Was really looking forward to this dinner. Ordered the chicken starter, which is ground chicken in balls. Bit into something very hard. The waiter came over and saw me looking at it. He brought it to the chef. The chef said it was cartilage that shouldn't have been in the dish. Disgusting! BTW, I was still charged for the dish even though their chef admitted it was a mistake. Shocked. I won't be back despite enjoying a few of the other dishes. Just felt wrong and gross.
Prashant Gandhi
One of the best Indian restaurants in a city full of Indian restaurants. And even the Michelin guide agrees with that. The food is done simply but with flair. The focus seems to be on letting the ingredients shine rather than on innovation and that is fine by me. The place gets very busy so reservations are a must. Even then we had to wait for about 20 minutes at the bar for our table to become available. Overall a good experienceDietary restrictions: Yes, they can manageKid-friendliness: Sure, if they love Indian foodWheelchair accessibility: Not sure
Jay Ju
Outstanding and all the other superlatives.
A
Very good indian food, lamb and seafood were delicious although dal makhani was quite average, rest of the food was excellent.
A I
Lovely place and really nice food. I'd recommend.
Arini BHP
Visited here for dinner, here is my honest review.Walked in and was greeted by a miserable woman at the front who took the jackets, not a good start.Restaurant was a very old style decor and looked quite tired. You can tell the place has not been updated before, floors, walls, chairs were very tired and old. I did not get the feeling that I was in a high end restaurant in Mayfair.Booked through open table and they promoted the dinner set menu so thought why not try that out. Menu on the paper looked diverse but when the food came out it was extremely small and limited in content. The starters and mains were exceptionally small and lacked any form of flavour too. We were very disappointed and felt ripped off. We ordered mocktails and the glasses were so small as if it was a child.Service was okay, but the staff was limited. The staff were trying to rush around to accommodate multiple tables but a lot of waiting was required.Finished up and walked out feeling ripped off, hungry and with a bland taste in the throat.I genuinely don’t know how they claim to have a Michelin star. In my opinion, it seems like this is a struggling business who are making ends meet by overcharging, understaffing and providing and insufficient portion sizes or quality in the meal.Safe to say I won’t be visiting again nor recommending this place after my sad experience.Thanks
Lovjit Thukral
Wonderful meal at Benares! Loved all 3 courses, with the starters in particular being stand out. Finally, the sweetheart special cocktail is likely one of the most unique and delicious cocktails I have ever tried! Highly recommend.
Jason Chuei
Elegant award-winning Indian fine dining restaurant, located in Mayfair. Dark and atmospheric interior. Starting with a short climb up the entry stairs, meeting a floating water feature, and onto the casual bar and lounge area, before entering the large majestic dining area. The food was well curated and created. Service from Prabhat was excellent, being warm and welcoming.
Elizabeth Lana
Food was average, overall very spicy with no real flavour, on top of this, we found a lot of the members of staff very rude and arrogant.Would not return.
scott musson
Tasting menu with wine pairing. For a 1-star restaurant and 600$, I expect a lot more.We were rushed through the first half and then slowed to a normal pace. Waited 15 minutes for the check, after asking 3 times.Definitely not worthy of a Michelin star. Good (not great) food, good (not great) wine.Service?
Good service and ambience. Food was quite average for a Michelin star restaurant. My opinion is that there was no ‘X factor’ - felt a bit bland. Paid £370+ for two people (tasting menu + 2 drinks each)
Nupur Dutta
Great Service and Food. Jensen was amazing!
Hosam Abdallah
The restaurant is very luxurious, their prices are expensive, but it is delicious, and the atmosphere is a little
Phil Gough
Hmmm .. I enjoyed, but a little confused as to how/why it has a Michelin star.We had the (expensive) eight course taster menu. There were some really tasty dishes, but the petit fours were abysmal. The so called “big” scallop dish (yes, just one) was one of the smallest scallops I’ve ever seen.I did thoroughly enjoy some of the dishes - rhe chicken mono definitely deserves a mention, but I’ve never had a signature 8 course taster meal and be finished in an hour and a half.Also, my friend is celiac, so must have gluten free, which they knew in advance. Their way of dealing with this seemed to be just to leave any gluten element off and not replace, so it felt like he had incomplete dishes. This is beyond lazy for a kitchen of this supposed calibre.I still enjoyed what we had, but it felt like just a good quality Indian restaurant and not and the high end, Michelin stared, fine dining experience I had hoped for.The cost for two was nearly two hundred pounds a head, and it simply wasn’t worth that.Sorry, I really wanted to love, and I did enjoy, but wasn’t blown away,
albert abela
Slooooow service but friendly , fairly bland food but well prepared , nice
Was really looking forward to this dinner. Ordered the chicken starter, which is ground chicken in balls. Bit into something very hard. The waiter came over and saw me looking at it. He brought it to the chef. The chef said it was cartilage that shouldn't have been in the dish. Disgusting! BTW, I was still charged for the dish even though their chef admitted it was a mistake. Shocked. I won't be back despite enjoying a few of the other dishes. Just felt wrong and gross.
