Akbar’s

Had the chili chicken as a recommendation from the server and asked for it extra spicy. It came out perfect. The garlic nan bread was amazing and loved the portion size. The only thing I didn’t like was the app I ordered which was a chicken with veggies in a cheese sauce.

I was there last weekend and the food was fantastic, even the restaurant service and decoration.
I ate chicken tikka masala and was amazing!
Price was so good as well!

I’m a bit of an Akbar’s addict, having enjoyed dining at various Akbar’s restaurants down south as well as Glasgow previously. The English branches always seem to be bustling and packed whilst the Glasgow one is quieter for some reason (location maybe?) — the food is just as mouthwatering though and the service very efficient and attentive. A big plus for me is the large selection of veggie starters and curries on the menu — everything I have tried has been delicious, you really can’t go wrong. My favourite is still the aloo chana paneer balti — chunks of potato, paneer cheese and chickpeas in a piquant tangy and sweet sauce that you can mop up with some tasty garlic naan (which comes served hanging from a metal naan tree to save space on your table). On this occasion it was my friend’s birthday — our waiter had overheard this and came over to suggest a little birthday surprise when she had nipped away from the table. The waiters were only too happy to serve up maximum embarrassment (she loved it really ;)) by singing happy birthday around the table whilst presenting her with an ice-​cream sundae lit up with a firework candle!

Went earlyish on a Friday night on my own. Seated my almost immediately on a busy night. Excellent paneer ghosht (forgive my spelling) and naan, paired perfectly with Cobra. And possibly the most attentive, professional yet friendly service I’ve ever experienced.

First time trying here and it was really nice. Décor is pretty and the restaurant is big and airy with nice seats at the windows to people watch. The menu isn’t big but has enough with a few of the old British favorites for the less adventurist. To start we got popadoms with four condiments which hit the spot. Starters all went down well which was a mix of squid, chicken and king prawn dishes. Mains couldn’t be finished by any of us as we had no room left but we gave it a good try. I opted for a chicken tikka type dish which had cashews and cream in it and was lovely, the others got the standard chicken tikkas with a mix of mild and hot. We got one portion of rice which did all three of us and ordered chips and a large garlic nan bread. All was tasty, chips are delicious and the nan was huge. We couldn’t even look at the deserts so paid the bill which was reasonable and went home for a sleep lol. Would recommend and would go back.

Wow, if you are after an authentic curry experience you have come to the right place! Now I know some native weegies will get defensive at this point, but this is proper Bradford curry. Bradford and Glasgow are usually the top two cities in the UK for authentic curries, but Bradford is the UK Curry Capital for the last three years and this is one of their finest exports.
The menu isn’t huge, which for me is reassuring, but you’re sure to find something just right. I shared the lamb chops which were probably the nicest lamb champs I’ve ever had, and probably the best lamb altogether. Super tender yet spicy and grilled to perfection.
I can’t even remember what curry I had I just know it was mega! The naan bread was huge. I originally requested a family naan, as it was only £1.50 more, but I was told that was bigger than the table and would be ridiculous. I’m sort of sad I didn’t just go for it as it would be legendary, but as it was the standard naan was really big and tasty too. Rice was also lovely. Try this place now!

