Sagar - Covent Garden

We love Indian food but were a little disappointed here. There was a good variety of options, and the staff were friendly but the food itself was only average. Won't be rushing back but wouldn't avoid either.

Nice to have a full vege south indian restaurant, however have to admit the portion sizes was on the disappointing end. Food was mediocre, hit miss with some of the choices. Not worth the price in my opinion. Atmosphere was ok. Diverse menu.

To summarise, the food was good, tasty, but not particularly memorable. It wasn't interesting enough to make me want to return. But I was happy enough with my masala dosa that night.
But.... It was a busy evening in November but I entered after the theatre crowds had left for their shows. The staff were extremely rushed and abrupt with me. They spent only seconds with me getting my order, saying only the minimum of words, which seemed a bit like orders instead of questions. After my meal, the server took away the milk and sugar for my tea before I had used it and without asking if I was finished. So the communication wasn't very good.
Why were they so extremely rushed and frazzled?? Yes, it was a busy evening. But hey, it was November, not the height of tourist season, and it's not like it was the first month of their existence. They have been there for years. Were they understaffed because someone was sick or are they always abrupt like that? So I was disappointed by the communication and service. It was too bad, as I was really looking forward to eating there.
I really hope that they can make an effort to improve the service, as the place has great potential.

Updated from previous review on 2017-01-26

Let me start off with the positive side: I love South Indian food and was therefore looking forward to my visit at Sagar's. And Sagar provides good food indeed. I had a great Indian dish, very tasty and - as far as I can tell - authentic. Same holds true for all other dishes I have seen on neighbouring tables. Also, you can tell from the menu which dish is vegan and which isn't (all kinds of allergens are listed as well), that's truely commendable! Furthermore there is plenty of choice, plenty of dishes to choose from. On top of that everything is reasonably priced.
However, the service was the worst. At the very beginning, as I was about to enter, some customers were leaving while a waiter was holding the door open. I waited for the other people to go outside, but as I wanted to step in, the waiter saw me, let hold of the door and went away. WTF? Maybe I am not the kind of customer one doesn't want to enter ones premise, for whatever reason, I don't know. Be that as it may, I was treated poorly at any rate. Really bad service by all accounts: No please or thank you, grumpy behavior all the while (from all staff towards me). Furthermore I asked which beers were vegan. Response: "Aren't most beers vegan?". I seriously don't know what's wrong with them. Besides, usually I don't condemn unfriendly service. Suppose there is a low-paid waiter or waitress, that is bugged by stupid customers all day, who doesn't feel like being friendly - I get that totally, no reproach at all (as long as nobody spits into my order). But what happened at Sagar's was almost mean. Lastly, a service charge of 12,5% is applied
Wild horses couldn't drag me there again.

ON a cold, November evening, Sagar offered a warm and welcoming place to eat. The food was delicious and the staff were very friendly.

First time to try here. The service was very fast, handy for a pre theatre meal.

However, I wished they had taken their time on the food. We had the Matter Panner and the Vegetable Kootu. Both were very liquidy and I felt they had watered down the sauces. There were minimal vegetable in the Kootu, the one potato again felt like it had been over boiled and was full of water. Neither of the sauces were abundant in flavour. The lentil doughnuts were a little better.

The food must have been very mass produced for the turn around time from order to delivery, less than 5 mins.

I was extremely happy with my experience. There was a separate, completely vegan menu from which I asked for a waiters recomendation for both starter and main course. I like spices very much and got a real treat with some extra burn for me. With a big bottle of sparkling water + a dessert and tea, everything altogether was 23£. Very tasty food.

Extremely cheap for the location and I've had quite a few dishes from here and have enjoyed them all.
I think the plain pizza tastes like sizzler cheese bread, so that excited me a lot!

I personally had some troubles explaining Vegan to them and it seemed they were pretending to understand what's in the food sometimes. For example they couldn't confirm if they used animal gee in their curry...

The restaurant has great potential if they had better service and knowledge about whats in their food.

I came here as I saw those photos of the menu options (which are NOT available anymore!) but had a dish of okras cooked in tomato sauce with a side of papadam. The papadam (of which I got extra -yippie) came with four dips and I can't explain how incredible those things were combined. A complete taste explosion. So so so good!!!

Went here before a theatre show and was very taken with the place. The sight of so many lentil donuts and giant crispy pancakes was worth the price on it's own ! I personally did not have the guts to try anything that exotic so I stuck to my favourite Indian dish, dhal and chapatis. I was NOT disappointed.

Had a very refreshing Limbu Pani to drink. Not many vegan desserts unfortunately. Only sorbet.

Great service.

Great selection of food, superb flavours, and very friendly service. We went because we were already in the area, and were early enough to get in on a Saturday without a reservation. We live about 20 miles from the centre of London and have already decided that we will make a special journey just to return to this restaurant.

Little and nice indian restaurant, vegan option for lots of dishes.

If you like South Indian food then this place is for you. Extra special because they have a completely separate vegan menu - so no need for awkward conversations about what is suitable etc - a very large part of the menu is vegan. I opted for the vegan Thali - at £16.95 it was far more than I could eat - a good taster of many of the curries available here. My companions opted for dosas which were substantial meals in themselves. All up for the 3 of us the bill came to £50 - including drinks - so not cheap but by no means expensive for London - very good value I thought. The restaurant was busy but the service was good.

Met up with an old American omni mate of mine in convent garden. Took him to Sagar, first visit for both of us. Had very traditional veg Indian fare, samosa's and onion Bahji's as starters. The best samosa's I have ever had. Tasted like they had been freshly made, living in England you have samosa's all the time but these really were fantastic. We then had Dosas ( lentil pancakes) and some mixed Dahls. It was all perfectly cooked. The restaurant has a nice mellow, friendly vibe. Will definitely go back next time I'm in the Smokes. Prices were very good.

Nice and lovely food, they have a vegan and a vegetarian menu.
Food is not on the cheap side. Thali is about £19,don't be mislead by the pictures here in happy cow.
I would recommend the place.

Went for dinner on the weekend, we had booked in advance which I think was a good idea as at 6 it was pretty packed.

Ordered from the vegan menu, a selection of starters and a couple of currys and a "lentil pizza". All delicious and very good sized portions - the samosas were HUGE!

Friendly staff, fast service, reasonable prices especailly considering the Covent Garden location.

Would go again

We started with popadoms and Medu Vada (Fried lentil donuts). Followed by the Masala Dosa (Rice and lentil golden pancakes filled with potato, onions & carrot) and the Masala Uthappam (Rice and lentil pizza topped with potato, onion and coriander). The food was all amazing!

The staff are great with allergies and the menu clearly states it's allergens as well. The food cake quickly and the staff were very attentive. I would definitely go back if I was in London again!