Babaji — Restaurant in Sunderland

Slightly Disappointing.. I'd heard great things about this restaurant including a review in the echo, so was of the mind it was going to be more than a run of the mill indian restaurant, unfortunately, in my humble opinion, it was not. My 1st impression was not the best, the decor reminded me of an 1980's Italian ( not the colour scheme) but the fake plastic ivy etc dotted about, being warm and welcoming is fine but when they are trying to hard or just being disingenuous, it's hard to fathom and gives me personally a slight acidic taste in my mouth. My next gripe was charging for poppadoms, sambols and pickles, It just doesn't sit right with me and neither did the price of the cocktail my wife had, I was thought I was living in sunderland, not London! For a restaurant not to have salt on the table is for me either pretentious, or they are that confident that the food is seasoned correctly... it certainly wasn't the 2nd. My wife Bhuna Prawn Puri was very nice but my onion Bhaji lacked any real flavour and certainly seasoning and why oh why do nearly all Indian restaurants still garnish plates like its the 1980's? ( to match the decor?) Please be a bit more inventive than not very well chopped lettuce and a poorly thick slice of orange. To be fair the mint yoghurt was very nice ( but come on if you can't get that right, should you even run a restaurant?) My wife had the king Prawn malabar, which she throughly enjoyed, I thought it lacked seasoning, but she was happy. I had the Babaji lamb Bhuna again it was nice ( lacked seasoning ) but I wanted and expected from the grapevine more than nice.. The mushroom rice was nice with yes you've guessed it lacked seasoning the chips were barely cooked and definitely lacked salt.. The peshwari naan was to die for and by then had got tired of the salt issue by then... Our waitress was lovely ( no seasoning needed) and the complimentary drink at the end was a nice touch.. I was driving and my wife devoured both... In general would I go back probably not, but that has more to do with trying new places when we rarely go out... It wasn't what I hoped it would be but it wasn't bad either, unfortunately just another run of the mill...

I went to Babaji, after good reviews from the Sunderland Echo and also their Sister curry house on Ocean Road South Shields. I ordered a pickle tray with two poppadoms. Also a lamb karahi Asian style hot with garlic and coriander naan. The lamb costs an extra £1.50. Firstly the sauces for the pickle tray. I asked for hot lime pickle but they don't do that, instead they have a naga chilli yoghurt sauce that was pink in colour. Unfortunately for me it was too sweet and I could tell that sugar had been added. As for the rest of the sauces, sugar was also added to those. The raitha was too sweet. The shredded green sauce also sweet and we know that mango is sweet by its own nature. The lamb karahi was very tasty and hot Asian style, just like I asked for it, unfortunately what let this dish down was that half of it was "padded out" with large cut onions and capsicum peppers. If I am paying £1.50 "extra" for lamb, I expect more lamb not just 6x 1" cubed pieces of lamb and the other half of my curry full of vegetables . I did point this out to the head waiter and he agreed with me. I will probably visit again and hope for a better result. I come from Yorkshire, the Bradford, Huddersfield, Halifax triangle so kind of know how I like my curry. Service was tops and polite and not too intruding. I give 4* could...

My mam and I visited Babaji's on a Monday evening, the restaurant is a wonderful vibrant space with bright street food styling and some gorgeous vintage photos on the wall. Firstly the service was superb, truly everything you could want, attentive and thoughtful providing good advice about the dishes with a fun twinkle in the eye. Then there is the food - so delicious, the menu is really interesting with some great dishes (really loved the gunpowder chicken and my mam truly rated the mixed tandoori grill lamb chop in particular.

The mojito Mocktail was particularly yummy, I think a little touch of salt with the lime tasted moreish and delicious. We couldn't make our mind up about between the pistachio and mango kulfi ice-cream and we were treated to tasters of both - a perfect fresh and clean ending to our meal. Huge congratulations to the team at Babaji's, they really do take pride in their offering and it truly shows.

I loved the sign on the wall that outlined their 'rules' or values - they definitely take them seriously and every person involved delivered their best. Thank you to the whole team at Babaji's, hospitality is so difficult these days but these guys really know how to create a...