Ariana Afghan & Persian in Tower Hamlets

Amazing experience for our family celebration. Great dishes prepared and served as ordered. Fresh tasty and lived up to our expectation. Staff were very accommodating and friendly. Will definitely be back and certainly recommend.

Nice place Nice design it’s a very nice place but the service is very slow I waited 1 hour and I still didn’t get my food

Horrible food. In fact unhealthy. The meat was old and smelly. Never did I get food where I literally hated the smell before I even taste it. It was awful. Old and rancid, full of spices to mask the age but to no avail. And you would think you will have your kebabs charcoal grilled no way, has a burnet surface must have been a normal grill but no charcoal. Horrible in every way and overpriced for something disgusting and most likely unhealthy.

This restaurant was great ! We stumbled on it on a walk about through the area! Delicious Afghani food with traditional teas! The waiters even offered me a flatbread bread called nan baked straight from the oven near the entrance ! Great ambiance ! Would eat there again!

This is very below average, the food was very bland compare to many Persian restaurants I've been to anyone that wants to try Persian food or middle Eastern plz go to Persian restaurants not this Afghan resturant. To me tasted like the fake version of Persian food, like real and fake hand bag

I found this place out of the blue when I needed a restaurant to host my birthday dinner with friends. The restaurant took a very reasonable deposit for booking and I was so impressed with the food, service, atmosphere and value for money. I rate this restaurant highly and will be recommending to others.

We came at 7 on a Thursday and had the vegetarian dolmas and veggie ghormeh sabzi with some pickles to lighten it - it was so good I finished the whole (large) plate! It came very quickly, too.Thee mint tea was also delicious, (though I'm not sure the waiter heard me ask for it without black tea...) Definitely coming back!

Lovely wooden-Persian-cabin atmosphere - really cosy. Friendly service and delicious authentic cuisine. You’ll love it!

Ariana. Mile End fantastic. Good food in a cool atmosphere with the restaurant Nextdoor to a nice Èast London park. And the canal a sort walk away. This restaurant will not disappoint on good Persian food. You have to take your own drink’ wine or beers’ I can recommend the mixed meat grill.

Travelled 135 miles to come to Ariana to meet up with family (we are currently not able to have people in our house due to COVID-19 restrictions). We had booked the table for four people for a Saturday lunchtime. Surprisingly we were the only people there for the whole lunchtime, which did make for a lack of atmosphere. Consequently, however, the service was very good - too good in fact as we had wanted to spin lunch out before our 135 mile drive home. As we were sharing the different dishes (carefully!) we asked for the starters and main courses to be served together. No problem, except that one starter did not arrive (and was not charged for). Tasty food, well presented and in very generous quantities. Prices reasonable. Alcoholic drinks are not served, but you can take your own (a reasonable corkage charge is made). We would certainly go again.

We turned up without a booking on a warm Friday evening and they went out of their way to find us a place. Good food, generous portions, good value for money, friendly atmosphere. Will definitely visit again

We had 2 rice-based dishes for our lunch. The lamb was divine, the chicken wasn’t too bad. All the foods are reasonably priced, combined with generous portion. We went to the restaurant around 2-3pm, The restaurant was very busy and the tables are tightly packed, which made it difficult to social distance. We would not mind to wait a bit longer to be seated, as long as I don’t have to sit very close to other guests. If you like Afghan/Persian food, don’t mind the crowd, then his place is for you.

I organised a dinner with friends here based on reasonable reviews. They couldn't be further from the truth. We were offered a seat at the back of the restaurant, which was offered to someone else whilst we sat there waiting for it. After a handful of requests we were finally given a table. Waiters in the restaurant should be given an award for most miserable staff in London! We were so polite and friendly yet it would have been easier to get blood out of a stone than a smile or even a passing show of enthusiasm. I wonder if they were being kept hostage? After almost 30 mins of trying to get someones attention we finally ordered drinks. The waiter was literally acting as though he was signing his life away to us as scribbled 2 diet cokes and a bread basket. After another 20 mins we received our bread and had to remind them about our drinks. It was £22 for 4 bowls of dips and a bread basket! Dips were bland and about as exciting as an office lunch. After 2 friends joined us we again had to try for 10 mins to get the attention of a waiter. A lady came over with pretty poor attitude, again everything felt like the biggest chore. We kept the order simple with 2 mixed meat platters and an afghani rice. Food arrived 20 mins later, we were then given the smallest starter plates to eat our mains, thankfully a drinks order was taken. The meat was tasteless and boring with the addition of 5 random roast potatoes, which even aunt Bessie's wouldn't have been happy about. The qabuli pilau was also an absolute shocker, bland, oily rice, lamb had no flavour. After finishing the meal we tried to get a waiters attention for 10 mins with no luck so we had to go up to the counter for the bill. We flagged to the manager that we didn't have a great experience and that we waited a very long time, his response was to look around to the 6 or 7 tables and say its a very busy night, no apology. Having worked in the restaurant industry for 15 years and eaten in 100's of restaurants across London I can happily say this is by far one of the all time worst. If this is the state of Afghani food in London then there's definitely room for competition. Was it a bad night? Seemed to be service as normal. Please do yourselves a favour and don't waste your money.

