The Barrel Bar and Grill — Restaurant in Birmingham

Went for a meal tonight, after being recommended by colleagues and after reading the positive reviews. I had rang to book a table for 6 for 7 pm, as we entered the place was ghostly with nobody there and no staff members. One of the staff members then finally came and told us where our table was (not that we needed a booking as the place was dead). We then ordered drinks and starters - the large mixed grill, fish pakora, chilli paneer, paneer pakora and masala chips. The starters did not arrive for 1 whole hour after asking multiple times for an update on when the food would arrive, unfortunately we had already ordered and paid for our mains at this point as we thought we should order early so that they can have that ready a little quicker. For mains we had ordered chicken curry, dhal and palak paneer. Once they did arrive, the food tasted as follows:

Large Mixed Grill - the only thing worth eating was the seekh kebab, not that there was much of it compared to the other items on the grill and the lamb chops

Fish Pakora - came to the table and were very strange looking compared to the fish pakora served at other eateries i.e. The grove, red lion and new Talbot. Still we tried them and they were disgusting, with a thick and hard batter they are the strangest version of fish pakora I have ever tasted.

Chilli Paneer - very standard, small portion, but was actually one of the better tasting starters.

Paneer Pakora - again a very thick batter overpowered with cumin.

Masala Chips - these were actually nice and delicately flavoured and edible.

Chicken curry - the chicken pieces were left over pieces of chicken tikka with a very weird powdery over-powering watery sauce

Dhal - this was actually the most tasty dish that the chef had cooked, and the only main meal we actually managed to finish.

Palak Paneer - this was a disgusting tasteless dish, it tasted like a tin of spinach was just dumped onto some paneer and then a drizzle of cream was put on top. The spinach sauce had no flavour of spices such as chilli and ginger, and to top it off this dish was served cold.

Due to the poor food and poor service due to the time taken to get the starters to us, we asked to speak to the chef. We had expressed all this about our experiences of the food and the service, however there was no sign of any compensation for this poor experience, not even a simple apology.

I will definitely be avoiding this place now after an absolutely apalling first and last experience, I would much rather visit New Talbot Inn, New Soho Tavern, Red Lion, Bradford Arms -Champys, The Grove.

If I could give this place a zero...

While the whole country was on 50% off food this place wasent thats -1 star. Waited 45mins for food when place was kinda empty. Curry was awfully small when you could go anywhere else for the same price and get a healthy curry. Nan bread was very thin, if i wanted a thin bread ill ask for a roti maybe? Rude women (owner?) i dont know but attitude stank. Overall rating wont be back here again and wouldent ever recommend. If you want to dine well and pay the same price the new soho...

Love this place .. home cooked indian food over charcoal, the curries are basic but tasty and cooked by Uncle the same way as he cooks for his family upstairs , the food is very cheap compared to other desi pubs with a large mixed grill for £11 , nanns at £1.50 and curries below £7 , a pint is around £3 . 2 of u can eat and have a couple of drinks for under £30 , well worth a visit ..

Still good but now seems a bit...