Restaurant workers threw chairs and tables during a visit by immigration officers last year, a council committee heard.
Al Balad was fined more than £200,000 after immigration officers repeatedly found breaches on at least five separate occasions at the premises on Edgware Road near Paddington.
Home Office documents show, that during one enforcement visit last October, police were called after staff became aggressive with one person throwing a chair at officers.
Officers entered the restaurant just before 11pm on October 30 last year, when the manager grabbed on to one them and had to be physically restrained.
The report added that an officer had to ‘push one male staff member back who raised up from a chair and lunged towards him pushing into him’.
Police were eventually called as a crowd of 20 customers gathered around the establishment and started filming the scenes.
Several members of the public had also reported antisocial behaviour from restaurant workers on other occasions, including one who was allegedly chased by two male staff members who attempted to steal his phone and watch.
During a previous visit after midnight on June 21, 22025, several workers at the restaurant were found to be illegally in the UK including an Algerian chef who attempted to escape the inspection by running into the road, narrowly avoiding a car. He was later found to have overstayed his visa.
Another illegal worker was found to have entered the UK on a fake Irish ID card in March 2023. He was subsequently reported by a victim ‘in fear of herself and her son’s safety’ after he allegedly threatened her maliciously on his TikTok account.
Several staff told the Home Office they simply worked in exchange for food and drink rather than monetary payment, including a shawarma chef found by officers hiding in a kitchen toilet.
The restaurant’s owner, Ali Hakim, has been fined a total of £210,000 since 2017 following 15 arrests on the premises for illegal working, of which more than £100,000 remains outstanding.
Employers are legally required to take reasonable steps to ensure all their employees have a legal right to work in the UK, and face fines for non-compliance.
The Home Office report said: ”The enforcement visits indicate a sustained and deliberate disregard for immigration and employment laws over an extended period.
‘The recurrence of such serious breaches suggests a failure to take corrective action following prior enforcement, raising significant concerns about the management and oversight of the premises.
‘These findings strongly support the need for a comprehensive review of the licence.’
A separate notice was filed raising concerns over poor hygiene practices and improper food handling in the restaurant’s basement kitchen. The restaurant maintains a rating of five out of five for hygiene, according to the Food Standards Agency.
Mr Hakim admitted he had not carried out the required checks, but insisted that staff had provided false documents showing they had a right to work and that one of the workers arrested was only training at his restaurant and had not been paid to work.
He added that it was a family business and that suspending the premises licence would risk his company, which previously operated another restaurant on Edgware Road, going bust and that he had since taken steps to comply with licensing conditions.
‘I understand that this has gone on for a long time, since 2017, and members quite rightly will ask why it has taken so long to get to a position where we are actually complying with legislation. The fact is we are now.’
The committee will decide whether to revoke the restaurant’s licence by next week.