Saffron: New Indian Restaurant on Railway Street, Balbriggan

aniascor

Coming home yesterday evening, my husband and I noticed that the new Indian restaurant on Railway Street has opened, so we decided to try it out.

We were quite impressed by it. It's more spacious than I expected, and I thought it was nicely decorated. The presentation of the food was excellent also.

I was a bit worried because we were the only people in there at the time - I was afraid the waitress would be over and back to the table all night (This has happened to us a lot in other restaurants if we are in there when it is quiet - every two minutes someone comes over to check on you - it really interrupts your meal, and it drives me crazy!) Anyway, that didn't happen here. The waitress was really lovely, and she paid us just the right amount of attention. As soon as the plates were ready to be cleared, she cleared them, and when our drinks needed top-ups, she came right over - but she didn't hover for the evening, so I thought the service was great.

We both ordered main course only - Butter Chicken for me, and Chili Masala Lamb for him. A few minutes later, the waitress appeared with a complementary starter for us - I think it was Chicken Pakora. Whatever it was, it was absolutely delicious!

Our main courses were also very good. Lots of flavour in both, and good sized portions for each.

We finished with tea and coffee, and the whole meal came to €40 or thereabouts. Well worth it, and we will definitely be back!

Fingleberries

Thanks for the write up. I noticed the restaurant for the first time this week as I was going to the station and was curious about it. Will definitely try it out now.

sirpsycho

someone needs to update www.menupages.ie and include the indians for balbriggan on it

blastman

Just noticed this place the other day, too. Sounds promising and thanks for the review.

The Hill Billy

Anyone have a phone number for the restaurant or know if they do take away?


First we had "Garam Masala", now "Saffron". What will the next Indian restaurant be called? "Asafoetida", "Fenugreek"?

suzieb

Got leaflet thru door earlier.
Looks like could be nice place.

The phone number is 01 6911400/01 6911247 and they do offer delivery service til 11.30 i think...

Gonna try take away tomorrow hopefully so will let you know.
suzie

kowloon

Tried it out tonight, nice place, good menu.
Thats 2 Indians in Balbriggan now, the other one, Garam Masala is in the new block near the Post Office and is also excellent.

When I was younger and living in Balbriggan there was the pop in and that was about it, now there is something like 3 chinese places, 2 Indians, 3 chippers, 2 Italians and an Apache Pizza

blastman

Plus Abrakebabra and Godfather's Pizza if you venture into the "suburbs"

kowloon

blastman wrote: »

Plus Abrakebabra and Godfather's Pizza if you venture into the "suburbs"

Damn, forgot about them, and I visit Abrakebabra almost as much as the Indian

The Hill Billy

suzieb wrote: »

Got leaflet thru door earlier.
Looks like could be nice place.

The phone number is 01 6911400/01 6911247 and they do offer delivery service til 11.30 i think...

Gonna try take away tomorrow hopefully so will let you know.
suzie

Thanks for the phone number suzie. How did the meal go?

BETTYCO

I haven't tried Saffron but tonight we had a takeaway from Garam Masala and I can truly say it was the worst Indian I have ever had. Chicken Tikka Masala was just Chicken in a cream which was coloured bright orange. Really disgusting. Will not go back there.

jgjojoc

:mad:Tried Saffron on friday night . Went down to order a take-away. Was waiting 45 min for my order in the restaurant. It wasnt that busy. Hopefully only teething problems. Food was ok:o

santry_goonshow

I just got back from there now. 3 of us arrived at 7 and we were served smartly, but as we went on through the courses (which all arrived promptly enough) we noticed the waiter took ages if you added on anything, an extra glass of beer 5 minutes, a coffee 10 minutes, and incredibly the bill 15 minutes.

The food was good but the service poor. Sorry guys, i love Indian restaurents, this one needs more professionalism in the table waiting.:(

kowloon

BETTYCO wrote: »

I haven't tried Saffron but tonight we had a takeaway from Garam Masala and I can truly say it was the worst Indian I have ever had. Chicken Tikka Masala was just Chicken in a cream which was coloured bright orange. Really disgusting. Will not go back there.

Tikka Masala is Indian for people who don't eat Indian

They're a mixed bunch, each has its own strengths, I plan to try everything in both. I wouldn't write off Garam masala yet, the competition might be good for both.

aniascor

We went back to Saffron this week, and the service was still good and the food still excellent.
santry_goonshow - Was it the girl who was serving?

I have a feeling they are actually being swamped with take-out orders. While we were there, the phone was hopping with orders, so maybe the delays people are finding now are teething problems, while they figure out how busy they are on certain nights and learn to staff appropriately.

As for Garam Masala, two years ago, I used to rave about it. Went there regularly and loved the food. Sometime in the past year, something happened - they must have either changed chef, or changed recipes. Maybe the quality of their ingredients was cut or something. But the food changed, and just before Christmas we actually gave up on going there altogether. Hopefully kowloon is right and the competition will be good for them.

dotts1977

got take away the second night they opened and it was lovely HOWEVER, last night I got a delivery and it took 1 hour 40 mins for it to arrive and then they had managed to forget some of the order and couldn't find the place...even though I told the girl on the phone 5 times how to spell the name of the area I live in. I'll be going down to collect the thing in future...food is still fab though! Much better than Garam Masala.:(

santry_goonshow

aniascor wrote: »

We went back to Saffron this week, and the service was still good and the food still excellent.
santry_goonshow - Was it the girl who was serving?

The girl took our order, it was a male waiter that then brought everything, the owner eventually apologising for his lack of English. I don't like delays, unnecessary delays should only happen once before the manager intervenes, and when he did he seemed to make it worse.

= Management problem, not seeing the inadequacy of the staff and not able to correct causes.

I'm not knocking the food.

aniascor

I agree - it definitely sounds like a management problem. Hopefully they will sort it out sooner rather than later, because it would be nice to have a good Indian restaurant to go to in the town.

Brian?

Went there myself on Friday night. Food was excellent, a cut above Garam Masala which is not bad.

I read some of the other reviews complaining about the service, but I found it very good. The staff were very friendly and efficent without being over friendly and interrupting your meal a lot which is a pet hate of mine.

Reasonable enough prices as well, especially when compared to the city centre.

kowloon

briankeating wrote: »

Reasonable enough prices as well, especially when compared to the city centre.

Both places are cheap enough, Garam slighty cheaper, by a few cents a dish, there nothing in it.

el_loco_blanco

Hey its good to see some nice restaurants in bb. Since I stopped getting the train I haven't been down railway street in months! I nearly always go to Garam Masala but recently I have had numerous problems there. One of the waiters always asks me for a job when I go in. He asked me one time what I work at and when I told him I was a manager in a company he proceeded to beg me for a job and has done so ever since! It is a bad sign when the staff are asking punters for jobs in the place where they work! The management must not treat them well. I like the Chinese restaurant up at Dunnes as well. I must try Saffron!

Moonbeam

I am not a fan of Garam Masala and used to go to Skerries for Indian but recently I have been unimpressed with the food there too.

We went to Saffron last night and I was impressed with the food,it was nice and not dripping with grease.
On the downside they are very very slow but they are also new and jsut getting on their feets so hopefully this may change.

What did annoy me was that they don't accept credit or laser cards and there were no visible signs to advise us of this before our meal.

I look forward to lots of nice new restaurant in Balbriggan:)