PASHA
St John’s, Worcester
Tel: 01905 426327

OUR evening at Pasha, the Indian restaurant in St John’s, Worcester, was certainly memorable but not for the right reasons.

It was when the starters arrived that the problems really began.

A stir fry of lamb and peppers with sesame seeds (£4.95) sounded gorgeous on the menu but what appeared in front of me looked much like a kebab.

This might have been overlooked had it not been for the fact that my friend’s salmon (£3.95) was not exactly what it said on the menu. It was white and it tasted like cod.

We believed it to be an error and pointed it out to a waiter who, instead of being apologetic, at first appeared unconcerned and then a little angry that we should have had the audacity to point it out.

It took him 10 minutes to come back and eventually apologise for the mistake and only then was my friend offered another starter.

This, he would happily have accepted had it been offered at the time of our complaint but not after so long an elapse of time – during which the waiter had chatted with other customers, watched the television and wandered about the restaurant.

There followed an awkward 15 minutes during which the only thing keeping me going was a second glass of wine.

It was enjoyed accompanied by the sounds of Indian music intermingled with voices from TVs’ Top Gear – the programme the staff seemed intent on watching.

My main course of a chicken tango (£8.95), when it arrived, was underwhelming and my friend – who was not having the best of evenings – was disappointed with his dish of lamb and spinach (£8.95).

Our desserts both cost £3.50. My ice cream was fine but a capuccino ice cream had clearly been refrozen at some stage because it had that crunchy texture that most restaurants try to avoid. We mentioned this to the waiter and he just chuckled.

Thinking nothing more could go wrong with our evening we left – only to engage in a tug-of war over who kept the the bill – the waiter, or us. We won, and were pleased to see we were not charged for the salmon starter.

HOW IT RATED

Food: 2
Service: 1
Ambience: 1
Value for money: 1