Karim's Original From Jama Masjid Delhi 6 — Restaurant in Kolkata

First things first, this place comes no where close to the Original Karim's in Delhi.

I had great expectations and had been particularly excited when the franchise opened its doors, staying in the vicinity only. In fact, I remember myself a couple of times asking the guards as to when the inauguration would take place when the interior decoration was still underway. Here are the pointers for the readers to judge for themselves: Three of my school friends and myself went there yesterday,with two of them joining us a bit late.

On entering you are asked to mention your name, contact number and the number of people with you. The person on the ground floor notes them down on a register. Now when the meal was over(we still hadnt paid and thought of ordering Kulfi which we did),two of my pals went out for a smoke. When they were about to re-enter, the same person in the ground floor stopped them and said that against my name only two people had been allotted a table. We remember telling the person that a table for four is to be arranged. After a lot deliberations were they allowed to enter and rejoin us.

When we first set foot on the floor, we had selected a table and were about to sit, one waiter appeared and said that portion of the floor was not open till 8pm. We reached the restaurant at 8.30pm by the way. We were asked to sit on a long sofa where already two couples were having their meals. On insistence, the waiter asked if we were comfortable on the sofa, which we weren't. Only then could we sit at the table of our choice.

One of my friends is working from home. He had to take a client call so he had brought his laptop with him. Our table had cutlery upon them so when the time to receive the call came, he found a vacant table for two and sat down to make the call. Mind you the table was still vacant.

Now, if you go there you will find that there's one lady constantly doing the rounds on the restaurant floor. Since, my friend had been sitting on a vacant table, she instead of approaching us instructed a waiter to tell him to sit at our original table. This did not go down well with me since I was the host of the evening.I find this type of behaviour offending.

Now coming to the food part,it may be said in the least that the food was quite ordinary and extremely overpriced. One can go to similar North Indian/Mughlai restaurants and find better quality food at an affordable price. However, it may be mentioned that the service was prompt and we weren't made to wait for a long time for service.

Before paying the bill, I pointed out all the shortcomings that came to my notice to the Floor Manager with special emphasis on the behaviour of the lady(the behaviour wasn't ladylike at all). To my utter amazement, my friend wasn't even offered an apology from the restaurant side.

Thereby, I feel no hesitation in mentioning that I won't be the one to revisit the place and certainly would not recommend the place to my acquaintances.

I feel my review had been an essay type piece 😄 but I had to mention these events since I had high expectations...

I dined out at Karim's Golpark last evening with my three other family members - my wife, daughter and mother-in-law who's 80+. The entrance is a bit narrow and skewed but they have a spacious lift that took us to the 2nd floor i.e. the restaurant. The staff were polite and helpful right from the security guard at the entrance - especially to my old MIL.

The ambience was pleasing, seats comfortable and low volume classical instrumental music fortified the atmosphere.

The floor staff greeted us with smiles and provided all necessary info re: our choice of items in the menu adding in their suggestions from time to time.

We ordered:

*Mutton Burra (4 pieces: ₹ 495/-) - succulent and aromatic mutton pieces (not minced)

*Badshahi Badam Pasanda (Full: ₹ 650/-) - white flavoured gravy cooked with almond paste with 4 pieces of mutton garnished with flakes of almonds - an unique preparation.

*Chicken Jahangiri (Full: ₹ 550/-) - multi-spiced gravy with typical Mughlai aroma containing 4 pieces of succulent chicken. A contrasting taste and flavour to the mutton dish and this was suggested by the waiter.

*2 pieces each of plain Nun (₹ 90/- each) and Khamiri (Tandoori) Roti (₹ 70/- each) - reasonably large size and tasty too.

*Firni (₹ 150/-) - standard taste.

Lastly, on hearing that this was our 25th marriage anniversary day, the staff offered us a plate of Shahi Tukra (a tasty dessert) free on the house adorned with a lighted candle. We all appreciated their kind gesture.

On the whole, we spent just over ₹ 600/- per person that seems a tad expensive at the first sight. But the ambience, courtesy of the staff, the quality of cooking and the taste and aroma made it worthwhile. Nothing comes cheap now-a-days and quality demands expenses. This is, of course, my personal view but, on the whole, Karim's Golpark did provide us an enjoyable evening on...

⭐ 0 Star We visited Kolkata Karim’s with a group of 9 friends. One of our friends wanted egg biryani, but since the restaurant doesn’t serve that, the waiter strongly recommended their Raan Biryani. Unfortunately, this turned into a very disappointing experience.

The waiter never mentioned that the raan (mutton) would be cooked separately and then served with biryani rice and aloo. After waiting 30–40 minutes, rice was served first. It looked well-garnished, but the taste was extremely salty. When we informed the waiter, he kept arguing and said it was their “secret masala.”

When the raan mutton finally arrived, it was even worse:

The meat was not fresh and had a bitter, chemical-like taste.

Some pieces were undercooked, with dry nalli (bone) parts.

No biryani flavor at all — just separately cooked meat placed with rice.

It was so bad that we couldn’t even eat it — the mutton went to waste.

Even the waiter admitted that the raan is cooked separately and then assembled with rice. This is not authentic biryani, but a sales gimmick presented as one.

On the same day, I had Dada Boudi Biryani (Barrackpore) with friends, and the difference was massive — fresh, flavorful, and real biryani. Places like Dada Boudi, D Bapi, and Zam Zam are far superior in both quality and quantity.

We also tried a chicken side dish here, but the chicken wasn’t fresh and tasted average. Compared to Delhi Jama Masjid, Kolkata Karim’s FAILS far behind in quality, taste, and authenticity.

Overall, this was a complete waste of money, and worse, even the mutton got wasted because it was inedible. Kolkata Karim’s failed completely and left us...