Dishoom King's Cross — Restaurant in London

We came here on a Tuesday night after a graduation. It was a Tuesday night. It was very busy with queues of 20 to 30 people outside. We made a booking a day before but received an email on the day saying the booking was cancelled. Made a phone call and was told to turn up as normal and the manager would sort something out. No problem. Came at the correct time and had to still wait over an hour. To be honest it wasn’t too bad as it was a beautiful evening and was nice sitting outside and watching the world go by.

The staff her are amazing, very polite, courteous and smiling. The table we eventually got was absolutely amazing. Right next to the kitchen. The atmosphere there was incredible. Very buzzing although a little bit hot it really was worth it.

The food was very hit and miss unfortunately. We ordered a lot of food as we wanted to try everything as this place had a lot of hype.

Okra fries and prawns were very well seasoned and crispy.

The grilled malai mushrooms were a bit confusing as they was a lot of marinate on mushrooms and that does not work as the texture of these mushrooms is also very saucy.

The gunpowder potatoes were just simple crushed potatoes with spices and masala. The masala was overdone.

Sheekh kababs are a benchmark for any Indian/Pakistani restaurant. These did not reach the level they should. Over spiced with not enough spaces. Really lacked in flavour.

We had read a lot about the spicy lamb chops, but these were rare to medium which was significantly undercooked. Just didn’t hit the spot. They were supposed to be pink i understand but they were a bit too pink.

The chicken ruby was just a glorified butte chicken a lot of sweet sauce with not a lot of chicken.

The mutton pepper fry was seriously over spiced and quite unpleasant as the taste of the meat was not able to come through.

The black daal was silky smooth and very well flavoured. Big hit.

The chilli cheese toast was just essentially melted cheese on toast with raw green chillis on top. 50/50 in our party.

The keema pau was under seasoned and under spiced and just has some white buns with it. It was ok and another 50/50 in our group.

The house chaat was very very nice. Spiced just right with perfect blend of flavours and spice. Hot and cool with the yogurt. A massive hit.

The chilli chicken was nice too although a bit chewy, but overall flavourful.

The chicken berry Britannia was seriously over spiced with way too many spices. There was serious lack of salt.

The Nalli nihari biryani was signature dish. We took this on recommendation of the waitress. It looked incredible. But was a poor disappointment.

There was a lovely looking lamb shank poking out of the pastry, but it had no meat on it and very very little meat in the dish. What little meat there was, was extremely gamey an unpleasant. A real waste of a dish. There was serious lack of salt.

Be very aware in our opinion the actual rice in each biryani was the exactly the same. The lamb shank or the chicken is added to it after.

Once again, the spices were all wrong. It was not very nice.

We really wanted to enjoy Dishoom, but the food was very disappointing.

Far too often there was way too much spice and chilli but not enough masala and flavour. It was all wrong. Some of the food was nice but unfortunately did not make up for the other food.

The staff are amazing as is the atmosphere and setting.

The other thing is to be aware of the prices. There was 7 of us and the meal came to £380. It is very pricy.

We are of Pakistani origin and cook a lot and eat out a lot. We all know food and how it should be cooked, prepared and tasted. Regrettably Dishoom fell far too short.

It was not worth the money at all, and we definitely would...

First of all, I highly recommend to make reservation at Dishoom to avoid long waiting time. We went to King's cross location on Saturday night, and it was more than 1.5 hour wait. The down side was one person of the party had to physically stay in the line to secure the spot. As I know, the wait at other Dishoom locations are 2 hours plus, so I tried to make reservation for the next day at the King's cross location but it wasn't available at the time. We decided to get something else for dinner on Saturday night instead. We came back on Sunday night around 9pm to see if we had a better luck this time. We were told the wait was 1 hour for a party of 3. We had a late lunch so I felt like I was okay for a late dinner. They gave us lemonade/chai when we were in the queue. The line was pretty long when we joined but it moved up pretty fast. 15 minutes later we were able to get inside and received our pager. We were told it would be another 45 minutes wait by the bar. I didn't keep track of the time but I felt like it was about 1 hour wait until we got seated. The ambiance was nice but it's pretty loud. Our server came by quickly and he was very kind. He went over the menu, asked about food allergy and informed it would be 20 minutes wait after we placed our order. Since we already looked at the menu while waiting for our table we placed order immediately to save us time. We got their signature dish House Black Daal, Chicken Ruby, Garlic Naan, and Okra fries. For drinks, I got the mango lassi with fennel and my partner got CBD bhang lassi. Food wise, I absolutely LOVED the Chicken Ruby - it tasted similar like butter chicken, but at another level. I was not a fan of their House Black Daal, but my partner liked it. Apparently, many people liked that dish too. Maybe it's just me lol. Okra fries were a pretty unique concept. I never had fry version before. It was nice that they also offered variety of chutneys - mint, chili, tamarind and date. Mango lassi was very good, and sweet just enough to my liking. We weren't impressed with the CBD bhang lassi. Service was phenomenal and professional. They are certainly busy but they still keep their service at high standard. There was a gentleman ( I assumed manager?) came to check on our table to see if we needed anything else when we almost finished our food. It was a very nice touch. When we left, all the staff thanked us for coming. I was very impressed with their service. When we left around 22:30, there were still people waiting outside. When we walked by Dishoom in Covent Garden location yesterday, the queue was twice as long as the queue at Kingcross. We'd return to Dishoom in the future to try other items but with reservation. The food was good but I don't feel like waiting that...

We arrived to a very long line outside. I guess this is regular for a TUESDAY evening. Crazy how busy it was. We were met by friendly staff who took our name and told us it would be about an hour. Soon after we were met with a tray of sherry or lemonade. They know how to keep the patrons happy while in line that’s for sure. It wasn’t but 30 minutes and we were headed inside. There was another 25 min wait once inside so it’s deceiving. You get excited that you are going in but wait. It’s just to be sent down to the bar with a buzzer pager thingy. We however did not have to wait. We were offered a cocktail table, which is low to the ground with low seats, if we wanted to eat right away. We gladly excepted. They were great. Don’t pass them up if offered. Very comfy way to have your meal. We got water right away. The server was friendly, a little hard to hear and understand her, it was loud in there and she had an accent. But we managed. She came back after the waters and took our order. To our surprise food started coming rather quickly. The vegetable samosas were tasty, but a little tough. They def prepare ahead and reheat. But still good. The other half enjoyed her shrimps and potatoes. I had lamb which was tasty. One chop was a little fatty and the other a little small but great flavor. The naan was ok. Nothing crazy. We tried twice to order a fried dough type dish we saw go by and failed both times. I don’t think she knew what it was we were asking. My chicken tiki was ok. A bit dry mostly. My little one had the kids chicken and ate the whole thing. That’s saying something!! So good for you on that. The last attempt came with this apple sauce stuff that was so good I bought a bottle of it. (They sell some of their flavors there). Desert was weird. We thought the kids menu said it came with it but it didn’t. It should. So we ordered a pop and some shaved ice thing. Pop was good, ice for me, was not. Had a weird flavor profile. Check came and she rung us out. I looked at the bill AFTER she rung us and realized it had a 12.5% OPTIONAL service fee. Now. I always tip no matter what usually. But she should of at least informed us of the added fee, and she did not. Because of that I didn’t leave extra. Now here tipping isn’t expected but I would have left a few more had she told us of the fee. We did leave full and happy with my jar of new sauce that I will put on a lamb...