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Akbars West St sheffield

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has anyone been? i want to go there for my birthday in just over a week and i was hoping someone could tell me if the food / service / price is good?

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are you talking about the authentic Akbar's on Meadow Bank Road, between Meadowhall and Rotherham? Or the one on West street that recently opened under a similar name?

 

If it's the one between Meadowhall and Rotherham then I can't recommend it highly enough. The food is excellent. Particularly if you are willing to try something a bit different to your usual Chicken tikka masala and onion bhaji's. I'd recommend the fish starters and the lamb chops. The curries are not your usual pieces of meat swimming in a spicy gravy either. And the naan breads are out of this world, massive freshly baked and brought to your table on a huge spike straight from the oven for you to tear pieces off.

 

I don't know anything about the other one on West Street except that it seems like it is trying to gatecrash the other Akbar's popularity.

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are you talking about the authentic Akbar's on Meadow Bank Road, between Meadowhall and Rotherham? Or the one on West street that recently opened under a similar name?

 

If it's the one between Meadowhall and Rotherham then I can't recommend it highly enough. The food is excellent. Particularly if you are willing to try something a bit different to your usual Chicken tikka masala and onion bhaji's. I'd recommend the fish starters and the lamb chops. The curries are not your usual pieces of meat swimming in a spicy gravy either. And the naan breads are out of this world, massive freshly baked and brought to your table on a huge spike straight from the oven for you to tear pieces off.

 

I don't know anything about the other one on West Street except that it seems like it is trying to gatecrash the other Akbar's popularity.

 

the west street one. isnt it owned by the same people? i am going to the rotherham one with work 2 weeks after so i will try some of the dishes you recommended. except the fish. not a fan of fish :gag:

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the west street one. isnt it owned by the same people? i am going to the rotherham one with work 2 weeks after so i will try some of the dishes you recommended. except the fish. not a fan of fish :gag:

 

no apparently not. I don't know how they've got away with the name tbh but I guess it's a common word in their language.

 

All the tandoori starters are fab. My favourite curries are Roshan Lal - a really nice spicy lamb curry - and Akbar e Balti - a curry with chicken, mushroom and lamb together.

 

You will enjoy I'm sure. And it's very reasonably priced. Only downside is the location (a long way out of town) and it is also very dark inside. I had to use the torch on my iphone to read the menu!

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the sign looks similar too doesn't it? what a cheek!

the akbar e balti sounds divine.

I usually go to shapla but wanted to try somewhere different.

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Mentioned the "real" Akbars (Meadowbank Rd) many times on here, totally and utterly overrated, the place is like a cattle pen when busy with the no bookings policy (it helps to sell a few drinks) the place is too dark and the food is average at best. It was hyped up by advertising when it opened and it looks like some people have swallowed the hype.

 

Far better Indian restaurants in the area, the "fake" one on West St cannot be any worse.

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Mentioned the "real" Akbars (Meadowbank Rd) many times on here, totally and utterly overrated, the place is like a cattle pen when busy with the no bookings policy (it helps to sell a few drinks) the place is too dark and the food is average at best. It was hyped up by advertising when it opened and it looks like some people have swallowed the hype.

 

Far better Indian restaurants in the area, the "fake" one on West St cannot be any worse.

 

Well, it's all about personal opinions of course.

 

I don't know about the marketing hype but I came across Akbar's about 20 years ago now when I used to work around West Yorkshire. Along with Aagrah, it was one of the highest rated Indian/Pakistani restaurants in that area.

 

We used to entertain quite a lot of Asian clients and those two were the ones they always wanted to go to. The food is much closer to the kind of cuisine that Indians/Pakistani's would cook for themselves in their own homes.

 

Maybe that's not to everyone's taste because all some folk want is a the mass-produced universal sauce with a few pieces of meat floating around in it.

 

The curries there are very different to that and I guess it's not to everyone's taste.

 

I took a party of about 30 people to the Akbar's in Manchester last year. These were business colleagues from all around the country, several from London as well. Everyone raved about the food saying it was one of the best Indian/Pakistani meals they'd ever had.

 

The menu in every Akbar's is exactly the same and so is the quality of the food. It's always consistent.

 

Which I guess means that if you didn't like it first time there's no point in going again.

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Well, it's all about personal opinions of course.

 

I don't know about the marketing hype but I came across Akbar's about 20 years ago now when I used to work around West Yorkshire. Along with Aagrah, it was one of the highest rated Indian/Pakistani restaurants in that area.

 

We used to entertain quite a lot of Asian clients and those two were the ones they always wanted to go to. The food is much closer to the kind of cuisine that Indians/Pakistani's would cook for themselves in their own homes.

 

Maybe that's not to everyone's taste because all some folk want is a the mass-produced universal sauce with a few pieces of meat floating around in it.

 

The curries there are very different to that and I guess it's not to everyone's taste.

 

I took a party of about 30 people to the Akbar's in Manchester last year. These were business colleagues from all around the country, several from London as well. Everyone raved about the food saying it was one of the best Indian/Pakistani meals they'd ever had.

 

The menu in every Akbar's is exactly the same and so is the quality of the food. It's always consistent.

 

Which I guess means that if you didn't like it first time there's no point in going again.

