Nawabi Restaurant — Restaurant in Sydney

Matching our lockdown takeaway eating to items we can’t cook at home, we hit up Lal Qila in Surry Hills. This Pakistani restaurant, which has a second, fancier-looking restaurant in Darling Harbour, makes great use of the tandoor. Plucked from an extensive menu, Naramdil Galafi Seekh ($17.90) are spicy minced chicken kebabs served on a simple selection of cooling salad with a squeeze of fresh lemon. Aftabi Tandoori Phool ($16.90) gives tender florets of charred, golden-hued cauliflower flavoured with garlic, ginger and spices. From the range of tandoor-cooked chicken dishes we opted for the Pakistani favourite, Murgh-e- Musalam ($20.90), where yoghurt, vinegar and spices gave an almost creamy surface that contrasted well with the chook’s charred edges.

Cooked on the side of the cylindrical oven, the fluffy garlic cheese naan ($5.90) here is a contender for Sydney’s best. Khumb Pulao ($7.90) and Zafrani Mater Pulao ($7.90) are simple rice dishes, respectively dotted with mushrooms and garden peas. We saved the bulk of them to freeze for a curry night later in the week. A generous Shouq-e-Nawab (BBQ Biryani) ($24.90) rounded out our meal. Well-separated long-grain Basmati rice coloured with saffron hides plentiful hunks of tandoor-cooked chicken. We tried it for dinner but kept the bulk of this spicy rice dish for lunch the next day, with an accompanying cooling, home-made mint raita. Not a bad outcome for a takeaway meal for two that cost fewer than a...

NEVER AGAIN! Such a disappointment here. The first experience, while a little slow to arrive was really enjoyable, the food was quite tasty.

My second experience hadn't arrived in 1h 20m so i phoned to ask them for an update and the lady said "one moment and i'll check". I then heard her proceed to serve customers offline whilst leaving me on hold for 5+ minutes. Eventually the lady returned to advise me that the delivery guy had just a left and would arrive sometime..sometime!!?!

Not happy with this response I advised that if the order didn't arrive in 10 minutes i wanted a full refund to which the lady advised she would call back in 5 minutes to confirm.

No major surprise here this call never arrived and i was yet again forced to contact the shop. The lady seemed confused as who i was and again i was put on hold while she continued her offline conversations with other customers. After 10 more minutes passed i finally hung up.

At this point i was furious with this blatant disregard for customer service. no longer interested in continuing this charade i called back, engaged. It would seem this shop was quite happy to take my money and leave me on hold.

After waiting another 15 minutes i called back only to have it ring out. This continued until the delivery guy arrived at 9:05, I sent him away and requested a full refund. Only time will tell if this shonky operation returns my money.

Order Placed 7:13 - Saga over 9:05

DO NOT RISK...

Update/ response: This arrogance will not take your restaurant anywhere, yes I did write the exact same review at both the restaurants as they belong to the same owner/chain of restaurants, tell me how different is the service & food going to be at 2 places? when the menu is the same and staff are rotated, I work in Barangaroo so I have visited the lime street restaurant multiple times with colleagues and have had your buffet lunch which was not great either and also dined at the Surry hills branch recently with family. I did not say anywhere I was at the same place at the same time, did I? Stop making assumptions and talking about technology, get your basics right about cleanliness, food prep and service up to mark. So shun the arrogance and take constructive feedback and work on it, than trying to be over smart and arrogant.

One of the worst Indian/Pakistani restaurant's in Sydney to dine at, customer service is pathetic, the waiter is so rude and the food is a laughing stock, absolutely tasteless and way too expensive. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone. They have defeated the concept of fine dining, it is like a fish market and their washrooms, omg, worse than a council washroom. There is no hygiene either in their preparations or staff, please avoid...