Posh Spice

Walked into this new place to take a look at the menu and give it a try. We were told we would be given 25% discount on menu prices, must be an opening offer. After trying to order both draught Cobra and Kingfisher and being told there was none, we weren’t too impressed (they had the taps, just not the beer).
We ordered some regular beer, and a poppadum each. The place was deserted, save for a table of 3 lads chatting at the back of the place… it wasn’t even clear if they’d eaten there, or were friends of the staff. My fellow diners and I discussed the poor ambience and the lack of beer. They expressed a desire to leave, but being English, this wasn’t easy. I finally took the initiative, got my coat, and left with them following. One of the staff came after us asking what the problem was, so my companions explained exactly what was wrong. For a brand new restaurant, they’d made a very poor effort on several fronts. We walked down the street and went to the bog-​standard but fairly consistent Mogal-​E-​Azam instead.
Maybe this place will pick up in the weeks to come, they are certainly in a good place to get passing trade from the theatre, concert hall, Rock City and students… but they’ve really got to up their hospitality game. You can’t present a restaurant as being a modern, flash brasserie without have the service and atmosphere to go with it. «We’re only a week old» one of the staff said. «Then why haven’t you got any beer?!» was the answer given. Maybe we’ll give them another chance, but these new style Indian restaurants just seem to focus thesedays on all of the wrong things. We just want good, fresh, tasty, quality food at a decent price, a nice atmosphere to eat in, and there are some basics that no Indian restaurant should be without. This place failed on most of these key points (we didn’t get as far as actually eating), but we went with our gut feeling. We’ll give ‘em 6 months I think, and if they are still running and if we wouldn’t be the only customers in there, we may give it another chance… but it will definitely feel like it’s a gamble.