Zaika Asian Cuisine — Restaurant in Great Britain

The food was absolutely amazing! Genuinely enjoyed all of it, we pretty much ordered most of the menu. I came here when they first opened. As I knew the uncle. He was the original Mirchi owner and that was legendary food! Food has been good to very good most of the time. I will probably come again just because of the food. However, I wanted to give them 3 starts for food. Maybe even 4, even with extremely poor customer service. The waiters are absolutely incompetent! But even then I would have given them 4 stars because the food was so good!

The issue was. When I went to pay, the bill was £100, I was a bit surprised. I have never ever checked my bills before ever! I couldn't careless losing money here or there. But I felt it was about principle. The manger or owner at the counter was hesitant, something wasn't right. I sat back down. I went back again. I asked, can you give me the printout of the receipt, cost breakdown. He said, "I don't have it and it's accurate". I said, it's not. He calculated, and it was far less than £100. It was £91.2, the dude, decided to round it up instead of rounding it down. Then I reminded him, we didn't get the papadams we paid for and waited for, he said, he took it down himself! I was absolutely furious! I felt like saying are you calling me a liar? At the same time, it became obvious, he was a clear liar, dodgy guy! I said, no you didn't! He said, yes I did and he pointed to where we were sat. At that very moment, one of his absolutely incompetent waiters came and said, no they didn't bring down the papadams, admitted we were over charged.

Credit where it is due. The waiter decided to look into the matter and concluded yes, we were over charged. We then ordered 7 tea. So I said we need to pay for the tea and the two extra nan we ordered last minute. I made the additional payment. And looking back they still over charged me. I don't ever get my calculator out in public to work things out. I like to give people the room and opportunity to get it right. They still over charged me! How unbelievable!

What really infuriated me! The dodgy guy, told one of the family members he gave us a massive discount when they went to pay not realising I had already paid! The pure arrogance of the manager/owner was absolutely unbelievable! Simply, unacceptable.

What more can top it up? After receiving our meals, we did not receive an expensive curry we had ordered even when the waiter repeated the order back to us (but the charge was still applied) and we didn't get any sauces to go with the Biryanies, when we insisted on receiving these, the waiter was like the biryani sauce is no big deal, he had the attitude of like, deal with it, no sauce so what! We were too hungry to notice, we probably didn't get other stuff either like nans with platter etc.

Then, the tables were left uncleared! Whilst we were having tea all that rubbish in front of us!

I mentioned it to the manager, the service was poor, his excuse was, short staffed. I didn't want to challenge him, I left the conversation at that. There were. 3 staff members on a Tuesday night wasn't that busy. That's not short staffed. That's the result of employing probably students who lack experience, skills, cultural understanding and most probably training! Adding salt to the wound, incompetency runs throughout the organisation by the looks of it!!! No...

As most places were closed, we were pleased to find this place was open and didn’t have to book which was a bonus or so I thought. Most places were giving a 50% discount due to diners eating out and were informed upon our arrival that the food was full price and no discount was applicable. I could understand if I had asked the question but to be told this right away got my back up as I was more than happy to pay full price in any event.

As we were hungry we ordered starter and main courses which we requested arrive at the same time. The place wasn’t full so didn’t expect the food to take too long. After 30 minutes of waiting the food still had not arrived. I asked the waiter why there was a delay but he just said they were busy. I waited patiently until our starters arrived and was disappointed to say the least. The lamp chops I ordered were virtually non existent. One piece was charred so badly that all that was left was a piece of black bone. I brought it to the attention of the main waiter as to why would you serve this and he just responded that it was well done and that everyone had different tastes. I mentioned that I would not have served this as it was burnt but he just walked off. As the portions were inadequate I asked for some kebabs to be brought out as well which I was more than happy to pay for but my request was ignored. The curry’s that came out were ok but very greasy and not very enjoyable.

The only thing that tasted any good was the mango lassi. This if anything filled me up as I was fed up of waiting for the food and was so hungry that i drank the lassi but wished the food could have tasted as good.

I recall the main waiter was more concerned with entertaining his friends then attending to the diners which was a shame. I did have high hopes for this place but won’t be back in a rush.

Update: Since posting my initial review above, I have been back to Zaika and have to say the service has improved greatly!

I went with my family and ordered the lamb and chicken seekh kebabs with naan bread and a chicken Karahi to share. The food came out promptly and tasted lovely! After my first experience I didn’t order the lamb chops but certainly had to order the mango lassi which did not disappoint! The guy running the place seemed new and was very friendly. I even told him my first experience was not great but he made up for it by making sure the food was on point. I have changed my review from one star to four stars, a big improvement. Let’s hope they are able to maintain their standards. Will let you know next...

Fantastic Pakistani restaurant located in the Red Dragon centre. Went to visit Cardiff and Barry as the end of summer holidays were looming and we thought we'd squeeze in one last getaway. Stayed for a night and went for dinner at Zaika on both nights. I'm in the restaurant game myself so I might be nitpicking but here goes. It's located in premises that can seat approximately 150 guests with reasonably spaced out seating which is nice. Service is adequate whereby all waiting staff take care of any and all tables. I feel this could be improved by designating set tables to a waiter. Adds for a more personable touch. Personal preference and perhaps their setup probably works best for them from a cost standing. Popadums aren't on the menu but were served upon request on both occasions. Tap water is not served or available strangely. They sell big bottles of locally sourced mineral water. The biggest selling point was the food. We had lamb chilli masala and achari lamb. Both dishes were really good quality. Bhuna style, thick fragrant sauces which has their own distinct flavour. Not your typical Bengali/Indian restaurant where most dishes are prepared using the same gravy for its sauce content and taste identical. We asked for slightly hot and we got exactly what we asked for. I had roti which was good quality and my wife had steamed boiled rice. The portion size was very generous. I admit, larger than what we serve in our restaurants. Lol. The second day, we ordered the same except I switched the roti for a chicken biryani. Brilliant choice as it complimented the curries brilliantly. In fact, my wife had more of the biryani than the boiled rice as it was soo nice. Hats off to the chef/s. Really good effort. Hameed- the restaurant manager was very personable and we had a good chat. He made some suggestions for where to visit which were really helpful. Best of all was the fact that, as this restaurant is aimed at serving Muslim clientele (not exclusively), they have the necessary means for istinja( a lota/bodna in the toilets). Prayer mats for those who prioritise their 5 daily prayers and finally, all the food is halal. There is no alcohol served on the premises and going by my observations, none allowed on site either. Alhamdulillah, a really good experience and my wife assures me, the only place she'll eat at when...