"Writing reviews is not usually my go to and I write this one with a heavy heart. My dad used to take me here when I was younger, so when it came to last minute booking for Valentines day, I knew that Lal Jomi was a good and strong option. A table for two and 6:30, We were the first there, and the staff couldn 't find our booking. With that, I had to retrieve the email from my phone to prove we had booked. Both my partner and I have both worked in the restaurant industry, and things happen so we didn 't even think twice. We were welcomed into the restaurant, find a nice booth and given the menus. We ordered our food and drinks quite promptly and the staff were lovely. We waited half an hour if not 40 mins for our food, which I think was perfect. My partners food was nice, the rice was a amazing. However, I had a watery Korma, which was a bit cold. I choose not to eat it, instead I stole a bit of my partners. When the waitress returned, I explained about my Korma, which she took back to the chef who agreed it was watery. At that point, they asked if I 'd like another one cooked, my partner had already finished and our plates were being cleared away so I choose not too. With that, the waitress asked us if we 'd like anything else and mentioned a cup of tea, Which weirdly, we both really wanted and ordered. We then started to notice that other tables around us seemed quite frustrated and a few angry people chasing there deliveries. After 15 minutes, the waitress returned to tell us its going to take a little longer . Which was fine, we sat tight and watched the world go by. We did notice that the majority of the night we listened to the chorus of the phone constantly ringing. After another half hour of waiting, we flagged down a waiter to just ask how long we would be waiting for this cup of tea. This gentleman was brilliant and got strait on it. However, from start to finish we waited an hour for 2 cups of tea, quite ridiculous. We then asked for the bill, we noticed that the atmosphere of the place had changed, the staff seemed quite stressed and not all customers were enjoying themselves. It was almost like they just couldn 't keep up. After waiting 20 minutes for the bill not to arrive and then for the waiter to ask if we had the bill he asked his colleague to do our bill. Low and behold after another 15 minutes it was nowhere to be seen. At this point, both my partner and I were actually quite annoyed, we just wanted to be able to pay and go. He then looked over for a third time and which was another 10-15 mins to which I said we still haven 't got it. You could tell he was quite stressed and annoyed. The heartbreaking this for us, when we received the bill, we 'd had be charged for everything at full price. Acknowledging they had poor service and the food wasn 't up to scratch and yet we are still paying for it all. It is the first time in my life that I have had to say that I 'm not paying for it all. The waitress apologised again, and took off the £10 for drinks. Which in the grand scheme of things, was a diet coke, pineapple juice and two teas 's we waited an hour for. I still had to pay for a watery Korma. But that is all she could do. Repeatedly said everything is fine . It wasn 't fine. The food was poor, the service was poor and you 're still expecting me to pay full price. We also noticed one of the curry;s was charged a £1 but we couldn 't be bothered to argue. Once we had left and started talking about it in the car, it was just a really sad night and a real sad way to end Valentines day. However, the waiter in the green shirt, you did good! You listened to us, you didn 't ignore us and made it a little better experience for us."
Mattar Paneer
