Bengal Brasserie Ormeau — Restaurant in Belfast

I used to come to the Bengal Brasserie a lot many years ago - 15-20 plus maybe - and it only came back on my radar having moved house over to the Ormeau area.

We have been there three times in the last couple of weeks and I couldn’t recommended the food, service and ambiance more highly. It’s a real treat to go there. The food is top notch - fresh, full of flavour and beautifully presented.

But what sets it apart is the warm welcome and customer service. My family and I were warmly welcomed on every occasion, and the Menu options were tailored to suit a range of tolerances to hot food and spice. Service was very attentive and personal on every occasion, and there is a clear level of pride among the staff.

The little touches like the hot towels at the end of the serving and complimentary post dinner liquor bring back great memories of classic restaurant service. We loved it all and on every visit!

This original version of Bengal Brasserie (the Lisburn Road one is a different business with difference owners I believe) has been an institution in Belfast for over 30 years and it is easy to see why it has stood the test of time when hundreds of restaurants have come and gone over three decades.

My only regret is that it fell off my radar for so long, but I am so delighted that we have...

I've been a customer here for years, and it has a decent reputation. Prices are pretty steep for a suburban Indian restaurant, and on tonight's showing, not value for money. Our group of 14 were mostly happy with their shared starters and Indian standards like Lamb Rogan Josh and Tandoori Chicken Tikka. But service was not good. Several staff just didn't seem very clued in, and I'm sorry to report, not very professional. I hate to repeat myself, but staff should be trained properly before being sent out on the floor. My Lamb Chops were completely overdone and were dry and tasteless. At £21.95 I expected much better. Mains are around the £18 to £20 mark. Starters are around £8. Sides were the best part of the menu. The Palok Paneer, spinach with Indian cottage cheese, was delicious. Aubergine slow cooked with mellow spices, was soft and smokey. But the evening was let down with poor service. There are plenty of staff, but some of them don't seem to know what they're doing. I complained about the Lamb Chops and they took them off the bill, after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing. They sent out "Little Guinnesses", featuring Baileys and Kahlua, which was a nice gesture. But I'd prefer if their food was right first time. Our bill worked out at £50 per person, which is serious money for a curry....

Very expensive for an average Indian meal. When we finally received our meal after a very long wait(about 1 hour after ordering), most of the food served to our party was ok, but nothing special and the butter chicken was awful. It appeared to be precooked chicken in a sickly sweet sauce, I've tasted better from a jar. The lamb tikka was nice enough but had no depth of flavour. I expect much better when paying what I think is quite a high price for an Indian meal (£18 -£25 was the average price for a main dish) The servers were not great either, apart from one, they were not particularly welcoming or helpful, we asked for more information about a meal we had never tried before, and the waiter just read what it said on the menu!!! This particular waiter didn't seem to have much of a clue about how to serve food or interact with customers, I think he may just have been brought in at the last minute to help out!

I appreciate that it was a busy night, but they were totally unapologetic for the slow service and watching bag after bag of takeaway food being taken to the front counter does not help the mood of hungry neglected customers in the restaurant. Not good enough for the money they...