The Punjab

I went for dinner in Punjab yesterday with a group of colleagues. We ordered a range of dishes from tandoori, bhuna, tikka to the briyanis. We didn't like any of them. The king prawn bhuna which I ordered was overcooked. For about £12 , I get only three prawns and they were overcooked!! That's over-priced and the size of the prawns wasn't big at all!

Then we had the chicken tikka and the potato with some mesh green vege. They were bland and artificial. I recall having a similar experience as buying ready meals from the frozen section of supermarkets

The poppadum and Mango Lassi were the only things I enjoyed. But these are not items which you need to fly people 6000miles to make them. At least, something nice I can speak about Punjab.

The staff were not polite but they were not overly rude either. When the place was crowded, facial expressions from the staff were unfriendly. They were obviously impatient while taking our orders as if they were paying us to be there! Even if they were, a smile wouldn't hurt.

The deco was nice but the seatings were cramped. As we went in a group, they shoved us into a corner with very limited leg room. I never thought I'd be given a Ryanair treatment in a supposed premium restaurant.

Nothing personal, but I certainly couldn't justify the bill that came out to be £30 per person based on the quality of the food and service. I think for the price we've paid, we could have gotten a much better deal elsewhere.

Would I recommend this place? No.
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Eldon Nedla
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Friday, October 17, 2008

Realy good food for the price, but the staff was......what do you call...?
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 8
Thursday, September 04, 2008

I ate here last night, as we fancied eating Indian and we were in Covent Garden. What a disappointment. The restaurant looks quite nice through the windows, and was full. However, we were then seated in the back room, which isn't nearly as nice - bright lights and cheap decor.

I can get over the decor, but the fact is that the food was just not very good. The dishes lacked bite, and were lacking in the vibrancy of flavours which one learns to expect from Indian cuisine. I would avoid this place if I were you. We felt we had wasted the opportunity to have a nice Indian meal because we had ended up in The Punjab instead. There are lots of other Indian restaurants nearby - we will choose one of those instead next time.
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Steve C
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, September 03, 2008

It was my friends birthday so we met up at this restaurant and when i got there my friends before they can welcome me they told me to order a starter quickly because the waiters wont stop asking them if their ready to order even though they told them their still waiting for few people.

once everyone was there and ready to order the waiters were no where to be found. finaly once we placed our orders, even though we were all chatting away and catching up we finished the convo and realised weve been waiting for more than 30min so once calling a waiter and asking about our order it arrived 10 min later.

the food was tasteless. worst indian food i ever tasted and i am from india myself been to so many indian restaurants around london.

felt very cramped and once we questioned the waiters their customer service went down the drain.

Even when the food arrived few dishes were missing as if they ny have enough time.

when we finished eating it felt like they couldnt wait to get rid of us.

The price was ridiculous in comparison to the food and service

if your a curry fan wouldnt reccommend this place it might put you off from curry
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Bhupinder Singh
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Saturday, March 29, 2008

I ate at the Punjab with my partner in late February 2008 and found the food extremely bland and boring.

Perhaps the meat dishes are better, but the Vegetable Biryani was just peas, carrots and potatoes with plain boiled white rice and a thin gravy that had some mild curry powder added. There were no spices or herbs that could be seen or tasted. It was the worst 'Indian' meal I've ever had.

The Sag Bhaji that my partner had appeared to be a reheated tin of spinach. Again there were no spices herbs or any other attempt at flavouring it. Boiled tinned spinach is great if you're Popeye. Not so great if you want a nice tasting meal.

The waiter plonked the food down without bothering to check which dish was for which person and he had turned away from the table before his hand had finished dropping the plate on it.

Maybe they just don't like vegetarians...
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Alison
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 1
Thursday, March 27, 2008

5 of us visited here for a friends birthday dinner.

We arrived on time and waited for a further 20minutes (outside in the cold) to be seated.

We ordered the chicken tikka, it was probably the worst tasting we've had from anywhere.

The nan was nice, rice was standard.

The gravy of the paneer dishes were (as someone mentioned before), tomato-y, not flavoured like normal indian dishes.

