Sartaj

Not the place to go if you want authentic Indian food. No spice and everything tastes like ketchup. Avoid!

Great service, love the food here. If you like hot spicy or mild. They cater for all. The best part is when the naan bread arrives at the table. It’s huge!
Seafood curry is nice and doesn’t over power the seafood and its fresh. Potato and spinach is one of my favourite dishes. Goes well with any dish.
Great place meeting friends and family for a meal over a curry and a few beers.

A friend recommended Sartaj for a curry on my inaugural visit to London and lacking context I checked it out.
Let’s get this out of the way first. Sartaj serves mutant naan. Using the word «large» would be a subtle understatement. This is the kind of naan that could be a stunt double for the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man’s Indian cousin or used in an anti-​Monsanto advertisement.
For GBP 10.95/person a few of us sampled and shared items from the pre-​theatre menu (starter, main, side, and a mutant garlic naan to share) and we walked away appropriately sated and spiced.
I’ve since tried a few other options both in Covent Garden and on Brick Lane and my conclusion is the quality is about the same so it’s hard for me to gush about any of them. Sartaj has the twin advantages of being less crowded and the Guinness Book of World Records naan. I’m a fan. You likely will be too.

Das schlechteste Indische essen, dass ich je in meinem Leben hatte, sogar inklusive aller indischen Restaurants in Deutschland. Gerichte schmeckten, wie aus dem Supermarkt, die Bedienung war extrem wortkarg, unfreundlich und fast etwas einschüchternd.
Einzig positiver Punkt: Das riesige und leckere Naanbrot.

I’m Indian and have lived in various parts of India and the world. This was my first trip to London from the US (where I live) and this was my first Indian restaurant visit ever in London
Location: can’t be beat. Slightly off a main road in covent garden, not too busy
Service: no issues at all. Friendly prompt and attentive
Food: chicken tikka masala, lamb tikka, roti and pulao. All pretty darn good. My first experience with the Londoners take on Indian food, and I loved the flavor profiles. I ate till I could barely walk. If I’m in the area I will return again.
Docked one star since the restaurant itself isn’t too fancy, but the food elevates the rating to 4 stars.

Wow, where do I start?
The first time my friends invited me to this place I looked at the website and wasn’t convinced, so I gave it a miss. They all went without me and reported back that it was excellent, posting a photo on facebook of the biggest naan I’ve ever seen!
This time, given the great reviews and huge naan photo I didn’t want to miss out, so was quite hopeful that I was wrong the first time.
Sometimes it’s not a nice feeling being right.
I arrived earlier than my friends but exactly on time for out booking. A table hadn’t been prepared and they hurriedly put 2 tables together to accommodate the booking. They then laid menus on the table and left me there… For about 20 minutes.
Nobody asked me if I wanted a drink or a starter or even some poppadums. It was like they were too shy to talk to me.
So I ordered a seekh kebab hoping to tide myself over until the others arrived. I deliberately didn’t go for the poppadums because, quite cheekily, they charge extra for the sauces. Only 60p extra per sauce, but its the principle. Other places give you this for free.
When the seekh kebab arrived (after my friends) it tasted like rubber and wasn’t very good at all. I only ate a small piece and left the rest to the others to finish…
Onto the main course then. I ordered a chicken jalfrezi from the create your own menu. There was initially some confusion when I asked if this one was the same as the more expensive one from the main menu and was told it was, and that as it was now after 7.30 I had to order the main menu version. My friends asked another waiter who allowed us to order the create your own anyway. Weird.
Anyway, we ordered a selection of dishes between us and a selection of giant family naan. They were all a disappointment for me. My jalfrezi was mediocre at best and the korma my friend ordered was bland and disappointing. Even the giant naan was bad. It had some kind of sweetener in it, possibly sugar, and wasn’t that well cooked. One was very thin and crispy, the next too thick and undercooked…
I ordered a mango lassi hoping to wash it down, now not expecting much, and it was pretty rubbish too.
Perhaps I’m spoiled by the availability of excellent curry in London, but this place just doesn’t cut it for me.

Summary: Not a bad option if Punjab is full. Well prepared. Get the Nan. Good for small groups. Quite affordable.
Atmosphere: It’s quite red. It’s nice and well decorated without being too cheesy. The fish tank could use some cleaning. After staring at it for a while, I realized the spots were from the outside, given the little catch fish was going to town on the glass (so no likely the inside).
The service; They are really nice, but for an American, trying to understand the heavy British Indian accent was tough. Really tough… and that is despite that half my job involves working with outsourcing to India. But they meant well, were prompt and thoughtful and I can’t rate them low for this.
Food:
Mango Lhasi — delicious and well executed. The right texture and refreshment.
Garlic Nan — Really well executed. I would give this 5 stars. Fresh, the right color (not burned as with some places). Fresh garlic and oil used. delicious.
I got the choose your own curry, selecting Fish and okra korma medium. You know, I recall an episode of Gordon Ramsey where he lambasted the chef for choose your own curry and now I get it. The korma was not medium. It was not really even mild. It was a bit sweet. I can’t tell if that’s just want they do this side of the pond. I added quite a bit of salt to balance that out. The sauce seemed a slight bit too think. The toasted almonds were quite nice and the color and presentation was lovely. I’d give it a 2.5.
The reason I didn’t rate lower is really because I may have simply ordered the wrong thing. I had originally wanted to check out Punjab, but was starving and couldn’t wait. If you ever feel the same, it’s a quick jaunt over to this place and it’s not bad.

