Alam — Restaurant in Birmingham

The biggest issue you’ll perhaps experience with Alam Restaurant, is the poor communication, which is made worse by the quirky online and/or app-based ordering system in The Courtyard part of the restaurant, which is situated to the rear of the premises.

A large group of my family members and I, recently tried Alam’s and noticed quite a few oddities about the place. The venue is very lavish but as we were a large party, we were immediately relegated to the upstairs, which isn’t terrible, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the downstairs. Of note, is the fact that the car park behind the neighbouring Al-Halal supermarket, is shared with Alam’s and is free, subject to you entering your vehicle reg in the tablet near the downstairs till.

Anyway, as we sat down, my brother noticed very small buckets of chilli and mint sauces dotted along the table, along with starter plates for each seat, so he asked the waiter if we could order poppadums or appetisers, to which the waiter replied that they didn’t do any of that sort of thing….so why leave mint and chilli sauces, and plates on the table? Apparently to be used, if necessary, with our starters and mains…

First notable issue - despite ordering ahead, we all had to give our drinks orders again. There’s also a QR code at each table and you can order online via that, which explains why, when you go to Alam’s website and try to view the menu, you have to select a table no. first.

The second issue, and this is the one that caused the most angst. We booked at least 3 weeks prior and were told that as we were a large group, we had to order in advance. I could put up with not having a reservation in the ‘posh’ part of the restaurant, but when they started dishing the orders out, they left people off, so some of us had some of our food, some had all of theirs, and some had nothing. When asked what the issue was, instead of apologising for making us wait 40 minutes for our food in the first place, the waiter started to give us a sob story on how busy the venue was. He wasn’t rude, but clearly has no idea that when a customer is telling you something is wrong, you reassure them you’ll fix it, not make excuses that ‘it’s busy’ or ‘it’s a large group’. We were literally a group with restaurant worker and/or owner parents . Given what this venue charges for food and especially drink, what it’s so desperately trying to be, and the number of staff there, the excuses were unacceptable. You just can’t have one or two people in a large group without their orders at the same time as the rest. Either the ones who have their food will wait out of courtesy and eat a cold meal, or the ones who didn’t get their orders on time, eat when their food turns up. Whichever way it is, it puts a dampener on things.

Having said all that, I have to say the food was pretty decent all round. I mean when you look at the menu and see the prices, you may think ‘tad overpriced’, but of the group that had steaks and donner etc, all were very happy, which included the one of us who ordered salmon. I had the beef lasagne and whilst it tasted good enough, it wasn’t technically a lasagne, because it had no tomato or bechamel sauces. It was literally a dryish desi keema with smashed pasta throughout and mozzarella on top. It was presented well but was a little overdone as the cheese had formed a rind and wasn’t very soft/stringy as mozzarella should be.

Overall, not a bad experience once we got past the ‘issues’, but really needs to polish it’s service if it wants taking seriously. I’ve put in a separate review for ‘The Courtyard’ section of the restaurant, because it’s advertised as a separate venue but is actually an annex to the rear of the...

I heard great things about this restaurant but it was very disappointing. We asked for a seat outside or upstairs and were under the impression, this was where we would be taken but then were told it's all full once we were lead to the table downstairs. We would've appreciated our expectations to be managed. You can only order online on one person's phone (if you want the food to come at once as advised by the waiter) even though you select which table and pay upfront. And note, it is difficult to get something refunded. They have their own WiFi as long as you don't mind signing up or else the signal would be very poor. The starters were nice, we had nachos and fish pakoras. The nachos were very soggy but still enjoyable. I spoke to the waiter about my reservations about ordering the steak as I like it medium rare but I know asian restaurants will over-cook it despite my request and I don't like sending food back. He was reassuring but unfortunately the steak came well-done. Two very thin steak peices arrived to make up for the oz (I think). I also ordered half and half mash and chips as a side, but they forgot my mash. I would've preferred it to be refunded because I only realised at the end but the waiter said that it couldn't be done. Please see picture of the mash that was received at the end. I don't understand how anyone can think that is acceptable to give that to a customer! The mash is a 2-3 table spoonfuls so no point opting for it or choosing half and half (we all picked half and half) Also the chips were pretty awful, unsalted, not really crispy, tasted old. Me and my friend found hair in the salad. They are bit stingy with the steak sauce but fortunately we kept the sauces from starters to make it edible. The deserts were terrible! It all tasted a week old and like fridge. Be warned, the raspberry brulee is a cheesecake not a creme brulee that has raspberry components. The drinks were nice and the dry ice was a lovely touch. We had to insist a few times to order more drinks through the waiter and not through the app. I asked for water a few times but didn't receive this. The bathroom had no soap or hand-wash and I tried to use 3 hand sanister stations at the restaurant but they were all empty. Its only irritating that we have to use the app and pay online all because of Covid but we can't wash our hands...

If you would still like to go, stick with asian food and go somewhere else...

Was looking forward to eating here however my experience was very sour. You cannot book a table online or via telephone, you have to walk in and book a table (not ideal for people who live further away) Was told a table would be vacant in 1 hr 45m which was astonishing as we could see there were many tables empty on the ground floor. When asked about the booking system to Aysha who was really pleasant, professional and answered my questions, she said Alams are unsure when diners will leave. Maybe Alams need to implement something like The Farmhouse Coventry where you have to vacate the table within 2 hours. Finally got a call from the restaurant to say our table was ready (for two people) 15 mins earlier. Upon arriving, temperature needed to be take by a stand alone machine which was great. My details had to be entered on an iphone which I didnt like (iPad would have been better). You have tl download their app and order your food and pay for food BEFORE receiving which I did not like. What happened to old fashioned waiter/waitress service? The whole concept was too futuristic for my liking. When seated upstairs, we noticed only 3 table were occupied, one of which must have been the manager/owner with another gentleman with their laptops so we were shocked we were turned away and had to wait for so long. I assumed it was because of social distancing, however, as we were finishing our food, there were plenty of customers coming in being seated around us. Ordered the chaat bombs and lamb chops for starters. Chaat bombs were disappointing as they were tastless. The lamb chops were lovely. My steak was chewy, flavourless and limp. The chips were something like I've never seen and eaten before - disgusting! Lamb Handi was filled with jalapeños when I requested it to be spicy- not good! Table wasn't cleared after starters, they just started to dump the mains till there was no room and then took the starters away. The mojitos were lovely but nothing amazing. Everything was very pretentious. Pics all look good online on social media etc but very disappointed in person. The only good thing I can say was the decor was lovely and the bathroom has a bidet. I will not be coming here again. So glad I didn't pay full price and used the gov...