White House Express in Barnet

I have a friend whom I meet occasionally when he comes to London. He eats at kosher restaurants and on such occasions, he and I used to go to the White Fish restaurant in Hendon – excellent menu, tasty food, well presented; great atmosphere too - there was a ‘buzz’ about the place. Last night, we were disappointed to find that it was closed and even more so when it looked as though it had gone for good. (I only hope that I was wrong.) Its satellite branch opposite – the White House Express - was open though. I had been there before occasionally and it was fine, though without the wide-ranging exotic menu of the main branch opposite. We decided to go there instead – BIG MISTAKE!!! From the outset, the reception was ‘functional’ rather than cordial. We were seated at a table, on which there were a couple of battered menus that had seen better days. The choice was very limited – great if you liked chicken or hamburgers but tough luck if you wanted anything like the comprehensive choice of the White Fish restaurant opposite. I ordered the famous Yemenite Soup – a flagship item at the main branch – and shwarma as a main course. The choice of side dishes was minuscule; mainly just rice, mashed potatoes or chips – just the thing you’d expect at a middle-eastern type restaurant!!! I ordered the shwarma with trepidation as it is normally pared down from a vertical rotating roasting spit and there was no sign of it in the normal place behind the counter. When the soup arrived, it was only slightly warm – not hot. It had to be sent back to be heated up. Then the shwarma arrived. It too was not hot – only slightly warm – but I didn’t want to make a fuss so I started eating it. It had clearly been re-heated (or re-warmed, to be more accurate) and it tasted awful – scraps of meat dating from who knows when. I had ordered rice and mashed potatoes (faux de mieux) and the portions were generous, each of them presented in soup bowls. The rice was just boiled, with no additional flavourings and the mashed potatoes brought back resonances of school dinners. I left most of the food and when we got the bill, there was an optional service charge added; we told the waiter that we opted not to pay it and he looked shocked and said that he had to take the bill back to amend it. At this point, I would expect the matter to be reported to the manager, who would come to speak to us and ask why we were dissatisfied. None of that – and in any case there was no sign there of anyone resembling a manager. So the waiter brought back the amended bill and we paid. I felt really sorry for him as the service had been average, not excellent. I told him that it wasn’t his fault; it was the poor quality of the food. Then he suddenly became professional – he apologised profusely, said that we should have told him earlier, and hoped that next time we ate there things would be better! Dream on. There’s no chance that we would go back there, first because of the poor selection on the menu, but also because I had a feeling that there wouldn’t be any opportunity to go back. It will be a couple of months before my friend would be returning to London and, with the White Fish flagship having sunk, I don’t think the lifeboat will last very long. Hendon and Golders Green are chockful of kosher restaurants and, much closer to my and my friend’s home, there’s always the Met Su Yan kosher Chinese restaurant in Edgware – outstanding in every way.

I found the food ok - rather bland but the price of certain things was ridiculously expensive for what it was Chips were £5 and if this was not bad enough the most outrageous was a small carton of rice for £6 - i am not sure how any restaurant can justify this. If you are going to charge this sort of price the quantity or quality or preferably both need to be top drawer. We all deserve value for money especially in these times.

Siete de nosotros asistimos después de que uno lo hubiera recomendado para llevar. Fue una buena elección, envolturas con panes diferentes, algunas tenían chips, que me alegro de no tener ya que la envoltura estaba muy llena. Un poco desordenado cuando llegas al fondo de la envoltura pero tan bueno. Me gustaría ir a sentarse en el futuro, el servicio fue amable y rápido.

Como siempre, la Casa Blanca ofrece comida consistentemente buena y lo hace con poco alboroto. Excelente comida caliente, cocinada a medida que la pides en una extensa parrilla de carbón, y una excelente selección de ensaladas para complementar la carne.

Esto realmente es una comida para llevar con un restaurante atornillado. Si come adentro, saldrá con un fuerte olor a cocina y humo de las parrillas. Las porciones son enormes pero de calidad muy variable. El shwarma y los shnitzels estaban secos y recocidos, pero el tailandés era muy bueno. Las ensaladas son tristes, con hojas de lechuga doradas y tomates blandos, y aunque hay mucha comida, tampoco es tan barato. No estoy seguro de apresurarme a regresar.

Great service, top quality - absolutely amazing choices. Perfect for families - good kids menu as well!!!

Awesome delicious quick yum dinner!!!!!

I ordered the chicken shashlik with salad which is supposed to be thigh fillets but instead it was chicken breast. Very disappointing.

White house express is an excellent kosher delivery service (they also have a restaurant) which is fast, fresh and hot. the food tasted excellent. The guy who deliver the food was so friendly. placing the order of the phone was easy. the meal was not at all expensive for kosher food. Recommend for all.

Food was cold and i don't think i got what i ordered

Great food, was available at the requested time, will of course come back (again!). Thanks!

