New Tayyabs

Very cramped. Very noisy. They didnt wait for us to finish starters before chucking the mains on the table. The so called lamb chops are not nice at all.

Hoovering next to us. No change of plates had to use starter plates for mains.
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Rio
1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Our supper club was 10 strong on Tuesday night when we arrived at Tayyabs around 7.30pm to find a queue of hungry punters stretching down the road. The lamb chops that I had been looking forward to sampling looked like they might have to wait for another occasion and talk turned to other establishments in the area that could possibly accommodate a large group at short notice. Fortunately we had the diminutive, but pretty scary, Priya in our party who marched to the head of the queue and had a quiet word with the staff in Hindi. Five minutes later we were all seated and cracking open the first of many Cobra beers.

The restaurant itself is big, bustling and very vibrant. There are a couple of large rooms upstairs and another one in the basement. A wonderful, pungent aroma of meat and spices hits you as soon as you walk through the front door; great for getting the taste buds salivating but be warned that you will be making a trip to the dry cleaners the next day.

After Priya's amazing success in getting us all in at the drop of a hat we decided that we would leave ourselves in her hands and let her order for the whole table. Popadoms and the usual accompaniments were first up; all very tasty but nothing to write home about. Things started to move up a gear with the arrival of plates laden with a section of nan breads which looked divine and tasted even better.

To start with we had the mixed grill which is highly recommended. The succulent chicken tikka came sporting a lovely char, the sheekh kababs were full of flavour and the lamb chops took this meal to whole new level. I was beginning to understand why there was such a big queue of hungry punters happy to wait for an hour to get a taste of this delicious cooking.

I'm struggling to remember everything that we had for the main courses but stand out dishes were the lamb chop curry, which was the special of the day, and the karhi keema. Despite our best efforts a couple of hours later we still had a mountain of food left which seemed a waste to leave uneaten; not a problem said our friendly waiter and few minutes later he returned with our food and nan bread beautifully packaged for us to take home.

As Tayyabs is a bring your own booze place and charges no corkage fee the bill for this amazing Pakistani Punjabi feast came to an incredibly reasonable £16 a head. A very small price to pay for what was one of my favourite meals this year.

I have one final top tip which I picked up from my good friend Mr Sudra; if you give the restaurant a call the day or so before you wish to eat you may find that you are able to book a table in advance.
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Nunhead Neil
9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Saturday, December 17, 2011

The worst service I ever experienced. Never had such unfriendly waiter !

They forced us to change the table in a extremely rude way.

Normally I wouln´t allow someone to talk like that me, but we´ve been there with some guests.

Never ever go to this restaurant. It is a waste of money.
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0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Friday, November 25, 2011

The food is excelent in Tayyabs.

The service is third class, our food order was taken three times by three different waiters. There is no sense of good service in this restaurant. The waiters need to be trained because all the waiters had no idea what were they doing. I saw a customer picking glasses herself from the counter which was not a good impression of service.

The music is so loud that everyone had to shout while talking because you are unable to hear even what the person next to you so talking about. It was too noisy. The restaurant should play the music not to loud so customers can talk without shouting at each other.

Waiters need training how to behave professionally.

Food is excellent but tables are too small to eat.

Water shouldnt be served in steel jugs because it doesnt seems good at all.

I was really happy about the food, it was very tasty.
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Suhyla
6 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 10
Saturday, November 19, 2011

It's noisy, it's cramped, the waiting staff are thoroughly devoid of finesse. So what! The food is what you come for. It's epically cheap by London standards and the lamb chops are a carnivore's dream.

Don't go if you want to be pampered or if you are worried about food being served as soon as it's ready by a brisk waiter who will probably 'serve' another three tables in the next minute.

Do go if you love you aromatic flame grilled meats sold at an unbelievably good price.
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8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Thursday, October 06, 2011

I went there with my family, we went in and was seated in the corner and the menu just chucked onto the table. Once we were ready to order no one approached our table to take it, I had to put my hand up like I was in school. Eventually a man came but he said he had to serve someone else who had arrived after us. Finally when he arrived he took our order, he seemed confused and huffed his way through. 

When the food came they just put everything on the table, it was all mixed up and the waiter was unsure on what we had ordered and concluded in arguing with us. To make things worse the place was so cramped and all the people squashed together and people pushing and shoving your chair to get past. At one point I just wanted to leave.

