Dera - Authentic Pakistani and Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in London

WORST EXPERIENCE EVER... I visited DERA on Saturday 4th March 2023 after walking past a few perfectly packed, busy Indian restaurants, which I should of went to in hindsight. DERA was empty with only 2 people eating, probably family/friends. I spent time asking about fish dishes and non-meat alternatives. They only had prawn dishes as seafood. I ordered a PRAWN CURRY with EGG FRIED RICE for £15.00 and BHUNA GHOST for £14.50 with PILAU RICE. Both rice and main dish are priced separately. PAID £29.50 IN TOTAL. I got the food and left. Only to find out they gave me chicken curry instead of prawn curry. I know English is not their first language.. hence speaking very clearly when ordering my food due to strong Pakistani accents and lack of English from all staff and showed her the items on the menu. I immediately called DERA @10.30pm to report the mistake they had made. Once again strong Pakistani accents very hard to understand and coincidentally they couldn't understand me either. The man (I don't know who he is) over the telephone, told me the kitchen is closed despite me leaving less than 15 minutes ago. Eventually he said "Come back to restaurant". I got there in less than 10 minutes only to find them all outside the restaurant pulling down the shutters! Restaurant is closed!! Why tell me to come back again???!!! and explained I don't eat chicken hence ordering prawn dish and paid £15.00 for a meal I cannot eat. The man whoever he is, a small light skinned Asian man with strong accent, came to the car and tried to explain something, I could not understand his English very very poor and accent extremely thick. Anyways I told him I came back as advised and they're shutting shop! Already!!?? Menu says they close at 1.00am. He gave me a feeble apologies. No resolution or goodwill gesture. Nothing. This was my 1ST VISIT to this place. I will NEVER visit/ BUY FOOD from there again. Ever!! I feel SCAMMED and ROBBED. They have no customer experience and lack basic English speaking skills...unless they have no intention of serving English people born in UK and prefer to serve only Pakistani or Indian customers. The pilau rice was horrible mostly white rice and egg fried rice in the same state. Both had brown disgusting dried onion on the top. DERA....Thanks but NO THANKS. YOU WILL NEVER GET MY MONEY AGAIN. I've told at least 5 people NOT TO VISIT, BECAUSE SERVICE IS EXTREMELY POOR...RIDICULOUS PRICES FOR SUBSTANDARD DRY FOOD, LACK ABILITY TO TAKE ORDERS CORRECTLY....

So I’m originally from the states and passed by this restaurant many times. Back in NY Dera is big and wanted to give this place a chance so we initially started getting the Nihari as a takeaway. We were not disappointed. So far they have the best Nihari I’ve tasted here and for the price it is a great portion. Even my in-laws enjoyed it. My mother in law often asks us to get her some when she feels like having some authentic Nihari.

Yesterday I wanted to try and sit in the restaurant and have a go. My kids ordered a NY burger, a muchacho burger and the little one ordered chicken strips. My husband and I ordered chicken biryani, and butter chicken.

Ok first. For chicken biryani that was fantastic. For my husbands sake I ordered mild but next time I’ll order the regular spice or spicer because it was delicious and had a lot of chicken in it.

For the butter chicken- see in NY- I’ve had some great butter chicken. Like at my own wedding lol. And Dera had good butter chicken. I’ve read some earlier reviews but the thing is Dera makes really authentic recipes from what I can see. Like that’s pure butter and ghee. My recommendation is to order it a bit more spicy to cut the richness of the butter. But it was still yummy. Again butter chicken is not meant to be eaten if you are watching your weight lol.

The staff also were lovely to give us some kheer at the end which was so good. It reminded me of my moms!

The burgers were fantastic. My kids want to come and try the others as well.

Thank you guys! Will def be...

I ordered 2 Halims and 1 chicken biriyani. This was on Friday 24th January 2025. The food was the MOST horrible, I have ever eaten and my father and I became sick. The Halim was disgusting and tasted like it was very old and off. I think the chef had taken it out of the freezer after 3/4 months, reheated it in the pan with lots of oil and served it in 2 takeaway boxes. Also, I told the chef that I wanted MILD and he served me very HOT and spicy Halim. He was a total liar by telling me that it was mild. The chicken biriyani was also something from the freezer and again reheated in the pan. The rice tasted off and the chicken was sickly and rubber. I have never eaten something so bad. I honestly do not know, how this restaurant gets such good reviews (maybe fake reviews?). Also, I would question health and safety. The kitchen was dirty and unhygienic. The chef can not be trusted and also, tried to rip me off when it came to payment. Lastly, this restaurant deserves 0 stars. 1 is generous for such rubbish food being sold. If you want to die early or go into hospital, then go to...