Punjab Grill MBS Singapore Review

I've tried all the Indian eateries at Marina Bay Sands, including Punjab Grill MBS Singapore. (Fine, I'll confess that there are only 3 places you can get Indian food at MBS- but I have tried about 97% of their restaurants! Here's my review of Punjab Grill. (As always, I paid for my own meal so you can trust it's my real opinion!)

Jump to:

• Ambience
• Food
• Service
• Pricing and Value
• Location

Marina Bay Sands Shoppes in Singapore is famous for its restaurants, including some by celebrity chefs. The mall only has 1 Indian restaurant, Punjab Grill. I've eaten there (as well as at the Indian stall in the MBS food court and ordered Indian food for room service) so scroll down for my Punjab Grill review!

I've been meaning to try Punjab Grill for years but only did so recently because, to be honest, the restaurant just didn't seem very welcoming. Every time I walk by, it's empty. Being located behind the escalator probably doesn't help. (Maybe my Chinese-ness makes me think it's bad feng shui?)

I like how the tables aren't too packed inside, and the display of spices on the walls. However, the lighting is much too dim for me. You won't have difficulty seeing your food but you definitely won't be able to read inside. Overall, I wasn't terribly impressed by the interiors (especially since it's quite pricey for Indian food in Singapore.)

I visited on a weekend night and the restaurant was half empty. (I could get a table without a reservation, something quite unusual if you're having dinner in Marina Bay Sands...)

Food

The meal starts with 2 pieces of (free) hot flatbread- I really liked this touch. (The bread, by the way, not the fact that it's free! It was like a flat papadum.)

After that, based on the waiter's recommendation (for a spicy curry), I ordered the butter chicken and prata. The portion sizes are quite generous: you get about 4 (small) pieces of bone-in chicken in the curry and 2 pieces of prata.

There's actually the option to have boneless or bone-in chicken: the waiter suggested that I order bone-in because I wanted chicken thighs. I was a bit baffled when the dish arrived because the bone-in pieces were still all chicken breast (thankfully not dry)- and the butchering was very awkward. I sort of felt like I was eating leftover pieces that no one wanted! (There was only 1 small drumstick instead- so small it was more like a large frog leg or poussin leg.)

The chicken curry was decent but there was nothing that special about it. I actually think the butter chicken I've had in London (which admittedly has great Indian food) is better.

Another thing is I asked for a spicy curry recommendation and the waiter said butter chicken. When I said that I thought butter chicken isn't that spicy, he said that it can be made spicy, so I said OK. However, when the dish came, it was still very mild! I'm not sure what the "regular" version would taste like....

At the end of the meal, you're given a hot towel to wipe your hands, another nice touch.

Note: although I wasn't particularly impressed by the food, the majority of the patrons were Indian tourists, so maybe the food is super authentic?

Solo traveller tip: the portions sizes at Punjab Grill are good. It's enough to share (with an appetizer etc) between 2 people, and also good for 1 person (with a decent appetite.) Some of the restaurants at MBS have very awkward portion sizes, where you will either end up not full, or too full, if you dine alone.

• it often takes more than 1 request to get something done. For example, despite the restaurant only having 2 other tables, my water only came after 2 different waiters asked me what I wanted to drink. Similarly, I only got the check after asking for the bill twice.
• I don't mean this rudely, but it is also a bit difficult to communicate with the waiters. For example, I wanted to know if the chicken was breast meat or thigh meat but the waiter didn't seem to understand.
• They were, however, very kind enough to come help give me extra curry every time they saw me reaching for the dish.

For 1 curry, 1 prata, and no drinks, I paid $100!

There are some touches which would make the meal worth the price- e.g. the flatbread appetizer and hot towel at the end- but the experience as a whole wasn't worth it, in my opinion, as there was nothing special about the actual food I ordered.

Also, do note that this is 1 of the few places in MBS that doesn't give you a discount wihth the (free) rewards card. (The discount is basically credit given to you after you pay the bill- you get a percentage (usually 3-10%) back in Sands dollars which you can use like cash at MBS. (I've never had a place refuse these Sands dollars.) The credit is also given very promptly (typically within 24 hours or so.)

Note: be careful of the prices you see online. I checked the Punjab Grill menu on Google right before going to the restaurant- there must be a very old version of the set menu floating around as the acutal price was double what I saw online (for the same item.)

Verdict: to be honest, I probably wouldn't return. It's only about ⅓ the price to order Indian food via Marina Bay Sands Hotel room service (albeit a decreased/ limited variety of dishes now) or I could go to a hawker centre somewhere for 10% of the price.

Any questions about dining at Punjab Grill in Marina Bay Sands? Let me know in the comments!