Balti Cottage - Carta

Café Spice Namasté

➤ 1-2 Lower Dock Walk Royal Docks, London, United Kingdom, E16 2GT

Carta • Full • Wine • Cafe • Indian

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"This restaurant is not your typical Indian dining experience. The food is exceptional and diverse, with small plates that are quite satisfying. I don't usually eat a lot, but everything had such a wonderful aroma. We even indulged in dessert, which is a rarity for us. The prices are very reasonable considering the quality of both the food and the service. We've already made reservations for the summer months, as I’d love to experience the ambiance in daylight."

Jakes Hamburgers

➤ 631 High Road, Ilford I-IG3 8RA, United Kingdom, ILFORD

Carta • Vegan • Lunch • Cheese • Burgers

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"Paid for 16 oz of beef patty, received 12 oz (365 grams) a big discrepancy and when you consider that 16 oz vs 12 oz costs £4 more you would expect to receive exactly that. When I contacted the owner, he advised that all weights advertised are pre-cooking, and so a 16 oz burger is in fact 12 oz, a 8 oz 4 oz and so on. If I were the owner and valued the integrity of my business, I would add extra meat to account for the shrinkage, or add a disclaimer on delivery sites to inform customers of the same otherwise you are misrepresenting an item. Another piece of advice to the owner is not to dismiss a customers concerns by using the premise ‘I’ve got a reputable business and don’t receive complaints of this nature’ thus trivialising their concern. Treat each concern individually and with a helpful attitude. As for the burger, the patties contained too much flour (which is typically used as a binding agent, just less) making them very rubbery and without flavour, which left much to be desired."

Shri Bheema's

➤ 33 Woodford Avenue, Redbridge, United Kingdom, IG2 6UF

Carta • Cafés • Asian • Indian • Seafood

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"The majority of the food at the restaurant was delicious, however, the popadoms were extremely oily. The waiter explained that they had just been fried, but we found this explanation unacceptable as we have dined at many Indian restaurants and never experienced such greasy popadoms before. The waiter did offer us a complimentary masala popadom, but it was no better. We were also disappointed to learn that the restaurant's alcohol license had expired when we tried to order drinks, which should have been mentioned when we made our reservation. Additionally, we ordered all of our starters and main courses at once, expecting to receive the starters first as we had specified to the waitress. Unfortunately, our dosa's arrived well before the rest of our food, leaving us waiting. When we mentioned this to the waitress, she explained that the kitchen was very busy and suggested we should have informed her when ordering, which we had already done. The loud volume of the television playing Coco Melon and the music made it difficult for the waitress to hear our concerns. To add to the disappointment, a large party with noisy children made it challenging for us to have a conversation without speaking loudly. Overall, our dining experience was not enjoyable and fell short of our expectations, despite the decent quality of the food (excluding the popadoms)."

Chan's

➤ 321 High Street North, Newham, United Kingdom, E12 6PQ

Carta • Asian • Steak • Seafood • Chinese

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"Lovely food, great service, definitely care about what they put out. We're late to finding this spot. Clearly an established pillar of the community already. We tried this place over a month ago and have already become regulars! Their Chan's special, their duck, honey wings and everything else we've ordered so far has been great. What's a lovely touch is they wrap our food in a box with foil on top to ensure the food stays warm, never seen that anywhere else and demonstrates the level in which they care about the food they're delivering. The staff there are lovely, very friendly and welcoming. Glad we have found this place and will continue to stay regulars."

Melih Bbq

➤ 1177 High Road, RM6 4AL, Redbridge, United Kingdom

Carta • Pizza • Halal • Turkish • Barbecue

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"Very disappointed with food quality and service. We had booked a table for 13 people, 3 of which which were children. On arrival we were greeted by a lovely waitress who took us to our seats, but then proceeded to ask us to pass the plates and cutlery down the table to where the other guests were yet to arrive. So we set half of the tables, which is bizarre to ask a customer, but she was a lovely girl so it wasn 't a big deal at the time...until things went really downhill. We ordered 3 x £40 mixed grill platters which are meant to serve 3 4 people and asked for rice only, no bulgar. All 3 platters were brought with half rice and half bulgar; we asked the waitress to correct this, and she was apologetic and came back with a bowl of half rice and half bulgar again, we asked for rice on, so she went back and got a bowl of rice. Bearing in mind each platter is meant to serve 3 4 people, I struggled to serve the children an adequate portion they had 2 tablespoons of rice each; that 's how much rice was served with the large grill. My 10 year old niece then pulled out a long strand of hair from the kofteh she was about to eat; absolutely disgusting! Unsurprisingly, the cook wasn 't wearing a hair net, which I presume is standard?? I tried to be tactile and not draw too much attention to the situation to other eating customers, so quietly pulled the waitress aside and gave her the hair; she apologised and had another kofteh cooked (actually felt sorry for the girl, she looked mortified). The crunch came when we went to eat the chicken wings and baby chicken so many were raw pink and red raw meat! We told the waitress and she was insistent that it was cooked, but took it back believe me we have cooked chicken before and know what raw meat is. We were shocked when the same chicken was re cooked and then served back to us bear in mind, by this point the chicken had already cooled down from the first time it was cooked, centre was raw, and then re cooked and served again! There was no way we would 've touched it; also keep in mind that some of the chicken had come off different guests ' plates and were bitten into how were we supposed to know which piece was who 's?? So bizarre, I 've never had this happen, even in the cheapest small café. By this time to be honest we were off our food. The meat wasn 't great really; some was ok; the chicken shish was ok, the lamb chops were also ok; the chicken kofteh had no flavour; the kofteh was very greasy; the rice was wet. On a high note, the lahumajun was lovely and so were the dips and bread. When it came to the bill, we made it clear the chicken should be taken off, as none was eaten by anyone. When the waitress came and handed the bill over and was asked if the chicken was removed from the bill, her response was I 'm just a worker who else are we supposed to ask then? Why the attitude?! We had the right to complain after being served raw meat! The cook/owner then came over, leaned over me, with a plate of chicken hovering above my head and my face in his armpit, and started to argue with another guest that we didn 't ask for the chicken to be well done; no spacial awareness or respect for one 's space whatsoever. I didn 't realise we had to request for our chicken not to be raw; absolutely ridiculous. He knocked off £15 and for a £170 bill and the awful experience, I think that was insulting. He then knocked off a bit more, and we just accepted as wanted to get out of there. The same waitress came back and cleared the table, slamming the plates onto the trays no manners whatsoever and clearly showing she 's pissed off. Such a shame; all other guests witnessed this while they were trying to eat; could 've been totally avoidable. Why risk your reputation? I 've never had to ever make a complaint like this before, let alone write such a review. If you choose to eat here, check your meat is thoroughly cooked, or you 'll be poisoned!"