Royal Suite Darbar

Excellent food, quality service and affordable prices. I couldn’t stop myself eating more and more. I would highly recommend this restaurant to all food lovers.
If you next visit Darbar must ask for Mr. Haji the manager for special service and food recommendations.

Darbar, the anti-​nawaz. Why do I say this, because I can’t help but get the opposite feeling from it as from the (probably overly vilified by me) Al-​Nawaz near it on the mile. Another review on this site said that Darbar was the epitome of a standard curry mile restaurant. I’d have to agree, but while I called Al-​Nawaz the standard disappointing mile curry house that is trading off the location, Darbar is the the standard one that fulfils expectations but not massively more, instead of leaving you cheated you feel satisfied. If there was a 3.5 star rating it would have got that, without a doubt. But anyway, enough talking about the overall rating, let’s get down to details.
The décor, it’s not bad. Just as clunky in places as others have said, but not distractingly so and the big mirrors at the back are fairly nice. OK, that was simple, onto more important matters.
The food. This is variable but by and large good. I shared a mixed grill starter that was excellent, and proved again that lamb chops are a tragically overlooked item on curry menus. The spicing was delicate and subtle, the flavours good and delicious. If everything had been like the starter, we’d have had no problems. The mains however were more variable. I had a lamb balti which was slightly… odd tasting and the lamb was a bit stringy (a friend of mine had a similar problem with her lamb) while others on the table claimed to have excellent beef and chicken curries. The naans were normal and the rice portions decent but not great (just about enough for two). Ultimately though the food wasn’t half bad, and the amount of meat you got was very decent. So why the 3 stars and not the 4?
The service. My lord. I went in with 3 friends for a two course meal and must have spent a couple of hours from ordering to leaving. We waited over half an hour for our starters, and the same for our mains. There was a large party that came in shortly after us and this seemed to slow the kitchen down to a crawl and relegate our table to second place for everything. It threatened to turn an enjoyable meal into something of a trial, and had the conversation not flowed freely would have been a real problem.
The verdict? Darbar is a solid restaurant, and on a normal night with good service would probably safely fit in the 4 star category, but not on the night I went. Will I go again? No. The mile is a cut-​throat place and even with better service Spicy Hut or even Mughli (which my friends from that part of the world seem to really rate) would beat it every time. Sorry Darbar, but the curry house no-​one goes to won’t be frequented by me.

Darbar is one of the most modest, inconspicuous-​looking restaurants in the Curry Mile which might explain why so few of the acquaintances of we Unilocalers seem to have frequented it. It was recommended to me by a curry fiend, so I thought I’d do my civic duty and check it out.
Alfie’s right, the spices in the curries here seem so much more delicate and effortfully put together. It’s one of those rare things in Rusholme — a curry hut with such a loyal following, its fanclub are the ones that probably keep it full every night. The décor is quite cute too, with chunky Eastern features seemingly clumsily strewn about. It’s a lovely little place, not nearly as ostentatious or loud as many others and drawing in customers on merit and word of mouth as opposed to any garish displays.
A curry foodie’s restaurant for sure, definitely for the discerning visitors to the Curry Mile.

As Alfie points out, Darbar is odd in that very few people seem to have visited it, yet it always seems filled with people. When you do bother visiting you will find a very pleasant atmosphere, good food, and great service. Which just makes the lack of obvious custom all the weirder, really.
It’s not the best place on the curry mile, but it’s pretty good, and the strange Marie-​Celeste feel to the place is reason enough for visiting. Maybe all the other customers are ghosts? Nah, that doesn’t really make sense.

If you want an example of good food head to Darbars. If you want a poor example of a paint job stand and stare at the building your about to enter. Darbars comes into the very average rankings of the curry houses on the mile, sadly I’m grasping at straws looking for something that makes it that little bit extra special.
I guess it could be angled that if you want the perfect average man’s experience hit the Darbars, only here can you truly appreciate the mean standard of food on the curry mile. Does lots of great grub all to a good standard. Try the mixed chaat or lamb mekani, standard prices £5−8. in any way to the owner or employees.

Darbar, the curry house nobody goes to, that always has people in it.
In all my five years of living in Manchester, I’d never met a single person who’d been to Darbar. I even had a friend who claimed he’d been to every curry place on the curry mile, and so was the perfect person to rate the restaurants. ‘What’s Darbar like?’ I immediately asked, and eagerly awaited the reply with baited breath, ‘oh, that’s the only one I haven’t been to’ was his disappointing reply.
So after all these years I finally decide to check it out, and I was pleasantly surprised. The food was really good, and though I only had a regular Jalfrezi, the curry had a really different and authentic taste. All the customers seemed like regulars, and were bantering away with the staff. Perhaps it’s a case of once you do go, you keep going, but I’ve still never met anyone else who’s tried it.
I didn’t think it was incredible, but don’t let that DEBAR you from visiting!