📍 60 Smitham Downs Road, Purley CR8 4NF
📍 Address: 60 Smitham Downs Road, Purley CR8 4NF, United Kingdom
Having attended the same 60th function a few weeks ago that some of the latest reviews have mentioned. I can confirm that the catering was a sham based on the cost and expectations of what was agreed by the hosts family. Simply not enough food and staff to cater for 300+ guests.
We recently attended a large gathering of over 300 people to celebrate a special birthday. The event was in central London and we were told that food would be available on the evening. The party took over the entire venue (upstairs and down) and it was a shame that for those of us upstairs none of the food (canapés style) arrived until well into the evening. The idea of small bites was great but many people obviously were hungry as they were jumping up to grab the next tray of offerings! Chicken tikka bites were nice, fish a chips ok, and the paneer cheese not to our taste. It very much seemed that there were not enough staff to cater for this large group. Annoyingly, later in the evening, trays of the tikka bites started to appear. Overall the event was very special but based on our experience the food offering wasn’t great at all and the inconsistencies showed a lack of organisation!
While I recognise the host's effort in organising this milestone birthday celebration with guests flying in from around the world, the catering was incredibly very disappointing. There wasn’t enough food for the number of people there, and the few servers present were overwhelmed, leaving some guests waiting far too long or going hungry. For such a special occasion, the lack of care and professionalism was really disheartening. I felt awful for the host, who had put so much effort into planning this event, only to be let down by caterers who didn’t seem to care. I wouldn’t recommend them for any important celebration.
DO NOT RECOMMEND! I attended a friend’s party where they catered for over 300 guests, and the catering was shocking. They were paid a substantial amount to provide proper staffing and ample food, yet arrived with only a few servers and offered only a few snacks — nowhere near what was promised or paid for. Not professional or honourable at all.
I would strongly advise against hiring KebabSaab. What they did at my aunt’s 60th birthday party felt like taking money under false pretenses. We had over 340 guests, many flying in from around the world, and this company completely failed to deliver the service we paid for. They upsold us a package promising 10 servers to circulate food all evening, yet only 4 showed up. Worse, there wasn’t even enough food to serve — so the “premium service” they charged extra for was a complete sham. To make matters worse, they had promised dramatic dry ice effects for the food presentation, but that too was left out entirely. Guests were left disappointed, and the atmosphere of what should have been a joyful milestone celebration was ruined. This wasn’t just poor service; it was dishonest. They sold us something they had no intention or ability to provide, and it cast a shadow over an event we had planned for months. For a company that claims to be professional caterers, this was nothing short of disgraceful. KebabSaab had the chance to impress hundreds of potential future customers, but instead they damaged their reputation and left our family feeling cheated. Based on this experience, I would never recommend them.
We used Tony/KebabSaab to cater our sons birthday party recently and sadly the experience was awful. Initially Tony was very responsive and promised lots, based on this we decided to go with him although did have reservations as he was very pushy when trying to get a deposit from us. After paying a deposit things changed pretty quickly, it took weeks to get a response from Tony and he kept making excuses to avoid/put off the taster that we had been promised (at one of his functions). We finally managed to pin down a taster to attend and when we got there he told us we were too early, although we arrived at the time he asked us to. He gave us a few starters but told us the majority of the food including mains were not available yet and he would drop some off to us in the next few weeks. It then took a number of months to get him to drop food to us and a lot of phone calls. Getting him to visit the hall was another struggle, my wife ended up asking me to deal with him from that point onwards as he was so unresponsive and difficult. When he finally attended the venue he said everything was fine and we agreed timings. Two days before the event he told us the times we agreed previously would not work as it was live catering and they needed more time to cook the food. This was a real disappointment to us as it was a 1 year olds party and we had planned and agreed with Tony the timings around his nap. Tony acted as if we hadn’t previously confirmed times and was not flexible at all. At this point we were two days away from the party so could not make any other arrangements otherwise I would have cancelled and arranged another caterer. On the day Tony did not attend the function as he had another function, however when we booked had told us he is not greedy and only does 1 function at a time so would certainly be there himself. I would like to say the catering at the party itself was great but sadly not, there were a number of big issues. 1. Some of the chicken was still raw and it was extremely embarrassing when guests told us, I informed Raj (Kebab Saab manager) and he said sorry but that’s it, really not acceptable. Some guests also told us that their chicken was raw after the function, as didn’t want to spoil the party, so it wasn’t just a few pieces. 2) We paid for kids meals that were due to include veg sticks and fruit however both items were missing on the day with no explanation, so the kids meal just consisted of chicken nuggets and chips. 3)The starters ran out and we actually had c.15 people drop out at short notice who should have been catered for. 4) A few guests informed us of plastic (seemed like fragments of cutlery) in the gajar halwa desert. Again no explanation from Tony or Raj, but we also found it in the remaining desert they packed up for us to take home. 5) The ice cream served with the gajar halwa ran out before half of the guests had even had desert. 6) The team also turned an outdoor tap on and left this running for over 7 hours while not being used. The church hall were understandably extremely unhappy about this as they are on a meter. We relayed the issues to Tony after the party and he was not at all bothered. All of our other suppliers for the party were great however we really felt let down by Tony and would advise against booking him based on his other feedback and his attitude toward the issues I don’t think this is a one off.
We recently hired Tony/Kebab Saab to cater our boy’s 1st and 2nd Birthday party, after trying his food at an event a few years prior. My wife was excited to have him cater the event and we were hopeful he would become our go to cater for any functions we had in the future. Unfortunately, the day did not go as planned. The food as nice as it was, was served late and Tony complained about not having enough time to set up and cook, even though he turned up late himself. As part of our menu that we had paid for in advance, we were meant to have naan served with the food and Gulab Jaman and Ice cream for dessert, but neither were served on the day as Tony and his team were running late. Tony did say he would give me the desserts to take home and he would sort something out after. After the event finished, Tony did not leave the dessert behind but took it with him and he messaged us after saying that he would not do anything to compensate us, even though we had paid for items that were not served on the day. Tony ignored all our follow-on messages and emails, until our lawyer got involved. Then he was quick to offer us a very small partial refund, a refund that didn’t cover the cost of what was missed on the day, but we accepted as we wanted to close this chapter. We found him very unprofessional and even the hall providers complained to us as the Kebab Saab team left cigarette butts in the area, they were cooking in. Never again will we hire him and for anyone hiring him going forward, make sure you get everything in writing and don’t pay for everything in advance as I can see from a previous review, this is not the first time he hasn’t served everything he was meant to at an event.
Very respectful and catering to the customer, would recommend.
Tony was not flexible at all and unfriendly. Was rude to our guests when they requested something. Ran out of food and cocktails for which he already had been paid. He was too eager to pack up after each serving. Did not bring out the desserts until guests started leaving. Would not hire him again
KebabSaab is located at 60 Smitham Downs Road, Purley CR8 4NF, United Kingdom
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