✅ The Grand Pavilion - Indian Restaurant in Esplanade, Warners bay - Best Indian Food — Restaurant in Newcastle-Maitland

My wife and I invited 2 guests for lunch at 1 PM on Saturday 19 October. The guests were of Caucasian background, as such they were used to Mild food. We, of Indian background, are used to more spicy food. We live in Sydney and were briefly in Newcastle on some work.

We invited our guests to this restaurant as we had been to this restaurant about one year ago, when the food was very good. Since then, we were told by the server that the management has changed and some of the dishes such as Thali and Dosas are now not available.

The guests wished their order to be Mild, which they were served. We asked our food to be spicy, further I reminded the manager (Mr Prabhakar) during the preparation again to make our food spicy. However, our food was served mild and quite tasteless to us. Further, the food was not tasty and was too creamy. Our bill (without drinks) was close to $ 140, and there was NO value for money and the dishes were over-priced even to Sydney standards in comparison with restaurants of similar levels.

When I spoke later with Prabhakar on phone, who called himself resident manager(?), he said they served food that was generally mild to cater to people of Caucasian background and added, if needed, some chilly sauces were added to make the food spicier if needed, although even this was not done in our case. I suggested to Prabhakar that he should considering serving us free dishes the next time to compensate for the poor dishes served, when he said he will check and call back, however never called me back.

Overall, the service was very poor, food was tasteless and does not cater to traditional Indian families’ tastes. If you are looking for Indian food as ethnic Indians in an Indian restaurant, The Grand Pavilion Restaurant in Warners Bay is NOT FOR YOU. Out of a rating of 1 to 10, my wife and I give the rating at 1.

The tables were sticky and greasy. The prices of ALL dishes was excessive and the portions were very small. DO NOT GO THERE, YOU WILL BE...

I've heard really good things about Grand Pavillion so got a takeaway order and loved the food.

Garlic naan - soft, buttery, garlic flavour of the melt in your mouth naan. So yum.

Sheek kebab - lovely tanduri oven char on the flavoursome succulent kebab, very tasty.

Malai kofta - I thought for a vegetarian dish the serving would have been bigger, I got 3 large potato dumplings in a shallow dish. Despite that this is a superb dish. The curry is amazing and I love the kofta - all the more reason to give just a touch more! Probably the best dish of the lot just pipping the goat.

Butter chicken - one of my favourite dishes, this version was really good but lacking a touch of intensity and missing something, I can't place it, but the balance is just a touch off. Regardless, the lovely tender chicken smothered with that creamy curry is yum.

Lamb biriyani - most of the dishes I ordered are mild but this does have a bit of bite. Tender pieces of lamb with that delicious spiced rice and a bit of curried boiled egg go down very well. The raitha (sweetened yoghurt condiment) takes the edge of the heat. There's also a mint yoghurt to cool one's mouth.

Handi Goat Masala - lots of pieces of goat cooked on the bone for extra flavour and such a lovely spice profile, I really loved this curry

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AVOID: Misleading Online Presence and poor Customer Service.

A one-star review is reserved for truly unacceptable experiences, and my recent attempt to dine with The Grand Pavilion unfortunately warrants it. This review has nothing to do with the quality of their food, I never had the chance to taste it, and everything to do with their misleading online information and refusal to provide a refund for their own error.

After searching for "The Grand Pavilion Terrigal" on Google (see attached screenshot), I confidently placed a $100 order through the top search result, which prominently displayed the Terrigal location, inc photos of the Terrigal restaurant. However, upon arrival, I discovered the restaurant had not only moved but changed names. Staff at the new establishment kindly suggested our order had likely been routed to the new Warners Bay location.

My wife called the Warners Bay restaurant immediately, within the 30-minute pickup window, to explain the situation and cancel the order. While the staff member was apologetic, he refused to issue a refund. A second call proved just as frustrating and fruitless. It is completely unacceptable for a business to maintain a misleading online presence and then penalise customers who are misled by it. We were left $100 out of pocket due to their failure to update their own advertising. I cannot recommend a business that...