Tiffinbites

One of the worst meals I have eaten this year.

A selection of grilled meats arrived dry, flavourless and slowly. The lamb looked and tasted like it was cooked a week ago. The waiter, when asked to reassure us the food was fresh shook his head and halved our bill.

Save yourself the pain and avoid at all costs.
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James
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, July 30, 2008

We regulaly visit for a Friday lunch treat, and are always amazed at how fast and friendly the service is! The food is good too (enough to fill you up but not make you feel ill returning to work, no layer of grease to get through here). Definitly worth a visit for lunch- try the Dreamy Paneer, its excellent!
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Sara Swan
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Monday, July 28, 2008

great food. i love tiffinbites. I've been there many times and each time I enjoy great service, good food and a good time. I love the staff there, they are always helpful and always smiling. The food is consistantly good and I've never had any complaints.
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John
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Thursday, July 17, 2008

I think Tiffinbites is great! I dine out in Canary Wharf about 4 times a week and at least one of the four meals is at Tiffinbites. I have been going for over 2 years and most of the staff know me by now. I really enjoy everything, the service is exceptional compared to most places in Canary Wharf, the food is good and the price is quite reasonable. It is not like a typical curry house where the staff just smile. The staff are awesome! I just wanted to thank them.
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John
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Thursday, July 17, 2008

This guy doesn't have a clue! I was sitting at the table adjacent to him and I felt badly for the staff who have to deal with ignorant people like this. He was offered 3 times a replacement of his meal and each time he refused. Then when the bill came he didn't want to pay although he had practically licked his bowl clean. What can I say but Tiffinbites is great and I just felt sorry for them. You can't always believe what you read.

Tiffinbites is good at what they do. It is fun, cheap, and a great place in the city for lunch.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Though it took us ages to find the st. pauls tiffinbites i would say it was worth it. i took my mom and sister for lunch last friday. restaurant was extremely busy and we waited for 5 mins to get a seat. the manager took a very good care of my mom. she was very picky with the foods, though restaurant was busy the manager shaun spend some time to give my mom an idea about the food which was very good. the waitress was very very helpful too. we orderd tasty tikka and saucy jeera and shaun choose karhai curry for my mom. i would say the food and the service was fantastic. as shaun told my mom about the evening special nihari she is dying to go there, so i would definitley go there. i would say its the best restaurant if you go with your family.
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gautam annand
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Monday, July 14, 2008

There is alway this issue of "genuine" Indian restos (typically those with a high proportion of customers with Indian roots) projecting white customers' spiciness specifications onto a hotness scale significantly different from the one they would employ for customers that can be expected to be accustomed to "native" spiciness levels. More than once have I ordered a medium to mild curry in anticipation of a full-on sensory chili onslaught, only to receive the watered-down "tourist scale" version (sometimes maybe for reasons of good intentions). There is no danger of Tiffin Bites ever presenting you with such a problem, as all of their dishes seem to be calibrated to the lowest common spiciness tolerance level, with the slightest of variations.

I dined at Tiffin Bites Russia Row twice, both times ordering the four-chili designated "Chili Choice" (most dishes are assigned one chili, four being the max) as well as a presumably milder one-chili dish. On both occasions, the second dish was really only supposed to represent a sort of hedge should the four-chili prove to much for my westernly conditiones tongue (although I should have know better second time around). On both occasions the "Chili Choice" turned out to be one of the mildest curries I had ever actually eaten, with about the same punch as Tiffin Bite's one-chili dishes. I also tried a three-chili curry, which was slightly more spicy, but still extremely mild in my books. Well, another phenomenon associated with Indian restos is that hotness scales are occasionally maintained merely for marketing purposes, to evoke the impression on the part of the customer that there is variety / choice, but with no discernible link between menu labels and the respective dishes' chili concentration (this ploy works because it is difficult for the customer to know whether an unexepcted spiciness level is the result of a restos different scaling granularity or indeed average spiciness level or a genuine inconsistency within the resto's scale - unless s/he samples the entire menu). Tifffin Bites seems to be a case in point. The actual chilis in "Chili Choice" were so mild I could actually chew them just like any other ordinary veg.

I was also rather disappointed by the chewy lamb, which on the menue had been advertised as "tender". Enquiring about the lack of punch, the waiter told me there was nothing he could do, as all dishes were pre-prepared in a "factory", with the on-site "chef" apparently reduced to operating the microwave oven and moving dishes from containers into small metal bowls. Thee was no attempt to apologize or offer an alternative dish, despite me pointing out that this was the second time around that I had been surprised by a chili level that had absolutely nothing to do with the descsription on the menu.

The whole thing is rather surreal, it seems to be more marketing effort rather than a restaurant. I asked two of my friends (one with Indian roots) to try in order to obtain a second and third opinion, and they were equally shocked. Well, maybe this is a printing error on the menu or a computer bug in the curry factory, in any case I think Tiffin Bites is only worth visiting if you happen to work nearby, have a craving for a curry, no microwave in your office and can't be bothered to make your way to a proper Indian resto.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Friday, July 04, 2008

I went to Tiffinbites on Russia row with my wife. We were incredibly disappointed. The place was almost completely empty (Thursday 8pm) and the waiters all looked a bit sleepy and depressed. The decor is a slightly misguided take on urban chic (black chandeliers, heavy use of purple). The food came reasonably quickly - but tasted like a ready meal warmed up (which it basically is, as I discovered when talking to the waiter) My lamb kebabs were pasty and over-marinaded - I ate only two bites of the large portion. The 'fresh' mango lassi was fresh lassi with tinned mango (again, having checked with the waiter) - which is taking a bit of licence with the word fresh. Admittedly, the chaat wasn't too bad.

I had to apologise to my wife for taking her there and we certainly won' t be back.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Thursday, June 19, 2008

I don't usually write on these things but having read some of the reviews below I just want to say I ate at tiffin bites last week with my partner and had a lovely meal. All the staff were really freidnly and the food was very good.I had the tikka masala and my boyfriend had the spicy josh. Even though the restaurant was busy the food came straight away. Ill be going again!
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Alexa - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, March 05, 2008

I went to the Canary Wharf Tiffinbites with a friend for lunch last week and was really impressed. The food was tasty, and our meal was served very quickly - which was great seeing as we were on our lunch break and a sbit short if time. I can particularly recommend the chicken tikka - the portion was just right so I didn't feel too full to go back to work after lunch. Will definitely be back again.
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Jenny
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Monday, March 03, 2008