The Saffron Indian Restaurant Hobart — Restaurant in Hobart

Absolutely terrible experience. Save yourselves, only visit here if you want to spoil your day completely. Wouldn't bother to eat here again even if I was starving and this was the last place with food on earth. The waiting staff was very difficult to get hold of, kept averting their eyes to avoid us and had an overall arrogant attitude. The order took 45 min to arrive - standard curries and roti. When asked, we were told that the delay is because of another large table's order (around 8 adults). It was very surprising that this overwhelmed their chef/kitchen, as most restaurants don't face this issue. The empty glasses on the table were visibly dirty, but the staff did replace them. However, I did not have the heart to drink from them throughout the meal. The plates laid out were also dirty, and we asked the staff to provide us clean ones. However, the second set of plates were also - surprise, surprise - dirty and stained with curry marks. On top of that, the staff was reluctant to accept that the plates were unacceptable till I literally pointed it out to them. The third set of plates didn't have any marks or stains on them, but we could clearly see wipe marks on them. AWFUL. The laccha paratha and tandoori roti we ordered were exactly identical to each other. Last I checked, these are supposed to be 2 different types of breads. Cherry on top of the cake - the breads were half baked and not properly roasted. The tandoori roti was priced at $4 and consisted of one small round piece. In contrast, other restaurants usually provide 1 big roti divvied up into 2 pieces for the same cost. Plain sneaky. We ordered 2 "fresh lime" drinks which turned out to be flavored sugar syrup instead of authentic fresh lemonade. Very surprising, since making actual nimbu pani barely takes 3 minutes max, especially since the menu misleadingly calls them "fresh" lime water. The paneer makhani curry we ordered was supposed to be spicy since we were specifically told that the spice/sweet balance could be customized. Surprise-surprise, what we ended up eating was extremely sweet. We asked for salt as the curries were very bland. It was laughable that a restaurant does not own standard salt and pepper shakers. On top of that, the waitress literally threw down 2 sachets of salt on the table. The portion sizes of the curries were very tiny compared to the cost ($20-22), and definitely not worth it in terms of taste as well. Upon asking for a repeat order of the rotis, we were told that it would take another 25 minutes (no I'm not kidding or exaggerating). By this point, all our patience had been tested.

We were beyond disgruntled with the overall experience and exasperated with the restaurant's inefficiency, incompetence and lackadaisical attitude. We decided to step out in search for some good desserts to complete the meal and also in our attempt to end the dinner on a non-irritated note. Absolutely pathetic experience, I kept wondering why they are bothering to invite people in if all they have to offer is such a...

Dined in at The Saffron on Saturday 26/12/2015 and had a very poor experience when it came time to pay:

Prices higher on menu than listed online

Rice an extra charge on top of an already highly priced main

"Papadums" offered as entree, turned out to be a "Side Dish Platter" and was very over priced. Itemised as two separate items on receipt totalling $10.90 for the plate and $3.50 for the papadums. Quite a surprise for 5 papadums and some sauce.

Initially refused Entertainment Book voucher upon paying due to it being a "Public Holiday", after we pointed out the Entertainment Book terms stating that all offers are valid for use all days of the year in Hobart, and after some sneaky arguing and an offer to "use it next time" by the cashier, he backtracked and offered to apply the discount. He still charged a Public Holiday surcharge of $8.82 on a Saturday despite the Public Holiday not being until Monday. Public Holidays don't fall on the weekend!

What started out as great service turned to great disappointment. Even with acceptance of the Entertainment Book voucher the total of the bill came to $67.02 for 2 mains, 2 naans, "papadums" and 2 drinks. Visiting many Indian restaurants in Hobart, not one other has cost more than $50 full price for the same meals and food/service quality. Should have listened to prior reviews for The Saffron, will not return. Give this place a miss and do yourself a favour, check out Tandoor Curry House in Harrington St instead. Never once dissatisfied there. Never once have we had to bother writing a poor review for feeling so...

LOOK FOR ANOTHER RESTAURANT Summary: Quantity do not justify the price. Price do not justify the quality. Detail: The non veg starters were served with sweet chutney. (Personal POV- I don’t like sweet chutney on top of my chicken/murg entrees) The breads 😅 (remember the movie chup chup ke ? And now you would’ve guessed the epic scene too. Lachcha paratha, tandoor roti were too hard to bite).DISAPPOINTMENT The biryani (FYI; the spices is the same for chicken and goat biryani; only difference was the chicken and goat pieces - confirmed by 10 other folks. The veg biryani as advised by the veggie folks in my group had ketchup and pepper spice spread to give a taste of sweet and spice flavour. How innovative?) Curries (both veg/non veg) - Damm, both veg curries (veg jalfrezi, kadai paneer) were bland, my veggie guys left the paneer in the serving bowl. They didn’t finish it even. The non veg curries (chicken tikka masala, methi chicken, chicken chennai, goat curry) I just feel laughing. We were not able to differentiate the taste and moreover feel the taste. It can be good for aussie locals as the items are too bland. Next we were dehydrated so we ordered lime juice. I liked that to be honest but others said it was too salty and again pepper was added with full...