Zabihah
53,000+ halal places · Free
Stratford Road, Shirley, Birmingham
Sandwiches, pizza and grilled chicken. Family-friendly takeaway.
A halal sign is clearly visible on the premises. All food at this restaurant is certified halal.
Score reflects a halal certificate on file.
Oh where do I begin with this place? They can't speak English properly and they don't understand it properly either. I'm asian so if I'm struggling to communicate with them then I can only wonder what the anglo-saxon customers (who make up the bulk of the demographic in the area) must go through. The food is often cold or stale. The staff don't seem to understand that some people might not actually want salt and vinegar in every item they order - even after you've told them not to put it in they still put it in. When you tell them about it, they get annoyed and chuck the affected food back into whatever section it came from and let it get mixed up with the rest - shocking. Burgers - these are pre cooked from Allah only knows when and will come with salad, mayo and some watery ketchup whether you want it or not. They slap it in front of you literally 30 seconds after you place the order which makes me wonder if they have these already boxed up with all the extras pre-added. Attitude of the staff is horrible. In addition to being unable to speak English, I suspect some of them are incapable of speaking coherently in any language; they seem to mostly grunt at you or just stare with slack jawed amazement when they discover that a customer is asian and has come in wanting to eat fish & chips without salt & vinegar. Oh and this one time, I had an arguement with one of the staff about a 'donner kebab'. I asked for a donner kebab an dwhat I got was a box with donner meat, salad and some nasty sauces. I asked the man why the stuff wasn't inside a pitta bread and he responded that this is actually how donner kebabs should be and that there is no bread... what an imbecile. The WORST thing though is that they have the potential to be so good. All it takes is some fine tuning and attitude adjustment plus some customer service training (plus English language skills) and they'd be fantastic. The branch up at Bordesley near the Blues ground is great; that is how they should all be and it proves that the company isn't bad; it's the illegal immigrants they've got working at the Shirley branch that are ruining it for everyone else. I give this place 1 out of 5, and only because it's Ramadan and I'm feeling generous. The Bordesley branch on the other hand would get 4 out of 5 from me.
Food quality was poor but the attitude of staff and level of service was worse! Ordered a cheeseburger and chips. I specifically asked the female member of staff wearing a headscarf if they had cans of coke, she replied yes. The contents of the burger were discussed and I asked for ketchup on the cheeseburger. I then added this to the above order. I then asked if I could have a cheesy garlic bread but a pizza sized one instead of the small one on the menu. I was told no. I explained that I had ordered it before from this restaurant but she said no. I then ordered a 9inch “make your own” pizza with a garlic base and cheese = same thing I asked for! I was given the scabby chips which weren’t fresh. I’ve only eaten a few of them as they weren’t nice. The female then asked what drink with my meal, to which I replied “ you said you had cans of coke?” She again said Yes. She then walked away from me selecting my drink and served two other people, leaving me waiting adjacent to the fridge where I could see that there weren’t any cans of coke. After several minutes she still hadn’t come back to me so I said that “ I’ve asked you several times if you’ve got cans of coke and you said yes each time. There aren’t any in the fridge, have you got cans of coke?” She replied “No” and walked away again. Another couple of minutes later she asked again and we chose another drink and the dip. The food was bagged up and handed over. We walked to my vehicle and started to eat the food. The chips were lukewarm. The cheesy garlic bread / pizza had an odd plastic like taste to it. My son complained that the cheeseburger tasted spicy. I put it down to him being fussy. When he got home, he still hadn’t eaten much of the burger and again complained that it was spicy. I tasted it and it does not have ketchup on it but has some kind of spicy chilli sauce on the burger instead. It tasted disgusting and was thrown in the bin. Complete waste of money, the attitude of the staff member was bad. I won’t rush back there.
Has this place changed hands? I have been coming here for many years and never had a problem until today. They could not even get a simple order right. Asked for masala, fish and naan with everything separate. They just threw everything on the naan, chilli sauce, mayo, salad etc. When we asked if they can make a fresh one with everything separate they tried to make us feel bad by saying 'it would go to waste'. Why would that be the customers problem when you are the ones who made the mistake? They agreed to make a fresh one and when we got home it wasn't a masala, fish and naan like ordered. It was a masala fish with chips. I had to go all the way back again to change the order. Also, the chicken we ordered was not cooked, it was pink. Next time I will order from the hall green Big Johns seeing as I pass it to get to the shirley one anyway. I'm sure they will offer a better service.
Love Big John's! Their pizzas are consistently tasty and the prices are super affordable! 👍 Make sure to try their customizable options. Regularly visit and never disappointed!"
Mujeeb was absolutely amazing. I came to order food for holiday club for 16 children. He was very thorough to make sure we had the best deal for the budget we had. Everything was cooked fresh and lovely and was the most polite person that I have come across in a takeaway in a long time. Nothing was too much trouble for him. Way to gooooo Mujeeb💯🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
The chicken meal was completely cold. Just shocked that this is the first time I’ve ordered from Shirley Big Johns. I won’t be rushing to order from there again. Yes the Masala fish in Nann was amazing 10/10 and pop corn Chicken was gorgeous too.