 

Fair comment but your focusing on the Manchester and West Yorkshire ones which I would think would not survive if they were not of a good standard.

 

Ashoka, Prithiraj, Mohul, Butlers are all better than Akbars and none of these sell meat in a universal sauce, Cutlers Spice is also highly rated and I hope to try it soon.

 

I have been to Akbars three times (once by choice the other two as part of a group booking) and found the food average on all three occasions, the starters being marginally better than the mains, it seemed the type of place where they are more bothered about getting you in and out quickly to increase covers.

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Not been to Ashoka in years. It used to be one of the top ones in Sheffield but I couldn't honestly comment on it.

 

I tried Prithiraj recently and thought it was very good. I enjoyed the curries particularly.

 

I went to Butler's when it first opened in that little poky place opposite the old Jessop's. I enjoyed the Balti there, I thought it was about the best Balti that I'd had outside of Birmingham at the time. (I used to live in Cheltenham and we'd often venture up to Sparkbrook and Mosely areas of Brum for a proper Balti).

 

I went with my wife to the new Butler's place at the bottom of Broad Street, about 6 months ago now. I honestly didn't rate it. Very average imo. Look, you know when they serve you the pappadoms and chutney's and it's just basic onion salad with lime pickle and mango chutney out of a jar, they aren't putting much effort into it. At Akbar's they at least serve a few different type of chutney's that are made fresh on the premises. The tandoori starters are a favourite of mine - again, bog standard and pretty bland tasting at Butlers. Whereas at Akbars the flavours are just fabulous - really sharp, fresh spices. Did you try the tandoori lamb chops at Akbars? or the masala fried fish? a large piece of cod cooked in a spicy batter? These dishes are exceptional and no, you can't get them at Butlers or many other places that i've come across. And the naan bread? Are you telling me that there's other restaurants that make it as good as Akbar's? I've honestly not experienced anything like it elsewhere. In most places a naan bread is a small doughy thing on a plate that tastes like the ones you can buy in supermarkets.

 

I agree with you about the darkness of Akbar's though - it really is a bit too dark in there. And i also agree that the place is almost always heaving. You often can't get in the car park as it's so busy. It also attracts a pretty chavish crowd. On our last visit we sat next to a family and the little girl, maybe about 4 years old, was trying to get her dad's attention about something and he just shouted at the top of his voice...

 

"I'm not f***ing interested! And then he grabbed hold of her and dragged her out saying that she could go and sit in the car whilst they'd finished their meal.

 

I hate things like that and unfortunately there are quite a lot of this type who seem to go down to Akbars.

 

But for food alone I haven't come across anything that can beat it so far. Happy to keep looking though!:)

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Not been to Ashoka in years. It used to be one of the top ones in Sheffield but I couldn't honestly comment on it.

 

I tried Prithiraj recently and thought it was very good. I enjoyed the curries particularly.

 

I went to Butler's when it first opened in that little poky place opposite the old Jessop's. I enjoyed the Balti there, I thought it was about the best Balti that I'd had outside of Birmingham at the time. (I used to live in Cheltenham and we'd often venture up to Sparkbrook and Mosely areas of Brum for a proper Balti).

 

I went with my wife to the new Butler's place at the bottom of Broad Street, about 6 months ago now. I honestly didn't rate it. Very average imo. Look, you know when they serve you the pappadoms and chutney's and it's just basic onion salad with lime pickle and mango chutney out of a jar, they aren't putting much effort into it. At Akbar's they at least serve a few different type of chutney's that are made fresh on the premises. The tandoori starters are a favourite of mine - again, bog standard and pretty bland tasting at Butlers. Whereas at Akbars the flavours are just fabulous - really sharp, fresh spices. Did you try the tandoori lamb chops at Akbars? or the masala fried fish? a large piece of cod cooked in a spicy batter? These dishes are exceptional and no, you can't get them at Butlers or many other places that i've come across. And the naan bread? Are you telling me that there's other restaurants that make it as good as Akbar's? I've honestly not experienced anything like it elsewhere. In most places a naan bread is a small doughy thing on a plate that tastes like the ones you can buy in supermarkets.

 

I agree with you about the darkness of Akbar's though - it really is a bit too dark in there. And i also agree that the place is almost always heaving. You often can't get in the car park as it's so busy. It also attracts a pretty chavish crowd. On our last visit we sat next to a family and the little girl, maybe about 4 years old, was trying to get her dad's attention about something and he just shouted at the top of his voice...

 

"I'm not f***ing interested! And then he grabbed hold of her and dragged her out saying that she could go and sit in the car whilst they'd finished their meal.

 

I hate things like that and unfortunately there are quite a lot of this type who seem to go down to Akbars.

 

But for food alone I haven't come across anything that can beat it so far. Happy to keep looking though!:)

 

Me and my dog have been in Akbars recently and I must say we found it very good - dark yes but very very busy and the food was very tasty !

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Now called down town akbars and under new owner he was telling me its his first curry house been three times service border line food been good hope service improves our last visit did seem faster tho he had two new waiters hope they keep it up

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I have had 3 take aways from Downtown Akabars and all been very good. It solves a problem with me and my wife as i like the desi style curries whereas she prefers the bog standard bland gloopy ones. These are probably bordering on desi style but not too too hot for my better half.

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