Aagrah Leeds — Restaurant in Leeds

I'm a person who loves to eat out and have been to countless restaurants but have never left a review, but, on this occasion, I felt the service we recieved was beyond exceptional and absolutely needed to be logged for others to see......

We (me, my partner and her son) went to see Ed Sheeran perform at Leeds, Roundhay Park and made a very long walk after the gig from the park to Leeds city center. We were exhausted and disappointed at local taxi drivers trying to take advantage of the situation, trying to charge WAY over the odds to get us back to our hotel. After trying to get a drink and a sit-down at a couple of other establishments, we came across Aagrah and thought we'd try our luck. We walked in and saw that there was a couple of people finnishing meals but decided to ask if we could have a quick drink. Although the staff were looking forward to an early finish, they empathised with us and allowed us to get a drink and sit in their lounge (even though we werent ordering food).

Zahid, the front of house, asked where we were staying and how we were going to get there, and, after explaining how we had missed our last train, asked around his staff members and arranged for us to be given a lift to our hotel 14 miles away!!! I had never been to this restaurant before and the staff were treating us better than I could have ever expected. Phenominal service is genuinely an under-statement.

I have been to Aagrah before in Sheffield a few times to eat and the food has always been fantastic. But, the service I recieved tonight from Aagrah, Leeds City Center genuinely trumps that from the Shard, London and the Burj Al Arab, Dubaii...... I cannot speak highly enough of the service we have just recieved..... and am sure will never experience again anywhere else.

Zahid, thank you. Our night could have ended very differently. You made sure we were looked after and returned to our hotel safely.... I have never known other restarant staff to care about the general public (we werent even diners) in this way before....

I've been to a few Indian /Pakistani restaurants but this one does not serve proper curry. It lacks of authenticity.

We ordered a chicken mild Handi and a lamb Afghani. The Handi was too spicy and when complained saying we asked for it to be mild, we got a korma straight away. Korma was as sweet as custard. When called the waiter, again to complain, the manager came and brought another dish soon after.

The Afghani was very moderate. Egg inside was like an omelette! Both dishes were only just bearable to eat and the last replacement only had 4 pieces of chicken in it! We ate the food as we were pretty hangry at that stage. Garlic and coriander Naan bread was doughy and tasteless. At least the poppadoms were nice and crispy!

Service was quick though and all the waiters were very kind. At the end of the night, after paying the bill and when tried to explain to the manager about the fiasco, he invited us again as guests but he got the response that we are sorry and won't be going back there again as it was the worst food experience we had.

We were also told that when eating at Aargrah, parking at Victoria- John Lewis car park was free of charge, so told the person behind the bar to validate the car park ticket. Which he assured me he did. When used the ticket to exit the cark park it said that there is a £5 outstanding fee! Rang the car park and explained I was at Aargrah so they opened the gate for us. Same thing happened to the other friends who where there with us last night. Not sure if this was meant to be like this because nobody from the restaurant...

We had a table booked for 8pm thinking that with the restaurant needing to close at 10pm for lockdown, 2h would be a very relaxed way to eat a meal and enjoy a Cobra or two. Instead, despite arriving on time we were not shown to our table until 8.35 and therefore didn't order our food until 8.45.

This left 1h15 mins for the staff to prepare our food and us to eat it - okay. Our starters arrived in reasonable time but unfortunately a member of staff stood behind the table the entire time. This wouldn't have been so bad had they have been waiting so that they could immediately bring out the mains - but we instead had a long wait between the two courses.

Another member of staff brought the bill whilst we were eating and we were prompted to pay at 9.50 without anybody offering to box up half of my meal. I asked for my food to be boxed and as I've just arrived home to realise, the lid was not correctly sealed.

Of what I ate, the food tasted good but as for everything else... There is a lot to be improved.

In terms of COVID measures, I would like to see staff enquiring if you have used the track and trace barcode or hand sanitizer available. As we were told our table was not available, we were not directed along the one way system and the member of staff who showed us to our table did not allow for correct social distancing. A lot of the staff were wearing gloves however there was no evidence that the gloves were regularly changed as some had...