We may expect alot more than normal from a "curry house" as 4 of us were indian, but unfortunately we wouldn't go back...
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Friday, November 23, 2007

I an an avid fan of Indian food and have been to this restaurant several times in recent years following a recommendation from a friend. I was not disappointed. I have thoroughly enjoyed many of the main courses, including several which are grandpa's special recipie and unique to the premises.

Thats not just mere advertising 'puff'; the restaurant has been in the same family ownership since the 1950's. My one criticism is that the choice of starters are a little on the limited side, but I usually ask them to let me have a smaller portion of one of the main course kebab dishes instead.

In summary, there are better Indian restaurants out there but this one in my opinion ranks pretty highly.
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Gareth Llewelyn - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Sunday, September 23, 2007

fantastic food, I was amazed to read the previous reviews of the Punjab but can say that its best to go and check out yourself, you will either love or hate the Punjab, if you want tasty punjabi food, then this is the place to go, if you want an upmarket high end restaurant, then this is not the place. The Punjab is a classic mid market restaurant, divided into three dining rooms, it is a maze and there was a real vibe to the place. Decor is beautifully outdated but fun ( Pictures are fantastically weird ranging from old punjabi maharajas, Punjabi soldiers, long serving customers and pictures of the family who own the restaurant) .I went last Friday with a group of six and we were all really pleased with the food and service. We sat in the rear dining room and were served attentively. I had a delicious mango lassi and really loved my starter, Chicken Chat. I had Methi Gosht which was tasty. I reccomend trying the punjabi dishes specially Kali Daal, Pumpkin Curry and Acharri Chicken. Toilets are very clean.The only negative aspect is that it can be very busy (specially with lots of Indians dining, which I guess is a good sign and the menu is limited, but as i have said before, try the punjabi dishes and not the kormas/madras dishes. The front door entrance is small and we had to wait a good 10 minutes before a table became available. Will go back and its much better than Moti Mahal (very expensive) and Mela (bland food).
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Susan Mills
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Went on Wedn night after going to the National for the evening. Was gone 11 so had been legging it round with the other half looking for a curry house still open. This was the only one we found, I wish we hadn't!

We're both curry addicts and will and do go far and wide for good Indian food and after going past this a number of times we thought why not last night (well like I said was also the only one open).

All I can say is the whole thing was incredibly disappointing. We went for a quick chicken tikka masala, lamb pudina gosht (apparently containing mint), sag aloo, pilau rice and and spiced onion bread.

The first worrying aspect was that from taking our order to it all arriving on our table took less than 5mins, not good.

The tikka masala was vinegary for won't of a better word and just tasted odd (like tinned tomatoes actually, no cream) whilst my lamb gosht didn't contain a leaf of mint when that was the selling point of the dish. In fact it tasted like lamb, peppers and some curry powder and water. Was basically v disappointing. Sag Aloo was ok but certainly nowt to get excited about. Rice looked and tasted like boil in the bag whilst the spiced onion bread was v greasy and just avergae.

And then to be charged over 30 squid was really taking the biscuit. Service was unfriendly and they just wanted you in and out.

Oh and a final mention must also go to the utterly ridiculous comments on the menu, who on earth wrote them...? Especially the one regards the bloke who ate there twice a day for thirty years...poor sod.

Overall v disappointing and way, way over priced. There a a million better Indian's to go to and we will. Certainly not be going back.

Avoid... xo(
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Len - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Friday, August 17, 2007

We visited The Punjab today for lunch and were disappointed. Having read glowing reviews (A list, and nominated best Punjabi Restaurant in the Cobra Good Curry Guide) we were expecting much better. The ambiance was acceptable but the décor was in need of refurbishment, the service was acceptable but not especially friendly. In fact the word acceptable sums up this restaurant, the Punjabi Samosa and the Chicken Chat were OK, and the much vaunted chef’s special of Acharri Chicken was a little too pungent, almost vinegary. The best dish we had, the Chicken Tikka Special was …. acceptable.

We would not go back.
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G & T - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Wednesday, July 25, 2007