The food etc was nice but they deliberately over charged us about £20 on purpose. We paid the bill and then when leaving said we still owed £23. Our group has dispersed so we paid it. After regrouping outside the restaurant we realised we had been over charged and went back. They then showed us the receipts which amounted to put bill but they did not include the extra £23 we paid when leaving. We should never have paid this - it was our fault for trusting these crooks

was a take away order for my brother ...liked it very much , i was not sure if he would like mantoo...but he loved it ..excellent great experience ...will order again

Food was a bit cold and the taste wax not something you go “WOW” for like other good Persian food restaurants. Staff polite and service is good. Seating is good bit not the cleanest and modern places. A bit run down. Rice was nit as good as other proper Persian rice I have tried. Prices very reasonable and I think for not Iranian customers the food might also taste just right. The menu even offers a 1.5 litre bottle of coke instead of separate drinks which would cost less to order and it’s enough for party of four.

Visité Ariana hoy, el 7 de febrero de 2020 con mis amigos, la noche fue agradable para empezar. Hemos estado viniendo a este restaurante durante muchos años y el personal siempre fue educado y educado. Desafortunadamente, en esta ocasión, un gerente grosero se nos acercó, nos humillaron y nos pidieron que nos fuéramos porque alguien estaba esperando la mesa, mis amigos todavía estaban tomando café y no se nos advirtió de antemano que esta mesa estaba reservada. Cuando llegamos al restaurante nos dijeron que solo tenemos cierto tiempo para permanecer en el restaurante. ¡Nunca me han hablado de esta manera en ninguno de los restaurantes! No puedo creer que alguien que es gerente de un restaurante pueda tratar a sus clientes, mujeres en esta espera. Me sentí como un unterumensch ya que era una mujer menuda y el pesebre era el doble de mi tamaño y parecía que tenía derecho a humillarnos. Me gustaría advertir a otras mujeres que planean ir allí que pueden enfrentar una experiencia muy desagradable. ¡Mis amigos y yo nunca volveremos a visitar este restaurante de nuevo! ¡Dejamos mucho dinero en este restaurante a lo largo de los años y uno hubiera pensado que éramos muy valorados como clientes!Quisiera agregar que la mesa de al lado fue ocupada por un grupo de hombres, que solo comieron naranjas y enrollaron los cigarrillos, no se les dijo que se fueran, aunque no estaban pidiendo nada. Qué experiencia tan horrible hemos tenido como clientes y mujeres.Anna y amigos

Tuve una comida familiar aquí y fue una experiencia agradable a un precio razonable. La comida era sabrosa y fresca y el tamaño de las porciones eran buenas. Hubiera sido agradable si la gerencia hubiera sido un poco más acogedora y saludara, etc. Además, los platos principales llegaron mientras estábamos a la mitad de los entrantes, lo que nos hizo sentir apurados, esta no es una buena práctica. En general, fue una comida agradable y vale la pena una visita.

The best persian and afghan food in town :) Staff is always very welcoming. The mix platters are mouthwatering. Hoummus and bread are amazing. Lamb, just excellent.

This place really sparked a huge love for afghan food, never fails to deliver food with a home made feel, so delicious and the service is really good and the prices are definitely decent. Definitely recommend a trip..enjoyyyy!

Wrap up as it's always a little cool. Pleasant service, great food, maybe short of sauces. Our friends super impressed .

