Bombay Bustle — Restaurant in London

Was here for dinner. Service and staff: Let’s start with greeting. Staff is polite. Service is good. The server was responsive to my feedback and got me the manager. Manager was responsive. Decor : not great. Downstairs is better vibe. Upstairs noisy, and cannot have a private conversation. Everyone around you can easily hear your conversation. Most important. The Food : we ordered lamb dum biryani and Baingan Bharta with a basket of Nan. The biryani only had a taste of black Pepper. Could not taste the basmati rice, could not taste the flavors, everything was mixed. And it was hot. I don’t mind eating hot food and spices. But your spices should mend well and go well. Just putting a lot of spices does not make a good dish. Could not taste the meat in the biryani. I could not distinguish any of the flavors that were there. The only flavour i tasted was black pepper. Now if he gave me lamb pieces grilled with black pepper on a plate with sautéed onions. And names it peppers lamb. I would go with that. But this was lamb sun biryani. I Was not able to tolerate the food at all. I thought let me give them another chance. I told them to bring their best dish they have. They got me chicken tikka makhani with rice ( charged extra £4) The chicken tikka was marinated well. Grilled well for the gravy. However, the chef now messed up the gravy. Too much cream and too much sweet. Without the flavor again. Gravy based on cashew became a gravy based mostly on cream. I don’t mind eating this food from a “whatever restaurant” somewhere on the street. But if you expect that your restaurant is worth that food, and charge me that . I just want one bite for my money worth. That one bite in my mouth, and I should say , ummm…. And burst of flavors should speak with each ingredient on a separate note. And opening up all the senses. Baingan bharta: the amount of spices was so much that he completely masked the smokiness of the Baingan. It’s bharta. Smokiness is the main ingredient. He might have spent so much time, to grill that Baingan, peel the skin, and then he put all the tablespoons of spices he had. And result. The chef killed that main ingredient’ “smokiness”. The manager did not charge me for the biryani. Overall bill was around £120 . Let’s not talk about his tiramisu that had no taste of coffee. And only chocolate flavor to it. If it was called chocolate mousse with gulab jamun , I would have been ok with that name. Don’t call it tiramisu. I would not recommend this place if you have limited dinner nights to be spent in London. If you live here, you may probably try it once in your life time if you are ok with spending this kind of money without satisfaction. There is 15% service charge . I did not mind as servers were good. I am use to paying 20%. But tipping the chef for the food they served me,...

Very good Indian cuisine in Mayfair, with a casual atmosphere. Sister restaurant to fine-dining oriented Jamavar, Bombay Bustle highlights Indian dishes from Mumbai in a shareable / family-friendly way.

Nice to see a mix of tandoori, small plates and entrée sized portions that accommodate the standard proteins (lamb, chicken, seafood, etc) along with vegetarian and vegan (I asked the restaurants mgmt during this visit. Upon request, ask your server for dishes that can be made vegan-friendly by the kitchen). I enjoyed the dishes I chose: starter Adipoli Prawns (Garlic, Curry Leaves, Fresh Turmeric) had nice heat! For entrée I chose a familiar dish Chicken Tikka Makhani (Charred Chicken, Fenugreek, Creamy Tomato Sauce) had a spot-on flavor profile but the stated medium heat was to me a little less heat than what I can find in Washington DC. For dessert, Cardamon Panna Cotta was excellent.

Prices are quite reasonable given the neighborhood.

Service at the U-shaped bar across from the host station, is pleasant and professional but still getting their 'sea legs' imo. They're happy to recommend dishes if asked. Host station noted imo awkwardly that drinks at the bar need to have food ordered (liquor license rules were noted, I didn't research nor qualify for accuracy), which wasn't an issue for me as I intended to eat at the bar. I also needed to ask about possible vegan dishes, which eventually the shift manager came to outline that they indeed can, see above paragraph for details). I'm sure those front office kinks will work itself out in time. Knocking a star for now due to this.

Note: I did mention family friendly. Current policy specifically for dinner, dining parties with children are limited to 1st dinner shift only (seating until 18:30 or so). This doesn't impact lunch / weekend brunch / etc. When in doubt, call the restaurant if you're planning a later night meal with young children.

As for drinks, I did like the fairly strong drink program offered (see my associated pics that is accurate as of June 2018). Plenty of choices for cocktails, beer and wine (by the glass and bottles). Looks like they've created cocktails especially that pair well to the dishes offered.

Space here is deceptively large! There's 2 floors of dining spaces (downstairs is a normal dining space that can be converted into a private large group dining space). Looking from the street window, you may get a false sense of how busy they are.

Overall I'm pretty happy with Bombay Bustle given how relatively new they are. My next trip back to London I look forward to trying...

I made a reservation on 8/13/19 for 3 people at 8:30pm and showed up there at 8:05, with my partner and a kid (3 people) to check in. I was asked to leave (!!) as I approached the front desk, because they apparently don’t allow kids after 8pm. I wasn’t aware of the policy, but I was riled up because the front desk was RUDE and asked me to go away - no alternatives or empathy for someone spending hours finding the right place, making reservation and hauling a cab through traffic to get there. I was told “you should read the policy”, which by the way only shows after you make a reservation, and in fine print. There are no indications about this while making a reservation. The tool does not even allow you to distinguish children from adults. The front desk told me I should feel good because they are not charging me for the missed reservation (WTF!!!). The front desk started arguing with me after this. This was a surreal experience and I had to remind myself that I was the customer willing to spend money for many products and services they offered. Very humiliating.

This is supposed to be run by the Leela Group and I’ve stayed at their hotels and been to many of their fine establishments. I bet the food here is great as the reviews suggest. But as a parent and a human, I’m disgusted at how apathetic and discriminatory the staff were to my family. Just terrible! I wish I could convince readers to stay away from this establishment! You can find many awesome Bombay style meals in London where they respect customers.

Update: I confirm that you cannot actually know about this policy while making a reservation online. There is no way. Seriously, this is pretty F**ed up!

Update #2: I reviewed the response provided by the management below, and it further strengthens my position that this establishment is screwed up. I went next door to another "fine dining establishment in Mayfair" and they were so accommodating. The problem here is that the policy is not obvious until you complete the reservation. The second problem is that your front desk asked me to go away (no alternatives, not apologetic - I was told to feel happy I didn't get charged). If you care about customers, they will like you too. At minimum, don't treat...