Roti King — Restaurant in London

I went to Roti King for a 9PM solo dinner on a Monday, I was suprised to see that there was still a queue. I waited 25 minutes before I was seated next to a couple with a plastic divider between me and them.

You're seated in a packed cellar like canteen. If you're used to the Asian street food scene, you won't mind. But if you're expecting a nice and cozy evening to bring a date, I'd skip if I we're you. This place is a fast-paced get-in get-out kind of ordeal. The service did the bare minimum, they took in your (max. one) order. Not a single word or smile was wasted on being friendly or accommodating. They looked drained and bored, but I do have sympathy for them working at such a busy joint. They work hard and I didn't have the wait long for their service. 2.5/5 for service.

Everything about this place is just focused on the food. People don't come here for the service that's for sure. They have a simple and safe menu with only the big hits. I decided to go for the mee goreng, the fried chicken side and a mutton curry with roti.

The fried chicken was well executed, the chicken was juicy even the white meat parts, the browning on the outside looked nice and the curry coating was flavourful. The chicken itself could have used some brining or marinating. The meat lacked some saltiness. The fresh squeeze of lemon was a necessary addition to the plate to make the flavors pop out a little more. 4/5

Up next was the mutton roti. No fancy garnishes or over the top plating. Just a perfectly and masterfully prepared (in the open kitchen) roti on a plate next to a small bowl of mutton curry. The roti was nice and crispy on the outside and soft and flakey on the inside. The are named Roti King for a reason. The mutton curry was good but not as amazing as the plain roti itself. The curry was very curry powder heavy, almost to a point where you it taste 'grainy'. It just needed a hint of sweetness to balance out the flavour and a little creaminess to make it more palatable and you have a winner. The meat itself was perfectly done, can't fault that. I had a piece of mutton as my last bite of the meal and the lukewarm meat was still juicy and soft. 5/5 for the roti. 4 for the curry. And 4/5 for the dish factoring in the steepish price.

Last but not least, the mee goreng. Fresh egg noodles in a thick curry coating with small prawns, big strips of slightly dried chicken breast and curry soaked tofu pieces served with a piece of lemon to cut the richness of the dish. This dish was great, definitely recommend, I would be proud to recreate something remotely similar at home. The balance of flavourful was on point. If you're deciding on getting the nasi or mee, I would go for the mee. Coming from a rice lover. My neighbours had the rice and it looked very underwhelming compared to this. I think the price of this dish is also spot on. I wouldn't say the portion is huge, but if you're a big eater, you won't mind an extra side. 4,5/5.

Roti King is a fantastic joint. I am still trying to figure out what they are doimg right to have queues of people waiting outside for dinner, but I was one of them and I had a great...

We came here on a Saturday night - the place was buzzing with a 45 minute queue and a sweet lady managing it. So far so good! And while the food was good, the service not so much.

One of our servers got our order wrong at multiple times. We were told the laksa could be made without sea food, which was later countered by another of the staff, who said this wasn't possible (it was eventually possible, but no biggie) We were mistakenly told the Char Kuey Teow vegetarian option would be without egg and tofu, while the vegan version would have both egg and tofu, which we pointed out didn't make sense (no biggie again, we laughed it off) They missed out the roti dhal in our order, with the server saying he hadn't heard us, even though he repeated it out to us at the time of the order.

Now all of this in its own is fine - this stuff happens, especially on busy Saturday nights. Perhaps the server was new as well, so we totally get it!

But then they brought out the laksa without seafood, but added chicken instead. When we pointed it out, we were (subtly) made to feel as though we'd made the mistake while ordering, even though, in their menu, the laksa has no mention of chicken on it (seafood and tofu is explicitly mentioned). And while it was taken back by the staff, it wasn't without us, by this point, being made to feel a little awkward for asking (which we don't think we should have been made to feel). Both of us at the table felt the staff was a bit judgmental (snarky perhaps?) for inquiring about the vegetarian version of the dishes and the whole service in general. It was just a dour/ surly vibe from the staff through and through.

With the food a bit spicy (to be expected of good Asian food), we were surprised to see no tap water being offered at any point (we were at the end of our meal). With all the mixups with the orders and the element of snarkiness, my wife was already feeling awkward about asking for water even though she obviously wanted some. I don't feel one should be made to feel like that.

Finally, the bill! Despite a 10% service charge being included in the bill, their payment tab makes it appear as though no tip has been added (ie: it's not obvious that this is a secondary service charge on top of the already baked in service charge), which definitely feels deceptive.

To conclude, was the food nice? Yes (decent, definitely not great, coming from an Asian). Was it worth queuing in the cold for 45 mins? Not with the service we experienced. To be clear, it's not the mistakes that made us feel compelled to write this review - that kind of stuff happens and most of the time, everyone laughs it off. It was the indifferent/ judgemental/ snarkiness that made us feel awkward for being there. The sneakiness at the end closed the deal for us.

4 stars for the food. Minus two for the service. Sorry...

I had high expectations in visiting the Roti King (Euston branch) with two friends. We were walking by the week before & saw the queue and thought to ourselves that it must be a really good place. We’re not based in London so we specifically made a special trip for this dining experience.

The food was well seasoned, but portions were a little small in comparison to some restaurants of the same cuisine. Location is conveniently located near Euston / King’s Cross and St Pancras.

Unfortunately, some things didn’t live up to expectations:

⁃ Queue: The queue was expected to be long, so we expected that. However, the tired and long face of the person calling and the way the person responded to questions weren’t too friendly. The mood was set at low already. ⁃ The food/service time: There were three of us — each ordered drinks + a meal & another set for sharing. My laksa was served, followed by my friend’s nasi goreng after just a few minutes. My friend and I were almost finished eating and noticed that other roti chanais ordered by two tables seated after us were served first and we had to remind them about our friend’s meal. The meal was served way too late & the server gave an incredibly poor reason. He mentioned that the beef in the chanai has to be cooked etc, yet one of the roti chanai that we ordered is a simple dahl. An admission that they have forgotten or missed the order would have been nicer, than a passive-aggressive response. ⁃ One order-only policy: I feel like this is the establishment suffering from its success. It seems like it has gone for quantity over providing a good service. As an SE Asian myself, I think that is part of what makes the food good. Because of the delayed arrival of our food, we weren’t able to eat one of our curries for the roti. We asked if we could simply order another roti to go with our takeout, and we were shut down with “You can’t do that”. I would have been fine, again, it’s the delivery that makes the experience less enjoyable.

I do not like giving low ratings as I believe in supporting representation of food and flavours. Nevertheless, I need to say this to manage future expectations of those visiting and perhaps shine a light on this for...