Zaiqa London — Restaurant in London

On Friday 17th June I had my Nikkah celebration at Zaiqa. It was a very last minute function for myself and my wife. The process of booking this venue was rather lengthy and needless to say the hassle we had on the day was disturbing due to one individual. Our booking was made with the owner of the establishment Ahmed. We paid a deposit of £300 via bank transfer. Price and date was agreed.

From that first point of contact, we were then assisted by an individual called Alom. It is evident to say that after negotiations with him, his selfishness was clear as day. Upon agreeing prices with the owner Ahmed, Alom would look for measures to make money for himself. A deposit was paid and when me and my partner arrived to clarify other factors we wanted, Alom started to look for loopholes to make cash for himself. Extra charges for tables cloths when a price was already agreed by the owner. His persistence in demanding cash in hand was despicable. He kept requesting for us to pay in cash and kept insinuating me to grab the money from my pocket. The owner walked in and his complexion changed and he went and grabbed the card machine? We agreed on leaving the premises by 10:30PM and to accommodate 70 guests. £20 per head.

Alom on the day made me and my partner feel so uncomfortable. Constantly staring at us on our big occasion with a dissatisfied look whilst we sat on the stage and then had the audacity to demand £100 extra for due to an apparent 5 extra guests. We gave him this money as we were not in a position to argue nor did we have the time on our event.

After our function and counting our guests this was a lie, in fact it was only 66 guests along side with 5children under the age of 4. It is clear this money was for himself. Our guest was actually shorter than 70 so we overpaid. Counting children aged 2/3 years who wouldn’t eat a plate of food is not acceptable.

The food however was very good, all dishes were served promptly and all the curries were superb. The desert that was promised to us and was boasted about by the staff member as being the finest Gajar Halwa with ice cream was tasteless but also the lack of starters served was shocking. The starters was served on one plate. Two samosas two vegetable rolls two chicken tikkas and two sheesh kebabs around a group of seven men. There was probably thirty people on one table and only two plates of starters. This was very embarrassing. We paid for seventy guests, so why is there a lack of food ?

The venue was booked for downstairs, and being the hottest day of the year, you would assume the restaurant would be courteous enough to turn on the A/C. We mentioned this, they said it was on. Literally, no air was coming out from the Air conditioning.

Furthermore I would also like to mention that me and my partner paid out for a decor company, some of our guests have witnessed that the staff abruptly removed table centre pieces in very unorderly manner.

With this being all said it is without question we would not recommend this establishment to anyone holding a function. The discomfort me and my partner felt on this day due to Alom was inexcusable. On our special day he persisted in conning us just to make cash on the side...

I took a few days to do this because I wanted to be with a clear mind when I did this. Firstly I would like to say that the food was ok , we ordered one of the platters that they do and we added some side to it, two portions of chips 🍟 that they were frozen but they were well fried and the food as I said before it was ok. Now let's get into the place, it's a big restaurant with lots of tables and the decorations and some of furniture are mixed styles but that it doesn't bother me at all. But one of the things that it does matter to me and others would be like the day we were there and not air con was on it seems it was broken then if you care about your customers while there is a heatwave you get some electric fans in simple as that. The set on the table was just a paper napkin and some cutlery 🍴and that is fine too but maybe you should invest some extra pounds on the quality of your napkins as this ones left your mouth and skin around it like you got carpet burn 😜🤣 Drinks on the fridge were not proper cold. I had some leftover and I asked if I could take it and he was ok with it and brought some foil paper for my naan bread 🫓 and he took it and touched with his bare hands and the same with my chicken 🍗 and salad 🥗 and minutes before that I saw him handling money and being on his phone 📱 and after he touched my food and that is so wrong, Food handling and heath and safety was failed there ... And now it comes the kick of the experience there : We asked for the bill and he brought it and I didn't heard what he was saying but I heard the word: money 💰 so I thought he was asking to be paid by money so I paid it by money 💰 and when I given him the money he told me that it wasn't enough so I looked again the bill and it was there more than enough so he walked again quite unhappy and then my husband told me that the first part of the conversation that I didn't heard properly, he was letting us know that not service charge was added to the bill but he wanted that money on cash and not bed added on the credit card machine. So when he returned to us with the changes for the money I given him, I pointed that he could kept it and he throw the tray where the money was in and told us in a very hunger actitud to take it. Firstly, you can't demand tips or service charge for your customers and also tell them how you want it. And also any money your customers decided to leave you should be grateful as probably they give you all they can or even they can't spare but still they are leaving you something. Let's be grateful 🙏 Also the guy that prepared our platter took one of the menu from the tables to know what it was in it. Not really impressed that...

Beware of their fake review you will notice the people with 1 review to mask your honest reviews: it's their family and staff I assume, pathetic!

Today myself and my family went to this former restaurant named Zara grill. I believe it has apparently changed ownership but I highly doubt it as I saw owner. The menu has also changed as well as the name. Decor

Outside looked amazing and fresh but that was it, the decor inside was from the former restaurant but because it hasn’t been changed, it was all falling apart. My daughter sat in a chair that was clearly broken and was falling apart. The seats against the wall had ripped fake ripped and worn fake leather. The kitchen from what I could see didn’t look as clean and they try to hide it with a divider for some reason.

Food

We were starting to order individual dishes and then saw the platter. We thought let’s give it a try. It has a chicken curry, dall, 3 nans, chicken tikka, kebabs, Biriyani and chicken wings for 45. I thought that was quite decent. As we had kids we asked the food to be no spice which would be easy right? The food was tainted with extreme chilli inc all the mix grill, we also ordered the chicken jalfrezi which is meant to be hot like a normal jalfrezi for me and my wife but that was very mild for some reason. The quality of the pieces of chicken in the curry was poor defo not fresh, dall was several days old like when you know it’s had so much water added and reheated. Wait for this the garlic nan even had chilli on it. The food is pathetic and I assume all the chilli maybe to mask old food smell and taste. We had to order plain chips and rice, imagine that was all the food my kids ate?! They were not sympathetic but extremely sarcastic and then I ask why doesn’t you ask the manager to come and speak to me. 1st the waiter brings a desert to say sorry from the owner but then suddenly the owner is in Dubai. The worker even asked if I knew of anyone who had jobs. Please please do not waist your hard earn money and precious time here. Our belly has been hurting and on my way out there was no hygiene rating so I’ll be report them to tower hamlets food agency. Just a greedy restaurant after your cash then give you sub standard. This is now a circus of a place, you could not pay me to eat here I’d rather eat at the less fancy places and I know it will be nice and...