Royal Nawaab Manchester

Reviews

• Emma Louise M.

  star star star star star 7 June 2026

  Dr Ben Goldacre, one of my many geek chic crushes (I've not forgotten you, Prof Brian Cox), stated in his wonderful tome Bad Science that there's always a reason for being teetotal. Alcoholism. Knowing an alcoholic. Having some kind of physical aversion. Religious reasons. Being that-drunk-chick-at-a-party too many times. It's always a lifestyle choice, because as he points out, in society, alcohol is the norm, teetotalism is the abnorm. But there's nothing abnormal about the experience you'll have at Nawaab. Or at least, anything unusual is a positive thing.
  
  Levenshulme might not be the most high profile Manchester suburb, so when you take into account that this place is outside of the city centre, serves or accepts no booze, is a buffet (not exactly the three ingredients for a successful recipe), yet manages to be packed to the rafters every evening with a mixed bag of clientele, then really the food has done all the talking it needs to. Heck, it talked my hind legs right off. One of the many issues with good buffets is that you find yourself making a meal from the appetisers alone, and this place is no exception with its pakoras, bhajis, breads, fish fritters and salads. Then when you finally make it round to the mains, there are different rices to choose from, plenty of meats and a ton of veggie and fish options. Everyone is catered for here, from the pescetarians to the carnivores, from those who are timid of tastebud to those who like it hot.
  
  You're not coming here for the desserts, but you can find yourself with an unusual variety of ice creams... bubblegum and liquorice anyone? The establishment itself is an interesting mixture, the outside retaining its bingo hall flavour but on the inside they've really attempted to class it up a bit, with the eye-poppingly awesome water feature in the lobby, the smooth marble and granite as far as the eye can see and the crisp linen on the tables. It certainly feels far from a studenty, cheap all-you-can-eat. This reminded me of certain four star hotels I've encountered, where the food three times a day is self service but never once does it feel like a tacky party buffet.
  
  This really is a gem and something I'll look forward to coming back to. Oh, and the booze? I didn't even notice the lack of it, although that fish curry would have gone down a treat with a good chardonnay. Still, as Anyonita rightly points out, why lower your inhibitions when the food's this good?

• Farah S.

  star star star star star_border 28 May 2026

  If you are going to splurge, this is the place to do it.. heard so much about This place and found it even more royal and grand :)
  We had to wait for almost 40 mins but it was worth it. The waiters were quick and were very helpful. The bouffet was longgg with so much variety that is was impossible to try everything. But watever i tried was so so good.

• Natalie W.

  star star star star star_border 25 May 2026

  I've heard about Royal Nawaab's buffet from multiple Pakistanis and it's definitely a good place to sample a range of well-cooked (albeit not outstanding) classic Indian and Pakistani dishes (there are helpful labels above each one) as well as a wide range of cold starters (chickpeas and yoghurt always a great combo!) hot starters (especially pakoras and delicious battered fish). Freshly cooked seekh kebab was excellent and I also enjoyed the paneer muttar. Bf's lamb handi didn't impress him as much, he prefers Blue Nile in Hazel Grove's version.
  
  Service is friendly and fast.
  
  At £17.95 I'd advise going hungry (I didn't make it to the large dessert section of the buffet) and also be warned they do not serve alcohol or allow you to bring it in.
  
  Ideal for large groups and child-friendly.

• Jack H.

  star star star star star 19 May 2026

  First visit tonight . We will be back ! Really good food . We got a wrap and a combo. Fresh and tasty . M19 has a new take away that has good service and is competitively priced .

• J A.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 18 May 2026

  I personally will avoid eating here in the future. I'd heard a lot of good things about this place and was sorely disappointed by what I was faced with.
  
  All the food was extremely oily and sub par. The salad was limp and leaning towards gray tones. The pastas all had a funny taste to them. Everyone at my table agreed that as far as the food went, the starters were the only part that was manageable- not worth the price of 15 pounds per head.
  
  I didn't expect much from a buffet however and will say the overall quality of the food was below average at best.
  
  What really put me off however was the dessert section. I was handed one of the bowls with a short hair on it. I wanted to just put it aside but my friend returned it to the guy who had served us and he looked us in the eye as he flicked the hair off and returned the same plate back with the same sugary dessert on it. When my friend tried to complain, he said that 'everyone has hair'. Surely that's a health violation?
  
  I doubt they would have appreciated anyone dropping hair on the buffet food and claiming that "Everyone has hair!"
  
  Definitely avoiding this place.