Balti Bazaar

Reviews

• Shaz Y.

  star star star star star_border 7 June 2026

  A colleague recommended we go here tonight, she said the food is nice and the portions are big so it didnt take much discussion for us all to agree :-).
  
  On arrival the car park was small but I was able to get my car in a space.
  
  On entering the venue we were met by a very friendly waiter who showed us to our table. I must say at 8pm on a Thursday evening it was busy.
  
  We had our own wine 'Pinot Grigio' and nibbled on poppadoms dips mango chutney and onion as we browsed over the extensive menu.
  
  I orderd a chicken balti for the simple reason - I am not adventerous and my friends both ordered 2 separate balti dishes and we shared a pilau rice, plain nann and garlic nann.
  
  The  food came timely, hot and served with a smile. My friend wasnt wrong, the Balti's are huge!! :-)
  The waiter continually replaced our jug of water with fresh water and ice as we drank it.
  
  After much laughter, gossiping and merriment we had no room for pud so braved the snow to drive home.
  
  The decor is sparse, but what they lack in decor is made up for in hospitality and tasty food.
  
  Good  prices too so defo worth a try. Quite a few folks were in getting take aways too :-)

• Anthony H.

  star star star star_border star_border 7 June 2026

  So, its fairly unusual for an update of a review to be written so soon after the initial one, but I felt I needed to change both my score and comments on the place.
  
  I grew up going to this restaurant and even having been away from Birmingham for a few years, made occasional trips back when I wanted a proper balti!
  
  I am not sure whether it has changed hands (I didnt recognise any of the usual staff) or whether the chef has simply moved on, but the food was totally different to the usual stuff I expect.  I ordered a Jalfrezi and the flavour of the dish was overtaken with the sweet taste of caramelised red onions, not what you expect from this dish.  Another in my group ordered a tika massala which (even for this dish) was overly cloying and sweet.
  
  And then the real sucker-punch, the pillowy naans from my previous review, gone and replaced with flat circular discs that bear no resemblance to the glories of past!
  
  I really hope this was a one off issue but changing something as  fundamental as the naan bread suggest a change in chef/owner that is unfortunately not a scratch on the previous.  I'm not saying this is a 'bad' curry house now, just that it has gone from what I considered to be an example of the very best Birmingham has to offer to purely run of the mill.

• James W.

  star star star star star_border 31 May 2026

  I had a take out Chicken Biryani from this eatery last night and I enjoyed it a lot. A large group of friends and I were going to go for a curry but decided on staying in to watch a film instead with a take out.
  
  The Biryani had a very good rice base, the rice was not to dry or too moist, it was just right. There were no weird additions to it, for example raisins. This was a great relief to me I must say. The vegetable sauce that always accompanies a Biryani was also very good, I could taste the cardamom and cumin and coriander. A right nice bunch of C's.
  
  I will come back here for a larger meal after trying just one of their dishes. I prefer to do this because I like to know what I am getting myself into  A curry must for most.

• Carol B.

  star star star_border star_border star_border 31 May 2026

  Our mid-week visit here for a friends birthday was not very pleasant. We have eaten here previously and have enjoyed it , not shouting from the rafters- but nice. This time we were so let down, don't know if the staff wanted to get off but the starters were microwaved and the salad looked tired. Their interpretation on prawn puree is a small nan bread with prawns in sweet tomato paste. The kebab was over-miked and rubbery. The latter was removed from the bill as was inedible. The curries and baltis tasted powdery and grainy but with not much taste.
  The price was average to the many local equivalents. The best thing about our experience was the young apologetic waiter, bless I think even he was embarrassed. Don't think we will be returning with much better choice available within walking distance

• Craig H.

  star star star star star_border 17 May 2026

  A lot of Curry restaurants these days are going for the over-the-top opulent decor thing, and are offering a menu of overly complicated and creamy dishes to match. They are packing them in, so the ploy is obviously popular with punters, but I prefer my spicy dining experience a little more sedate and old school. Thank heavens, then, that Balti Bazaar has remained a 'traditional' place for a meal. This is a cosy and welcoming place offering great food that keeps me going back, either for a sit down after a few beers at the nearby British Oak, or else for a takeaway. If you do sit down, you can take your own beer, which is another thing the smarter, new style restaurants have gotten rid of. Well worth a visit. In a town full of similar places and where we are spoilt for choice, that is as good a recommendation as I can give!