Could Aladin work its magic?

Aladin opened in 1979 and serves curry in the heart of London on the busy street of Brick Lane. It has had many awards and has been described by many as ‘one of the best establishments in the east end of London’. An establishment it certainly is, but could it excel in the curry world and end the OCC search for the worlds best curry? Sadly for the OCC the quest continues.

With an overall score of 6.5 it was seen as a good place to dine should you be hungry and feel the need to fill a hole whilst out and about in the heart of London. But unfortunately like the remake of Aladdin with Will Smith, it disappointed and fell short of an overall score of 7/10.

We felt it lacked quality in a few areas which we will breakdown in the individual scores listed below and sadly we can not give this restaurant a OCC sticker of approval.

Overall score = 6.5

The score is marked in 5 areas and then averaged to determine the overall score.

Quality = 6.33

Many OCC members went for the mixed platter. Sadly this did disappoint many as it was felt that the meat seemed very cold like Jafar and a bit underwhelming like Argo’s soggy crackers and lacked flavour like it had been sitting there for a bit of time.

On to the mains. A highlight for a few was the Chicken uri besi gata which was described as ‘ a right touch’. Another dish which stood out was the chicken rezalla which came out tender, with spicy sauce and the Lamb Achari which was juicy with a nice kick to it.

The Chicken rogan josh seemed to be very sweet, and the chicken tikka bhujon lacked any spice for anyone who would want a nice kick to their dish and the special naan seemed to disappoint most.

Customer care = 6.33

Firstly, a special mention must be made to the place about customer care for one OCC member who had an operation and needed assistance throughout the meet.

The staff did however seem very rushed when it came to customer care. They suggested dishes - which is normally seen as a good thing, but it was generally felt that they maybe suggested dishes not to cater to the customers needs but to push other dishes (which tended to be more expensive).

Service = 7

Just like Prince Ali of Ababwar would have expected, the waiters were seen to be very attentive and delivered the dishes in a respectable and efficient time allowing for enough time between starters and mains. Drinks were previously already bought, as it was BYOB, but the staff made sure that all dishes were brought out and that they were correct. Only a few mistakes were made, but were corrected within a good time.

Value = 5.5

£40 per person doesn’t seem too bad in the heart of London but when considering the establishment as a whole it was deemed quite pricey considering it was BYOB.

Atmosphere = 7.31

It was great to dine in such a lively atmosphere. This was truly a plus for the venue, like the director getting Robin Williams to play the genie. Although it was busy, you still felt like it was at a volume where conversations could still take place easily around the table.