Gifto’s — Restaurant in London

Upon arriving I had to wait 5 mins at the door before someone tended to me. Not end of the world. Wasn't overly busy. Last time I went to this place it was a very very long time ago. Perhaps 15 years prior. From what I remebe it was okay. Boy was I wrong! I hate wasting food and I will always do a takeaway where possible but this is the first time I left all the food and took away nothing! So the table service was okay was seated. Did have to wait at times for extra drinks. Also noticed other tables around me having ro out their hands up to get attention. Never a good sign for me. Ordered the mixed grill. Was average. The mutton chops were a little tough with pretty thick fat on outside. Mutton tikka was okay. Bit tough. Chicken wasn't great with not much flavour. The kebabs also not great. All in all the mix grill was a 4/10 due to flavours and quality of ingredients. The chilli paneer was dreadful. Worst I ever had. Tough and hard. Flavour was not great too. 2/10. The paapadi chaat was terrible. Watery yoghurt, hardly any flavours. Not great at all. 3/10 The main was a karahi lamb. This was the nail in the coffin and this dish really upset me and bought me to my senses of what I was eating and the quality of the food overall. The lamb was mutton and the amount of fat and grsitle in the dish was crazy. I'm talking actually chunks and cubes of hard fat! How do you expect you guests to eat that?! I'm sorry if you are a fan of this and actually like it but absolutely no way I could eat that. I understand you need fat and bone for flavour but should not be in your dish for consumption in my opinion. We left pretty much everything untouched. I asked to pay the bill. The waiter came to take payment. I asked him aren't you going to ask how everything was and why there is pretty much everything still left on take table? He then asked and I provided my feedback. I showed him the quivering chunks of fat balanced on a spoon. I asked his if he would eat that to which he shamefully responded 'no' He took the karahi to the chefs and although I could not hear what he was saying his body language and face suggested he was gesturing and explaining to the chefs. The manager was near by and overheard and headed over to my table. He sat and listened. I provided all my feedback. He was honest and apologised. He offered fresh batches and alternative dishes but I was not interested as I don't think it was going to be any better. I was surprised with his confession on the paneer by saying it was prepped the day before by frying and putting in the fridge. His justification was that his Indian vegetarian customer loved it and always asked for me! I said the only good thing I ate here today was the garlic naa . He put his hand on his chest and was very proud and greatful of this compliment but he kinda missed the point that out of everything I ate in the day this was sadly the only acceptable thing I was able to consume with satisfaction. He asked what I wanted. I said nothing. Charge what you like. He took £12 off the bill. Should have been half in my opinion as I pretty much left everything. Well it was an experience and sadly a bad one. I will never go here again and I woukd never reccomend this place to anyone. Thanks for your efforts and hope you take on board...

I’m writing this review after a truly upsetting experience at Gifto’s. As a loyal customer of over 5–6 years, I never expected to be treated the way we were on our recent visit.

We traveled over 35 miles with our guests, looking forward to a good meal. We arrived around 23:10 and were immediately told by the waiter to place our order quickly, as the kitchen would close at 23:30 We understood and placed both our dine-in and takeaway orders right away.

To our surprise, just 5 minutes later, the waiter returned — not with food, but with both the bills and a card machine, asking us to pay before we had even been served. This has never happened in all my years coming to this restaurant with family and friends.

We politely explained that we hadn’t received our food yet and that it’s not right to ask for payment beforehand, especially when other customers were still eating. The waiter insisted, saying they had to close the till and we had no choice but to pay. We asked to speak with the manager.

When the manager arrived, we hoped for some understanding. Instead, we were told flat out: “If you don’t pay in advance, we won’t serve you your food.” This level of disrespect was shocking. I began recording the conversation, at which point the manager’s tone shifted, and he finally said we could eat and pay afterward. But by then, the damage was done — we had lost all appetite and decided to leave without eating.

We immediately went to Haveli Restaurant, arriving at 23:27 They also closed at 23:30 yet welcomed us, took our order without rushing or pressure, and served us with kindness and professionalism.

Gifto’s not only lost a £150 order that night, but also a loyal customer. I will not be recommending this restaurant to friends or family anymore.

This entire situation has made me question: Would we have been treated this way if we had white skin? It’s a painful thought, but one I can’t ignore given how we were spoken to and treated.

Gifto’s — it’s time to rethink your values and your...

We visited this branch today while shopping in southall, I feel the quality of the dishes has gone downhill since our last visit which must have been pre pandemic. We ordered papdi chaat mistakenly, was going to go for the usual samosa chaat,I wasn't very happy with the seasonings used. it was quite bland for a chaat and mild which isn't a bad thing if you don't eat much spices. We alp ordered the chicken tikka for another starter which I really enjoyed and so did the family. For mains we had tadka daal, chicken karahi and chicken biryani with naans. The curry's were quite nice, just a tiny bit salty, unfortunately the biryani did not taste authentic, was overly spiced had a lot of whole spices with too much saffron. I find biryani tastes better the next we did take some home but when I tried it the next day it still tasted full of whole spices. For dessert we ordered ras malai, I'm sorry to say but my mother makes the best ras malai, giftos really has a lot of catching up to do to reach her standards. Ras malai tasted of condensed and evaporated milk and the colour put me off, it felt like they just threw a rasgulla in it.

We had a lot of food leftover so we asked for containers to pack them in to take home, the waiter very kindly packed them for us, I was surprised as usually they tell us to pack it ourselves. another waiter brought the bill he spoke no english or even urdu and barely spoke just gave us the bill. 10/10 for service even though it was a very busy restaurant, we also asked for extra tissues and didnt get any lol. quality of dishes could be improved . Will be visiting again to try other items on the menu soon and updating this...