One of the best Indian restaurants in a city full of Indian restaurants. And even the Michelin guide agrees with that. The food is done simply but with flair. The focus seems to be on letting the ingredients shine rather than on innovation and that is fine by me. The place gets very busy so reservations are a must. Even then we had to wait for about 20 minutes at the bar for our table to become available. Overall a good experienceDietary restrictions: Yes, they can manageKid-friendliness: Sure, if they love Indian foodWheelchair accessibility: Not sure
Outstanding and all the other superlatives.
Very good indian food, lamb and seafood were delicious although dal makhani was quite average, rest of the food was excellent.
Lovely place and really nice food. I'd recommend.
Visited here for dinner, here is my honest review.Walked in and was greeted by a miserable woman at the front who took the jackets, not a good start.Restaurant was a very old style decor and looked quite tired. You can tell the place has not been updated before, floors, walls, chairs were very tired and old. I did not get the feeling that I was in a high end restaurant in Mayfair.Booked through open table and they promoted the dinner set menu so thought why not try that out. Menu on the paper looked diverse but when the food came out it was extremely small and limited in content. The starters and mains were exceptionally small and lacked any form of flavour too. We were very disappointed and felt ripped off. We ordered mocktails and the glasses were so small as if it was a child.Service was okay, but the staff was limited. The staff were trying to rush around to accommodate multiple tables but a lot of waiting was required.Finished up and walked out feeling ripped off, hungry and with a bland taste in the throat.I genuinely don’t know how they claim to have a Michelin star. In my opinion, it seems like this is a struggling business who are making ends meet by overcharging, understaffing and providing and insufficient portion sizes or quality in the meal.Safe to say I won’t be visiting again nor recommending this place after my sad experience.Thanks
Wonderful meal at Benares! Loved all 3 courses, with the starters in particular being stand out. Finally, the sweetheart special cocktail is likely one of the most unique and delicious cocktails I have ever tried! Highly recommend.
Elegant award-winning Indian fine dining restaurant, located in Mayfair. Dark and atmospheric interior. Starting with a short climb up the entry stairs, meeting a floating water feature, and onto the casual bar and lounge area, before entering the large majestic dining area. The food was well curated and created. Service from Prabhat was excellent, being warm and welcoming.
Food was average, overall very spicy with no real flavour, on top of this, we found a lot of the members of staff very rude and arrogant.Would not return.
Tasting menu with wine pairing. For a 1-star restaurant and 600$, I expect a lot more.We were rushed through the first half and then slowed to a normal pace. Waited 15 minutes for the check, after asking 3 times.Definitely not worthy of a Michelin star. Good (not great) food, good (not great) wine.Service?
Restaurantji Recommends
Good service and ambience. Food was quite average for a Michelin star restaurant. My opinion is that there was no ‘X factor’ - felt a bit bland. Paid £370+ for two people (tasting menu + 2 drinks each)
Great Service and Food. Jensen was amazing!
The restaurant is very luxurious, their prices are expensive, but it is delicious, and the atmosphere is a little
Hmmm .. I enjoyed, but a little confused as to how/why it has a Michelin star.We had the (expensive) eight course taster menu. There were some really tasty dishes, but the petit fours were abysmal. The so called “big” scallop dish (yes, just one) was one of the smallest scallops I’ve ever seen.I did thoroughly enjoy some of the dishes - rhe chicken mono definitely deserves a mention, but I’ve never had a signature 8 course taster meal and be finished in an hour and a half.Also, my friend is celiac, so must have gluten free, which they knew in advance. Their way of dealing with this seemed to be just to leave any gluten element off and not replace, so it felt like he had incomplete dishes. This is beyond lazy for a kitchen of this supposed calibre.I still enjoyed what we had, but it felt like just a good quality Indian restaurant and not and the high end, Michelin stared, fine dining experience I had hoped for.The cost for two was nearly two hundred pounds a head, and it simply wasn’t worth that.Sorry, I really wanted to love, and I did enjoy, but wasn’t blown away,
Slooooow service but friendly , fairly bland food but well prepared , nice