Barajee — Restaurant in Birmingham

Disappointing Experience

We walked into Barajee as casual diners, and as soon as we mentioned we didn’t have a booking, the staff’s tone became noticeably cold and dismissive. No one asked about allergies or dietary preferences, and when we requested food recommendations, we were met with a blunt “no.”

Interestingly, once I started taking notes for this review, the tone of service shifted — suddenly more polite and attentive, which came off as performative.

Food: • Condiments were overly sweet. • Chicken Pakora lacked seasoning. The chicken was cooked fine, but the flavor was bland and the plating unimpressive. • Lamb Tikka was cold, chewy, and tasted microwaved. Not tender and poorly presented. • Chicken Madrasa was hot and the chicken was well-cooked — probably the best part of the meal. • Garlic Naan was sweet, not crunchy, and lacked butter.

At the end of the meal, we were given cheap-tasting chocolates and hot towels. The beer was standard.

When the server asked how the food was, I gave honest feedback. He responded by saying that the food is “only targeted to few people,” which was an unprofessional and unnecessary remark — and honestly left a bad taste.

Overall, the experience felt inconsistent, awkward, and disappointing. Not...

Barajee is one of the few places I’m prepared to eat on Broad Street. Fantastic curry house with a tiny street frontage, this upstairs restaurant has been a favourite for a number of years. The welcome here is always good and they always try to find a table for you, even when super busy.

Visited this week for the first time in a few years and it hasn’t changed - well, the decor has, but not in the fundamentals - the menu here has a number of special dishes you don’t see that often.

Opted to try the duck nawabi this time - didn’t disappoint. Lovely rich curry topped with egg, served with rice. Duck was tender and fall-apart tasty, which hasn’t always been my experience ordering a duck curry. The egg was not in a net but hey, you can’t have everything…

Keema bread on the side was tasty and the sheekh kebab was good. Two sauce with the sheekh kebab a nice touch. You like to see it.

The beer was Cobra. Cobra for the people. The beer used to be Kingfisher for a number of years. I don’t always like change, but could live with this one.

A couple of big parties in the night we visited, but service was still excellent and quick.

Made me think of the past. Many memories here over the years. Time moves on, but always nice to see some things do not...

My husband and I came to Birmingham to see a show. We were going to get a burrito down the street but they were closed so we thought we would have a look at their menu. As we were looking a couple came out and told us we had to go in, said we would not regret it (the husband said that he was neither here nor there with indian but that he loved it). We thought give it a try. My husband loves indian so I thought I would make him happy and give it a try. I'm so glad I did. It was amazing, the best I have ever had. We tried one of their executive banquets. I had no idea what the dishes were but I thought give it a try and boy am I glad I did. The flavours were out of this world. The staff were very accommodating. My husband has a funny thing about lamb (he had some as pets) and they were happy to change it to chicken. The staff on tonight 28/04/24 were amazing. The wait time was nothing. They were so friendly. We will be back in Birmingham in a few weeks time and for sure be back. If you love indian or even if you don't you have to go to this place. Thank you for the...