Balti Palace Denaby — Restaurant in Doncaster

"Snared by a Restaurant formerly known as The Drum pub" Date of Visit: Saturday 14/06/14

The Balti Palace plies its trade from a building that was formerly The Drum public house - would it snare us?

Patrons can make use of the ample on-site car parking, which we did (3 cars, 4 people) I found the restaurant to be tastefully furbished on the interior and the toilets were bright, fresh and clean

The staff members are very welcoming and friendly, never overbearing or fawning.

Alcohol is served in the restaurant - but after I had engaged the staff with 5 minutes of chat before joining my friends at our table, they realised that we like and approve of "the Bradford model" and they didn't try to serve us with any alcoholic beverages.

Ample time was given for us to study and chat about the dishes on offer. In the meantime water and glasses were brought to the table without having to ask.

We were offered poppadoms and pickles (which having read a review elsewhere since, it looks as if these would have been gratis) but turned them down as one of our party doesn't like it if we query if they are complimentary.

For a starter, I went for the Mixed Kebab (£3.40) - it arrived sizzling in a hot cast iron dish accompanied with some nicely cooked onions. The Seek Kebab was sublime, excellent spicing, the Shami Kebab was also very good, as was the Onion Bhaji. All 3 starter looked as if they had been made on the premises rather than bought in en bulk from an Asian supermarket.

For a main, I selected the Chicken Sagwala (£5.70) from the House Specials section of the menu:

"cooked with fresh spinach richly flavoured with fresh herbs & spices. A popular dish with Asian restaurant staff. Highly recommended" - is how this dish is described.

This dish did not let the description down, it was very, very good! A House Special for just £5.70! Brilliant!

I had, what is now becoming my South Yorkshire curry norm of 2 Chapattis (60p each) with the curry. The Chapatti's were of a good size and texture but only arrived luke warm for some reason?

We ate early, 5:45pm, and it was also a World Cup night - maybe this explains why we were the only customers in the restaurant? Then again, we didn't leave until 7:45pm and still there were no other on site customers - the take-a-way service did appear to be doing a brisk trade though.

I have given this restaurant a much deserved 4 out of 5 stars - I would have awarded it 5 stars if the Chapatti's had arrived hot and also if there had been a couple of spoonfuls more curry. I ran out of curry with a quarter of a Chapatti remaining.

The good people of Denaby Main have a top quality restaurant right on their door step! I hope that they use it and that they don't lose it due to poor customer uptake.

The "boys" travel in all the way from Bradford each day - that alone saves you £18's worth of petrol.

A top quality Bradford restaurant without even having to leave the village - what more can I...

I am vegan, and if I'm visiting a restaurant for the first time, I ring ahead and ask if they can cater for me. I have visited Balti Palace many times and they've catered for me without issue, so I did not call. Yesterday, I arrived with a group of non vegan friends, and had the "vegan" discussion with a guy who worked behind the bar. His first language isn't English, so he told me the chicken tikka was suitable 😂 So I smiled and spoke with one of the wait staff, he had no problem understanding, however he told me there is nothing they can make which is vegan. I said, I just want something simple and assured him I'm easily pleased, just could they just use fresh veg oil when frying, for example. He said words to the effect of "if you can't have animal products, you can't eat here as there's no guarantees" I explained I know there's no guarantees, but as long as it's cleaned down and no deliberate animal products, that'd be good enough. He stormed off and said he would speak to the kitchen. Came back and said they'd make me something. Didn't tell me what, fair enough, I had told him I was easily pleased. For starter the veg pakora came and, other than being a little burned it was nice. I asked if they could make me a Chapatti out of just plain flour and water to go with my curry came which was tasty. They brought pilau rice with my friends dishes, and I asked the waiter if I could have it, he said yes, I asked if there was any butter in it and he very aggressively said "yes, there's no guarantees, butter comes from cow". So I asked him for boiled rice. I know a lot of people dislike vegans, so I try to be super nice when things go wrong, and in fairness, they're usually an accident when they do. So I asked my friends if I'd come across as rude to this guy and they assured me I'd been nothing but lovely to him. This wasn't a "me" problem. There is a sign that says something like "if you have allergies, please tell the wait staff". I think its missing something it should say "and we'll tell you to bugger off" at the end 😂 It was anxiety/rage inducing. And sadly, despite having visited a number of times before, I will...

staff were pretty unpleasant on occasions, felt like we were bothering them sometimes. paid just shy of £35 for a korma, veggie balti, chapattis, naan, onion bhajis and rice. barely even managed to eat half of it, and my partner couldnt have a single mouthful of his. waiting time was a bit long for food that tasted like it had been reheated and/or wasnt cooked for long enough. the one star is solely for the bhajis since they were the only thing that tasted pretty decent.

was made to sit and wait in a holding area whilst the staff continuously looked over at us, and because my partner and i are queer this made us feel particularly uncomfortable simce we both noticed this happening and made us feel rather awkward.

plus, if youre after eating somewhere with a bright atmosphere and good vibe, we probably wouldnt suggest this place unless you enjoy staring at blank grey walls whilst sat of rickety chairs and overhearing almost every single conversation arounf you. plus we were made to feel welcome whatsoever and were basically just sat down for them to take money out of our wallets.

definitely a lot better places to go for an indian rather than here, and pretty unfortunate that there was no sympathy when we explained our experience to them. pretty saddening if you ask me. on our way to get a maccas, at least we know it will taste fairly decent and wont make us...