St Albans Tandoori — Restaurant in St Albans

Phoned at 23.20 to check we could still go in to eat rather than get a takeaway and told it was fine they stop serving at 00.00. Arrived within 15 minutes. When we arrived the restaurant had at least 12 people on 3 tables and two couples waiting for a takeaway. So still busy. We were seated and menus shoved in our hands. Asked if we wanted drinks by the waiter who was walking off while we were ordering them. Another waiter came and took our orders. We knew what we going to have so we were quick in ordering. The first waiter came with the drinks and dumped them in the corner of the table followed by our poppadoms and practically threw them down on the table with the accompaniments. He then hovered around our table and the other tables that were eating picking up dishes and cutlery. Our food came and was brought by a different waiter who was in better humour. Another couple came in to order a takeaway followed by two young men. Service was offered to all that came in after us as the restaurant was still taking orders after we had got our meal. The first waiter started removing the serving bowls as I was putting them down I don't think one touched the table before he whipped it away! I asked him if he was in a hurry to which he just gave me a dirty look. He returned and hovered by our table. We started to eat but felt intimidated and under pressure to finish our meal so made the decision to ask for them to box it up so we could leave. The other guests who had been in there before us were no where near finished. I called over the grumpy waiter and asked him to box up our meal to which he tutted loudly and grabbed our plates. I was still putting the curry from two serving bowls on to my plate as he took it. I called over one of the other waiters and told him the service had been very poor and that waiter was rude. He apologised and said but he is a nice man. We said he hadn't been with us. He took the rest of the curry left to put with the rest. We left our drinks practically full. We paid the bill and as we were leaving said to another member of staff who was holding the door open for us about the poor service and he just gestured for us to get out. All in all a very poor disappointing experience which we won't be repeating. If St Albans tandoori don't want to serve late they should not advertise this service. I called in advance. The restaurant was still serving. They accepted our custom. They accepted more custom after we had ordered. The original guests were still eating after we had made the decision to leave. And of course they...

Had a bad experience here. When we arrived, the bottom area was full (couple of empty tables due to reservations, we were told) so we were seated upstairs. Our table was broken (the legs were loose so we couldn’t lean on it) and the table cloth had holes in it, but this didn’t bother us too much. However there was an incredibly loud group of 10+ men shouting and making misogynistic comments in conversation, so loudly that we couldn’t have a conversation. The upstairs area is very small and echoey, and we were the only other people in there with them. I felt quite intimidated and uncomfortable as the only woman in the room, and the waiters were ignoring us and catering to the larger group (obviously they were going to spend more). We asked the waiter to be seated down stairs instead, but we were told it was all full. We finally ordered, and while waiting for our food a group of three other men sat near us. Before our food came, they were relocated downstairs to a free window table (we know this because we saw them there as we were leaving) which we thought was very unfair. Once the food came (half an hour later), it was quite bland and the second mouthful I had had a long hair in it, causing me to half swallow it, choke on it and have to pull it out of my throat. Feeling very put off the food, there was no waiter upstairs to notify about the hair. The next time we saw the waiters, they were busy delivering the food to the large group. When we could finally ask for the bill we told them about the hair, and they took one main off our bill. We appreciated this but it was not enough to compensate for the terrible service we had received. I didn’t eat and left...

Arrived and was instantly shoved into a seat with no words just gestures, ordered poppadoms and then began to order food, one of my friends asked for a chicken tikka to which the waiter laughed at him and said “That doesn’t exist how can you order, if you want the Tikka Masala then you have to tell me properly or I’ll bring you nothing” my other friend said he would have the same to which point the waiter got angry and told him tell me what you want I don’t know what that is, if you’re not going to say it properly then I’m not going bring you any food, all of this said in an aggressive tone, I then told him not to bother taking any further orders as we would be leaving to go somewhere else, was told he was only joking and ordered to sit back down, he then put his hands on my friend and he tried to stand up, as we were leaving agreed to pay for Poppadoms and one beer as only one of us had actually drunk anything, charged £14 for a sip of beer and poppadoms and was asked to take a sip of J20 so that he wouldn’t loose money and could charge me for it, this is the only review I have ever left in my entire life, absolutely terrible service and attitude from the staff, not surprised we were the only ones in there if this is how they behave and treat...