Ritu London — Restaurant in London

Ritu Restaurant Indian Fine Dining Restaurant with Fabulous Terrace (Ideal for Summer Outdoors), a stone’s throw from the World Famous Abbey Studios, London NW8 0BH (U.K.) All of us 4 friends gathered at one of our friend’s houses, in St. John’s Wood, London for drinks, and after couple of drinks, we suddenly started having cravings for Exotic Indian Food, and that too, not very far away from where we were, and wanted to taste, Indian Street Food in Elegant Ambiance and Settings, and wanted to taste food, possibly from all the 6 Seasons of India (an impossible task for some, but, not for me). I, at once suggested Ritu Restaurant (as the name itself reminds us of unique geographical location of Indian subcontinent enjoying 6 Seasons in a year, Vasant Ritu (Spring), Grishma Ritu (Summer), Varsha Ritu (Monsoon), Sharad Ritu (Autumn), Hemant Ritu (Pre-Winter) and Shishir Ritu (Winter). I had been to Ritu Restaurant, couple of times, earlier with friends, and family, and once also met the Owner, Mr. Anubahav Srivastava’s Dad there, Mr.Pradeep Srivastava , who kindly spent some moments, with us, on our request to chat about this distinctively different restaurant which incidentally has food for all 6 Seasons of India. In India food plays an important role in giving the nutrition which the body needs during that particular season, and for maintaining the balance in terms of body heat, therefore, a wide variety of food for different seasons was created many centuries ago. This time we were fortunate to meet the Big Boss himself, who owns the Restaurant, Mr. Anubahav Srivastava, who briefly narrated the taste of most of the dishes, and explained some unique & distinctively new creation and introduction of a dish, recently introduced, especially for the Winter Season, called “Koyla Chicken” (Charcoal Chicken), warm as the name sounds, so does the dish generate warmth in the body and senses, with Charcoal Barbeque Flavour, and matching black colour! Being a vegetarian on Thursdays, I was unable to taste it, but all my friends loved it very much and said that, it was distinctively different than the norm, and definitely had that “Oomph”! We did experience the usual best services and efficiency, and were looked after by the General Manager, himself, Mr. Raghbir Sinha, who seemed like an Encyclopaedia of Indian Food, as he knew the background of all the dishes, with his qualification and past experience in the world of hospitality catering business internationally. The creativity, taste, presentation, and services when each and every dish was served was unique in character, which just tantalized our taste buds, which automatically triggered the mind with vibes of happiness. As the saying goes “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” All other dishes were excellent, especially Dal Tarka, butter chicken, etc. I would recommend each and every foodie living in London or visiting London to try this amazing experience in the world of culinary delights, to ascertain the facts, themselves. I wish the Owners, Management, Executives, & Staff Ritu Restaurant, continued progress to attain the peak of success in their endeavours © Ash-Cash and...

Ambience is great for a date night. Probably one of the few Indian restaurants in St. John’s wood. They are catering to whoever is willing to pay good money for Indian fine dining. No problem with that at all! However here is the catch - the food is very average for the price they are charging. The service is ok - some of it was a bit clunky. We ordered papadum - wasn’t expecting a layer of oil over them. Papadum was served with garlic aioli - good combo. We then ordered a Makkai / corn starter. For a Indian fine dining restaurant I don’t understand why they are using a store bought pastry. Again the snack had a layer of oil on it. The whole point of me spending the money on deep fried indian snacks is that I expect you to make the pastry! Anyway - moving on to the mains. Nilgiri paneer - ok. Butter chicken - good. Paratha - came in cold , just a hint of lukewarm to touch. Garlic naan - slightly burnt , I am ok but I can see how someone may not like it. When I have been in new Indian fine dining restaurant who are trying to take off , I have seen them go around with a platter of dessert that is free. they offered it to us on a platter as if free , but it was not. My bad - I should have cleared it. The saving grace was that the dessert was actually good so I didn’t mind. Be very clear in this restaurant as to what you are and are not paying for (same thing as dessert happened for papadum , so we should have been asked clearly that it is paid for). Overall, food doesn’t match price except for desserts. If you are a discerning customer like me , you are better off with Kanishka / Pali hill for a similar experience but very high quality food /...

Disappointing Experience – Wouldn’t Recommend

We had high hopes for Ritu London, but unfortunately, it was a letdown from start to finish. We were really looking forward to trying the food, but the whole experience left us feeling disappointed and frustrated.

Let’s start with the food. The daal was probably the only decent part of the meal – it had good flavour, but that’s where the positives end. We ordered pilau rice, expecting something fragrant and well-seasoned, only to be served plain boiled white rice with absolutely no flavour. It was not pilau rice by any stretch of the imagination. I genuinely think our order wasn’t taken properly because what we received was completely different from what we expected.

Service was another major issue. We placed our order well in advance, yet the food took ages to arrive. We reminded the staff twice that we were in a hurry, but it didn’t seem to make any difference. By the time the food finally arrived, we were already running late. For a place that presents itself as a higher-end Indian restaurant, I expected much better efficiency and attentiveness.

And then there’s the portion sizes – absolutely tiny for the price we paid. It felt like a complete waste of money. When you go out for a meal, especially somewhere that isn’t exactly cheap, you expect to leave satisfied. Instead, we left feeling like we’d spent far too much for far too little.

Overall, it was just not a good experience. The food was underwhelming, the service was slow and inattentive, and the portions were shockingly small. Definitely not worth the hype or the price. Not happy at all, and I certainly wouldn’t...