Royal Shalimar Birmingham — Restaurant in Birmingham

I attended a wedding here on 10th August. The venue was one of the nicest I have seen in Birmingham and I liked the food too. However, these are the only two positive things I can say and reflect the rating I have given. The air con wasn’t working properly and kept switching on and off throughout the evening.

The security staff outside of the venue were nowhere to be seen after everyone was inside. They didn’t really guide any of the guests properly or tell anyone to park their cars behind the venue as there is a car park there. A lot of us ended up parking across the road (including myself and my family which was annoying with 2 kids under the age of 3 trying to cross the main road).

The food service was shambolic to say the least. The starters arrived first but there was no salad or chutneys with it so we had to ask the waiter to bring this out which took a long while. The lamb pilau arrived as one of the mains but the curries didn’t come with it. Again, we had to ask the waiter and we ended up waiting a while for this. Finally, it came to dessert and no vanilla ice cream was brought out with it but we didn’t end up waiting too long for that.

I asked the waiter if they had any more chana chaat as that ran out. He came back out and said sorry there’s no more chana chaat left! My MIL asked for a high chair for my oldest son and was told by a waiter that there weren’t anymore left whilst she saw 2 other guests get high chairs for their kids.

A lady was holding her grandson and they were crossing the road when they were hit by a car outside of the venue as they left the wedding.

I asked a member of staff for some water and he took over 20 minutes to go and get some. I asked for an ambulance to be called and my husband’s cousin called one. Then my husband asked a member of staff to get ice packs and a first aid box as the little boy hit the windscreen of the car and was bleeding. The member of staff stared at my husband for a good 5 minutes, looked really confused and asked “what’s that?!”

I’m baffled and extremely concerned as to why there was no security OUTSIDE of the venue when they’re supposed to be there from 6pm to 11pm. My husband was outside with our oldest son and he said they were nowhere to be seen whilst the wedding was going on inside. People of all ages and disabilities including elderly individuals and young kids attend weddings here so I’m confused as to why there is no security to escort people safely inside and outside the venue.

The fact that wedding guests acted more quickly to get medical help than the security staff that ghosted because they don’t care to do their jobs properly is beyond shameful.

Nobody is first aid trained or trained in general to handle basic responsibilities to ensure an event runs smoothly. How do you not know what a first aid kit is?!

The first response I got back from someone working at Royal Shalimar is that the food was packed and never ran out. If that’s the case why didn’t anyone open the box for the chana chaat to serve when it ran out? Why wasn’t any of the 3 security staff outside the premises at all times? Nobody asked them to patrol the main road as you’ve stated to me on WhatsApp but I’m sure they could’ve called an ambulance at a bare minimum when the accident happened.

I don’t appreciate my words being twisted by whoever I spoke to but it’s typical behaviour when you can’t admit your wrong doings. All you’ve cared about is money. For anyone reading this, book your events here at your own risk. I would avoid this venue at all costs because they have no regards to safety and you won’t see a member of staff when you need them because they’re incompetent, lazy and can’t be bothered...

Date/time of visit - Fri 16th August 2024 at 8pm to 9:45pm.

Great polite staff and service, and very patient.

Amazing delicious food. Between myself and my family we tried almost all their available dishes and found that we enjoyed and found the majority of the variety great.

I had spoken to who I believe were a couple of managers, 1 at the reception and 1 in the main hall overseeing and looking after everything/everyone (both customers and staff) in regards to concerns relating to allergens.

Whilst understanding the current law and their policies abiding, they openly advise that it's up to the customers discretion that whilst they may be able to advise on allergen ingredient used in their variety of foods they cannot promise a 100% elimination of cross contamination during the prep, cooking and serving of the food.

Both managers did their best to actively find out from the chefs across the different foods to be able to advise me which foods contained sources of gluten and which do not, however the ones do not still had a risk of exposure to cross contamination therefore up to my own discretion to eat depending on my own allergy severity.

I had really appreciated that they could quickly find out for me and advise which foods knew definitely contained gluten in their ingredients, so I could avoid those in addition to the ones I already expected to contain gluten, and was still able to dine on a variety of their amazing food.

They were extremely patient and understanding and did not rush to resolve my query or concern, nor did they brush me off.

They had a clear allergen advice notice on their website, a couple of places in the food hall/buffet serving areas, and 1 at the reception table, openly advising on their allergen notice and policy. The managers seem open to further enquiries and will do their best to advise (with confirmed knowledge before advising) and will be straight up honest with you. Hugely appreciated.

Key - if you have any allergies/suffer from any allergens and are quite severe/sensitive then they recommend that this is by a place for you to dine as they cannot promise being free from any cross contamination, despite being able to find out to advise which foods would definitely or may contain whatever allergens you are concerned with.

Sorry I didn't catch the names of the 2 managers I had spoken with, however I really appreciate their help and advice enabling me to have a great dinner and buffet dining experience, and being patient and finding out on the food to provide me confirmed advice of what I could eat and what to definitely avoid. They were calm relaxed kind polite and extremely approachable.

Also, the restaurant looked absolutely amazing.

My only advice for improvement would be to maybe advise families/parents with small kids to actually supervise and help their kids to get their food and desserts, as many small kids seemed to be approaching the desserts on their own and had made a mess in the dessert area and many of the "clean" dessert bowls were actually dirty, which were also not appearing to be washed properly for a customer to use...

EDIT: This place, whilst has amazing staff and great food was MAJORLY let down by the host (male, bald, white shirt and tie) We used to go regularly, to the point staff would recognise us on sight, often bringing friends and family, but after a recent experience which was insulting at best by the “host” we shall unlikely be returning. 1, The host kept touching my friend, putting his arm around them making them feel very uncomfortable, until they had to tell him to stop touching them. We often have the round table when available, and this has never been a problem before but today he demanded if we want this table we have to pay him extra, even though the place was not busy at all. Your price is per person, not per table type, so why is he asking this all of a sudden, it felt very suspicious. He has been rude to us before, when attending with a young baby, trying to force us to sit at the back in a very busy area, which was impossible to get to with the pushchair and making us feel like a nuisance for coming out for a meal as a family. He also told us to place the baby behind us where we would be unable to see him, which is completely unreasonable. No parent would do that! He was spectacularly rude today, ruining our evening, making me feel so embarrassed for bringing my friends and putting them through this. My friends were made to feel so uncomfortable they barely ate and we left as quick as possible all because someone thinks too much of himself and is in the position to provide customer service despite seriously lacking BASIC customer service skills

I genuinely feel sorry for the other staff, and whoever owns this establishment, as all the other staff are wonderful, and the food is really good, but this is being overshadowed by one employee who will continue to have a negative impact on the business should he remain in a customer facing role allowing him to interact and treat their customers this way - some people just shouldn’t have customer facing role as they don’t possess the skillset or temperament for it, and this is one of those cases

PREVIOUS REVIEW: Gave it a try despite the bad reviews and glad we did. Staff were super helpful. Food was really good- Lamb chops were great! Nihari and Haleem the best we’ve had in a restaurant. Pizza was fantastic, crisp, thin base and not overly complicated.

Only downsides: cakes were a bit dry (gajar ka halwa and gulab jamun were fantastic) the ladies bathrooms like an igloo no baby change...