Babul's in Darlington

We were given a warm and welcoming reception as soon as we arrived and shown to our table. Time was taken to explain the ordering process via a tablet n how it worked. Despite this tech, the staff were very attentive and remained so throughout the evening. A good explanation of the menu was given and our food was served promptly. Our choice of food was amazing, it was presented well, tasted wonderful and was so filling, we had no room for a sweet! Babul's Darlington is highly recommended for a visit and we would definitely return.

Unbelievable food it's always consistent, it's a very clean place too and the service is excellent 👌

Beautiful inside, good service, clean and great food

Went here on Saturday lunchtime with girlfriends for Bottomless Brunch. The service was excellent, food was delicious and the cocktails were wonderful. The atmosphere is friendly and welcoming. Will definitely be returning.

Good place for Indian dishes. High quality cooking and serving.

Really cool bar and restaurant right in the heart of Darlington. Drinks selection was great and staff were helpful and attentive. Loved the decor too!

Great ambience . Good food and great service. Will come back again .

Wow. The flavors were on point. Everything about this meal was perfection. The food, people, cocktail.

Really disappointed at a lack of empathy. Had made a large booking which I cancelled 11h instead of 12h before booking (only due to a death in the family). I phoned 3 times to explain the situation and asked if the money could be transferred for use another time. The answer was no, and they charged me £150. I understand policy, but occasionally some empathy is warranted.

Initial service was good but brought my food out the portions where tiny not worth the money at all tired to talk to my waiter to ask about it I got laughed at and he walked away

Last minute decision to try Babul’s last night and we were not disappointed. Fantastic service from everyone we spoke to and the food was delicious. Love the use of the iPad for drinks etc - can really see the benefit and not gimmicky. All in all a fantastic experience - can’t wait to return !

I've been a few times recently and love their food! I took my mother today and the manger came over and gave her a big hug 🫂. This is the kind of place Babuls is - positive, kind, welcoming, and fun! The food is excellent and the prices are very reasonable for the quality. They have made a regular in me because of this.

10 10 always. food is made fresh so it does come out separately and different times but no longer then 5 minutes so it’s no issue :) the staff here go above and beyond and deserve huge recognition. an amazing twist on Indian and street food, everything is priced very well and there’s a huge variety of choice - the quality of the food and drinks are brilliant, with a choice of soft drinks, cocktails and mocktails, as well as deserts. amazing !!

In our opinion, we thought the drinks prices were rather high, especially red wine. However, cocktails were rather good for the price. Disappointed the restaurant does not serve chicken tikka sizzler as that’s our favourite. Have to admit the service was impeccable. Very friendly staff and so helpful On a whole the food was very average in comparison with good Indian restaurants in town. I suppose everyone is entitled to have their favourite unfortunately this restaurant is not for us.

This was our second visit and again it did not disappoint. It has a great atmosphere and the food is delicious. Our favourite dish is the Keema Pau. We often travel to visit Dishoom restaurants and Babuls has the same kind of atmosphere and quality food and is local so we are over the moon! Can’t wait for our next visit.

Every time we eat there it is perfect

Amazing place, gorgeous food and cocktails. Definitely recommend getting the small plates and trying a bit of everything. Best gulab jamuns I've ever tasted.

Honestly the best cocktails and curry I've ever had! Super fresh ingredients, the prawns in the curry were massive. Service was great. Will definitely be going back.

Absolutely faultless experience… service is great, food is delicious. The venue is beautifully designed and decorated.

Fantastic food the best Indian I have eaten, we ordered all from the small plate part of the menu, so got to try it like a tapas or street food. We went for my husbands birthday amazing service thank You

Visited Barney,food good but trying to get VAT number with receipt was like secret service,still can’t acquire it,emailed ,not good

Khloe looked after us very well during bottomless brunch! Amazing customer service and incredible food

I went for bottomless cocktails for my hen party. The service was many amazing considering there was 11 of us. The food was absolutely fantastic. This was my 1st visit it definitely won't be my last. Thank you ❤️

Modern Indian restaurant. Wide variety of dishes to choose from. Thoroughly enjoyed lamb curry and butterfly king prawns. Aloo gobi. Would highly recommended a visit.

Enjoyed this modern Indian cuisine. As a dietitian I really like some vegetables with grilled chicken thighs. Usually there are no vegetables, but it’s here. Staff was nice and welcoming. Drinks are ordered through the tablet on the table which is convenient, but waited a bit longer than usual (10 min for tap water). Closer to the evening music was getting party like, which a bit frustrating, but overall not too loud. Would recommend coming here 👍🏽 thanks for something different among Indian restaurants

We used babuls a few mouths ago and it was good so we tried it again and it was amazing the food is the best Indian food in the northeast 100%

Bottomless brunch amazing as ever! Food amazing service amazing Tegan looked after us and she was fantastic a credit to the Babuls team!

