Hounslow Lahori Karahi — Restaurant in London

Basically, anybody who has never been here before (or has been here only a FEW times), and wants to know more about this restaurant, this is the one & only detailed comprehensive review you need to read. So this restaurant is one of the oldest original Asian ones in Hounslow (founded & opened in 1997). Therefore it goes a long way back and deserves credit & recognition just on account if it's longevity alone. Other Indian / Pakistani restaurants have constantly come & gone in that time period, some succeeding, some failing. Overall speaking, this one is generally a success. It has its solid firm base of long-term loyal customers who are mainly UK-born Punjabi's (both Pakistani and Indian, though mostly the letter). The restaurant is very heavy on the meat side of things. Not much choice for veg eaters. The main bulk of their customers are basically desi, uncouth, illiterate, uneducated, loud-mouth, ill-mannered, "rough & tough" blue-collar working-class crowds. Local Heathrow airport shift workers, typical Indian Punjabi rowdy pub-type of people, warehouse workers, lorry drivers, construction workers, scaffolders, builders etc. "The lads" love to go here and have like a million bottles of whiskey and happily enjoy a good ol' meat fest! These crowds of middle-aged men (groups of working class Punjabi local friends) tend to make much noise and get unruly & boisterous. "Loud & proud" typical working class behaviour after having a few drinks. But nothing violent or threatening or untoward. Just noisy & rowdy & annoying, especially on weekends. Totally empty during the day and the afternoons though. But in the night time / late evenings, it can be VERY busy. Some family type of people do come here but not as much as groups of Punjabi men and local blokes in groups. The management policy is this place is basically 'let the customers do what they want with minimal interference or intervention. That's why people in this restaurant feel comfortable and "perfectly at home because they can do what they want, say what they want, behave as they want, be as loud and drink as they want, make as much less as they want, call as many people as they want etc. It's a typical 'relaxed' no frills basic restaurant with no innovation or change in technique / approach / management style. They've been doing the same food for about 21 years lol, no change. The same basic, no-frills menu for the last 2 decades lol. But hey - it works. Hounslow Punjabi's love the food here, and love the primitive working-class enviornment / ambience. So if it ain't broke, don't try to fix It! Furniture, tables, chairs, flooring, lights, door handles, toilets, taps, etc - these are all old and outdated and obsolete, and unsightly. But somehow, the restaurant still makes regular steady flow of good money, has still got it's solid base of loyal Punjabi customers and is still going strong 20 years after it was founded. They've got another branch in Feltham that was opened in 2003. Both branches are just as basic, unsophisticated and primitive as each other. The waiters have absolutely no dress sense at all whatsoever (they are allowed & encouraged to wear their own casual clothes, sports tracksuits and trainers lol), they barely speak any English (totally fresh from Pakistan / Afghanistan lol), are of all different ages lol (sometimes you might get a waiter who is a 16 year old young Afghan lad from the war zones of Kabul, then the next day you might get a waiter who is 80 year old elder gentleman from the rural villages of Lahore Punjab Pakistan lol). They seem to just regularly randomly change every couple of weeks in accordance with whoever needs a quick bit of casual easy cash-in-hand work lol). They come dressed proper fresh lol, with Umbro trainers and Lonsdale sweat top from Sports Direct haha! The owner and / or manager doesn't seem to mind at all because it's a sort of easy-going casual "home vibe" at the restaurant. They don't really feel the need to train their staff in niceties of so-called customer...

Hands down the worst place i have been to. If i could submit 0 stars i would

As noted before in other reviews they give you hidden charges for salad- which they put on your table without asking, so you assume its free; and then it appears on your bill at the end.

Had to wait for 15 mins for a table in a half-empty restaurant. Had to then wait for 20 mins for them to take our order. The food then only arrived after 30 more mins. Of the 5 people on the floor that night: 3 were women who they only allowed to wipe up tables and hand our clean-ish plates. 1 was a guy who was only allowed to bring you your food. And 1 was the manager who was the only person allowed to take orders. They did not cross over to do each other's work- meaning only 1 single person took orders and only 1 single person gave us food. Such a poorly managed system and the quality was average at best. Eventually the staff themselves grew annoyed of customers repeatedly asking where there orders were that the other waitresses began to take orders.

It is wasn't the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme right now our bill would be £50+ which the food is not worth. Speaking of Covid-19: they DO NOT adhere to social distancing rules, they DO NOT wear masks, and tables were all crammed in next to each other instead of leaving adequate spaces.

The Women's toilet soap dispenser didn't work so you have to use the mens toilet to wash your hands. They are lucky to not have been reported for breaking the...

We were recommended this place by a family member and after much debate on whether we should try this place out or stick to our tried and tested Taste of Pak (by far the superior), we decided to go for something different and give Lahori Karahi a go. We had booked in advance as we had a big group (11 Adults, 9 Kids) and were visiting on the weekend.

The Decor was clean and nice tbh, although at 5pm the place was very much empty. Now, the food - we ordered 2 Mixed Grills, 1 additional portion of Lamb Chops, 2 portions of Chapli Kebabs and 5 Karahi's, with the view to order more if needed. The food portions were super small, 1 Karahi barely served 1 person. The mixed grill was ok, however the Lamb chops were chewy and the wings looked like the had been sat around for a few days. The Chapli Kebabs were average at best.....The only fresh tasting food on the menu were the Naans (plain, garlic & peshwari were all lovely and fresh). Onto the starving kids, where we were told there was no kids food available, not even chips (WHAT??). The waiter even told us to go next door to get a few portions of nuggets and chips - how ridiculous!! It didn't stop there, they had also run out of the following - Rice, Lamb Tikka, fish fingers.

I wont be going back there in a...