I had heard SO many amazing things about Akbars so I couldn’t wait to try it. With Glasgow being one of the curry capitals in the UK I was expecting great things from this place… unfortunately it didn’t quite deliver for me.
Let’s start with some positives.
Located on Sauchiehall Street, I’d describe Akbars as going for Glam footballers wife chic… I liked it. There was cool lights (however, a few of them weren’t working, but they were still gorgeous), leopard print chairs, beautiful big guilted mirrors hanging on the walls and a massive wall of windows looking out on to the street.
It was mobbed without being noisey which was great. Although they did create in my mind the cardinal sin in the décor /​atmosphere stakes. They sat someone on the end of a table meaning I had to shimmy past them (thus sticking my behind over someone’s table) to get out. Too many places do this and it honestly puts me off going back because it so annoying.
The staff were for me the highlight of the night. They were brilliant, friendly and fast. Our waiter introduced himself and was so welcoming, I also loved that when his shift ended we were introduced to our new waiter by him. He then took excellent care of us. Couldn’t fault the staff in the slightest.
To begin our evening we were offered some poppadums to munch on while making out menu choices. When they were delivered we were told they were only made 10 mins ago, they were so nice — light, thin, crispy & delicious.
Now is when it stars going a bit down hill for me which is unfortunate because the food is the most important part. The menu was large and extensive but I did actually struggle to find something I wanted to eat. The menu was quite large so it was purely a personal taste thing that nothing hugely appealed to me.
The one thing I did clocked right away was the duck tikka starter, being a massive fan of duck this was a must try for me. As a side note they also had a rabbit tikka starter too. I was however told when placing my order that neither were available… bummer. So I went for the Chicken & Prawn Poori.
When it arrived it was okay — the open poori was quite a small pancake, the chicken wasn’t the best quality with hardly any chicken breast meat, in fact it was mostly dark meat. The prawns were so small it took me a good 2 or 3 minutes to notice there was prawns in it. The sauce was nice enough. Not a stand out amazing dish but I did finish it but found it fairly ho hum.
I like a patia or chasni curry but unfortunately neither were on the menu so I opted to try a rogan josh for the first time. I also ordered egg fried rice and a plain naan to share. When it arrived I dove into my curry but was very quickly left feeling disappointed. The quality of the chicken was again really poor and the sauce literally tasted of nothing, I’m not exaggerating it was utterly tasteless.
I would like to point out though that Ma & Pa loved their Dopiaza and Mr G said his Biriyni was ‘decent enough’ but also made comment on the use of lots of scrappy dark chicken meat.
The naan was nice enough — although I am writing this blog post at 4am on Sunday morning because I can’t sleep and all I can taste in my mouth is naan bread.
When the plates were cleared away, we were offered moist warm towels which was a brilliant touch and the dessert menus — this is truly where it all fell apart for me.
The expensive menu with 14 options was put down in front of us, after a few minutes of oh-​ing & ah-​ing our waiter came over to tell us what wasn’t available. Let’s just say he’d be quicker telling us what was available, of the 14 dishes 9, yes NINE were not in stock including the kulfi which is surely pretty staple Indian fair?
Still my Pa and I pushed on and ordered one of the 5 desserts available only for our waiter to pop back a minute later to say mine was also unavailable — TEN out of fourteen desserts not available — eh WHAT???
At this point I just told them to cancel the coffee and desserts and bring the bill as the meal had left me so utterly disappointed.
Ma & Pa loved it and were raving about it so I may go back sometime as they liked it but other than the staff and the nice décor I was pretty underwhelmed for somewhere which won the 2014 Scottish Curry Award.
I’ve given 3 stars but for me it was a 2.5.

This was the busiest Indian I have ever been to. We had booked for 8.45 but didn’t get seated until 9.20. It was a Saturday night so I knew it would be busy but waiting for over half an hour was a bit much.
Anyhoo, on to the food. This was delicious. One of the best Indians I have ever tried. We shared Lamb Chops to start and they were delicious. Soft, succulent lamb… could have ate a plate full. I then had Akbar Balti which had potato, lamb and chicken. This was full of flavour and perfectly balanced. We shared pilau rice and a naan.
The naan comes hanging up which make it easy to share. It was very tasty. My only gripe is that it got cold quite quickly without the heat of a plate.
I am looking forward to going back and tryingn other things from the menu… maybe not on a Saturday night next time!

Usually our go to Indian is KoolBa in Merchant City, but we fancied a change of scenery and couldn’t be bothered with the walk down so we headed into Akbars!
Driven past it many times, always seemed to be busy and those Naan Bread hangers always catch my eye — genius, they take up way too much table space when laid flat!
The décor is nice, the staff are incredibly friendly, service was at a good pace and the food was delicious.
The menu isn’t as varied as some Indian restaurants in respect to loads of different dishes, which is refreshing, but they do have MANY variations of the same dish which I assume to be their signature… and they do it well.
Tender meat, flavoursome sauces, great Naan, friendly service. What’s not to like.