The food and service is absolutely sensational. We were out looking for brunch/lunch options and decided to take a punt. The food was absolutely beautiful and the service was exceptional. Safe to say this will be our new go to brunch/lunch stop, reasonably priced and a really efficient ordering system. Thanks

Was made very uncomfortable by certain staff, food wasn't that great , won't be returning , the rules there are ridiculous, trying say they predict the future, making us feel small, wrong attitude. I've left this feedback quite reasonable to be fair, as I could of wrote alot more,

I've had cocktails here but never eaten here until yesterday. Lunch was fantastic, the best Biryiani I can recall. The lamb was meltingly tender and the sauce so punched with flavour. Amazing. I will certainly be back to try more dishes. Special mention to Sid who looked after me so well.

Been meaning to go here for a while. Great service, great atmosphere and most of all great food. Will definitely return. Thanks for a lovely night Babul's........ 😘

Went for dinner there tonight x food was beautifully cooked x staff were amazing x lovely surroundings x best authentic food with a twist I have ever tasted x will be going back for definite x

Great service and food, have been numerous times now and food quality and service is always 5*

Very tasty - minor issue with a food item but was resolved very professionally by the team there. I think they forgot to put lemons in the homemade lemonade as it tasted mostly like soda water, but overall 5/5

Excellent from start to finish and great cocktails apparently!

Fabulous brunch - as always Team Babul!! The puri starter is the best ever. We'll be back soon

A nicely laid out restaurant, relaxing atmosphere. All staff happy and welcoming. Quick and easy to order drinks on iPad, food is high quality and tasty as. Even gave my husband a surprise piece of birthday cake with a song a very nice touch that I never ordered but stated on my booking as I expressed my appreciation for squeezing us in for his birthday. Would highly recommend.

They were able to sit two even on a busy Friday night. My mom’s been to India and said it was all very authentic. Only issue is that they played very loud music, but that’s par for the course these days, so all together 9.5/10

A great evening the staff are amazing and the food is delicious I would highly recommend.

Babul’s Darlington is an outstanding Indian restaurant with a modern vibe. The food is consistently delicious, and the cocktails and mock-tails are exceptional. Zak and his team provide friendly, professional service, making every visit enjoyable and relaxed. Highly recommended!

First time at babuls restaurant 😋 ooohhh wow what a fantastic place to eat. First class staff. First class service. First class food. We will most definitely be going back

Food was mostly great, particularly the Paneer Saag, but the service was very mixed. Ordering drinks on the tablet is great and they arrived quickly. We tried to order poppadoms/pickles while we looked over the menu but were told all food must be ordered at the same time. Not ideal, but it is what it is. But then upon ordering, the server asked if we wanted things as starters/mains or altogether, and we were clear we wanted it all separate (it was a bit of a joke having already tried to order poppadoms earlier)… you can guess what happened, with the curry’s arriving when we were barely halfway through the starters. Apparently this is “just policy”/“how we do it”, and if that’s the case fine, but I won’t be back. Which is a shame as the food is great but I don’t appreciate being rushed through in barely an hour on a quiet Tuesday.

Very good. We had a good evening. I like the use of technology for us to order drinks and seek service. Very welcoming lovely people. We will deffo be back v soon. Thank you

Great 1st time experience at Babuls. First clas food staff and Vibe.

Really good food and great service.

Food, wine, cocktails, service, atmosphere, and music were excellent. Highly recommend. Thank you, Babul's :)

Food was very good but not as good as aruvi in Spennymoor, service was prompt staff polite, we went at 4.30 so atmosphere wasn't the best but still enjoyed the food ,would I go again yes probably bit I prefer aruvi, just my personal preference

A superb restaurant the food is fantastic,the staff couldn't be more friendly and the atmosphere was really good. You can also just go in for a drink and you will get the same level of superb service. I cannot recommend this place highly enough.

Food is excellent - that’s undeniable. Atmosphere trendy cocktail bar which is cool Staff very friendly and attentive but we had an issue they refused to help with. One party member was delayed 15 minutes after visiting a parent admitted to Hospital. We requested a round of poppodums and pickles to tide us over for 20 minutes confirming we would be leaving well within the 2 hour time slot as we had a show to go to. The manager spent 20 minutes explaining how to maintain customer service they could not do this as all the order needed submitting at the same time. It was really quite pathetic. I understood the rational for small and large plate order but we just wanted 4 poppodums and allow our friend 20 minutes to arrive and review the menu before choosing. Totally inflexible and ruined dining experience by a owner is always right customer is always wrong attitude which could have been so easily avoided especially in the circumstances

Sharing plates were very nice but nothing special, we wanted a takeaway but they don't do takeaway, although they were prepared to serve us a meal and bring us boxes that we could fill ourselves and take away ?? I've never heard anything so ridiculous! So we left and went to a restaurant that could accommodate us.

