Babar Elephant in Wigan

Disappointing of lateUsually our go to place for quality Indian food and service.Unfortunately the last few visits haven't quite lived up to our expectations.1. Food quality - Usually great, but last night, my Vindaloo was not up to standard. I asked for it extra hot, and usually it's fine, but this time, the sauce was too rich, very dry as if they had just added a lot of chilli powder to make the dish hot. Not great and with King Prawns at nearly £15 plus rice etc is not exactly cheap.2. Service - Service is generally good but, pretty much the last few times we've been here, we've barely been sat down for 1/2 hr and the manager has asked us to move tables so they can use the table for other guests. This is really poor, once is acceptable but literally 3 times on the run is not. There is an online booking system which seems to always accept a booking and when you arrive, they never ask you your name, so I'm guessing that it's just a free for all and they deal with parties as they arrive. Not a great customer experience.3. Price - By the time you add rice and naan, it's a pretty expensive deal. Not bothered us too much before as the quality made up for it, but the recent experiences has lead us to question why are we paying for this. We had poppadoms to start, 2 main courses, 1 naan and 1 rice, and about 4 drinks each. £91. Not the best value.4. Drinks - Margarita - BEWARE - Wrongly advertised spirit.My wife ordered a Margarita. It tasted weak and not as expected. The drink is advertised to be using a premium tequila (Patron Silver). We noticed that we could not see any Patron bottles at the bar. My wife asked them and they didn't even seem to know what Patron was. She asked to see what they used and the pulled out a cheap tequila. This is very very poor. The manager seemed to not take this seriously and offered me the number for advertising standards, maybe as a joke, but to be fair misleading customers in this way is again not a great customer experience.I'd be interested to hear what the establishment has to say about this and how things can be improved.This is generally a good place to eat and drink and is rightly busy and popular, but continuing to treat customers in this way will not bode well going forward.

Pro’s - really nice premises, lovely beer garden and great staff. Posh decor, everything well presented with nice little touches. Big portions.Con’s - expensive! The obligatory popadom and dips at the start was charged on the bill. Not something we asked for, it was just placed on the table as if it was complimentary, ended up costing £5. Quality of the food is average, tasty, but Indian food is tasty, wasn’t anything special for the price. I got a paneer masala with veg and there was only 4 cubes of paneer, a few potatoes and peas. My partners chicken was dry.For 2 people, no starter, 2 mains and 2 pints it cost £50.40, for an average curry that’s pretty expensive.There’s likely better Indians in Wigan!

Fantastic. Excellent food, incredibly friendly staff; the perfect recipe for a delicious meal.We booked in at an off peak time - Tuesday, 9pm. Only a few customers were in, but the staff made us feel very welcome. We were checked on on multiple occasions. Servers offered really insightful help with menu choices.The poor lad next to us ordered a dish to hot to handle and they offered him milk, a change of dish and much sympathy and condolences.Very polite, attentive and caring. Babar for now, see you very soon.

Been here many many times, usually turn up without booking often after a long walk in the fields but they never seem to mind. The staff are always very friendly and welcoming, one of them recommended 3 dishes to us which went so well together we returned again for a repeat eat! (Bombay biryani, speciality black house dahl + Saag in white wine and cream.) The Himalayan Ghost is also beautiful. Great food. Lively atmosphere of a weekend, quieter rooms at the side and an outdoor area. Lucky to have this place. Thank you!

Arrived at the restaurant just after 5pm, as the very first people there and we were really looking forward to the meal with having been before and finding it excellent. Service was prompt and we managed to order within 10 minutes. However, that was the last time the service was acceptable. The starter arrived some 40 minutes later at 6.10pm, after the table next to us got theirs even though they had only arrived 10 minutes earlier.As with our previous visit, the food was excellent and we promptly finished our starters and once again where presented with an extraordinary long and frustrating wait. A table of approximately 10 people arrived on the other side of us and within 3 minutes of sitting down all of their food was served?? I could only imagine that they must have pre ordered and that they must have been regulars, however we were still sat waiting after what was now more than an hour after ordering.I decided to ask a waiter where our food was and he shot off to check. Some 10 minutes later, he finally reappeared from the kitchen but failed to come over to inform us of when we could expect our food and instead just leisurely strolled around the restaurant!I did manage to secure his attention again and asked politely, did you manage to check on the food? He once again went away into the kitchens whilst we continued to watch people coming in and collecting bags full of takeaways and other tables that had arrived some 30 - 40 minutes after us getting their food.Finally some 10 minutes later and at 6.50pm, the main meal arrived! Again, the food was fantastic, but we were all somewhat disappointed at the lack of service. I believe that many of the other tables were regulars due to how the staff interacted with them and therefore, and wrongly, were prioritised over our meals!This was a celebration of my mothers 74th birthday who had requested to go here as she enjoyed it so much the last time. Unfortunately, part of her meal was missing and it was too late to resolve it once we had noticed as we had all but finished. Annoyingly, we were then charged for the missing item on the bill, plus they overcharged for the drinks as well, adding several on that we simply hadnt had.Whilst paying, I was asked if everything was ok and I responded by complimenting them on the quality of the food but felt that I had to mention the lack of service / exceptionally long wait. His response was that they were busy as it was a bank holiday, which I could have accepted, but we were the very first people in the restaurant and the first to order! Secondly, with it being a bank holiday, wouldnt you prepare for that by having a sufficient uplift in the number of staff for the evening?Overall I was disappointed and surprised, not only at the lack of service, but the incorrect charging and the poor excuses offered as a defense, rather than an apology.I think they need to review how they prioritise the orders that they receive and how they are processed as something obviously went drastically wrong with ours. We eventually left the restaurant at 7.15pm. Over 2 hours for a 2 course meal for 4 people. Not good at all!P.S. The opening times on the website and Facebook are wrong. Got told they are in the process of trying to update it.......that's funny.......looking at other negative reviews it seems they have been saying that for 3 years??

Called without booking tonight.. It wasn't a problem... Not seen Aftab for over 10 years he still runs a Cracking restaurant....Great food staff and atmosphere... cheers Lee ... see ya soon hopefully before 10 years has past 😉

So we went yesterday for the first time and wish we found it sooner the food is by far the best Indian food I've ever had we went with my 2 children 1 of them being 4 years old and the staff there was so good with him even if he did just eat a plate of chocolate flakes the still did there best to keep them happy very friendly people and we will definitely be going back 10/10

Fabulous place. Staff excellent, friendly and customer service second to none. Food fresh, hot, tasty and served on great dishes, all helps to add to a fantastic experience.

First time here and impressed. Late Tuesday and the only people in the restaurant so no atmosphere but the food and the service were great. Staff were very friendly and helpful. Will defo come here again but will obviously try for a Friday or Saturday evening.

Gorgeous food, friendly staff and great service 👌