The Jharna

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#150 of 962 Restaurants in BelfastIndian, Asian, ££ - £££

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The Jharna

Review

At a glance

Closed now

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Website

+44 28 9038 1299Improve this listing

About

Features

CUISINES

Indian, Asian, Balti

Meal types

Lunch, Dinner, After-hours

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options, Gluten free options

FEATURES

Delivery

Full Bar

Highchairs Available

Reservations

Seating

Serves Alcohol

Table Service

Takeout

Location

133 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7AG Northern Ireland

Lisburn Road

Does this restaurant specialise in Halal food?

Yes

Unsure

Order delivery

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Hours

Suggest an edit

Closed now

• Opens at 12:00 PM

Sunday

13:00 - 22:00

Monday

12:00 - 14:3017:00 - 23:00

Tuesday

12:00 - 14:3017:00 - 23:00

Wednesday

12:00 - 14:3017:00 - 23:00

Thursday

12:00 - 14:3017:00 - 23:00

Friday

12:00 - 14:3017:00 - 23:00

Saturday

12:00 - 14:3017:00 - 23:00

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4.2

(328)

Excellent

199

Good

Average

Poor

Terrible

23NM

United Kingdom25 contributions

Food was good if a little expensive

May 2022 • none

Ordered the mixed starter and felt a little short changed. Having eaten curries in Yorkshire and Manchester, I was expecting a sizzling dish with the starter on a bed of fried onions. What I got was a fancy plate with a chicken leg, prawn (which isn't normally served as part of a mixed starter so extra points for that), sheekh kebab (texture tasted like it was a frozen product rather than freshly prepared) and a chicken tikka piece. I felt for almost £10 I should have got more food. Chicken chettinad for main. Waiter warned me it was hot and he wasn't lying. Really enjoyed this as it had a kick to it. Ordered an extra naan and it was served swiftly. Seemed pricey, but worth a treat.

Written 31 May 2022

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

sandieTS

Easingwold129 contributions

Excellent if expensive, food, strange choice of music.

Aug 2020 • none

Excellent food, we had seafood options and they were all delicious and we will definitely return. Lovely, busy atmosphere and very comfortable but found the 90’s dance music slightly grating. Expensive but great quality food, however if I’m buying a speciality gin and tonic for £8.00 I’d like the Gin served separate to the tonic - I couldn’t taste the gin as there was so much tonic in.

Written 19 August 2020

sparky-parrot

Newry249 contributions

Enjoyed It

Oct 2021 • couples

I always get a good meal here. It has become a bit more expensive in last 18 months but food is still good. Sauces excellent and traditionally made. Staff are knowledgeable and prepared to cook dishes to your pallet. Not every place would do that for you. Although the Nan bread is good I really like the rice here. The mark of a quality Indian restaurant is the quality of the rice they serve and here it is 100% reliable spot on excellent. If they buy their rice well then rest assured other ingredients are proper stuff. Not sure who cooks there these days but the food quality has remained consistently good over last 2 years. Recommended

Written 6 November 2021

David R

Madrid14 contributions

Good food, but WATCH your BILL

Jul 2024 • friends

I love Jharna food. I hadn't been there in a while, but our friends are very frequent diners there. I can appreciate the need to run a simpler menu and up prices, which now makes it a slightly pricier night out. What irked me was the fact they they handed me the bill for payment, never said they automatically applied £30 service charge, and said nothing when I upped the bill by another £37 to a total of £360 for the eight of us (BTW main courses only...two bottles wine and a few Cobras). I fully accept that, despite having my correct glasses and being a bit old fashioned in generally simply adding 10% for the staff, that that is my fault. But respect is a two way thing, and I felt quite aggrieved and annoyed that it was not pointed out to me that service had already added within the bill when I added more. For me, that is bad practice and a black marker against my once favourite Indian restaurant.

Written 28 July 2024

Cruiser62823

2 contributions

Hot , hot, hot

Oct 2024 • solo

Takeaway meal, patia chicken, so hot/spicy we could not taste the chicken. Numb lips and tongue were not what we were expecting. Had we been told beforehand we would have chosen differently. Perhaps a little yoghurt would have been a good accompaniment . The restaurant was very well presented, staff smartly dressed and attentive, would i try again? Probably, but I would check the hot/spice rating first.

Written 18 October 2024

KieranBelfast

Belfast26 contributions

We dined here in the evening

Jul 2020 • none

We dined here in the evening of 23/07/20. This was the first outing since lockdown . I can’t tell you how disappointing and expensive it was . Despite the Vat rate being reduced they have in fact made it more expensive and put their prices up . What was most disappointing was the service . The waiter who greeted us and showed us to our table was rude and unfriendly. He seated us at the worst table he could find when there was so many vacant tables in the restaurant . 3 other tables were taken out of about 15 available . We were squeezed beside a wall and under the air conditioning which in these times of covid was on full blast. When I suggested we move he said he would turn off the air conditioning , but made no offer to move us . He continued to be gruff and unpleasant and perfunctorily took our order . A different waiter then served our food he was polite and pleasant but unfortunately had very poor personal hygiene, which was not pleasant when he reached over me a few times . No excuse for that in this day and age . The meal 2 mains and 2 beers was satisfactory and nothing exceptional. The main waiter return to the table when it was time to pay the bill . The bill was £58 for 2 main meals and 2 beers . He neither asked how was your meal said thank you or have a good evening - he tore the receipt of the card machine and put it on the table and left . During the meal he never asked was everything ok not asked did we need water etc - he simply ignored us . I know everyone is going through a difficult time at present but this does not give any establishment the licence to be surly complacent and disinterested in their customers , or indeed to put their prices up despite the Vat reduction . In fact the opposite is true they should redouble their efforts. Perhaps after such a long time off there is a training need , and then again if this attitude prevails there will be more spare time for all the staff to retrain on the basic tenets of hospitality.