Situated in one of my favorite area of London ‘Covent Garden’…This little hidden gem serves Real Balti food, most Indian restuarants in London have Balti on there menu but it is normally a regular curry servrd in a Balti dish. The Sartaj serves genuine Balti you have a choice of sauses, meats & veggies (vegans and vegetarian friendly. Also biggest naan I have ever seen. I ordered medium and it was as large as a medium pizza. Naan is sweeter than any other Indian restaurants but it tasted very good with spicy sauces… sort of a spicy sweet :-)
Great menu and price was reasonable consider being in London… over all a perfect experience.

Loved the saag Chicken, the chicken was pleasantly moist and chickeny, the sauce piquant and it was all rather pleasant. The interior is pleasant, the staff attentive and its not too expensive. They also have a make your own balti scheme which I’m going to try the next time I’m in there.

Not really knowing much about Indian food I walked in expecting to dislike it but walked out loving it. We had 3 courses 3 side rice naan which was huge, appetizers each, and soda for drinks. The bill was £49 not bad considering its London.

A friend of mine who lives in London had recommended this place to me after we stopped off at the pub for drinks.
I have to say, considering it’s in London, it didn’t break the bank for this American … I think our bill was like £40−45. Great curry and the biggest naan ever. It’s like the size of your table!!! Great service too, especially with then ex got curry and it wasn’t what he expected and they fixed it free of charge.
Great spot! Next time I’m in London, I’ll be stopping here again … maybe with a new boyfriend?

Home of the famous ‘Family Naan’ (a family of four could pitch one as a tent and comfortably live under it!). Really good curries and a good price (although personally I preferred the place before they messed with the menu about three years ago). The staff are friendly — they actually manage to remember you if you go there a few times (basic level of hospitality sometimes missing in London) and the service is usually quick and efficient yet the food still tastes ‘just-​cooked’ fresh. Its in a good position just near Seven Dials which I seem to find myself walking past alarmingly often when in town. I’d definitely recommend it to any curry enthusiasts, must be one of the best affordable curry houses in the Capital.

I visited here with a group of ten. We were seated on the ground floor. A small room with our table accounting for nearly half the available space, though mirrors at the back made it seem a little larger. There is also an upstairs room of similar size.
The food was OK. I didn’t have a starter but what came for others smelt great and in some cases was accompanied by fresh if unimaginative shredded salad. Mains arrived speedily after the starters. I had a prawn and spinach balti, which was on the sour and salty side. In fact too salty in my opinion. Shame as it was nearly very nice. We ordered ‘family nan’ and found one between 5 was plenty. One of my neighbours had chicken tikka and I got to try some. If I went again it’s what I’d order as in spite of being florescent in colour it had a great flavour with a really smoky accent. Most of our party choose to drink Cobra beer. I was intrigued and tried some, but not being a beer drinker it just tasted like beer to me. My main, 2 soft drinks and share of popadoms, nan and rice came to £13. Those drinking beer and having a starter ended up paying over £20.
Downstairs the ladies is freshly though roughly decorated, though I did think there was a flood for a minute until I realised it was an extremely shiny tiled floor. Apparently the men’s is tiny and requires careful manoeuvring. The loos are not accessible of course. You might get a look into the kitchen while you are down there: it looks fine! Service was mainly efficient, though they seemed to have a blank spot about drinks for the non-​beer drinkers, and had to be reminded.
Overall OK. This place is not terrible, just mediocre. Maybe I was unlucky with what I ordered, but I don’t feel anything really justified 4 stars.

Time for praise: Sartaj Balti House is the best non-​Brick Lane-​based Indian restaurant in London. Although its location doesn’t do it justice– hidden from the main road that is Charing Cross, dupe tourists will be prone to stop by for some microwaved pizza-​, it benefits from sitting next to the Cambridge Theatre, and therefore offers a great pre-​show offer: get there before 7.30pm and you’ll have a choice of Balti with free Nan bread for about 7 pounds. Décor-​wise, expect to be immersed in tranquillity: fish aquariums and plants surrounding One place to bring your new squeeze or visiting mates to.