All reader reviews by Cliffy

Needoo Grill

Just a further note to my main review of Needoo below, I forgot to add that the many comments from other reviewers about this restaurant's policy of rushing diners in order to have a fast turnaround of tables to make more money at the expense of the customer's experience was confirmed on our visit, too. The numerous waiters, as other reviewers have observed, use team work to rush you through on this cash conveyor belt which is anything but a relaxed dining experience - in fact, parts of our main course started to arrive and be plonked down around us whilst we were still eating our starters! This was totally unacceptable in a "restaurant" charging inflated restaurant prices, not low fast-food or supermarket prices!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3

Hengist

Superb service from start to finish, and excellent food. The cost, at £50/£60 each for a la carte without wine, is upper scale, but the overall experience merited it, with lots of attention to detail and great food served in good surroundings.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7

Needoo Grill

We decided to try Needoo Grill as an alternative to the legendary Tayyabs around the corner, as we had heard that it was of a similar standard but with lower prices and shorter queues, and less crowded and noisy. The experience was disappointing on the whole. Needoo proved to be something of a cheap imitation of its rival seconds away. Apparently it was set up by an ex-manager of Tayyabs, and to attempt to poach custom by setting up an almost identical operation so close by must have engendered a lot of deserved irritation on the part of the original Tayyabs. In this case, however, the acorn has certainly fallen far from the tree.

The complimentary plate of salad (copied in every last detail from the previous employer, Tayyabs) contained cucumber slices which were going off, and when we pointed this out, a replacement dish of a few cucumber slices was slowly and begrudgingly plonked down without the offending item even being removed. Onion bahjee starter was of the quality of those bought from the shelves of the local sweetshop and microwaved at home, soggy and bland rather than crisp and freshly fried. Fish tikki starter was adequate but over-priced at £6.50 for a small mouthful of grilled, cheap fish.

Mains again were adequate but not spectacular by any means. We asked to share a side dish of aubergine and lentil (brinjhal dahl). We would have preferred just aubergine but, no, "it doesn't come that way", we were told, as if these dishes land from outer space on some unchangeable production line! Eventually the waiter weakened and kindly gave us an additional plate of aubergine and lentils on the house, in which the aubergine was more visible by having two baby aubergines plonked on top of lentils! One other note on pricing; this side dish was available at about £5 but as we were sharing we asked for the larger version, which was £10. For a medium sized dish of cheap vegetables (one can't help suspecting that the dictum of "lentils with everything" is at least in part inspired by the much cheaper cost of lentils compared with aubergines!), a price of £10 is utterly unjustifiable, and would not be asked for even in very much higher quality and higher class establishments! And although it was understandably easier to get a table than round the corner at Tayyabs, from about 8pm on it became also very full, noisy and uncomfortable to be in. One was left with the horrible feeling that someone was doing very well out of this operation, and it was not the customer.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 4