Been wanting to try Akbar’s for some time now after a recommendation from a friend. I love a good curry so I do and I was planning a night out for some work peeps so considering I will look for any excuse to have a curry I chose Akbar’s. This place is pretty big & open too. With all the dark décor & fancy lighting it’s quite opulent feeling & more akin to a cabaret joint than a regular curry house. We were a party of 9 and had booked our table for 6pm.
Now I must warn you this ~ it is Akbar’s policy that ALL members of your party must be present before they seat you at your (booked) table… I thought this was a bit of an odd rule & when we questioned it the guy speaking to us told us (in a tone that made me think it wasn’t the 1^st time he’d had to say this before…) the reason why is because the kitchen staff like to have everyone’s order in at the same time so all food arrives at the same time. Fair enough BUT we still didn’t understand why we couldn’t at least sit down at our table & order some drinks whilst we waited for the other folk to arrive… like you would in every other restaurant?! I think sensing our disapproval of this bizarre rule the guy ‘allowed’ us to go to our table stating ‘Just so you know for future reference: we don’t normally allow this!’ Err… okay pal, calm ya jets. If this restaurant maybe had a seating/​bar area (like Jamie’s Italian) then, yes, I could understand the policy a bit more but as we had to all just stand around the doorway like some underage kids trying to get into a nightclub it felt a bit uncomfortable. Hmph. Not a great start.
We ordered drinks (not a huge choice of beers; only Kingfisher on draught) & they suggested some poppadoms/​pickles so we agreed to keep them happy (plus we were pretty starving!). The poppadoms & pickles were really good ~ fresh, tasty & one particular (green) chutney/​pickle was amazing! My friend told me what it made with but I have since forgotten, however it was so delicious & fresh tasting, really good but unfortunately they didn’t give us much of it so it soon disappeared.
When our friends (eventually) arrived we were allowed to order so I went for the Masala Fish ~ this was beautiful, not quite The Wee Curry Shop standard (their fish masala is gorgeous) and this fish was in flour & fried as opposed to steamed, however it was still really nice.
With so much choice on the main meals menu I did struggle to choose just ONE I wanted (changed my mind about 3 times!) but I opted for the Lamb Palak Traditional Desi style. I learnt from my friend that Desi style is the more authentic/​spicier version and not the Westernised/​milder style, so if you prefer more spice/​heat/​flavour say you want your curry ‘Desi style’ ~ they may question you (as they did me; ‘You sure?!’ Haha! Yes!) but if you can handle a bit more heat then I urge you to try it as my curry was absolutely delicious. Really beautiful melt-​in-​the-​mouth lamb with a generous amount of palak (spinach), corriander and green chillies too. YUM. I was in curry heaven. I ordered some boiled rice alongside my curry (I’m not a fan of the Indian-​style fried rice) & we also shared one of the MEGA BEAST ‘Family Nan’s. Woah. It is a thing to behold. I was tempted to put it on my face & pretend to be Hannibal Lector but luckily for my dining companions I restrained myself… haha! We had the plain Nan & it was really good.
It’s not often I don’t finish a curry… I could only manage half of it here! The portions are quite big. My friend asked for a doggy bag to take hers home & I always like when places honour that request.
No one could manage dessert or even coffee so we all had our hot towels (felt like I was on a posh aeroplane! ‘Hot towel madam?’ Haha!) and lollipops before leaving.
Prices aren’t too bad & actually pretty good for a curry house; average cost for a starter is about £3.50, main course is about £7.50 and the BEAST (Family) Nan is £3.95 which is great considering how huge it is.
I will definitely be back. Maybe not with a large group of people/​friends though as that seating policy is nuts. But I will deffo visit again if just for that delicious Lamb Palak! NOM.

Last time I went here It was the Tiffin Rooms so I was interested to see how it had changed under the new akbars name. It was a pretty late visit as it was after 11pm, but the waiters did not seem at all phased. Perhaps because the duke was with us it meant we would got the best treatment!
The staff are very very helpful and keen to help. I selected a bottle of Cobra to have with my curry and it went down well.
For food I had a lovely chicken tika keema balti, with rice and shared a blanket naan. The latter was huge and came on a large rack type thing from which the naan hung in a formidable manner.
Food was great, beer was nice and all available late at night. Nothing to complain about here. Definitely worth a visit if you like Indian food.

