Saara's North Harrow — Restaurant in London

We attended Saara’s for a of a large family party. I have never been to Saara’s as we normally go to the other more renowned Indian restaurants in the area as the locality of Saara’s is not the best especially in the evening.

Having looked at the reviews, it appeared that the place seemed reputable from a culinary perspective, hence we were looking forward to the evening.

We arrived at Saara’s @ 1830. It was quite a large party, a booking of 40 which was seated in the upper level.

We started with some drinks and then some of the starters began to appear after about an hour.

The restaurant décor is ok, average but dated & somewhat underwhelming, since we were there for the party that wasn’t too important. We did find that the restaurant was too small for that number of people not really allowing any form of movement & especially being on the upper level, also the stairs were unsafe and a real hazard. The lavatories didn’t fare well from a hygiene perspective and people complained of flooding in the lavatories so we just avoided using them.

The service was friendly however very slow and understaffed. The bar was basic but ok, again the service was not exactly sharp and the bar was not well stocked.

Now the real concern for me was the food. There was approximately 2 - 2.5 hours gap between the starters and the main dishes arriving. Starters were ok, however the main dishes is where the real problem was. First of all, waiting 2.5 hours is unheard of! The mains arrived too late especially for those younger and older members of the party.

2-3 of the main dishes were ok however the portions being served throughout were so small it wasn’t enough even for half of the people at a time on the tables; The two non-veg dishes (Chicken & Lamb) were outrageously spicy & the quality of the meat was not great. I have travelled across the UK and spent many years working in India; Being Indian, we can handle hot food; However, this was on another level. I could even taste red chill powder on the surface of the chicken pieces. It was artificially hot even for a Madras. Completely unacceptable and dangerous.

The Naan bread seemed to be in such shortly supply, we found quarters and Eights’ of Naan bread being served like it was on ration. The naan breads were very small so there just wasn’t enough of this to go round and rice wasn’t exactly forthcoming too. We had to repeatedly ask for more food and Naan bread, however it was very slow in coming and there was obviously some sort of issue in the kitchen. I didn’t get a whole Naan bread even after almost an hour!

By 11pm, we were still extremely hungry and we didn’t feel well as a result of the food and the lateness of the serving. That feeling also carried into the next day. Whilst some of the staff apologised at the end, it just wasn’t good enough.

NW London and Harrow in particular have a very good range of quality Indian restaurants, after this experience Saara’s is towards the bottom of the list. There is absolutely no way I would go there again as I would not take a risk with the food here. This party was booked several months beforehand, so there cannot be excuses for not being able to provision for such an event. Not being able to provide basics such as sufficient Naan bread and main meals within an acceptable time are just ludicrous. The quality of the meat dishes in particular were poor. Couple this with the basic nature of the restaurant and it’s cramped and dated facilities, there is no reason to go here. Had it not been for being as part of the larger group, we would have left and dined somewhere else.

No doubt the restaurant will not like this review; Saara’s describe ‘An Exclusive Dining Experience’; Its exclusive alright, so exclusive whereby you cant even get food for hours! What a ridiculous description! The truth is that the whole experience was unacceptable and there are far better more genuine places to go where you will actually be served quality food in an acceptable time and safe...

Not sure those writing reviews on this restaurant giving 4 and 5 stars know anything about Indian cuisine.

I stepped in with my family basing on these reviews and this is not even a basic Indian cuisine. Lamb kebabs on sizzler went dry in seconds because the sizzler was so hot. Veg Manchurian was potato and bread balls (cheap and no vegetables inside) with toungue pearcing tangy sauce, not edible at all.

And the mains, dal makhani has very little dal full of tomato sauce with no butter or cream. I also ordered bhindi masala which was made of frozen bhindi (black in colour, no trace of green colour) with tinned tomatoes was awfully tangy.

Do they think people come in can eat anything ? And the boy serving us doesn’t know what he was doing, he can’t even clear the table properly forget about other service. And people sitting at the bar do not care blocking way for those walking to and from the tables, they looked like the dailies to the place and don’t care about other customers.

This is an awful restaurant and anyone visiting based on the reviews, pleas be ware....A TERRIBLE PLACE TO...

I went yesterday for lunch at 230pm as on the online menu and website says opens at 2pm on sundays, called them to check as i was told it opens at 5! The lady picked up as her restaurant phone was diverted to her mobile, she said we open at 3! Anyways waited for abit and the waiter said we need to change the menu time and on website! Needs to be done asap to avoid confusion. One negative. The place is nice, was quiet when i went, only 1 more family there due to it was middle of afternoon. I ordered tardka dal, aloo sag, rice ,salad and tandoori roti. All were nice apart from aloo sag, the spinach tasted like tin spinach puree, which i dislike. Fresh spinach needs to be used. My friend ordered tandoori chicken. He said it was nice. Food is abit pricy. Portions are standard portion. Each dish would be enough for 2 or 3 ppl. Overall good place for food. Will go back...