Lovely food and fast service - well priced. Warning, the portions are massive!

Always amazing food and atmosphere, well worth booking even if you have to wait a couple of weeks as its worth it.

A slightly different take on curry. There's no balti or kahari here but the food is still good and the service is excellent.

Food was amazing, the atmosphere was lovely and really nicely decorated but the main reason I’m leaving this review is to commend the staff on how fantastic the service was and how lovely they all were! Regardless of how busy the restaurant was, every member of staff were so pleasant and attentive. Thankyou for making our night so enjoyable!

Had a lovely meal, staff are so nice and the food was great

I ate here alone on a business trip. Received a warm welcome by friendly professional staff. A nice use of a tabletop app without losing the personal touch. Food outstanding!

Some of the best Indian food I've had. Reasonably priced. Great veggie and vegan options as well.

Have only ever been here for cocktails in the past, visited today for mothers day meal with my 3 children Food was lovely and very friendly service, staff could not do enough. We will definitely be back for food and cocktails.

We visited last night. This place is the best Indian food I have tasted. They really care about delivering great service, great food and a great atmosphere. They go above an beyond on everything. The Dansak is gorge! We enjoyed lots of small dishes. Each dish is accompanied with a salad to compliment the flavours beautifully. We will be back and will recommend to everyone we know.

Had a curry yesterday evening, first visit here. Curry was Raighar Lamb, with naan bread and mushroom pilau. Order your drinks via a tablet (came within a minute), then use tablet to summon a waiter when you're ready to order food. Service was brilliant, very friendly and helpful staff. Curry was outstanding and excellent value. Will definitely visit again. Well done

Fantastic menu and food , the brunch was best food I’ve had in years 😃😃

I had a wonderful experience at Babuls, a cosy and authentic Indian restaurant in Darlington. The service was friendly and attentive, but also very efficient with the unique ordering system but most importantly the food was delicious and well-presented. We ordered a bunch of small plates, 2 each with a side of fries was enough for us. The corn is to die for, so simple but very well done. The portions were generous and satisfying, and the prices were reasonable. I would highly recommend this place to anyone looking for a tasty and satisfying Indian meal.

The best Dahl in Darlo! In fact even better than that. Brilliant service Tegan. Highly recommend place to visit if you are in Darlington.

Very helpful on potential allergies and intolerances. Great service and food was fab.

We came here for my birthday. It was lovely. The food was fab and the service was great. The head chef came out to take our order which was great as he was able to discuss the food and recommend options. I’m vegan so he recommended a great curry that I really enjoyed. Loads of vegan options that are clearly marked up. Would go back and recommend to others.love that every table has an iPad too where you can order drinks and ask for the bill…. Takes the annoying bits away from the eating out experience!

Amazing food !!! A first visit here and will definitely go again!!

This is a special top quality restaurant. The food was amazing, layout made you feel cosy and private. Everything just easy and quick. My top go to.

Gorgeous place and fabulous cocktails. Well worth a visit……… great staff and a lovely setting to enjoy some well prepared drinks.

Atmosphere was ok but what seemed to be manager was no good scolding staff infront of diners. Food was average at best personally had a lot better takeaways. Will try somewhere else next time

Brilliant evening, friendly and attentive service with amazing food. We were made to feel really welcome, the service was professional and helpful. The food was brilliant from start to finish. Would highly recommend.

Amazing place! First time we visited and we will definitely be back. From the moment we arrived we were made welcome. The service was excellent and Zac was so professional and helpful explaining the procedure for ordering. Zac was training a young girl too and he was so good at explaining and demonstrating new skills to a new staff member. The whole process from start to finish was a pleasure and Erin was so pleasant. Such a first class restaurant

Not a lot of choice for gluten free for breakfast or brunch but I had the Brit breakfast and they just left off everything that had gluten in it. Really nice. A lot more free from friendly from lunch onwards and the cocktail and wine menu looked pretty good. Also had the best coffee I think I've ever had. Try the salted caramel latte. Amazing. Really good price for everything too. Worked out to around 13 quid per head.

Visited babuls several times and it never disappoints. Excellent food and service and a lovely atmosphere. Definitely our go to Indian.

Really delicious food, I had the Kolkata express and it was really good.

Brilliant bottomless brunch with friends. Zak was an amazing waiter always checking if we were ok and what drink we wanted next. Food, drinks and service from Zak was amazing. We’ll be back x

Had a great time at Babuls with my friends. Food was amazing and the staff were knowledgeable, friendly and surprised me with a birthday dessert! The place is really nice too. Have been before and will be back again!