We went there today. Food was tasty, good quality, generous portion, and price was fair. If you want a delicacy, we recommend Qabuli Polo which is a lamb shank, rice, raisin, and carrots. Looks to be an odd combination, but very tasty!

Estoy seguro de que las palabras gema oculta se han utilizado para describir este lugar innumerables veces, ¡pero es cierto! He estado aquí más de 10 veces y nunca nos ha decepcionado, y casi hemos intentado todo en el menú. Muy bonito interior y la comida es muy sabrosa. ¡También es BYOB!

Slightly different afghan/Persian restaurant some items like Turkish food. Byo. Only marked down a bit as many of the other reviewers say service not with a smile

La segunda vez que vengo aquí, sentada en la parte trasera a buscar comida y shisha. Tenían los langostinos, pan y humus para empezar. Comida increíble, muy tradicional y con un gusto excepcional. Disfruté de shisha con té de menta y algunos baklava. Me gustaría venir aquí más a menudo, solo tiendo a olvidar que es aquí, por eso lo llamo una gema oculta. Tengo que probarlo!

Tried restaurant for first time. Great for a different taste to try. Great food and good portion size. Please be aware you need to take your own alcohol and there is a corkage fee.

look a little bit dirty, the food was- torlerable,nice waitress.the view in frount did not look good I wont go next time

this place is worth visiting too, food and service is always on point

This is a great taste of Afghan in the heart of Tower Hamlets . Lovely freshly cooked or grilled food. Must try lamb shank with sweet rice, price is slightly high with service charge

I used to order many times was good but today date 19/11/18 chicken was not cooked well couldn’t eat so i have to give one star.

I’m not writing this review as part of a paid plug or by way of some sort of bribe . Ariana again literally delivered on the three elements that make Just Eat successful - speedy delivery, delicious food, fair price. Will be ordering again sometime soon.

I've been on Justeat for about 10 years, this was comfortably my worst experience! Was phoned up 10mins after the delivery was due to be told the driver was stuck in traffic just around the corner which is strange as I live on the busiest road in the area and the road was dead outside. It then took an hour to turn up after this phone call, grand total of TWO HOURS from order to turning up. No apology from the driver, or the bloke who rung me up, no cuttelry or tissues with order and the food itself was shocking and predictably Luke warm. Never ever order from this place!

Very expensive and not really what expected for that price

First time ordering from Ariana and am very satisfied! Thank you!

Qabuli Palouw: old and genuine. perfect!

the rider didn’t come to the door

This reastuarant called me on sunday 21st October 2018 and advised me that they had run out of the food for my order. I advised the person from ariana that I would like a refund. To which the person advised that they would call Justeat and process a refund. After waiting 5 days; and receiveing no refund. I called justeat who advised no refund was processed or requested for my £38. I then went through the process of going through justeat, who contacted the restaurant and was told they know nothing of this. I was given a refund by justeat by a very helpful gentlemen and he apologised for the bad experience. I would never order from Ariana as they let me down and did not acknowledge my order or refun. Disgusting behaviour and dissatified with them.

I lived in Bow for a number of years and Ariana was my go-to place for delicious, freshly cooked food. Creatures of habit, my husband and I always have the same order and having not eaten there for two years I am happy to say last week it tasted just as we remembered. The torshi is fresh and the perfect start to a meal. Qabuli pulaow and mumtaz were absolutely delicious. I love it!

El lugar goza de un ambiente único que te hace sentir en un país persa.

The food arrived late, cold, and two dishes were wrong

Very happy, and there was enough to feed two more unexpected guests.

Thanks good food, maybe next time add bread with the starter as in restaurant, also add rice portion.

Absolutely fantastic again. Chicken was succulent, and tender - lamb didn’t feel too flavoured at first bite, but boy after two chews it poured through in droves. The only negative point I can think of is that we don’t live close enough to eat-in regularly, but am still very happy with the deliveries. Top marks again folks! Well done!

One of our favourites. never fails and good variety

Second night in a row we’ve ordered from Ariana. Lamb was succulent with well-balanced flavours. , Tubs were sealed tight with no spillage or waste. We usually eat in the restaurant to also sample their excellent bread but had a lazy weekend. Will be ordering again soon.

Never order again !, very cold food and late delivery never again

No apology for late service. N tooker over 1 hr for 2 items of food. Lady on the phone doesnt have knowledge of customer service

Fantastic local place, always a warm and great food

VERY TASTY FOOD. THE DELIVERY WAS BEFORE TIME. DEFINETLEY WILL ORDER AGAIN.

