Maliks

We visited here on a Wed night in October and despite the website saying there was no need to book on a Wed, when we rang they asked us to come in 30 minutes earlier than intended as they were busy.
When we arrived the place was initially deserted although about 30 minutes later a group of about 10 came in and went upstairs, as it would seem, did all the staff!
With the exception of the poppadoms which tasted as if they had been cooked the day before and left to go stale, the starters and main courses were very tasty and worth the substantial wait. The food was also good value for money. On the basis of the food and value for money alone I have given the two stars, they lost the other three because: —
Service was slow and lacked co-​ordination, several different people attended our table and the left hand did not know what the right was doing, which led to slow service.
Presentation and practicality was also lacking i. e we ordered poppadoms and pickles whilst we were waiting for our starters. The cold poppadoms appeared with three little pickle containers that only had one teaspoon with which to dispense the three different pickles. Unfortunately this looked as if the pickle bowls had just been used by someone else (the same spoon) and that it had simply been uplifted from one table and put on ours with only a smattering of each pickle remaining at the bottom of the bowl and smears of raita clearly visible in the mango chutney. One male waiter also needed a good deodorant which wasn’t pleasant because you could smell him as soon as you walked in!
When we finally managed to attract someones attention to get the bill, it took them 25 minutes to bring it. All little matters on their own but attention to detail can make a difference and it was presentation and service that let this place down big time — not the food.
The TV was on (Pakistani Music Channel) which may have been good for other people but the noise for us directly under it was annoying and the fact that people were constantly looking in our direction to watch it was mildly disconcerting when we were trying to have a romantic meal.
All in all not a bad night but not good enough to make us think we must go back either.