The best restaurants serving Mediterranean food in England

I’m so blown away by the hospitality we received tonight from BARIS! An absolute credit to the business. He made us feel so comfortable and was super attentive the whole time. The food was also amazing. Overall a 10/10 experience. HIGHLY RECOMMEND

We get takeaway from here regularly, it’s great - fresh, delicious and quick

The food was great, however the attitude of the staff was a bit disappointing. This was our second time there but the staff weren’t very attentive to our order: 1. We ordered a virgin mojito and they gave an alcoholic drink. There was no apology for the mistake. 2. They tried to give a fish dish to us but got the wrong table and we are vegetarian, which I mentioned when booking the table."

Despite not being local to Durham, we visited on a friend's recommendation and were blown away by the service and atmosphere – don't miss the sombrero photo opportunity! My Steak and King Prawn Fajitas were excellent, with generous portions and fantastic flavor (though I'd suggest chopping the king prawn tails). The "Tia rose" starter for two was incredibly large and could easily feed four. However, our friends' Chicken Kiev pizza was a bit of a letdown, as the excessive toppings made it soggy and undercooked, requiring a trip back to the oven. While their pizza wasn't great, my fajitas were definitely excellent.

I was quite disappointed when we visited as a family group. I had an open Gyros with mixed meat, my wife had a Lamb Kefte. The whole meal was dry and the mixed meat was just a mixture of pork. At around £30 per head I won’t be rushing back. We were overloaded with chips and Pitta, it needed more dips. The place was busy for a Tuesday evening, and the Just Eat and Uber service appeared to work efficiently.

We’ve been coming to this restaurant regularly, and every single time, it’s been nothing short of amazing. From the moment we walk in, we feel so welcomed by the incredibly friendly and attentive staff—they always go above and beyond to make sure we’re well taken care of. The design is absolutely stunning—luxurious, prestigious, and perfectly crafted to create an unforgettable atmosphere. It’s the ideal setting for every visit. And the food? Simply phenomenal. Every dish is bursting with flavor and beautifully presented, consistently exceeding our expectations. The chefs truly know what they’re doing, and we’ve loved every bite we've had so far. This place continues to be a favorite of ours, and we’re always looking forward to our next visit. Highly recommend to anyone looking for an outstanding experience!

Great food, and very good quality service!

Great little place - 5 mins walk from town Center - small menu but everything we had was great!

A very late review but always consistently good food in Arbequina and a firm favourite. Worth going for the tortilla alone!

The variety of dishes was superb and the different flavours made it a great meal

Had a lovely evening meal here the staff were very friendly and welcoming the restaurant was clean and pleasant, plenty of quality food at very good prices will certainly be going back

Lovely spot. Good light. Nice service. Breakfast was only average. Portions small. I had the hash which was loose and wet, lacked texture and maybe content! I don’t recommend the home made cola. Coffee was good.

Excellent dining experience. Food, service, and ambience all first rate. Have been here many times and never had a negative experience. Good entertainment at the weekend too! Thoroughly good in every way.

The manager was extremely rude and unprofessional. We booked two tables for a total of 10 a week prior and called beforehand requesting for tables next to each other. Although our tables were close, we were refused one large table despite empty tables and chairs and were lied to that a big group is expected. The manager was very unprofessional and discriminatory this evening. There was a lack of enterprising initiative and a willingness to to help and oblige to customer requests. Further we were not served for a long time and our orders not taken until we had to call one of the staff a few times. Whilst I absolutely do not expect a favourable outcome from this review at all, I wish to highlight that this is a restaurant that needs its staff to be trained in professionalism, unconscious bias and discrimination. We have been here many times before and enjoyed the food but I will reconsider visiting again. PS: However I wish to add that despite our bad experience with the manager, we were served well by Sophie once she arrived to take our orders. IN reply to Jane Dowler: Thank you for replying back to my review. I am afraid there seems to be some distortion of facts and I wish to clarify the following. 1. We had to book separate tables a week before as we expected challenges in getting a large table for 5 couples. Paying a deposit was not the issue, as suggested in your reply! 2. We did request for closer tables the day before and were indeed allocated this. Again, I personally made a request for this, rather than one large table as we anticipated that this may not be available. However, we noted that some of the large tables were not occupied during the entire duration of our dinner, but were advised by Irene that a big group'was expected. 3. We had to wait for quite a while before our orders were taken, but once we had ordered, the drinks and food were indeed served promptly. 4. I am not sure of the 'noise'' you mentioned, and we were not asked to keep the noise level down as we were not noisy. 5. Also, I am sorry to say that no derogatory remarks were made by our friends. I guess we can agree to disagree, and the tone and body language and communication from Irene with my friends were clearly not in the true spirit of professionalism.

Gorgeous food (and plenty of it) at a very reasonable price. Unfortunately we were too busy eating to remember to take a picture ahead of time, so all that was left was a halloumi fritter and half a glass of sangria. Really quick service and a fantastic range of choices!