Dishoom Birmingham — Restaurant in Birmingham

Writing this as we had a horrible experience which could have been avoided with better communication. We visit Dishoom often and expect a lot more from Dishoom and honesty after this, me and our other friends will not be visiting them ever again.

We were craving for Indian food so I walked in at 10:15 pm on 16/01/25 and requested a table for 6 people and an accompanying 2 month old baby.

The staff at the door were super nice and I was sat in a good seating area.

I ordered drinks for myself and waited for my other friends, 3 of them arrived at around 10:25 pm.

A server quickly came to take our order, we requested drinks, starters and few of the main course items to begin with by 10:35 pm, at this point we were told that we will be able to place orders till 11 pm and that was fine .

A few minutes later the server came back along with another person and we were told that the last order can be placed by 10:45 pm and we have exactly 6 minutes. This was also fine by us as we understand that staff needs to go home after a busy day of work.

All in together by 10:45 we requested

1. 8 Garlic naan
2. 1 Chole Puri Halwa
3. 2 Murgh Malai
4. 1 Black daal
5. 2 House Chaat
6. 2 chicken Ruby
7. 1 Chicken Biryani
8. 1 Pau Bhaji
9. Drinks for 6 people

Enough food for 6 people as the kitchen was closing soon we wanted to get everything right.

So far all have been well.

Drinks arrived promptly and soon food followed, we started to get food by 10:55 and by 11:05 or 11:10 pm probably most of the food was served.

We started eating food and it was all fine and then all of a sudden a lady came and left the bill on the table around 11:15 pm, which is again fine as I'm sure staff want to close up and go home on time and restaurant closing time is 11 pm.

Things started to go very bad soon after, we felt very uneasy with loads of eyes towards the table and were rushing to finish our food.

There was lots of food on the table and among all this rush my partner tried to move the jug of water as there was limited space on the table, which slipped out of her hand and water spilled all over the right hand side of the table , we apologise for this.

At 11:22 pm on of the staff members came and told that we have 5 minutes to leave the premises. We requested takeaway boxes, gathered everything and left at 11:31 pm to be precise.

I feel we were hounded out to leave without any advanced warning. They need to communicate this clearly when placing the order requests that this all needs to be finished by 11:30 pm.

If we knew this from the beginning and if this was communicated well in advanced we could have ordered a fraction of the meal instead of full dinner and would have gone somewhere else.

You can't expect people to eat like hungry beasts in 20-25 mins time span.

Not to mention 2 of our friends were looking after their 2 month old baby as well.

Let's talk about the food now!

Garlic Naan and butter Naan are different things, there was hardly any garlic, requested them as crispy which was not the case either.

Black daal was good.

House Chaat was underwhelming, the whole point of chaat is to have that crispy taste of papdi, this was mostly mashed patatoes! Lacked masala as well.

Chole Puri Halwa: good need to use less food colouring in Halwa this doesn't need to be bright red!

Pau Bhaji, Bhaji was good but needs to improve the quality of Pau.

I can't comment on chicken and non vegetarian food as I'm vegetarian.

Billing: initially came with a 12.5% service charge for the takeaway experience, we refused and requested a new bill.

That's how we ended up having the take away experience at Dishoom!

What a sad and totally avoidable dining experience!

Top tips: communicate well with your customers, they will...

Yesterday (5 star) We visited Dishoom yesterday for Breakfast, our waiter really took time to explain the menu to us and what his recommendations were. We both went for the Vegan Bombay, we swapped out a couple of items which was no trouble for them. We were asked if we had any allergies and he said he would talk to the staff about them as everything is made fresh.

He also gave us some Chai Tea to try which was absolutely beautiful.

The food was very hot and VERY filling, after three hours of walking around afterwards we were both still very full.

Really enjoyed it and it has put my faith back in Dishoom.

,4 months ago (3 star) ... This is our first time dining at a Dishoom, I have wanted to visit in so long. I booked online and was asked if there was a special occasion happening, we said it was our Anniversary and was greeted with a Happy Anniversary on our arrival, I was hoping for a free drink or something but it was still nice of them to say.

The booking system online was really easy and I was able to amend the time on the day which was very convenient.

We were asked what drinks we wanted, as I wasn't feeling great at the start I just asked for tap water and the waitress gave me a really funny look.

There are lots of items on the menu and a lot of vegetarian options which was great to see.

We were advised that we should get a starter, a main and a side each however we only wanted a main as we weren't sure on portion sizes, again we were given a funny look when we only ordered a main each, rice each and a naan. Definitely not a service with a smile with our waitress which was a shame. It's not that we couldn't afford it either but we just didn't want extras on this occasion. We were actually really glad that we didn't take her recommendation as our food really filled us up and we are still full hours later!

I ordered the Mattar Paneer and my partner ordered the Chicken Ruby, they were extremely hot which wasn't really highlighted on the menu, we eat a lot of curries but these were very spicy dishes.

The curries can not be altered - for example I didn't want peas in my Mattar Paneer Curry which was a shame but understandable as I assume it's all made before hand or made in one big pan.

We got told that she would bring the dessert menu over but we said we were full...again another strange look. We actually joked that if we were to revisit we would ask to not be served by this individual as we felt like we were being judged for what we ordered.... Or should I say not ordering.

The toilets were really nice and clean. The music which was played throughout the restaurant was really nice.

The atmosphere was really nice throughout the restaurant...just not...

Booked for my son's birthday on Saturday evening. I'd originally exchanged emails with Nerea who manages reservations I'd asked if a candle could be put in the dessert so that my son could blow out a candle which they seemed more than happy to accommodate. Upon arrival at 17.45 the restaurant was already packed and a que was forming outside, as we had a reservation we were eventually told me could go in. I mentioned about the conversation I'd had with Nerea with the lady seating us and was met with an abrupt it's down to the discretion of the server and off she went. My son actually ended up getting poorly during the meal (nothing to do with the food) but we had to cut the visit short so never actually got round to dessert and asking for the candle but the restaurant was so busy and noisy I shouldnt have had to be explaining the whole conversation again. I would not recommend booking this restaurant for a special occasion.

The waitress was sympathetic to the situation of my son being poorly as me and his dad had to keep alternating taking him to the restroom.

The food was extortionately priced and we spent just over 95 pounds on poppadoms, 2 lots of somasas (3 per dish so a total of 6) 2 mains, 3 sides (which consisted of 1 rice and 2 naan and then 3 drinks (all non alcoholic ) and 1 child's meal which only contributed to 9.50 of the bill. Just over 10.50 alone was service charge!!! I'm just glad we didn't end up having desserts too. The quality of the food was horrible. The only things I'd recommend would be the vegetables and lamb somasas. I had the chicken biryani which is advertised as not spicy, however there was okra in it which I wasn't aware what it was until I'd ate it and my throat started closing up over the table and I was unable to communicate with anyone what was happening so had to sit in pain for around 10 minutes until it passed.

The atmosphere I gave a 3 due to one of us appreciating the dimly lit atmosphere, however I found it far to dark although your eyes do slightly adjust after being sat in there for a while.

Overall it was the worst Indian food Ive ever eaten, all but the somasas. The only plus is that some other reviews say small portions, but I actually found the mains very large portion but the price is just far to expensive for...