Cha & Nasta — Restaurant in St Albans

Came to cha & nasta yesterday to try this little place out. Met the owner and his wife who seemed very nice people and was shown around the place. We ordered the chicken kurma (basically a fancy way to change korma) with rice and keema paratha and my partner ordered Dahl with puri and samosa .. we tried the samosa on the drive home to w.g.c. When we arrived home and opened the rest of the food we were very surprised that the kurma was so watery and had no flavour at all even though the lady said she would make it specially spiced and Indian style for us.. the rice was not nice and had a burnt sweet onion taste to it and had a boiled egg in the tray with the food.. the kurma had a whole chicken leg in it which I have never experienced in a curry .. the food was not authentic.. me and my partner have Asian family’s and eat Asian food out at least 2/3 times a month.. this food is terrible tbh and we called the shop today after work and informed them and that we would like a half refund and only ate prob 25% of the food. The lady was very pleasant on the phone as was my partner. She agreed to look at the receipt and partially refund us, we still had the uneaten food and said we can return it just so they can see we are being genuine. We drove from Wgc in traffic as they close at 5.30, I took the food in as agreed on the phone to be told that refund was not part of their policy by her daughter. I asked why did you let us come back over here, all I wanted was a refund for the food I would consider not edible. They discussed between themselves in their own language ( although they were speaking up until now perfectly good English) which I found very rude in that situation. Bottom line, £40 down the drain at Cha & Nasta...

Following reading a review from another unsatisfied customer (Dan Dudley) i would like to bring to light my family’s horrendous ordeal with this outfit. Staff at Cha & Nasta were initially very welcoming and confident in clarifying the items on their menu. They seemed to know what they were talking about. We are originally from India so are familiar with what to expect from the popular dishes that were available from there. Firstly the Kurma (which we know is the traditional name for Korma) was exactly how Mr. Dudley’s photo image looked. It was not creamy, it was some very blandly cooked chicken in a watery sauce with no consistency. The lamb dish that we ordered was just bits of gristly fat swimming in brown water with absolutely no flavour. When we approached the staff regarding this, the young lady was very abrupt and asked if they can make it again for us. I dont see how this could have helped and to be perfectly honest our faith in the kitchen staff had gone. None of this food looked like it was Indian food. We have never returned to Cha & Nasta since and do not intend too. The level of service and the attitude of the staff as well as the quality and presentation of the dishes have been enough to put us off for life. We hope that they can improve their level of hospitality and professionalism as well as hire competent and experienced chefs to ensure a pleasant dining experience for...

We were over charged for the food. We had the Eid lamb special. The portions were far too small - one to two pieces of meat in the curry in a very small bowl. It came with two small rice flatbreads and a tiny bowl of tomato salad, which had a strange taste to it (almost as though it had perfume in it). We had been told that it would come with rice and flatbread, but then it turned out, when we got the bill, that the plain boiled rice was charged extra (£2,50 per portion - small portions and there were 7 of us - three adults and four children!)! When we asked for a little more sauce, we were brought a little more curry and the owners tried to charge us the full price for the whole meal! (The whole meal should have included: lamb curry, two rice flatbreads, tomato salad and dessert). The curry was tasty but just not enough! Would I go back again?...