The food was ordinary and overpriced, I found it very bland for Asian food. The place was cramped and tables all put together with no privacy. The food bland and limited choice.

Customer service non existent and when you did get someone to serve you  they were rude and obnoxious, I would never go there again or recommend it to anyone.
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1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, September 28, 2011

This place has very average food, really poor customer service, and a deluded successful restaurant manager whose arrogance would suggest he owned planet earth.

My wife was in hospital so I went to get myself two kebab rolls for lunch as a take-away. I ordered and I was the only one waiting in line. After ten minutes I was still waiting. Another customer came in with a female friend and ordered one kebab roll at that point the manager gave the order for three kebab rolls. I was rather annoyed he didn't order it earlier but I let it go. I was waiting around 15 mins and the new customer 5 mins. He served the new customer before me for the same order. I told him (manager) politely this wasn't right because I was first. He said he served them first because there was a women with the customer, poor excuse but what the hell?. I told him if that was the excuse he should have tge courtesy to ask me if it was ok, and then he got angry and said he didn't have to and saud to me I'll tell you what and took my money from the till and fave it back to me.

This is a man who is obnoxious, arrogant, does not value customers, and there are far better restaurants than his. Try ZaZa's on whitechaoel road or Lime in Docklands
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Zubs - View all reviews by this user
1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Friday, September 16, 2011

This place is seemingly famous for being famous. Its certainly not famous for it's food or service. It's now so busy you have to queue for a long time to be seated. They want you in and out and no care is given to much else. My pregnant friend asked for a jug of tap water and was told she couldn't have it because we were seated downstairs and tap water was only available upstairs. She is 8 months pregnant! I am pretty certain the law states that tap water can't be refused, especially to a pregnant woman. After A LOT of arguing with the waiters/manager she was given glass and told that only she could have it refilled - by going upstairs to receive it! The food was average at best - I tried their 'signature' dry lamb chops which were overcooked and gristly and not nice at all. The music would burst loudly and at times was more like a disco. Main dishes were served 15 minutes before the rice and breads. I am really disappointed in this place. I've had far better asian food up Brick Lane and FAR better service.
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tommy
2 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 4
Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Awful place!!!

I must say that the service is shocking, the staff rude and not at all welcoming.

Firstly, they couldn't decide approximately how long I'd be in the queue for. I asked for the longest possible time and it ended up being about 20mins later.

Secondly, when I asked if they did something similar to a madras, one of the managers was called over and he was incredibly rude to me implying that I was stupid to suggest that he would serve a madras in his Pakistani restaurant. I am well aware of where Madras/Chennai is in relation to Pakistan i.e. India, but all I asked was for something similar. Unbelievable attitude!!

Our starters arrived and were just plonked down on the table without any explanation of what each was. Considering one of our party had ordered a veg samosa and another a meat one, to put them both on the same plate and expect us to just take a chance biting into one is absolutely absurd. This coupled with the fact a fish starter was on the same skillet as a lamb starter, again ordered by two different people, gave me no confidence at all that the vegetarian dish was not contaminated by meat, or at least prepared seperately.

I had another 'chat' with the manager about this but his lack of customer service or concern was to be expected after the first encounter.

The food was a disgrace. My fish starter was so tough and dry I needed to wash it down with beer. The chicken in my main was no better, even when it was covered in the mediocre sauce. Again, beer was needed to help with swallowing. I would have used the sauce but the amount of oil it was swimming around in was disgusting! I then looked forward to trying another of our party's prawn dish but again I was let down by the over cooking and probable delayed time in the food coming to the table.

I truly think this place is a case of Emperors New Clothes. I have eaten in many, many Indian/Pakistani/Nepalese/Bangladeshi/Asian restaurants across London and I have to say this place is at the bottom of my list alongside the tourist attraction joke restaurants on Brick Lane.
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Mr Omar Ali
0 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, August 29, 2011

Completely over rated, this place is a victim of its own success. Over crowded, noisy, average food, showing little imagination. Staff too busy to care about customer service. If you want to eat in a place that has people queuing past your table, busy, hot, uncomfortable, serving average food then this is your kind of place.

This place is akin to eating a takeaway on a busy rush hour tube, although in fairness the tube is probably less busy.
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Kepola
2 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 3
Tuesday, July 26, 2011