Saffron Restaurant — Restaurant in England

It has been some time since I last visited Saffron and was surprised to see a totally new up market Saffron with new and fresh decorations albeit this establishment has always kept ahead of itself where themes and décor are concerned. We had booked to celebrate two Birthdays between the Six of us we were guided to our table which we had pre-booked as is always advisable with this award winning establishment, the drinks order was quickly taken although one of our crew was spoiled for choice by the tremendous choice of Gins but after a few minutes she had made her decision. The menus were offered and the and varied choice between tried and tested favourites, Bangladeshi and Nepalese classic dishes and a selection of Chefs favourite including their award winning dish of sea bass which was heralded at the House Of Commons Westminster who host probably the most prestigious cook off within the UK with the much coveted award of the Tiffin Cup.

Our choices were made and the Maître D Rana Rahman was there to take the order and advise, Rana has established himself as one of the most professional managers within the County and his knowledge of South Asian cuisine is only upstaged by his larger than life personality and tremendous sense of humour which appeals to his guests. The food arrived after a respectable time of which we used to snack on poppadums’ plus an array of chutneys, the starters were varied and I chose sheik kebabs which were served fresh from the tandoor and not a hint of dryness, others had chosen a variety of snacks including tikkas, samosas, bhajis and pakoras. The varied Main courses of Chicken and lamb were all serve in a rich gravy with different dishes having different appearances and aromas and again all main ingredients were cooked to perfection being succulent and not overcooked as is often the case in other restaurants, we also chose a variety of side dishes rice and breads. The restaurant premises was established in I think 1964 and was bought by its present owner some 15 years ago and since that time has been regularly updated and has won many awards for its cuisine, the staff are consistent and there is a feeling of professional warmth and that your enjoyment as a guest is paramount. Wednesday nights is a banquet night at a very respectable price however the reduced price does not bring smaller portions or standards. All in all we had a fantastic feast with free entertainment from Maître D Rana and we will not leave it so long to...

For the food, it's probably 3 stars, in that it was thoroughly average. The 2 mains we had tasted identical (Not to mention looking identical but both cost well over £10), the chicken pieces were large, but were dry and of low quality. A very odd texture if I'm honest which suggested frozen, and God knows everything on the mixed starter was. If you could find an onion in the onion bhaji I'd be surprised and if you could taste it over the grease I'd be even more shocked... The lamb samosa was as small and bland as I've ever had (just minced meat...ish inside filo pastry and nothing else), they gave you 2, but I wasn't about to subject myself to a 2nd. The kebab was the only edible thing and I only ate that because I was hungry, and not because it was anything out of the ordinary. The drop to 2 stars is because it's one of the most expensive curries I've had in Northampton (over £50 for 2 people) and it was comfortably the worst I can remember. If this place was cheap I'd have probably put it down to experience and never come again but it was so overpriced I just had to leave a review.

They did comp me £2 on the starter because I complained, but when that was £8 and I only ate 1 of the 5 things, I feel that was more of an insult than anything else. We also left the majority of one of the smallest naan breads you will ever see (over £4!?) as, you guessed it, that was bang-average as well. May as well have had flakes of coconut on it for how garlicky it was. You can do SO so much better in Northampton, please look elsewhere!

The place looks quite nice though, in a dated 90's style way (Bubbles.... Bubbles everywhere) but don't let that fool you. It's your same old run of the mill Bangladeshi-Indian you'll have had since the 60-70s but with prices above their station. Nothing about our mains were Nepalese...

I went to Saffron on 24 July 2013 with 3 friends, for their advertised Wednesday banquet. We had received leaflets through the door, informing us that at Saffron, every Wednesday, we could choose a starter, main, side, rice, naan and coffee for £9.95 per person. This was very specific, there were no ambiguities in the text. This seemed like fantastic value, so along we went. When ordering, we were informed the side dishes were one per two people, not one each as the leaflet stated. When questioned why the leaflet was misrepresentative, we were informed that the leaflet assumed people were dining alone. We then were told it's rice OR naan, not rice AND naan as the leaflet very clearly stated. When asked why the leaflet said rice and naan, we were told it was a printing error. He was rude from the outset, made no attempt to apologise for the 'errors'. We asked to speak to the manager, to be informed that we were speaking to the manager. When asked whether the leaflets had been proofread, he basically told us the menu was what he said it was, not what the leaflet advertised, and that was that. When we questioned whether he thought it acceptable to lie to people to get them through the door, and pointed out that his 'printing errors' had been delivered to many houses, he mumbled 'not many, only about a thousand', and was very rude. When it became apparent that he was not going to budge, or at least proffer an apology for his 'errors', we paid for the poppadums we'd already had, and left to eat at a different curry house. Principle, and the rudeness of the manager, dictates that we will never...