Bardez - Indian Street Food and Grill, Rusholme — Restaurant in Manchester

We stumbled across this restaurant which was full at the time, we wanted some Indian food so we thought why not.

The starters set our expectations so high as they were very tasty.

We got -

Popadum - £4.50 Seekh Kebab - £7.95 Onion bhaji - £5.95 Fish Amritsar - £6.95

The sauces that came with them complimented the dishes so well. We thoroughly enjoyed eating them.

The mains were very disappointing and bland. We expected so much more flavour and surprisingly it wasn’t there.. like at all.

We ordered -

Butter chicken - £13.95 Rice £3.75 and naan £3.50

Lamb dum biriyani - £15.95

Before we made our order, naturally we queried a few dishes as my partner was stuck between two lamb dishes, the waiter recommended the lamb dum biryani for this occasion but advised us to try the other lamb dish when we return, so we all agreed that my partner would order that based on her recommendation.

Despite the agreement, my order came out and after 10+ minutes, my partners order was nowhere to be seen. We had plans to share each others food, but as only my dish had come, we wasn’t able to do this. We called the waiter back to ask how long the dish would be and she seemed abit confused, as she thought we didn’t want that dish. - I’d also like to add that before she left after taking our order, she read it out back to us to confirm, which included my partners main… so we were also confused that it was missed from the order.

My meal was taken back and we was told his food would be ready in 15 mins, so we waited as the starters really made us excited for the mains. We finally received his main, alongside mine and once we began eating, we both thought it tasted really bland. Which is sad because the word “bland” and biryani are NEVER said in the same sentence because biryani is FULL of flavour, and so is butter chicken.

We honestly were so disappointed and genuinely wanted the meals to be taken from the bill but we literally were so annoyed that we just wanted to pay & leave and put this behind us for good.

The waiter that forgot our order asked if we had student discount and applied it to our bill, which took £9.38 off but I think if she had said “I’m sorry for my mistake, I have applied a discount to your bill” that would’ve been better as it shows accountability for her mistake rather than the whole student discount thing… but it’s money off so we’re not complaining.

We wouldn’t return, we also don’t recommend. The singer was lovely also, it was a nice addition to the restaurant as we were able to hear his singing from outside...

I recently visited Bardez, expecting a pleasant dining experience, but I was thoroughly disappointed. The restaurant was quiet when we arrived, and we were promptly seated. However, the service took a turn for the worse soon after. We placed our order, which the waitress confirmed twice, yet when the food arrived, one of our dishes was missing. When we informed the waitress, she misunderstood and tried to take a new order instead. After explaining that we had already ordered the dish, she apologized, and eventually, the missing sizzler was brought to our table.

Unfortunately, by the time it arrived, we had already finished the rest of our meal. We decided to eat it anyway, but after the first bite, we realized the seekh kebab was off—it smelled terrible. We called the waitress again, who immediately took the dish back to the kitchen. She returned, claiming everything was fine, but shortly after, what seemed to be the manager or owner came to our table. Instead of addressing the issue professionally, he rudely insisted that the food was good.

One of my friends, who is a chef, politely explained that the kebab was indeed off, but instead of listening, the manager acted out of line. He even called my friend's boss to complain that his employee was criticizing the food at their restaurant. This was not only unprofessional but also incredibly disrespectful.

We left feeling embarrassed and completely unsatisfied with our experience. The food was subpar, and the way the situation was handled was unacceptable. I would not recommend Bardez to anyone looking for a decent meal or respectful service. This place clearly does not value its customers or...

Bardez has great food, provides fantastic service, and is really reasonably priced (especially in October when they have an offer on!)

We'd visited the Rusholme restaurant so knew the food would probably be good, and it was great to be proved right. We were a group of four and shared 4 starters, 4 mains, alongside some sides. Along with drinks (a mixture of beers and cocktails), the overall price was about £120 - a really reasonable price given most of our party had two drinks each.

The starters where onion bhaji, chicken tikka, aloo tikki and samosa chaat. The samosa chaat in particular was a highlight, and each item was really tasty.

For mains, we had a mixture of vegetarian and meat dishes - malabar prawn curry, lamb dum gosht, saag paneer and bombay aloo. Again, each dish was really nice, with the prawn curry a particular favourite, with a bit of spice to it.

Service was great throughout, the front of house staff led by owners Marcus and Zico were wonderful. Where they were particularly good too was when we got out 2nd drinks, with one of our party getting a 'barman's special' when they coudn't decide on their next drink - they received a ginger beer mojito which, fair play barman, was really good. All the staff made us feel really welcome and were fantastic on the nice.

Another really big positive was the range of veggie options (one of our group was a vegetarian), meaning there was plenty to choose from.

All in all, a fantastic new restaurant in Didsbury. If you're on the lookout for high quality Indian food, in somewhere with a fantastic atmosphere, then give...