Chaiiwala — Restaurant in London

Not family friendly as steps to get into the place, as there is no ramp for pushchairs, luckily wife was on hand. No high chairs and on a really cold morning they decide to leave the enormous doors open. ( I suspect to release the aromas etc but leave the whole place freezing and your food and karak chai getting ice cold. Quality of food is standard I wouldn't say it was anything special as the parathas were burnt to a crisp rather than being soft? Food came out barely warm and the wait was exactly 46mins for 4 parathas, 2 omelettes, X2 chana, 2 kids meals pizza parattha and chicken bites.

The person taking the order Yusuf was polite and but barely trained along with another woman called Chaima (I think) we had to repeat our order a few times. Yes they just open but not fair they haven't been trained on the tills and menu. (I'm not blaming them, the behaviours stem from their culture and behaviour of their management)

I hate it when staff lie when they say no management is about, when clearly the owner of this franchise is sitting their rather arrogantly ordering the workers to clean tables and most rudely. Also having an argument rather loudly clearly professionalism?!

Lastly the prices are not the same as other branches and not worth the quality and quantity of food. This is not Knightsbridge or even Maida Vale post code. This franchise owner is clearly trying to push the pricing to fit this onto people who have higher disposal income, tourists etc. Yes the hype around having a chaiwalla locally is great but not at this price, quality and quantity. Southall, Green street or even Ealing have a higher standard and the prices reflect the area.

The faces on people's speaks more when they receive their food as I wasn't the only one who was disappointed.

When I was leaving I asked for a bag to put the karak chai in especially with kids, this female called Chaima decided I wasn't allowed to have one and I said what is the problem can I pay but wasn't having it. Luckily her colleague Yusuf gave me one and I mentioned I'm happy to pay for it. Clearly the management have told to be stingy with branded bags paper bags! I am aware of the overheads so why not allow people to pay for if needs be for heavens sake then deny people...

First time I've even seen one of these restaurants/cafés, let alone tried it. It is part of the Maitrise Hotel that we stayed in as part of our trip to London. It is fairly modern, in its decor, and the atmosphere is quite vibrant because it is frequented by mostly folk, from all over the world, in their 20's and 30's. The food is of Indian 🇮🇳 origin, so basically, a curry cafe, but of a street food vendor style. It is described as tasty and healthy. The menu is printed on what looks like recycled card with the environment in mind, which is great to see. There is a reasonable selection of dishes to choose from though only a few meat dishes (chicken/lamb). So it is probably more suited to vegetarians. But we did order the 2 x Butter Chicken Rice Bowls @ £7.95 each, plus 1 x Karachi Bun Kebab @ £4.50 and 1 x Chicken Tikka Naan @ £4.95. We did this because we thought the Rice Bowls might be small portions. How wrong we were, lol. The portions were pretty large and came in a circular cardboard bowl. There was plenty of Butter Chicken, Steamed Basmati Rice and a Chick Pea and Potato Salad. It was delicious with plenty of bite and traditional flavours. It was not oily either, confirming that it was relatively healthy. The Kebab and Naan were also delicious but not too big, so we could eat everything without a problem. It was very good leading me to wonder why there was not one in York, lol. All in all, it was a very pleasant meal with lots of flavour, spice, and good sized portions. It was not cheap, and probably reasonable value for money. I would certainly recommend trying it and I will eat here again next time I'm in...

After attending Chaiiwala in Birmingham we were pleased with the service, the food and the hospitality. On New Years Day, five of us as a family were heading toward central London when my youngest son wanted to have an aloo paratha from the Kilburn branch. After we were slowly served, consumed our food and left to go about our journey towards central London. A few hours later, my brother realised that his hat which was a (blue ribbed Moncler beanie hat) was left in Chaiiwala. My father called the brand and was advised by a Mr A Khan that he has the hat in his possession and would leave it in their safe for me to collect. I instructed my cousin from Gerrards Cross to drive down and collect it. He drove down to collect it and waited for an hour only to be told that there is nobody by that name here - or work here - or couldn't locate the hat. Today my father attended again (from Birmingham) between his busy work schedule only to be presented by a different cheap hat and Hesham confirmed he had LOOKED everywhere (not) and stated couldn't find it.

This hat costs £300 and was his birthday present.

I wouldn't attend this place again bearing in mind if someone can lie to you about an item you own, how can you really trust them as to what goes into the food they are serving...