Bazar — Restaurant in Birmingham

Given the location and the rave reviews (in hindsight I should have looked at their provenance a bit closer) we were really looking forward to our pre Xmas lunch here. Furthermore a Persian restaurant would be 'interesting' given Persia now predominantly occupied Iran. I don't understand the Lebanese connection given they are a long way from each other - not that any of this matters to me. It's all about the food but sadly it didn't live up to our expectations, even more so given their prices. It started off well enough, the staff were friendly and helpful and offered us any table as the dining room was extremely quiet, a bit surprising I thought considering the time of year. The dining room is nicely presented and the tables give it a luxury feel however it's all open plan which looks out into the HN store and the kitchen, thus it doesn't have a cosy or romantic feel to it. The menu needs a lot of interrogation as the descriptions do not give you much of an indication of what the dish contains and how it is put together. The drinks list is quite comprehensive apart from the limited choice of beers or lagers, there are only two that I recall, plus a cider. All are in bottles but they don't state their sizes. I had the Mondelo which was very pleasant. The wife was unhappy with the meagre glass of prosecco, especially as it was quite nice, apparently it's the only size they can do and it comes only halfway up the prosecco glass, really? After much deliberation and interrogation we both opted for the same kofta dish, with a bread and saffron rice. When it arrived we looked at each other with the same expression of disappointment. It looked anaemic and had very little taste. The brown flavoursome sauce that was promised being replaced with a something more akin to a ras malai. It then turned out that this was the best part of the dish, the mince in the kofta was awful, particularly the wife's which was very coarsely ground and full of gristle and she promptly returned. Both meals were quite cool and I am thinking a microwave had been involved in their preparation. Even the flat bread was oily and therefore soggy. The only thing that was as it should be was the saffron rice, even then there wasn't a sign of any saffron. We obviously made our thoughts known to the staff and there was an apology. The offending dish was taken off the bill however it wasn't until we got home that I realised the service charge was still there. We have eaten Persian food before but admittedly it's not very often, but we have never had an issue until now. Perhaps it was a one off but can only speak as we find, and you don't get a second chance to make a...

After reading a review on TripAdvisor about the vegan afternoon tea at Harvey Nichols, I thought it would be perfect to celebrate my Mum's 60th birthday as she is a vegetarian who can’t eat eggs.

I booked a table for 4pm for Saturday with Anthony who was very professional and mentioned they could surprise my Mum with a small birthday cake. I received a call 15 minutes later to explain that they were fully booked no Saturday so I rearranged for Sunday at 3pm.

Be warned that the portion sizes are small. Per person, there were two sandwich finger pieces, one slice of wrap, and one small canape. The vegan scones, brownie piece and mini biscuits were powdery, as if you were eating flour despite adding so much jam and coconut butter to the scones and we all needed to have a drink in order to eat it.

My family’s tea came cold the first time around and the coffee came in espresso cups. Although it states unlimited tea and coffee, at some point you get tired of waiting for someone to be available and asking for another cup!

In the end I was really disappointed with this as I expected high quality at Harvey Nichols because of the brand image. At £22 per person, which can be equivalent to two course meal at other restaurants in the Mailbox, it was not fit for purpose. My Mum didn’t even get the happy birthday cake mentioned during my initial call!

The manager explained how there is not a set vegan menu so they offer it upon request and explained how the food would be dry as there is no dairy or eggs in the product. I am no expert in vegan cooking but have baked many vegan items for family and friends and there are plenty of substitutes, from mixing flax seeds with water, egg replacement powders, aquafaba, oils, almond milk…and the list goes on!

The manager offered a 20% discount which wasn’t much as it was applied to the price with service charge included. To save the day, went to Red Peppers to continue the celebrations, where my mum thoroughly enjoyed some appetizers. I regret celebrating my Mum’s 60th birthday at Harvey Nichols, as it was clear the food was bought in from elsewhere.I would definitely not recommend it to anyone else and encourage people to spend their...

I booked to have my hair done here, advising that I have allergies and would need to bring my own shampoo etc. Unfortunately I was the day there was a major water burst and this impacted what was going on in the salon. I was kept waiting for 40 mins without offer of refreshments. The stylist did come over and advise she was running behind and offered a coffee, which I didn't get. I was eventually shampooed and was went to sit in front of the mirror with my coffee eventually...1 hour and 10 mins after my appointment. The stylist was very apologetic and offered complimentary make up but again I advised I have allergies...another 20 mins went by and I had to have my hair re washed as it had dried and I was sat in the massage back wash and left alone. Many apologies later I was advised my hair cut would be complimentary but at this point I decided to just get my coat. I explained that i was running out of time as I was going to meet my partner to watch a show. After a further promise of a 10 min wait I decided to stay, hair needed to be damped down again and someone came behind me to rub something in my hair at which point i jumped as i cannot have anything with preservatives as i am highly allergic. So i eventually got the stylist after 2 hours 10 mins, only to have her disrupted as another client was complaining about the delay. The stylist was very stressed. She trimmed my hair and as I had explained I cannot dye it and was starting to grey, I had asked for advice on styling ect, I just barely got eye contact, she was very distracted...she asked it I liked what shed done and I said not really as it was flat, like I'd had a hat on ! She did a little back comb and a few twists with the straightener. I just said not to bother as she was clearly too busy . I left. I ended up with my hair in a pony tail that evening. I was so disappointed with the whole experience and if I'd not been given this as a complimentary I would have left...