Shah Tandoori

Good place!
No need for reservations. Great food, good quality. The rice is for one person. Great naan! The garlic is the best!!! Amazing! Make sure to come here when you are in the area. Nice on the outside and inside!

I’m very familiar with the Euston end of Drummond Street and the mainly ‘veg buffet’ style places offering pretty much the same at pretty much the same prices. They’re all decent enough for the money, tho’ service can be a bit hit and miss.
Anyway, I had a few hours to kill so thought I’d wander a bit further down the street and see if there was a more up market option. I have to say that Shah looks good from the outside and seems well cared for inside. Nice starched napkins these days is usually a reasonable sign that a place cares enough not to just slap down a shabby tissue for its customers!
Anyway, the waiter was exceptionally friendly and polite throughout. He noticed the little things, didn’t push, was always there if something was needed and didn’t engage in chit chat despite the place being close to empty (admittedly it was around 4.00pm, so often the dead zone!) He effortlessly earned his decent tip.
The menu is comprehensive but not over the top. There are a number of everyday ‘Indian’ dishes and a few more interesting variations. Probably there’s something for everyone. From memory I went for Keralan lamb shank, pilau rice, peshwari naan, two poppadoms and pickles (four huge bowls of the stuff!) a sweet lassi and a fairly yukky ice-​cream based dessert.
It came to around £29 + tip in total, which isn’t at the cheap and cheerful end and herein lies the only problem. The food was fair to good but not excellent and certainly not the best curry I’d ever had. I hadn’t eaten at all that day so was starved and things always taste better in such circumstances. The lamb fell off the bone nicely but the ‘Keralan spice’ curry was a simple onion/​spiced mix with no real depth. Rice, standard fare and ditto the pickles. Lassi was good, not over sweetened. Desert was a bit of a disaster area truth be told. Was straight out the deep freeze, possible a bit ‘old’ and certainly been heated to defrost. Was Ok for a cheap desert … only it wasn’t so cheap.
So all in great service, comfy, fuss-​free but arguably not quite the quality to justify the pricing.

A great wee restaurant, tastey food and very friendly staff. The prices were reasonable given the central location but the naan bread was a bit pricey. It was also easy to make a booking and they were very accomodating.

Great place. Great service & exceptional food! I love Indian food and this place is one of my favorites. It’s a small place but all the food is made fresh and very good.