Very impressed with Babul's. This was our first time visiting and we will definitely be returning. Great food served on hot plates, which I always appreciate. Service was quick and efficient and we loved the tablet idea as there's no hanging around waiting for your server to check in with you. We'll done Babul's.

Finally had my first visit to Babuls and it didn't disappoint. Outstanding food and service, however there was an issue booking online where the website seemingly won't accept bookings for 1 person, just 2 and above.

Love it here, we went down at 15:30, there's not a lot of places you can get food between a Lunch time menu stopping and Evening menu starting. I checked their bookings via Instagram to make sure there would be a table free as it seems to be a very busy/popular spot, booked a table for two and went down 30 mins later. Service is always great, food was great, we had some 'small plates' to share, so tasty! Haven't been at any other time yet but would highly recommend.

1st visit, food amazing, great dining experience

Nice place with a vibe to match

Absolutely fantastic place. Beautifully decorated throughout. The staff are all amazing. The food was divine. Will definitely return. We visited here for a business meeting. We were welcomed by friendly staff. They explained the menu and all the items to us. I highly recommend this place

Great 1st experience here, will be going back for sure

The tasty food and great service make it a standout dining destination. The diverse menu and attentive staff contribute to a delightful overall dining experience. Opps, almost forgot to mention, they do amazing cocktails

Had brunch on Saturday morning. Food was delicious, we had two main brunch meals which were freshly cooked, hot, flavourful, and served speedily. Our drinks were lovely too, we had spritzer cocktails and coffee and both were perfect. The stand out though was the service, it was brilliant. Towards the end of our meal a really loud large table of guests were seated very close to us. One of the staff very discreetly came over and said quietly to us “I’ve got a table towards the back for you that will be quieter…”. We really valued this. And, then he noticed we’d picked out peppers from one of the dishes and said to us as everything is cooked fresh we could tell them next time all the things we don’t like and they’ll make sure they’re not included (they weren’t listed on the menu). Again, just a little bit more tentative than in other restaurants. Bill was good value at £40 for two meals and four drinks. We will definitely back and we can’t wait. Oh… and decor is lovely!

Love this place, I've been for both a lunch visit and an evening visit and both times have been just as nice. Plenty of yummy things to chose from at a great price. Loads of amazing cocktails to chose from also. You can't go wrong! I'll definitely be returning and I highly recommend.

I had never visited before but had heard good reviews. Well I was so pleased I decided to go it was amazing food was gorgeous. The staff were very friendly especially Rex who looked after us will definitely return.

Located in Darlington town centre. Came here on a Sunday evening. Quite surprised how many people were in. Given a crash course in their table ordering system by Nick. All drinks and courses arrived very quickly. Main courses of Chicken Madras and Raighur Lamb. Excellent friendly service from Meena. Also there was a phone charging point at our table. Cobra bottled beer. Would definitely go back again.

Amazing food and service. Best food I’ve had in a long time… Will defs be back. Love the music and everyone was so friendly. Can’t fault it at all

Loved it! Really friendly staff, great food and service. Many thanks.

Babul's is a modern take on a Indian restaurant. The restaurant is very well presented and the staff are very welcoming and helpful. There's a novel way to order drinks and to call for assistance by way of a tablet. If you are a technophob don't let that put you off as it's easy to use and the staff will be happy to help. The food was served in a very reasonable time, not to quick or slow. The portions a just about right. The quality of the food is very good and reasonably priced. In my opinion it's a very good restaurant and I would recommend.

We popped in for lunch and it was stunning. I had a palek tiffin and the wife had the loaded nan. Food was gorgeous, the service was great and it was all very reasonablly priced. Would definitely recommend it.

3rd visit for me. Partner chose this as his birthday meal, we came last year not long after opening and I have to say it’s still fantastic. We ordered the popadoms and pickle tray alongside some chicken tikka bites to share. The lime pickle on...

Incredible service and amazing food. So good we went two nights in a row. Such interesting variety of options too.

Fantastic food, drinks and setting in babuls for some Nye food and drinks. A big thankyou to our server Zak for impeccable service and making sure we were well catered for. Thank you again

What a great place the service and welcome was top class. Food was beautiful well presented and delicious. Looking forward to going again

1st visit really enjoyed it lovely food great service friendly staff - like the idea of ordering from the ipad

Always 10/10 perfect service in here, but tonight we were drinking in number one bar and needed to come outside as my friend was a little anxious and needed some air. Damien the bouncer went inside and got some blue roll and dried the bench outside for us, we weren’t even drinking there and the service 10/10. Thank you Babul’s and especially Damien perfect service!

Excellent all Round.staff are so helpful and friendly,food is super tasty,decor is great !! Can’t fault it !!

Had an excellent meal as always. It was my son's birthday and friends came up from London. Everyone was really impressed with the service, food and atmosphere. Definitely coming again very soon. Thank you to all the staff for your friendly service.