Dishoom

The food was reasonably good, especially the lamb chops. The atmosphere was buzzy and vibrant but the meal overall was let down by the lack of cleanliness (dirty table and glasses) and the somewhat intrusive waiters. As we were finishing, we were told quite rudely to go downstairs to the bar to finish our drinks as there were a lot of people waiting for tables. Having just spent £80, this comment was completely unnecessary and ruined the night for my wife and I.
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4 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Friday, July 20, 2012

Have been to Dishoom twice in the last 3 weeks..great ambience and quick, efficient service. Good for an evening out with friends rather than a romantic tete-a-tete as it is busy and noisy. The food is wonderful...strongly recommended the battered skate cheeks, grilled prawns and mango and fennel lassi. Good value for the location.
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9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, July 04, 2012

I went here on a friends recommendation so I had high hopes, to which they certainly did not live up to. A member from our party of 4 arrived early and placed our name on the waiting list, she was told an hour and half, so she left her name and number and we went for a drink nearby. Upon arrival 90 mins later, and no phone call as promised we were told our reservation had been "put on hold" and it was going to be at least another 30 mins. I am pretty certain this restaurant is NOT worth a 2 hour wait. So we demanded a form of compensation if we had to wait further, to which the clipboard man at the front said hes not sure and will need to refer back to us. We were told to wait downstairs and within 2 mins got seated to a table (think they were avoiding the loss in profit of a round of free cocktails) happily seated I was further disappointed by the lack of attentiveness by the waiters who took our drink order after 10 mins of waiting and we specifically asked him to return in 5 mins to take our food order, to which he never returned and we were placed a different waiter. Asked for water 3 times and they only served it at the end of our meal, and halfway through ordering dessert the waiter said I'll come back later and cut me off short when I was about to speak, which I was appalled by so I changed my mind because of his rudeness and when he returned I told him to just being the bill. Overall awful service, small portions of food therefore overpriced for value, over hyped and food was ok but not amazing. The best attribute of this restaurant is the decor which is a shame because of its prime location I expected more from the food and staff and annoyed by the fact you cannot book.
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Bela
5 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 4
Saturday, February 04, 2012

well, i think i should come again and check about this place. on my first visit i was impressed. very good food. portions looks small but they are not.

i ordered the lentil mulligatawny soup. the soup came way too hot but still delicious. very tasty. also ordered the lamb biryani. well in this case.. it comes with loads of rice. and almost none of the lamb.. anyway i had to dig in in order to find the pieces of lamb at the bottom. bit chunks of it, rather tender, overall nice dish but a bit too expensive for what you get. the calamari was fantastic. delicious.. garlic nan was very good too.

i wanted to order the lemonade but they did not have any at all. so i went for the thums up coke.. rather nice anyway in a massive bottle.

overall this is a good place to go and will try again. maybe by not ordering an starter and leaving room for the dessert. i will go back only if the biryani had more meat and less rice... pity about that...
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the golden palate - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Saturday, December 10, 2011

Thought Dishoom was excellent in all aspects! Will be returning soon...
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10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Love it, Love it, Love it!! There was a little wait for a table (20 minutes) at 7.30pm on a Thursday, so had a drink at the bar. We had the pink G&T and a seriously camp "bollibellini" which was delicious. Liked the bar - not huge, but it's got a lot of soul, and personality - moody lighting, incence whisps and seriously cool music, along with a very knowledgeable and aproachable bar team made it a great start to our evening. Hostesses were chatty and friendly, didn't offer to carry our drinks from the bar to the table for us though - don't worry, we survived - it was in the same room technically, which has been very cleverly broken up so that every space feels private and cosy.

Food was absolutely delicious - waitress was passionate about the place, and really brought it to life by explaining all the design features - sounds like a lot of thought has gone into each and every one, after chatting to her, i really began to fall in love with Dishoom, which is clearly very close to someone's heart.

For an instant trip back to grand Bombay in the 50's - without the jet lag - it's a must.

I'll be back for breakfast soon - when i asked the waitress for a reccomendation, she told me that everything was delicious, but that for the very best of Dishoom, I'd need to try the bacon and sausage rolls - served at breakfast only :-(

Oh well, an early start never killed anyone...........did it?
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10 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Saturday, August 27, 2011

the place always has a good vibe and buzz. but mostly consistently good food
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mital patel
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Monday, August 08, 2011

Once again my Dishoom experience was GREAT! Great food, great atmosphere and great Bellinis!

Yummy hot naan's, masala chai and pau bhaji's!
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Rajvi
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, August 08, 2011

The service is awful. Waiters dropping things left right + centre. One waiter split leftover food and sauce all over my clothes and jacket. Gave us complimentary pudding which we refused and then CHARGED us for it!

Never again!
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Me
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, August 01, 2011

We (4 of us) visited Dishoom last Saturday - the website claims no bookings for less than 6 people so we were walk-ins at around 7pm. There was a booth free towards the far end of the restaurant (can only seat 4 comfortably), but we were told this was 'reserved' and asked to come back in around an hours time - the guy at the door with the customary clipboard took a contact number but made no promise to call if a table opened up earlier. On returning an hour later, the same booth was still vacant, but we were instead seated at a table. The trouble was the table was right next to the stair case, to the extent that anyone sitting in one particular seat ran a high risk of disappearing down a flight of stairs if he/she made any kind of sharp movement.

We again asked for the still open booth, this time we were told by clipboard person two that she would check on its availability and revert back to us. In the meantime we were moved from the original 'staircase' table to the one next to it - that itself would have been fine if it were not for the fact that it was surrounded by tables and the staircase wall. You had to ask fellow diners to squeeze in a bit, or get up off the chairs in order to get to, or from, the table. This may explain the poor service - the waitress simply could not get to us!!!

Five minutes later a couple who were assigned the 'staircase' table asked and were granted their request to be moved to the still vacant booth - we never got a response to our similar request made 5-10 minutes earlier - remember you cannot book at Dishoom....

After that the saving grace is that the food was reasonably good, although portion sizes are small and its not your standard Indian restaurant. If you are looking a 'curry house' with filling mains as opposed to sharing tapas kind of plates, this is definitely not your place. Also if you are looking for good service this is again not your place - service was slow and haphazard at best. When asking our waitress for a little help with the menu the best we got out of her was a polite smile - to her credit though she was aware of the meaning of 'Dishoom'. Wine served in indian chai glasses may seem like a quaint idea and could work for reds, but whites I'm not too sure about. In fact the red wine (by the glass) tasted as if it was rather stale - I have had the same wine at Gaucho so it was not poor selection on my side I believe.

If the idea was to replicate a typical old style Bombay cafe then it may well be achieved on food taste and perhaps decor. But Dishoom could learn a lot on service and how to listen/treat your customers from just about any place in Bombay.
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Rohit
5 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 4
Friday, June 17, 2011