The Back Room Surrey — Restaurant in Surrey

Went here with some friends last week. We had a reservation for 7pm for 4 and arrived on time. The restaurant was pretty empty so we got to pick our own table. Once seated, we started reviewing the menus. Once decided on the drinks, we got our server to take our drink order. I specifically requested for a medium bodied medium sweet rosè wine recommendation, and the server suggested xoxo. I never heard of it so I thought, sure, I’ll try it. It tasted close to wine vinegar. I’m not sure if it was because the bottle was left open, I couldn’t really drink it. Then we ordered 2 Martel 2oz cognac. They came at different measures. See pics.

We had to wait a while for the server to come get our order. Gave her our 4 starter order and asked for all the food to be brought together. It was not. I’ve never had a situation where each starter was brought to the table individually with 10 to 15 min in between.

Server never came back in the end to get our mains order so we didn’t bother wasting any more time.

Oddities: whilst the restaurant itself is stylish and modernly designed, it lacks basic elements that you’d expect to find in any other restaurant of similar. For example. The salt and pepper shakers on each table are not in any compartment, they’re not really meant for restaurant use especially the salt, as the single hole pour makes it difficult to spread the seasoning evenly on the food. It just pours out in one fast stream. When our plates and cutlery were brought in, the server must’ve forgotten the 4th plate because she had to go back to get it. The cutlery was just a spoon and a fork. No knives. We had 2 meat starters (chicken and mutton), and had to use our forks to split/pull apart the meat into manageable bite size pieces. No napkins or serviettes available at the table. I asked for some and was brought one. One paper napkin among 4 people. The sofa-style benches were way too far from the table to eat comfortably, and a little too low to reach the plates. Perhaps some cushions would help shorter diners to sit comfortably and eat their food without having to overstretch their reach. The benches were also were very close to nearby diners. The gap between the benches to pass in and out of your table is uncomfortably narrow. You will likely have to walk sideways to get through. It’s a small design miss, but rearranging the seating would work wonders for the platform dining area.

The food: we had chicken tikka, mutton kofta kebab, gol gapeh, cauliflower bites. Asked for all the food to be made in medium spice level. It lacked spice. While this might be an individual preference, we all felt that it lacked spice. Colour bites were served first and sadly was already lukewarm. We didn’t finish the starter as it was disappointing. Chicken tikka was tasty, lovely grilled flavour, the only downside was the yoghurt was in parts inconsistent with the seasoning. Perhaps the marinade was rushed to get the food ready, hence the missed spots. The mutton kofta kebab was the best dish out of all the starters. It was very well minced and consistent with its integrated herbs and spices. Grilled to perfection, succulent, juicy. I would recommend to try it. The tough part was having to use the fork to split the 4-5 inch pieces (as no knife was present), but for what it’s worth, it was delicious.

I particularly liked the mini decanters they use to bring your carbonated drinks and remaining wine. Added elegance to the underdressed table.

Would I dine here again? Sure, perhaps on a weekday they would be less swamped and bring the food out all at once and have servers less overwhelmed to attend the table...

I recently visited this restaurant with high expectations, but unfortunately, my experience was quite disappointing due to several issues:

Drinks: When our drinks were served, they came without ice, soda, or water. We had to specifically ask for each of these, which was inconvenient and disrupted our dining experience.

Chicken Chilly: This dish was particularly problematic. The chicken was so tough that it required a knife to cut through it. Additionally, the texture and taste suggested that the chicken was either cooked with the skin on or was stale, making it quite unappetizing.

Biryani: The biryani we ordered was not up to standard. It seemed like the restaurant had added a flavored chicken that did not complement the dish. Moreover, the biryani was overloaded with garam masala, which might have been because we requested it to be spicy. However, the result was an unpleasantly overpowering flavor.

Main Course: There was an error with our main course order. When we pointed this out, the server informed us that the mistake was made by the chef. This passing of blame did not help improve our impression of the service.

Paneer Dish: On a positive note, the paneer item was exceptional. It was well-prepared and delicious, standing out as the highlight of our meal. If I ever return, it would likely be just to enjoy this dish again.

Soup Service: We requested an extra bowl for our soup, but the server brought the bowl without a spoon. Additionally, there was no serving spoon provided to divide the soup. By the time we managed to get the necessary utensils, the soup had already gone cold.

Atmosphere: The restaurant has a pleasant atmosphere that is suitable for groups and families. This aspect was one of the few positives during our visit.

Drink Menu: There was confusion regarding the drink menu. It listed open hours similar to happy hours, but the server informed us that these offers only applied to a limited food menu printed on the last page, with no actual drink offers. This was attributed to a misprint, which was misleading and frustrating.

Patiala Peg Cocktail: I tried the Patiala Peg cocktail, but it was very basic and did not meet my expectations. It lacked any distinctive flavor or presentation that would make it stand out.

Extra Onions: We asked for some extra onions, and to our surprise, we were charged around $7 including taxes. This seemed excessive for such a simple request and left a...

My husband and I had business in the morning that stretched into the afternoon so we arrived here around 2pm for our first meal of the day VERY hungry. There were very few other customers, but I believe that was because of the hour of the day.

We were not disappointed! We started with the tandoori mutton seekh kebab and they were wonderful. They came with green (mint?) chutney. We also ordered the lemon coriander soup and oh man this was a first for us and it was amazing. I thought I wanted a hot beverage to warm up... nope I needed this soup. It was lemony and not overwhelmed with coriander but herbaceous. It was really well-balanced and we enjoyed it so much we ordered a second bowl. My husband ordered the prawn salad that was listed on the website somewhere, but we couldn't find it in the menu they provided. We found out from the waitress that it was out of season but she would ask if the kitchen staff could make one anyway. The kitchen staff came through and made us the prawn salad and it was so good. This might have been the highlight of our meal. We have dined out at lots of Indian restaurants but this prawn salad was different and special. It had very fresh veggies including lettuce (I think romaine), cucumber, red onion, tomato... and it was topped with a generous portion of chopped prawns. I will be attempting to come up with a similar dressing. I think it was yogurt based with cilantro and maybe lime. The dressing was such a nice counterpoint to the smoky tandoor cooked prawns.

We weren't in a hurry as we were there for the dining experience and had no where to be. Someone else might complain they were slow, but I didn't think so because we were there to just relax and enjoy.

We would happily dine here...