Raw Lasan Lounge Bar Restaurant

Over the course of the past four years, all I have ever heard when I visited Edgware was how we should visit Raw Lasan in Stanmore. My husband had been before and it was a restaurant high on our list, so when Venue 5 was booked up for the evening, we decided to go to Raw Lasan for dinner.
Nothing about it lived up to the raving reviews we received — not the food and certainly not the service.
The restaurant was packed. It’s the type of place that caters to all sorts of groups — families included. Music videos (Bollywood) are playing on television screens and are often a little bit ridiculous for a family-​friendly setting (try a nightclub scene with girls in bikinis dancing and people doing body shots off of eachother), but no one seems to mind much.
Let me start by saying, given how popular Raw Lasan (and the restaurants in its chain) is, it’s certainly understaffed. Upon being seated, our order for starters and drinks was promptly taken — I just wish it all arrived promptly. Starters arrived but drinks had not, and we had to wait and wait (and wait) before asking for them. They arrived and ate ate our starters in peace. Masala peanuts, fried popadam, beers /​cocktails, and vegetable drum balls. The food here is generally spicy, so if you’re expecting food to be medium or mild, be warned — it is not. We ate everything happily but our plates sat untouched for over an hour — our dinner order wasn’t taken either until over an hour had gone by and we had to ASK someone for our food order to be taken.
Every table within listening distance was furious. Their food hadn’t arrived, their orders weren’t taken, tables were not bussed and service was ridiculous. Our food finally arrived, two indo-​Chinese dishes with one portion of rice. The vegetables in ginger and garlic sauce looked so unappealing, we simply looked at eachother and both opted for vegetables with cashews and some sort of spicy red sauce.
Instead of using oriental or Chinese vegetables, Raw Lasan seems to toss a variety of vegetables in a wok that seem better fit for a jacket potato. What about water chestnuts? Bamboo shoots? Spring onions? Bok choy? I was disappointed that both dishes were exactly the same with different sauces — the waitress didn’t bother mentioning it either.
Dinner took forever to arrive and after eating, we were put off dessert which we found out by the waitress is purchased and not made in-​house. We headed home more than slightly annoyed.
Here’s a tip: hire more staff, train them better (it doesn’t take three members of staff to bus one table while several tables are waiting for service or food) and make desserts in-​house instead of serving things purchased in bulk.
I think this is a restaurant we’d have to visit again for curries. Next time we’ll stick with Indian food and give the indo-​Chinese dishes a pass!