Written 25 July 2020

simon rea

Lisburn1 contribution

Horrible service following a complaint

Feb 2021 • none

Myself and my family have been regular customers of Jharna for easily 10+ years and would be very regular customers. We worked it out recently and we have spent hundreds in the past 3 months alone. My partner and I had got a Jalfrezi (Hot), pilau rice and garlic naan last week and I bit into a piece of foreign object. I literally thought I had broke my teeth and did manage to chip one of my back teeth. the object was like a small stone but on closer inspection appeared to be glass that had a purple tinge to it. I emailed the Jharna regarding this and they decided to ignore it. My partner then phoned them and it was implying that we are lying as they do not keep glass in their kitchen. They reluctantly agreed to give us a free meal but were still adamant that a foreign object in the work was not possible. Being a loyal customer for years and having never complained before, I was expecting a sincere apology and a meal and that would have it. We requested Shanti to ring us back so we could talk to him but he didn't even have the courtesy to do so. These things happen but it was how they dealt with it and also how they made us feel for even complaining like we were liars so we will not be back and will find another Indian restaurant that is convenient for us as we would eat Indian food very frequently.

Written 25 February 2021

Beckinhill

Nutts Corner502 contributions

Poor food at a scandalous price..

Feb 2020 • couples

We were passing through the city and decided to grab a takeaway from one of our old favourites. We couldn’t find a menu online but knew that they would have a firm staples, chic tikka masala and a chic madras.. ordered over the phone and called to collect.. that will be £29.80… I nearly had heart failure. I might add that this did include a nan bread as well. Ah well, crazy expensive for a mucky curry, but at least it will be great food.. it wasn’t.. the chicken was stringy. The CTM tasted nothing like it should have, indeed it was so bad we think we might have been given the wrong dish. My madras was bland. Had we not been 25 miles away when we dined I would have taken it back.. Scandalous price for crap food and crap portion.

Written 29 February 2020

Sweet Chocolate

Belfast4 contributions

Good food, service is ok

Jul 2021 • friends

Dinner here tonight and I am sorry to say that I have never had such a terrible service before. Staff seemed stressed and not overly friendly. Food was average the tiger prawns was too over done and rice was dry and hard. Sorely disappointed

Written 27 July 2021

Jennifer28775

Belfast22 contributions

Birthday lunch that didn't pack the punches

Jul 2021 • family

I choose to go for my birthday lunch on Wednesday. The service was great and the staff were lovely. I was disappointed with my old favourites, possibly a change of chef, I ordered the vegetable pakora which was two massive balls of vegetables, the original pakora used to be small finely chopped vegetables in a lovely batter, served with salad, lemon and dips. The original dips have also changed, why change something that has worked for years? Please bring back the original pakora and dips. The main meals were very nice.

Written 29 July 2021

NItraveller1973

Banbridge62 contributions

Take away for two was excellent.

Jun 2020 • none

Take away for two was excellent. Yes slightly more expensive than normal take away but given the quality of the food and portion size it was good value for money. Take away is menu is clear about which dishes inc a side - as another review was negative about this ! Excellent will return for take away treat

Written 26 June 2020

jimbtho

Belfast268 contributions

Proper jalfrezi!

Jul 2020 • none

Came here with my wife for our first dinner out in Belfast since the end of lockdown. For starters we had mixed tandoori (a bit small for the price) and onion bhajis (excellent). For mains my wife had lamb rogan josh which she said was a bit mild but very nice, and I had ‘traditional jalfrezi’ which was just the right side of too hot. The lamb was tender and the sauce was thick and delicious. We also had pilau rice (bit disappointing - had food colouring and we have made better at home) and peshwari naan (great naan and the sweetness actually went well with the curry), and I got a portion of raita yoghurt (which helped to take down the jalfrezi burn). Bill for all that, plus three big Cobras and a Coke, was £73 something, which isn’t that cheap, but it was very nice food.

Written 26 July 2020

Donna M

53 contributions

Lovely restaurant with friendly staff

Dec 2022 • friends

The restaurant is located up a short set of stairs. The restaurant was very well laid out and had lovely decor. We were greeted by a lot of friendly waiting staff. There was a lovely roaring fire on when we arrived which made it really cosy. We had a mixed starter and 2 main meals as well as 2 nan breads. The food was delicious. The rice and nan are separate unfortunately so that added to the cost. We all enjoyed our food and to round off the evening, we had an Irish whiskey which was very nice indeed 😀

Written 4 December 2022

Sprocket1066

98 contributions

Back to standard

Jan 2020 • none

Unfortunately the food quality did drop for quiet a while and after a while not going we found on a recent visit that the quality is back to the standard we expect. I really hope it stays this way. There are not many local Indian resturants that offer tastey Indian food like this. Most locals here believe that Indian food should either glow red or taste like its from a jar. Luckily Jharna knows how to serve tasty dishes that arent filled full of red food colouring.

Written 28 January 2020

Snapper96

Edinburgh8 contributions

Never Disappoints

Jan 2020 • family

Have been coming to the Jharna for well over 15 years! Have seen it change quite a lot but the one thing that never changes is the quality of the food. Prices have increased over the last couple of months which I don’t think has made it any less worth it. The chicken chilli masala is exceptionally good. Nice and hot!

Written 9 January 2020