 'the card machine is not working' excuse is not acceptable particularly when they know it but don't warn the customers beforehand. It has already happened twice with me. Will avoid in future now.