The Dhabba

The Dhabba (sister restaurant of the nearby Dakhin) specialises in traditional North Indian cuisine.
I’ve been here a few times — it’s slightly cheaper and a bit more modern looking than The Dakhin. But they share the same relaxed atmosphere. The food is always superb — and not overly spicy (although I kinda want it as hot as it can get!).
The staff are really friendly and are great at advising how much food you actually need (so easy to over-​order here by accident). It’s great for groups — and the tables are properly spaced out so you
They do the same pre theatre type deals as The Dakhin and beerwise, go for Kingfisher.
One of the best places to hang out with friends in the Merchant City.

As Indian food goes on a value for money basis, I have to say it’s poor. Mediocre all round and a cost £95 for 3 without a sweet and only 2 beers !!

The Dhabba was youthful and trendy with a slightly new twist on Indian cuisine. I have had more Indians (which inevitably means Bengali) meals than I care to recall, however I had never come across some of the dishes offered by the Dhabba, Thankfully we eschewed starters and went straight to mains. I had a «Dum Pukht» dish, which essentially means a dish cooked in its own juices for a long time. I had Murg Dum Nizami, a tandoori chicken dish in a creamy sauce. It was indeed rich, tender and unctuous. My fiend had tikka jalfrezi which he was well satisfied with. All the rest were good and thankfully the nan wasn’t slathered in ghee.
To accompany this we had aloo gobi, rice and nan breads. My main dish was so thick and filling that the breads were not needed. I certainly thought it was well prepared food with excellent ingredients. However, for me the dish could have had a little more spiciness. It wasn’t exactly bland but needed a little more heat (at least for me). Now onto a less desirable aspect-​the price. Well, it cannot be called anything but a pricy Indian-£14−20 for mains competes with central London and in many cases beats it. The prices are probably worth it but it is good to know what you are getting into before you sit down with the menu.
Service was good and the staff were knowledgeable. No complaints there. As a side note I didn’t start to eat again until about 3pm the following day-​what a blow out!

Large portions, but dishes very watery and mild. Both our dishes tasted the same. Prompt service but incredibly overpriced for the quality of the food.

The food was bland and over priced.
Although the portions where large, my partner and I ordered different dishes yet the both tasted the same.
The service was abrupt, yet the lead waiter/​manager was overly annoying and kept asking us if everything was ok.
It is obviously in an area that is popular and up and coming, however their food is not

Used to be regular. One day went with friends. Service was awful and the owner and the manager misbehaved with us.
It took them 1 hour to get the food and when asked why was it taking it so much time they said the food takes time and if we cant wait we should try another place.
I am angry at their behavior. But I don’t usually leave a review but this time I thought I should.
Never ever going back again nor recommending a friend.

First time here an it was a last minute suggestion so hadn’t booked. Got seated easily and quickly, it was early evening in a Thursday so wasn’t too busy anyway. It did a bit longer than expected to be asked for our drinks but it have us time to have a look though the menu. I found the menu a bit complicated as it isn’t your standard Indian menu, you won’t find masala, chasni, korma etc although some of the dishes may be like them. I could to tell what was what so opted for a shared started for two and it was nice to try the mix of items. I then opted for a chicken dish that had cashews and cream and you pick a sauce separately but can’t recall which sauce but it was green and spinach tasting. The others got lamb and chicken dishes which tasted nice. To be honest I like the others better than mine but I must say the chicken was delicious, big and juicy. We neatly ordered too much rice but the waiter kindly advised how much would so three people :) and we couldn’t finish it all. We opted for desert even though our tummies had no space left lol, I got the mango cheese cake which was nice and shared it the third person got chocolate fudge cake which was also nice. I don’t think I wouldn’t rush back as I do like my old faithful dishes but the free popadoms and dips are worth going back for. Would recommend but won’t be going back soon.