I’m trying to figure out if Akbars is the same owners as the Tiffen Rooms? The décor and the vibe is the same.
We stumbled in here after a full day of drink and what best way to finish it of is a curry and another beer!
No starters and straight to the Mains — 4 x of a chicken tikka dish (mhanki I think! Sorry) tasty and nice spices and a side of rice. Now out comes this massive «blanket» Nan. Huge! We went for the garlic nan. Purely because I told every one we were having Garlic. Food was tasty and wash down with a cobra!
However I felt we were stuffed in a corner, it was the last seating and the place was empty but there was three tables in this one corner. Service was good. If you are looking for a late night curry this place is worth a visit!

Great curry, great service, awesome nan bread, limited draft beer choice. Stumbled in by accident but would come back again.

Came on back of Unilocal reviews, to help expand me from my usual haunts of the den and the dhabba.
Was around 6pm mid week, so not overly busy. Friendly welcome and beautiful interior. Only initial critism was four waiters standing together in the middle of the floor, making you feel they were like car salespeople about to pounce!
That said, our server Naveed introduced himself in a warm manner. Corrected a drinks order error instantly and provided banter and advice in plenty. Masala fish as a starter was nothing short of perfection. Get it, even if you don’t like fish, just order it! Chicken tikka pieces were okay, but nothing as special as the fish.
Baltis. well, with such an array to choose from, I opted for chicken and keema and Fiona went for chicken saag. The small naan, could easily feed four, so we didn’t order rice.
Nice touch was being given a time to main courses, whilst starter plates were cleared.
The baltis and the naan were great. Simple as that. I’m still more inclined to The Den, as that’s home cooking to me so more authentic. Being from Birmingham, I appreciate a fine balti and finally Glasgow has such an establishment. All three very different from each other, so it’s nice to have another restaurant to mix it up a little from time to time.
All in all. A great wee place with great friendly personal service, that are set on being renowned for that. Food is good and can’t wait to try different dishes.
You Gotta Eat Here — For Sure! :-)

Fifth star this time for how the staff treated my 3 year old. Everyone was SO child friendly & attentive from our server to the chef who brought the food. It sounds silly but chatting with him, giving him high-​fives — it means so much. 3 year old also loved his mini korma and as always the massive Naan – WIN!

I love Akbar’s restaurants and this is the 4^th different one I’ve visited (others were Manchester, Leeds & Bradford).
With the large windows and smaller size of the Glasgow restaurant it has more of a café/​bistro feel than the others.
The food, however, is exactly the same in terms of choice, quality, presentaton, portion size & great value.
Service is also excellent.
After a shared starter of Seekh Kebab and Liver Tikka — I adore the Liver Tikka which is such an unusual menu offering — I had the Karahi Chicken & Keema Mix which was just as delicious as I’d experienced in the other restaurants.
I finished with a desert of Ras Malai.
If you’re looking for a mild curry, one of our party delighted in a Chicken Tikka Makhani which they’d recommend.
If you are in Glasgow and like Indian food, I strongly advise you make a visit to Akbar’s!

This place is really growing on me. I’ve been back a couple of times since it first opened and the curry is getting tastier and they even let me order a spicy curry this time, without all the warnings and the «are you sure you want that one???»
The family naan aka the ‘blanket’ is really just exceptional, its got to be seen to be believed.
Akbars is huge but seems to be rammed most night. Its also very popular with the Asian community, so always a good sign.
Defo worth a visit if your in the Charing X area.

I enjoyed the food in general. I particularly liked the way the huge naan breads are served vertically on forks and you share them as a table, tearing pieces off it.
Everything was great except the irritating waiting staff who won’t let you be in peace. They are always coming and telling you how much more time it’ll take for the food to get ready. Sadly, it doesn’t matter to me if the food is going to take 7 mins or 10 to come.