Very tasty food, exactly what we wanted and arrived in super quick time. Perfect!

wraps are below par. half empty, not distributed well, soggy and falling apart. 2/10

Food was delivered after one hour cold, the quality of the food was ok, hummus & pitta were really good, the chicken noodle soup had one piece of chicken, also a very small portion in proportion to the price, the chicken schnitzel was just ok. First time trying this restaurant and my last.

wrap didn't have much in it, wasn't distributed well. Taste was it's saving grace

Actual delivery time bears no relation to the delivery time on the website which is unhelpful

The food was excellent, delicious and ready early meaning it could be enjoyed sooner. A great experience.

The food was delivered late, and it was cold - including things separate from the salad like the chips, so it wasn't that the salad had cooled it down. The (cold) falafel pitta had a lot less salad in it than the (cold) shawarmas and the salad choices were not entirely right. (Cold) garlic mushrooms cost almost £1 per mushroom.The (cold) shawarma meat and the (cold) garlic mushrooms tasted good though I didn't detect much garlic. Cold chips and falafel are meh.

Easy to order, tasty, hot (though expensive) food. Delivered much faster than promised.

Food was cold. Portion was terrible. So disappointed with restaurant.

- Naan bread was burnt both sides. - Chicken soup was almost cold and had one piece of small rip of chicken. - Shawarma meat was over seasoned, very salty. Not worth it

Have gotten same food here before and it was better last time. Felt like low effort - food not packaged as nicely the no bread options. Instructions were not followed correctly either. Normally a better experience but this time it was just ok

all was good except didn’t receive an orange juice that was ordered.

Great food but no napkins of sorts...

Nice food, I wish it could have warmer and I wish it couldve been delivered sooner but overall id rate 3/5 nice work

I only had big money and the delivery man returned with my change half hour later amazing service!!

Portions were TINY. I got about 15 chips in my portion. Disappointing

needs improvement urgently...sad situation

Hi White House Thank you. Enjoyed it from Dov

good customer service : the restaurant made a mistake, and delivered our order 3 hour’s early. They took the food back, and delivered the order at the correct time, with no questions or argument. food was very well cooked. i’ll definitely be ordering again.

hi White house thank you for food was very good. from Dov

We order from these guys the whole time but tonight the food was barely edible. Burnt and bitter chicken which we had to throw most of away.

Food was really poor. meat was tough and tasteless. don’t think I can order from here again. .

average food poorly cooked by unskilled fools

Amazingly quick , food is tasty and full of flavour ! Love it love it love it

very poor quality meats terribly cooked with zero care whatsoever.

Food was delivered fast however its quality was horrible. We finished our chicken soup and it was OK . We ordered 2 meat dishes both were discusting. Burger was burned and it's smell was so bad we had to bin it straight away. Kebab tasted sour I think the meat wasn't fresh. I will not recommend it to anyone. Waste of money

All good except for chips. Not very tasty and very dry. Would nevertheless order again

food was brilliant and the delivery was exceptional

It was fine that the food was delivered am hour early. I just wasn't expecting it to be an hour earlier than originally planned for which was 7:30pm However everything was delicious which was the Main thing!; Thank you ! Thanks for taking care of my requests for the delivery. I will order again soon.

Take better care with the packaging as I got a big mess this time. Great soup tho.

There was a fingernail in the food!! Safe to say I won't be ordering from here ever again

Food was cold and portions too small

Good delivery time. Average food.

Food was ok. Wings were very nasty and inedible and disgusting though.

Excellent food and service/delivery

I was very impressed with this delivery. Thank you very much for putting the soup in a separate bag. All the food that I ordered was delicious! Thank you very much Claire Crystal

Way too much rice, poor value for £24. Meat was very bland too.

Great food... But delivery driver hustled me for £5... That's all I am saying....

Food was delivered really quickly by a lovely driver and was tasty as aways. Some of the meal could have been hotter but it was really good so it didn't matter too much. The Just Eat service was great too. Will definitely be ordering from White House through Just Eat again!

Better than the Golders Green Branch - chips were hot and crispy - Shwarma was warm, meat was good and fillings were fresh

Great food, decent price. Very fast delivery

The best grilled salmon! I will always order from you now on! Good job

Good food, pretty expensive though

Love this branch good quality and quantity the other branch sucks awful service and poor qulity

Tasty food. But the delivery was 20minutes late from the expected time...I tried to call them, didn't take the phone call for first time. The delivery person was nice, he apologized and told me they are very busy..but the food was very good! Thx

Food wasn't hot and wrap wasn't sealed. But it was still delicious

Freezing cold food. Didn't have what I ordered and came 15 minutes late.

I have ordered a grill salmon and a medium done steak. They were delicious!! Will order again!! Great timing for the delivery as well!!

All was excellent and delicious!

Made an order of kebab meal, delivery was within 30 min. Very quick. The salads wasn't fresh. Even though I made a comment to get fresh salads. Written that's have tomatoes, but maybe 1 or 2 small pieces of tomatoes. Food it's not only the meat!

Delicious freshly made Falafel. So yummy 😋

Burger was nasty but chips were good.

Excellent food and the delivery was very quick!