Chaiiwala — Restaurant in Birmingham

Normally, I have no issues with chaiwala's drinks eg: karak chais. However their food always seems to have issues, at our last visit the samosa's tasted and smelt super off as if the potato filling inside was left out and pre-made way before hand. It was definitely not fresh. We'd informed the staff, and the staff gathered around the "samosa cone" (the dish) at the counter and one of the staff members took one out and ate it. She and the manager tried to prove that it was not off and "this is how they usually are". My main concern after this is the lack of hygiene in regards to covid-19, they may have been trying to prove a point but that's disgusting that they picked up our food and ate it. I wonder if she has covid-19 symptoms like a lack of taste from eating other peoples foods when other customers have complained to make a point. There's no safety at all even when there were restrictions in terms of distanced queuing and wearing masks at all times.

The time before this, we had been given apple pie samoseh when I'd order ordinary samoseh. They had been mixed into our samosa cone which the other manager sincerely apologised and had said it was a mistake. He was much more kinder and thoughtful towards his customers.

I've never had an issue at other chaiwala franchises/branches, but unfortunately this branch always takes a long time to make food or messes up an order. The manager on Saturday was rude, and sadly I won't be recommending going here anymore. Your chais were fantastic but everything else has...

Service was a huge let down. Came on Sunday about 11am. Tables were all dirty, considering we are in the middle of a pandemic there’s a lot more precautions they can take. Shop was full of people no social distancing whatsoever. Hardly any staff and it was full of delivery drivers. I can understand it was busy, but prioritising deliveries when you have a long queue of customers is appalling service. Staff started coming in and hour later when the queue died down. We waited in the queue for about 25-30 minutes as delivery drivers were priority. Food took another 20 minutes so almost an hour just to get our order. It’s a shame because the food was good, we got the desi breakfast with tea, roti and paratha, it was really nice, omelette was spicy too which gives it desi vibes. Also ordered a falooda, did feel like it was lacking in flavour could’ve been sweeter and definitely required more toppings. Staff were nice but like I said the service and wait wasn’t worth it, honestly a big let down as the food here is decent. Not too overpriced as well a big breakfast for two will probably cost you around £15. Don’t know if I will come back here simply because of the service. Get more staff when you are extremely busy, it’s annoying for customers seeing five staff turn up for their shift when they’ve been waiting...

I LOVE my food, thanks to Social Media and over hyping reviews and comments I thought I'd give it a shot.

I am extremely dissapointed to say the least. Would the quality and taste have been different if we ate instore instead of take away. I wouldn't have thought so. I purchased Chilli Paneer and Mogo along with Masala Chips, Pav Bhaji... and the much hyped Karak Chai. Both the Mogo and Paneer tasted like they were tossed on the same generic mass produced sauce which was not great.

The chips were a solid lump of mess (likely to do with the fact everything was squashed into a cone shaped take away styrene cup) also the masala sauce didnt taste of much.

The Pav Bhaji on the other hand was OK.

The KARAK CHAI, was a disaster. Review after review ranting on about the amazing Karak chai. It tasted like tea which had been simmering for some time (which is what makes it Karak) however this tasted like it had gone cold and then reheated.....I cant stand the taste of reheated Indian tea...

Sorry guys over at Chaiiwalla Soho Road, I don't normally leave negative reviews, but I dont like it when my food...