Hanif Rajput Rooftop Grill — Restaurant in Zone 1

As part of a well-earned celebration for reaching our sales target, our team of 20 chose to dine at Hanif Rajput Restaurant in Islamabad. With a budget of around Rs. 45,000 to Rs. 50,000, we were expecting a memorable evening of excellent food and professional service — especially considering the restaurant’s longstanding name in the catering and hospitality industry.

Unfortunately, the experience fell short of expectations on multiple levels.

Food Quality

We ordered a wide variety from their top offerings, including:

Lebanese Platters

Mutton Karahi

Seekh Kebabs

Assorted Starters

Ras Malai for dessert

Out of the entire meal, the seekh kebabs were the only highlight — well-cooked and flavorful. The rest of the food was below average, both in taste and freshness. The Lebanese platter, in particular, lacked authenticity and presentation, while the mutton karahi was overly oily and lacked depth in flavor. The ras malai was a major disappointment — bland and soggy, missing the richness one expects from a premium dessert.

Service

The service was noticeably poor throughout the evening. The staff was either under-trained or simply unavailable most of the time. Basic things like refilling water, checking on table needs, or clearing used plates were either delayed or completely ignored. With such a large party, we expected more attentiveness and coordination.

Ambience

We were seated on the 5th floor open-air area, which was surprisingly uncomfortable. The area was filled with bugs, likely due to poor maintenance and artificial greenery, which in the summer heat, attracts pests. Moreover, the fans provided were ineffective, making the dining experience physically uncomfortable as well.

Final Thoughts

Given the overall poor service, subpar food (except the kebabs), and lackluster environment — we do not recommend Hanif Rajput Restaurant for group events or corporate dinners. It’s unfortunate, considering the brand’s reputation and pricing, but this experience clearly showed a decline in quality and management. Our team will be considering alternative venues...

A good dine out rooftop place with beautiful views of Islamabad all around. When we went the place was already really packed so make reservation before coming else you have to wait for your turn!

Coming to the food we ordered: Mutton Karahi: it was really good in taste. The mutton was soft and tender. Special bbq platter: everything in the platter is very tasty. But the only thing that was not in it and they didn’t tell us before placing the order that Kabuli pulao was not in the menu and they without telling us served us their special rice which weren’t even good in taste. Tawa Chili Chicken: it was also good in tatse and it is not some ordinary street food style tawa chicken but more like a salan as when we asked they couldnt describe it properly. It should be served in a pot as it was so cold. They also serve some sort of tandoori roti with it which was also good. Chicken Sindhi Biryani: biryani was also good in taste as well in quantity.

The prices are a bit high so keep in view before ordering. Large gatherings could cost you a good amount of bill :)

Other than that the staff was cooperative and kind enough to listen to our requests and make amendments for the wrong order serving.

Recommendation: the waiters should be trained enough that they should know how to describe a dish in terms of taste as well as in quantity. Some dishes were so poorly described. The Salan items should be served in a pot so that they’ll remain hot...

Situated at the top of a shopping mall in Islamabad, it has limited seating capacity on the roof top side. I would say, that the main selling point is of course the roof top side, so, to have a very limited space in the first place is disadvantageous for the restaurant. When we went there to have dinner, we were lucky to have secured a table after a good amount of struggle. We were seated and ordered food. In the meantime, the weather turned very pleasant and although it had been thundering for a while, we now started to experience a few drops of water as it got apparent that rain was about to start. Trusting that a roof top hotel, and that too in Islamabad, would surely have seen to it that what they would do in the event of rain, we kept seated and enjoyed the steadily increasing rain, but when it got uncomfortably wet, we called up the waiter to roll out the rain cover which we had seen folded to a side. To our horror, surprise and dismay, the waiter informed that it was not a rain cover, but it was made of cloth and intended to shield from sunlight. Just imagine, a roof top restaurant in Islamabad and that too without any arrangement for protecting the customers from rain??? All the people ran helter-skelter, us included. We took the nearest lift, got to the parking and escaped home. So guys, don't go there in rain as they are not prepared at all to protect their customers from rain. Not recommended during...