The Darbar — Restaurant in Ajax

FAKE BIRYANI PLACE!

Nice place, decent ambiance… the good stops there… this restaurant is a disgrace to the name Darbar.

We did a takeout - 2 orders of Lamb Bhuna, 2 orders of Lamb Balti and and 1 order of Jhinga balti + one order of Shahi Biryani, we thought that order would be enough for 6 people. Nope….

Quantity: One order is just enough for one person. We would have run short - if the dishes were worth eating. We had leftovers to throw… :-)

Quality: The chef should be fired, he/she does NOT know how to cook indian food. [Curries] The first step in the process is to sauté onions till they are golden brown. The base curry was boiled onions - trust me, I know. I cook all these at home. We asked for spicy Jhinga (Shrimp) and it was sweet. My son thought that it tasted like frozen shep that had been microwaved. All the dishes seemed to have sugar in them to cater to very tender Caucasian tastes. I’m willing to bet that all the people who rated this place high have never eaten real Indian food! [Biryani] Spiceless, Odourless undercooked boiled rice which had a layer of spiceless, odourless layer of mixed meat (chicken, lamb and shrimp). All the red flags went off for me when I entered the restaurant to pick up the takeout - there was absolutely no food smell of any kind! No real Indian place would be like that. The “Biryani” had shredded (almost powdered) cashews. I did not encounter the raisins that were listed as being present in the rice. You can see from the photos that I’ve uploaded that it’s just boiled rice…

In summary, what I was looking forward to as a nice evening with some good comfort food turned out to be a nightmare. Brought back bad food memories from UK, where they cook food in a similar manner. I’m traumatized…. Just kidding. But I’m never going back there again. Anyone who has actually eaten Indian food should never go here even once! Pretty sure my disappointment is shining through…

Thumbs down...

I saw the high rating but didn’t read the reviews further down about them being fake to offset the real negative reviews and I’d have to agree. There are literally 5+ 5 star ratings after every negative review which has been mentioned many times below in negative reviews.

The Biryani and curry were just okay but they don’t tell you that you’ll be charged without being informed ridiculous amounts for things you’d usually get for free or next to nothing for items like raita which are included in Indian restaurants. I asked if they had raita and the server said yes so she brought it out with our meal and at no point was I told there was a cost for it only to find out that I was charged $8 when I was paying the bill at the end!! Nuts. That’s almost the cost of a veggie biryani for a side condiment that’s normally included with an order of biryani. Also we asked for soda water with lemon which we were expecting to pay a couple of dollars for club soda with a lemon wedge but thankfully I checked the menu or would have been charged $7.99 for that too! I canceled before I was dinged with that charge luckily. The atmosphere is outdated.

Definitely wouldn’t recommend for dine in. Double check allll prices of any and everything you asked about before it gets to your table including drinks and condiments! There are so many better Indian options in Durham that are tastier, better priced and upfront with charges. Eating is...

I find it very interesting that there was a barrage of five star reviews immediately after a dissatisfied 1 star review, despite the fact that there were three reviews in the entire MONTH leading up to it. Suspicious, but i will let readers draw their own conclusion.

We ordered 2 Butter Chicken, 2 Plain Naan and a Vegetable Masala. We were told 35 minutes for pickup. When I arrived, i was told it would be another ten minutes (which is no big deal), but it turned out to be about a half hour.

While i waited, there were THREE delivery drivers who came in, and also had to wait 20+ minutes.

There were also two tables seated - one family of four who was not served the entire time that i was waiting for my food, and another of four adults who were not checked up on for the entire time i was waiting. One gentleman even had to request the bill because they had been left unattended for so long.

It's clear that the new management is in over their head right now. Maybe accepting delivery orders on the first weekend you are opening is a bad idea. Hopefully things change soon, but it will be a long time (with hopefully more reliable reviews) before we return.

P.s. The complete lack of accountability was astounding. If my order was going to be so delayed, I should have been notified before making the trip out there - at the VERY least I should have been told an accurate wait time so i could have made other arrangements. Very...