Counter by Naroon — Restaurant in London

Shock and horror. Visited Counter by Naroon one morning after being a loyal client of their original restaurnt (which was previously located across the street). I couldn't believe my eyes. A MOUSE ran across the restaurant's grimy and unwashed floor twice. Our party rushed to the server who shrugged and said, "this is london." The mouse hid under the counter of the restaurant where food was being stacked for the lunch rush. We pointed at it to the server who continued to prepare food and never once looked for the mouse or called anyone (a fumigator?!). Trash bins were left next to the restaurant's entrance. The service was also bad, our food forgotten and then brought with no cutlery, which we had to ask for twice. A sad consequence of the brand expanding too quickly in too little time perhaps? Not returning. REPLY: The defensiveness of your reply is off putting. The pictures of the bins are from the restaurant beside the Counter, also a Naroon restaurant. The staff was well aware there was a problem as he mentioned that the door was not reaching the floor and that critters could sneak inside. He also showed me a stapled cover he'd put on the door to "avoid" this from happening. I live two streets from the restaurant and was a loyal customer until this occurrence. You can check my other reviews of other restaurants near you as you seem to be implying that my review is based on malicious intent. I'm happy to know you are doing your best to get on track for...

EDIT: Owner’s response below seems to indicate that it’s okay for a casual cafe to have lousy service. On top of that, only offered an apology for an extra £5.50 tacked on to the bill. Luckily we went on a 50% off offer, so 50% less hurt I suppose.

Food was reasonable and tasty - we got the jujeh and taftan as mains with a few sides. But the service was VERY POOR. After they gave us a table, no one tended to us, gave us menus, placed cutlery or offered water. After finally grabbing their attention with some hand-eye gymnastics and placing an order, we got our food fairly quickly. But even after placing the food on the table, we weren’t given any cutlery, napkins or small plates to take our food in. How were we supposed to eat the food? Even after we complained, the staff was indifferent to our needs and we had to ask for each thing.

But the kicker was - when the bill arrived, we were charged £6.50 for a pot of hummus which was only £1.00 on the menu - they tacked an extra £5.50 on the item. We didn’t check before we paid, but fortunately we had an 50% off offer through The Fork app. So we strongly advise CHECKING THE BILL before paying as they had made mistakes in the bill earlier when our friends had gone here too.

Overall good food, but the abysmal service and scammy billing makes it...

I recently visited Naroon, an Indian restaurant in London, and had a decent dining experience. The food was tasty, though not perfect, and offered a solid selection of traditional Indian dishes. I tried it during Ramadan, and while the overall experience was good, I feel there is room for improvement, especially in terms of food quality.

The service was efficient and friendly, and the presentation of the food was impressive. However, one thing I noticed was that some of the chicken dishes had skin on the chicken, which I personally don’t prefer when cooking chicken. I understand this might be a matter of personal taste, and not everyone may feel the same way, but for me, I would prefer the chicken to be cooked without skin.

Overall, I would rate Naroon at around 70%. It’s a good place to visit if you’re in the area, but there is definitely potential for improvement, especially in terms of consistency and attention to detail with food preparation. If they focus a bit more on refining the quality, it could become a standout...