The restaurant did not consider calling to advise they would not be able to meet my request..... the same request I am always afforded. When I spoke to them they were not acconadating despite me always being granted the same request many times before. Also the food was tasteless and very disappointing despite the price! What a disaster!

Asistí a este restaurante para una comida de cumpleaños, y como vegetariana ordenados una comida anuncia que es apropiado. Sin embargo, en la Misa del gallo encontramos trozos de carne. Cuando le preguntamos acerca de esto, el personal no podía responder adecuadamente a lo que era, y cambió su tono como de lo que era cada vez que pedimos- de hongos, menta, sin embargo estaba claro a todo el mundo que era carne. Sospecho que era de un implemento para mi comida sin lavar porque sirve.

I’ve been here a few times and always liked the food (service is poor) but the food makes up for it. One of my colleagues took some food home for his wife after our meal and there was maggots in the meal . Half of my team were off sick the next day. It makes my stomach turn just looking at the photos

It is a favourite place of my family. Simple food, good layers of flavour and reasonably priced. The restaurant is perfect for a family meal. They make everything fresh including the naan bread. It is always packed so booking is recommended.

I have been going to Ariana for the last 5 years. And have taken countless friends as well. And never have I been disappointed. Hussain, Ahmed and others go out of the way to serve. The food is by far the best afghani food you can get in London. They have a nice little open area in the back of the resturaunt which opens into the park which is nice to sit in the summers.

This is what we got served for the signature starter. A meal for rabbits and when i brought it to their attention they literally didnt give a toss.

Fuimos allí para comer y estaban abrumados por la calidad de la comida.

I visited this restaurant as part of a group on the weekend.

Went to the branch in Mile End, London: a cosy place on the edge of the park. A great meal, BYO, keen prices and very homely. Desserts particularly good.

Ser leckeres afghanisches Essen zu akzeptablen Preisen. Wir haben uns sehr wohl gefühlt und würden jederzeit wieder kommen.

Very smelly meat and the chicken wings tasted and smelt very old. The smell was awful. Will not order from this restaurant again. Food quality needs to be inspected

food was cold. rice was not properly cooked (hard). meat piece was totally dry. Chicken wings were tasty but their size was that of quails. disappointing experience in Ramadan.

This restaurant has captivated me completely, and a detail that I really liked is the possibility of bringing your own drink, I think it's a great idea! I also really enjoyed the fresh wood-fired bread. Finally the food is flavoursome, and I recommend tasting the...

Very delicious food especially Qabuli Palouw.

It’s not Iranian food stop lying to people it’s afghani food.... trying to beg Iranian! the food was horrible and disgusting had no taste what so ever........ Ash-E-Reshteh tasted like water..... the whole meal was horrible!!!

Loved the food👌.. awesome taste and food was hot.

I ordered the mixed grill for two. The food was very smelly. The lamb chops in particular were inedible. Consider carefully when ordering from this place.

thank you Ariana the food was just fantastically delicious. the Qabuli pullow reminded me of home so thank you again. thanks for the proper order, i wanted no raisins on my rice and it was exactly as i ordered. the meat in rice was just exquisite.

price hike is too much. going to look for alternatives. miss the yoghurt with spinach too.

bring back the yoghurt with spinach!

great food and delicious as always .. best Iranian food service of Mile End London

I have been ordering from Ariana since I found it on Just Eat and I have never been disappointed until today. The food is usually excellent.

i felt so embarrassed after receiving the food. shame on you ariana for calling yourself an afghani restaurant you charged me almost 14 pounds for Afghani pullao and you sent me half plate rice (hardly) with a piece of meat and toooo many raisins. it wasnt even enough for 1 person plus you charged me 9.5 pounds for ‘alu chicken salan’. you named it ghormeh morgh ‘charbroil boiled chicken’. please google charbroil boiled chicken. what you sent me was a watery curry of potatoes and boneless chicken. that is not an Afghani dish. plus no sauce, no salad nothing. you charges me 24 pounds for all this. the only good thing was the meat piece it was really tasty and well cooked.

