Rajdoot Tandoori — Restaurant in Manchester

Being from the Caribbean, ii can not only appreciate some good curry dish but ii also know my way around Indian cuisine. Rajdoot is in a great location in the heart of Manchester, about 5mins walk from St Peter's Square. On Valentine's night, my girlfriend took me to dinner, and she surprised me with the location. ii had been in the mood for curry for the past couple of days so when ii realized that curry was on the menu ii my expectations were high! Stepping down the short flight of stairs, leads to an inviting lounge, that's visually what you'd expect stepping into a stereotypical Indo-British establishment. The soft-lit atmosphere, echoes of neo-Indian classical music of this, and the smell on mouthwatering created an ideal ambiance. The restaurant was decorated with a mix of Asian influences -- Bollywood, Punjabi, Traditional, Moroccan, Indonesian -- a general thread that was not always cohesive, but it was acceptable. The menu was diverse, but for an Indian restaurant there were only 5 recipes out of 50 that were labelled spicy! When requested hot sauce, that was an additional cost to the bill which would be complimentary everywhere else. For a Valentine's night, and not very busy, the service was poor at best. Although staff seemed attentive with their plastered smiles that wasn't always the case. The WAIT! A long wait for the meal, long wait for additional naan, a long wait for drinks and even longer for the bill! This would have been unbearable if the company wasn't pleasant and if the soft music wasn't calming. We had to wait almost 15minutes for a glass of water! There were groups an couples who were served and billed and we were still waiting. Our dinner took over 3hours, and this was only a an entree, no time for a dessert because we felt it would have been an even longer wait! That said, the Duck Chili Garlic...

Once arriving last night we were greeted by a young woman we were around 5 mins late to our table reservation, we were told to take a seat in this waiting area and given menu's. Left for around 15/20mins we were confused what was going on so asked when will we be seated as we had a table booked for 20mins ago and we Could clearly see empty tables along with 3 other groups waiting. We were told we must order before they take us to our seats. We ordered and within 5 mins we were shown to our seat... On arrival to the table our popadoms were on the table ready however our drinks weren't we asked 3 times if our drinks were coming and eventually turned up. I asked for a white wine spritz which was given to me in a tall glass - very refreshing as it was mainly soda water and ice with a dash of wine instead of the other way around.

Mains were really good - not much chicken in the curry dishes is my only negative from it. Lots of rice enough for 2 to share and the nan bread was tasty too.

Staff weren't bothered and it lacks customer service I over heard a few people complain about this. I asked for a glass of wine to finish.

To my suprise when the bill arrived the white wine spritz was more expensive than the white wine. I raised that I would not pay £6.95 for the spritz as it had a dash of wine compared to an actual glass of wine being £4.95 the price was ridiculous and wasn't on the menu. She assured me the measure was the same so I pored me glass of wine into my tall glass to prove with ice and soda in that it would be impossible for her to say it was the same measure. She discounted it down to just a glass of wine which I was happy with but still don't believe for what I got it should have been that price.

This place is let down by its...

I visited on Thursday evening and unfortunately had one of the most disappointing restaurant experiences I’ve had in a long time. Despite the place being completely empty, we were made to wait in the lobby and place our order there, which felt unnecessary and unwelcoming.

The decor inside is nice, but sadly the food was some of the blandest I’ve tasted. It’s marketed as an Indian restaurant, yet the dishes didn’t taste remotely authentic. My shish kebab starter was the only highlight, but the Chicken Tikka Biryani was terrible – the rice was mushy, flavourless, and the chicken looked like plain boiled pieces rather than proper tikka. We barely ate half of it and had to tell the waitress we’re finished.

The waitress came over several times to ask if the food was okay, which made it obvious they knew the quality was poor. When the dish was taken away, I even saw staff speaking amongst themselves while looking towards our table – very unprofessional, especially considering we were the only diners there.

To make matters worse, the bill (£27.70 for one starter and one main) was ridiculously overpriced for what we got. They also added a 10% “optional” service charge automatically without telling us. It feels like a sneaky way to pressure customers into paying extra. Service charges should be clearly mentioned and agreed to, not sprung on people. If staff need to be paid fairly, that should come from management, not by catching customers off guard.

Overall, overpriced, bland food and a poor dining experience. I won’t be returning and I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone looking for genuine Indian cuisine or...