Halal Reviews for Habbibi - Manchester

My friend and I had dinner at Habbibi Manchester yesterday and it was absolutely amazing. The staff, the food, the welcoming atmosphere, the music, everything was perfect. We arrived a few minutes late but the staff were incredibly accommodating. Our waiter, Shimmy, was so nice and genuinely hilarious. He made the whole experience so much fun and really lit up the room. The restaurant’s aesthetic was beautiful as well, which added to the vibe. Overall, we had an amazing time and I’d definitely recommend Habbibi to anyone.

I have been eating here regularly since the end of 2024, but since the menu changed, it is not as good as before, especially the rib-eye, It lacks the smoky flavor it once had and is often overcooked after the menu changing, Some dishes that used to be good like sea bass or mushrooms on bread, many good dishes have been removed. The newly added padron peppers taste different every time I order them. Sometimes they have sauce, sometimes not. I think it would be better no sauce. And ribeye, the quality of meat varies greatly, sometimes it is very good, sometimes it is not that good.(most of the time is good though) There are also mushroom sauce and chimichurri sauce. I personally don’t like the taste of black truffle in mushroom sauce. The mushroom sauce before was good enough. The chimichurri sauce today may have too much lemon or vinegar?(I’m not sure) which is a little different from usual. I think the previous one tasted better, and there has a little bit smoky taste in chimichurri before. From my personal point of view, if a restaurant wants to retain long-term diners, it needs to maintain consistency. Only by innovating on the basis of consistency can it attract more customers. But in general, this is a great restaurant where you can taste the food culture of different regions from the taste of the food. This is the first time I have experienced the team's goal in formulating the menu to allow guests to experience different regional cultures.

As you walk towards habibbi you notice the lit front where a flame burns which gives you an inviting warmth be nice to have both on. Front of staff are so welcoming and friendly, entering the place did have to wait as the lady was not there it would be nice to have something to bring to the attention of staff that customers have arrived. Seated in a beautiful booth overlooking the restaurant such a classy look, everything was clean and crisp. Given the menus and time to select what we wanted to eat. It would be nice if the server interacted with us to let us know what selection there is on the menu. We didn’t have much interaction with the server and it would be nice to be shown to different areas of places. We wanted to go to the terrace(side outdoor seating) told twice as we asked about where, wanted to do Shisha and have our hot drinks and deserts on the terrace, given directions instead of taken. Little things that makes the service charge worth paying as it’s about 12%. We ordered a lamb and chicken main. Portions were small especially the chicken option and lacked a kick. Lamb needs some option of gravy or something as although it fell off the bone, needed some gravy to bring it to life. We did find ourselves hungry after, honestly speaking. Food definitely needs some innovation and brings a sizzle to it, as it lacked that edge or kick that calls you back. I think because we were hungry the deserts also felt small. Deserts were delicious and cannot fault it honestly. Server did forget my hot drink so had to prompt if he put it through. Again had to ask for some sugars. Server did ensure he recommended shisha flavours and asked if everything was good. Overall lovely evening hope above can be taken into account to improve further the lovely place and staff it is and hope to see it through the reviews.

Generally, a good experience - we ordered the bang bang chicken for starters ( which was real tasty). However, the lamb cutlets we ordered for the main, didn’t really have much going on with it. No real flavour to it and not worth the price tag. Abit of seasoning to the lamb would have been nice. Staff were real friendly.