Little Bangla Bangladeshi & Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Sandwell

Located on Langley High Street, The Little Bangla can best be described as an expensive restaurant at a budget price.

As soon as you walk in, you are greeted by friendly staff, if not the owner himself, who takes his time to make you feel welcomes and comfortable. This is a really nice touch and the sign of a boss who truly values his customers.

In terms of decor, the restaurant area is divided into two, with a border containing a variety of potted plants, sitting beneath a ceiling light which bathes the room in a tasteful blue glow. On the far wall, next to the bar, is a wall covered in pictures and posters, all celebrating the restaurant’s various awards and achievements.

We were served soon after being seated. The waiter was extremely friendly and accommodating, even offering food that wasn't listed on the standard menu. He also asked us if we were celebrating a special occasion, and offered us a candle for our table, which was an incredibly nice touch. After finishing our meal, he also opened our hot towels and handed them to us, meaning neither of us burned our fingers when pulling them out of the plastic. I know it's only a little detail, but it added to the overall experience. And that's what it was. An experience. Not just a standard dinner at a standard Balti House in the Black Country on a Sunday evening.

As for the food, here's how it went...

Appetisers: We ordered Poppadoms, were fresh, crunchy and large, with a selection of three dips, including a chopped onions, mango chilli, and an excellent mint sauce which with thick, creamy and incredibly tasty.

Starters: We ordered Chicken Pakora and Lamb Samosas. The batter on the Chicken Pakora was light, the tikka chicken was cooked to perfection. The three lamb samosas were brimming with flavour, containing more spices and ingredients than average. The batter was crunchy but not too thick. Paired with the mint sauce, it was delicious.

Mains: We both ordered a Chicken Balti, rice, and a Garlic and Coriander Naan. The Balti sauce was delicious, not over-spiced, full of flavour with the classic sweet aftertaste you get at good Bangladeshi restaurants. The rice was light, flurry, perfectly cooked, and presented on the plate in either the shape of a heart or a star. The naan was light and fluffy, liberally garnished with the garlic and coriander. It also had a lovely, sweet aftertaste that perfectly complimented the Balti sauce.

In short, it was excellent. And the price was incredibly reasonable too. The above menu for two, plus two large cokes cost only £21 a head. This is a brilliant price for such a high standard of food and service.

Highly...

Firstly will say was there on a busy Sunday. However is that an excuse? I dunno. They seemed to have enough staff. I am allergic to raw tomatoes and some other specific vegetable types. (My fault, I always forget to tell restaurants until I notice it on someone’s plate.) once I told them, they did take it away and gave me a plate with out raw tomatoe. Though if I told you once, I shouldn’t get my mains with raw tomatoe on there which they again took back and had to replace the salad. Starter was fish tikka though tbh was pretty much fish pakora. Thing that bugged me was the mains. Look at the pic and tell me that’s worth £19?? The best part of an Indian grill is the onions and there was barely any. Barely any meat. I have seen more on a starter Mixed grill tbf. I was looking forward to this as when I had it the time before it was huge. However on that visit the got it wrong too. Got me the grill that was priced more but didn’t charge me but still didn’t get certain items from that meal till I told them.

Also I don’t understand how but for some reason coriander on a naan justifies an extra charge. I clearly asked the waitress if it was and she said no extra charge so me and one other person asked for them. Only I got one, the other person got a plain garlic one. That other person also asked for fried rice but got boiled rice. However they sneaked it into the bill. Other guest wanted lamb keema but what she got was actual lamb pieces in maybe what was a keema type sauce. To me looked like soya mince. But if you usually eat Indian food you know what one means when you say lamb keema. This dish was something else...

A few nights ago we took our humans to Little Bangla in Langley for dinner. Ancient human said to Birthday human that he could choose where to sit as it was his birthday which someone clearly picked up on as he was brought a plate of rice with a candle in it and Happy Birthday written on it. We thought this was a nice touch as we hadn't deliberately mentioned it. Very perceptive.

We ordered popadoms (very crispy) while scrutinising the extensive menu - even though we've had many deliveries it took us a while to decide. Meanwhile we ordered soft drinks and opened the bottle of wine we took with us (they are not licensed but you can bring your own).

The food, once we finally decided arrived in good time (they asked us to let them know when we were ready as Birthday Human had a starter. The Paneer Shashlick was sizzling as it was brought out, the naan was lovely. The Chicken Madras, was a little hot (that human usually eats Vindaloo but he thought it was very spicy) and the children's mushroom omelette and chips was also great and perfectly proportioned (Ancient Human can't manage adult portions anymore).

For dessert we were presented with a fairly standard Indian Restaurant menu with a selection of frozen desserts but they are nicely presented and taste great.

All evening the service was second to none - very attentive wait staff, flexible to deal with our many questions and on the ball to recognise the birthday.

The restaurant was clean and though almost empty when we arrived at 6pm it was beginning to fill up as we left around 7.30p.

Totally recommend it - we will be back, but before then, we'll be...