Durbar Tandoori — Restaurant in London

I recently had the worst dining experience, and I feel compelled to share the details of this disappointing visit. From the food quality to the service, everything was a disaster.

First, every time the main door shut, it generated a horrible noise that echoed through the restaurant, setting the tone for what turned out to be an awful evening. The food was horrendous. The kebabs were barely cooked, with the meat still looking raw and unappetizing. They were watery and didn’t resemble anything close to a proper kebab. The bhindi (okra) dish was equally disappointing, lacking flavor and also watery. To top it off, the tandoori chicken was not fresh; it was cold inside, clearly not cooked to order. It seemed like it had been sitting out for a while before being served.

The service was no better. The food was served, and after just three bites,one from each dish. we asked for the bill. We left the All of the food on the table, untouched, as you can see in the photos. Despite being the first table in the restaurant, with 3-4 staff members present on the floor, no one bothered to ask what went wrong or if we needed anything. Their indifference was astonishing, and I was so upset that I didn’t even bother to complain.

To make matters worse, when I asked for a copy of the bill, the staff member literally snatched it from my hand and questioned why I needed it. It’s my right as a customer to receive an invoice for what I’ve paid for, but he only handed it back after scribbling the VAT number on it, which felt odd and unprofessional.

This entire experience was frustrating and...

I used to go their every week for a couple of years with my wife before our children arrived.

The food used to be good quality and reliably consistent, but started to tail off a bit. You get the impression that its due to changing chefs. it main sales point was lots of curry awards and an amazing chef/ owner....but he was always in the dining area and not the kitchen. The menu never changed, so if you only had 2 favorite dishes it got a bit boring.

The staff were OK, you would normally get a brief awkward 10 seconds of pleasantries.......the usual "how is your food?" and that was it.

It all ended when I crunched into a piece of glass in my meal and when I told the manager he didn't believe me....so I showed him and crushed a piece of it into my plate which made a horrendous noise.

They were apologetic, but only offered me a free drink!

Not long after that I discovered i had cracked a molar which i had to have taken out and replaced with a dental implant that cost me £1500 and many hours of visits to the dentist and discomfort to get it sorted.

If it hadn't been for the glass incident then Durbar would have got 4 stars. If the food was more consistent and the staff had a bit more charisma (there were 2 really nice guys there...but one was often doing the deliveries and the other only took orders) and they tried a few new dishes occasionally then it would get a 5 star.

I'm sure we will go back eventually and disturb the peace...

Went out to eat here for a work do! And I can honestly say the dishes I have tried were worst Indian dishes I have tried in my whole life!! No flavour, bland, no salt, no pepper no taste.

I was annoyed because I was looking forward to the meal.

I tried the following items;

Hydrabadi lamb biriyani, it was NOT biriyani! It was fried rice in oil (that’s what it tasted like) with few pieces of bland lamb! There was no aroma! No taste, no salt, no pepper, no flavour! Most of all no biriyani masala or ghee! It’s was awful.

I tried the lamb kebabs for starter- again was very dry.

Samosa- was just ok- again could have added a little spice.

tandoori chicken- again this was no tandoori chicken it tasted like chicken pasted with red food colouring, fried in load of oil! Again no flavour of tandoor masala, yogurt, or spice, and no taste of it being inside a tandoor! Very disappointed.

Lorient special chicken - was not very nice either.

I ate the peshawari naan- which tasted okay only.

My experience was so bad that I was too scared to try anything else, my colleagues ordered other dishes which also compared was very bland, such and lamb shanks and lamb Kaliyan.

I think they have too many things on their menus- and half it is made with same base , but tweaked!

I am never going back even if the meal is free....