National Restaurant

3 Reviews on “National Restaurant”

• Hungry_doctor

  National is a known legendary place at Bandra, but somehow I never got a chance to eat here. So thought of trying out a few things over 3 days before writing a review. First day I ordered thief kadhi pakoda plate. It had one of the most amazing kadhi, a wonderful Gobhi aloo and 3 super soft chapatis plus rice and an average dal. Second day I ordered An amazing chicken liver, okaish chicken mughlai and an average egg bhurji .. Third day I could stop myself from ordering the gobhi aloo again. It was super yum. Rajma was a total let down, with head no tail of taste. The chicken masala was averageSo over all an ok place but only for few dishes. I would surely go back for the kadhi and gobhi aloo n chicken liver but rest were a major miss. Of course it’s the most reasonable place with almost everything costing less than 150 but u get a generous quantity for that. Worth a try !!

  April 26, 2020, 6:00 pm

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• Duleep Thomas

  My walk home from the Bandra train station is an interesting experience. There are street vendors, various stores, eateries and general mayhem caused by people jostling and weaving between the crowds. It was within this chaos that I noticed the appealing signage “Serving Punjabi Food Cooked Exclusively on Coal” and an obscure entrance. That was what drew me into the National Restaurant on the Bandra train station Road.There are two sections in the restaurant: one is in a patio-like setting, facing the street and the other, an inside dining area. The place is as spartan, or functional, as they come. The one descriptor that would apply here is cleanliness. I realize that customers do not come here for the ambiance; it gets just about a passing grade.I seated myself in the patio area and it was after some while that a waitperson came along. After an initial head-bobbing gesture from the waitperson, I politely asked if I could get the menu. The menu matches the general appearance of the restaurant. It is very condensed. The one thing that stood out was that there were no tandoori dishes – that came as a surprise. But there is no misleading message on the part of the restaurant – all they said in their tag line was that the food was cooked over coal. So, after some thoughtful look at the menu, I ordered the Chicken Pulao (fried version).The Chicken Pulao was served in short order. The look of the dish was nothing like I had imagined. It looked like a careless pile of rice. The rice was mainly dark brown and there was a smattering of yellow rice over it. I was not sure as to how to approach the dish. As I dug my silverware into the pile of rice, I unearthed a chicken drumstick. Once I got my bearings, I starting to work on my dish. My first few mouthfuls were of the dark brown rice: it was really tasteful – it was moist and had this rich, flavorful spice. I was pleasantly surprised. As I got to the chicken; similarly, it was spiced really well and was also cooked to perfection- it was moist and flavorful. It was a better than expected experience. So, while the presentation was a bit sloppy, it was also deceptive because the dish tasted really good. I would describe the dish as a Yakhni Pulao or something very close to it – it was not too spicy (as in Fiery), not too oily but loaded with flavor.Service matched the ambiance. It was barely functional. At one point, I wondered if the restaurant was directed only toward take-outs. That could explain why the service was so indifferent. All my inquiries were responded with what I perceived to be disdain. I had to probe with multiple questions as to what was the difference between a plain and a fried pulao. For all those reasons, service does not meet passing grade.As I headed out, I tried to summarize my experience at the National Restaurant. The ambiance is of a barely passing grade, service is poor but the food (the one dish I ordered – the Chicken Pulao – fried) was excellent. Also, an incidental observation, was the condiments did not include onions – the result of the ‘onion economics’. I liked my dish and will certainly head out there when I have a pulao craving, but I am not sure I will be there in a hurry any time soon.

  March 10, 2020, 12:19 pm

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• Manoj Tewari

  I find the dal combination here very tasty . Price is very reasonable . Tried Rajma Kadi , Chole , Dal Fry , Roti , Lachcha and Aloo Parantha. Rotis should have been a little soft. Food here gives a near taste of North Indian Dhaba food. Staff behaviour needs improvement .

  February 9, 2020, 8:30 pm

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