Spice Cottage Indian Takeaway — Local services in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown

I have ordered from Spice Cottage many times before. While their food is good, my recent experiences with them have been so poor that I am compelled to write this review. The last couple of times I have ordered, I have found them highly inflexible but still had continued to support them due to their local presence. However, the final straw occurred when ordering a €55+ take-away on Sat, 1-Aug-2020. I wanted to substitute a plain naan with a garlic naan and pay the difference between these 2 items. I was told that it couldn't be done because the plain naan was the only option that came with the meal. In the end, they said they would substitute it as a good will offer for a separate extra charge that was over and above price difference. I queried the unfairness of the practice with the manager who said he was not allowed to deviate due to strict instructions. I could not understand their lack of flexibility, their arrogance and disinterest in making a simple swap, despite not being out of pocket, and above all, thinking it was "good will" to charge an unfair price. The manager sounded like he was not allowed the authority to accept any changes and as he described was under "very strict instructions" from the owner(s). In fact, he seemed relieved that we didn't place the order for fear of repercussions, if there was a change. This, to me, reflects very poorly on the owner(s) of the business and the ethos of how Irish-owned small businesses operate throughout the country in engaging with customers and being conscious of customer experiences. While the quality of their food may be good, my 1-star rating is due to their lack of flexibility and disinterest in providing a decent customer experience. Lots for the management to learn from other restaurants and take-aways from a service and customer service...

Updating review after being a passionate advocate for many years:

Unfortunately I have to downgrade my previous raving review of Spice Cottage. COVID may have been very busy for spice cottage but it has taken its toll in many ways.

Prices have been increased significantly, portion sizes reduced and quality seems to have dipped (not significantly but notably) Unfortunately customer service and wait times have also disimproved. This, all at a time when there is increased choice of Indian takeaways in the area has led me and my Family to reluctantly begin a sebaticle. Its not all bad though, I've discovered some very good local alternatives.

Hopefully SC will up standards, value & portions over the coming months - and by the time I'm ready to give them another chance there will be a better...

Not my first visit...collected food and when I arrived home 5 minutes later the food was COLD. No reason for this. The mixed starter plater was terrible, everything from frozen pre made, no flavour and cold. The mains were really small each contained 4 small pieces of chicken per serving but the most disappointing was the flavour, non existent. The naan bread was wet and soggy.....It seems here in Ireland now we accept any old over priced rubbish as standard. Please don't ever feel it is not right to complain when its terrible service or food. You are spending your money and expect something better then this in...