Went here on Christmas eve for dinner and was happy to see they still had on their 50% off mains before 6:30pm! The place was quite busy and we were welcomed and taken to our table. The waiter was very nice and explained some dishes and the heat that they use in their curries. We ordered a platter to start which had chicken, prawn, lamb and veg nibbles on it. The chicken was amazing! I ordered the tandoor prawns which were the biggest prawns I have seen in Glasgow! They were so tasty and the portion was quite large. However without the 50% off this would have been about £27 which I don’t think it was worth. Others ordered the tandoori seafood platter and the monkfish curry. We ordered some side sauces to have with the naan. The pershwari naan was the nicest naan I have had in a long time. I would go back just for that!
Overall the meal was delicious and good value with the discount, but a bit too pricey without! I am definitely going to try their sister restaurant Dakhin soon.

It’s always welcoming to be remembered by name, and Pete’s welcome was welcome! It’s still the best; keep re-​discovering this delight.

I’ve been here twice and both times were for work meals where there was a large party of us.
The first time round, we had incredible service — the waiter had great banter and made sure everyone had a bash at ordering their food by the proper names rather than the description. The food was delicious (butter chicken) and we were very well looked after, no one was without a drink and everyone was pleased with their food.
The second time round was no different — excellent food (this time I had the lamb shank — beautiful) and again the staff were efficient and attentive.
Really looking forward to bringing my husband here as I keep banging on about it.

Had a really lovely meal here with friends a while ago. All the food was delicious, we had never ending poppadoms while we waited for our food which was ideal as we were all very hungry!
The curries tasted fresh & delicious, service was friendly and attentive. I would definitely go back again.

Naan is so so so sweet and so so so tasty!
Although it is all about curry, but I’d like to give full score for the yummy yummy naan

Disclaimer: our meal was a special banquet organised by the amazing Joe H and some dishes are not usually on the Dhabba menu. From looking at their website they don’t seem to offer a set menu like we tried. The closest I can find is a 3 course lunch set menu for £9.95.
Ok, so onto the review. The lovely Joe H organised a meal for the Pakora Passport here and we were lucky enough to be treated to a real feast. There was a large table of us, about 20 people and between groups of 4 were served:
— A selection of pakora. Chicken, fish, vegetable and mushroom.
— A selection of curries. Chicken, lamb, vegetable and monkfish.
— Sides including rice (white and brown) as well as naan breads.
Pakora doesn’t normally feature on the Dhabba menu but from having a look there are a few dishes which resemble pakora. All the pakora we sampled was lovely but the chicken was definitely my favourite and seems to be the chat putta murgh on their usual menu — chicken marinated in ginger, garlic, coriander, lemon and mint. Yum!
The mains were also a delicious selection. My favourite was the vegetable curry which I believe is subzi jalfrezi. It is quite a dry curry compared to what I am used to, without much sauce. This was a real taste sensation (even being a totally vegetable based dish) and I would go back just to eat this again. For the pakora and curries we were charged £15 per head which was incredibly cheap for the amount of food on offer!
For dessert we shared a mango cheesecake — allegedly this is Joe H’s recipe! It was delicious, even if he was pulling my leg (I can never be sure).
Service was excellent throughout the night and the restaurant had a great atmosphere.
Thanks Joe for organising such an amazing outing!

So em Yummmmm!!! This was another Pakora Passport night out arranged by ‘mischievous’ Joe H. I have my reasons.
We had a spot on deal for £15 per person which included samples of pakora, curries, rice and naans.
I had my lovely auntie with me who reigns from the south west of England. She had never heard of pakora so seems it’s a Scottish decacy. She only knows of onion bhajis and samosas as an Indian starter. The pakora was lovely although not keen on the mushroom, not my bag.
We had four different curries to try from monkfish, lamb, chicken and veg. Surprisingly to me I liked the monkfish best, having never tried monkfish before. I did find the chicken too spicy for me but the rest was lovely.
It was good banter as usual especially as there was pure like loads of us. My auntie thoroughly enjoyed it and I have opened her eyes up to the world of not only pakora but Unilocal too.
Awesome wee night, thanks to Joe H. and Fiona M. for arranging. That Joe can be no bad sometimes. Hehe!