Visited this restaurant recently as I wanted to try out Persian cuisine. In the past I have travelled a few times to North London to dine at Behest, another Persian Restaurant, which sadly is not maintaining its quality of late. Ariana Restaurant was very busy...

Very poor standards of customer service.

Very tasty food and delivered on time.

Absolutely amazing grilled meat, ordered the lamb chops, lamb fillets and kubide, the potatoes cooked in meat juice go down a treat, rice was cooked perfectly and included salad was delicious, will be ordering again

plain rice given with two orders, should’ve been Qabli pulao like other Afghan restaurants. beef meal was really good. but kebab had a strong smell (not meat smell)

kabuli pilao was good rest of the food items were okay.

not happy with the delivery time and when callling the restaurant to ask for time the delivery guy left poor service and poor customer service

Beautiful food. I go for the mumtaz everytime

Went here with friends from work for a colleague’s farewell lunch. Lunch time midweek is more than likely their quiet period so we were able to negotiate £12 per head. The food was served buffet style and included 2 types of rice, 2 meats, chicken...

Note! Even though it doesn’t make it clear anywhere, you have to order your bread separately when you order dips like hommous. I ordered two dips and they arrived without bread. No one in the restaurant who intercepted my order thought to call me and ask if I wanted to add bread to my order. Whenever I have dined in the restaurant, they have always automatically brought bread with any dips ordered. I know now that this is charged for separately - even though they never actually ask you whether that is okay. Aside from that, the food is always top quality here.

Food is great just arrived cold.not sure why as it came on time cant not give 5 starts for that reason.

food was tasty just a bit too greasy than im use to otherwise it was great all round, i will order again

Very very delicious fresh food.

I ordered a mixed grill for 2, it was missing the whole chicken... Food came late and cold...

So I have been here probably a gazillion times - I absolutely adore the place and work nearby. Food is great, really good portion sizes and a decent variety for both meat eaters and veggies. Every dish you eat is so full of flavour and...

Lamshang was very small rice not don properly

Now before I came I must digress that I was REALLY craving lamb shank, and had been for ages. Efes wasn't serving any for a while so I decided to come here with some friends. I ordered the Paneer-o-Sabzi, the Qabuli Palouw, my friends ordered...

My first AFGHAN experience and I so was blown away. The food is fresh and the portions were huge!! I love Afghan rice, I must learn to perfect my cooking of rice!! Have the lamb dish with rice and raisins The bornani was delicious. The...

Good food (chips, salad, bread) great hooka (Sisha) spacious... friendly staff. Very enjoyable evening.

Discovered this little gem amidst the busy Mile End road, the decor is nice and they have a cosy outdoor shisha area. There is a staff there that seems to have a personal problem with us when we go which started from her asking ID...

if I can leave a negative score, I would. I’ve ordered from this restaurant before and other restaurants in Just Eat and didn’t have problems with the delivery. It may not be the restaurant’s fault as their food has been good quality from my past orders, but this delivery guy was so rude that even after repeating the instructions on how to enter the flat over the phone and asking him to try again, he was basically shouting at me (and denying that he was at the same breath). Shame shame, as you’re giving the restaurant a bad name! So offended and scared at the same time that I cancelled my order. Sadly, an experience like this do scare me off delivery food service (quite traumatising tbh), and it will take some time before I avail of Just Eat or any food delivery service again. It has happened before, and yes it took a while; especially with food and when ordering at night, I feel like I just couldn’t risk it.

Best grilled meat and try the stews, delicious on a cold wet day. I go often and it’s a firm family favourite. Now that I do not eat meat, there are delicious veg options too. Definitely worth a try

Food arrived 5 minutes late and lukewarm

I ordered a selection of starters for myself and friends. The unanimous opinion was that everything was delicious. I loved the Burani Bademjan and Dal Adas and I will order again.

I’ve had better Persian food this place was very average. The restaurant was cold and dated. Wouldn’t recommend

The restaurant were very accommodating at delivering our food earlier than Just Eat promised. However, the meat was very poor quality with the "Chelo Kebab-E-Barg" unrecognisable from the description and just came as over cooked meat on the largest amount of rice ever assembled with a single pokey tomato in the corner. The speciality dish was particularly disappointing, with fatty meat and little flavour. The wraps were just tons of mint with a lump of feta and whole raddishes. I would not recommend this restaurant.

Food was only warm on arrival; not hot.

Food was only warm on arrival; not hot.