The Colonial British Indian Cuisine | Balmain — Restaurant in Sydney

This place ticks all the boxes. It’s not your typical Indian restaurant but the name should tell you that. They do have great food, great drinks and great service all in a very relaxed atmosphere that fits so well. You also have a choice of eating inside or in the large al fresco area out the front.

We started with drinks - as you do! Cocktails beckoned and we listened. They have a good range here but we went with some specialty mixes - Gin and Raspberry Kiss (like a cosmopolitan) and Spice Sutra (like a mojito). Both went down easily. We also couldn’t resist grabbing a wonderful mango lasi. This stuff is sooo good.

On to the food and we overdid it a bit. After nibbling at the pappadums that were served with mint sauce we indulged with four starters - but you only live once and they were all delicious. We had onion bhaji - a crispy spicy fried onion fritter - an old favourite of chicken tikka - tender juicy spiced chicken pieces - tandoori prawns - marinated grilled prawns - and olive paneer tikka - marinated grilled cottage cheese.

Mains next and they looked so good we again chose four. Yes we did! 😳 We had tadka daal - a vegetarian spiced lentil dish - British fish curry - a light coconut curry - butter chicken - because we just had to - and railway goat curry - a tender spicy goat dish. It was a great mix with so much flavour.

Some sides were obviously necessary. We love a good naan and the ones here were great. We had a garlic and a herb one. Both were so light and fluffy and big. They don’t skimp here on anything. We also grabbed a rice. We used the naan and the rice to soak up all the amazing sauces.

We’re super keen to get back here again because there’s so much of the menu we’re yet to taste and based on what we had we know...

Probably one of the most stressful and unpleasant dining experience I’ve ever had.

Constantly bringing the incorrect drinks or telling us they were out of stock of multiple beers.

Entree platters were ridiculously overpriced and took almost 45 minutes to come out.

When the mains came they were just dumped on the table without checking who had ordered what. There were multiple drinks ordered that never came, as well as dishes having to be chased up almost 4 or 5 times.

When asked what certain dishes were to clarify everything had come out, the staff had to take the food back and check with the kitchen.

This was the first and last time me or any of my family will be coming. I will actively tell people to avoid this “restaurant” until something changes because I am DISGUSTED by how bad the service was.

Both staff members were useless and need to be either retrained or given more time to learn how to be a waiter.

Also very frustrating because the food was good. This was meant to be a nice diner with family members visiting from overseas but we would have been better off literally anywhere else.

When I go to dinner I don’t want to have to check the bill to make sure we weren’t charged for things we didn’t receive or chase up dishes, I want to be able to relax and enjoy my food, which to be honest I was unable to do because I spent 20 minutes checking we had all our dishes.

Also it wasn’t even remotely busy. Do better

Also the staff walked away while we were still ordering multiple times. We had a group of 9 but it felt like half the table wasn’t heard or listened too.

I get it if it’s one or two mistakes but this was constant mistakes and constant issues with what we ordered. I am really...

UPDATE: I responded directly to them as they requested in their reply and I never heard back from them. Another example of the terrible service from this restaurant.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: Third and last time I use this restaurant.

First occasion: ordered online, food didn’t arrive and had to get refunded as it was too late to wait for the remake to arrive.

Second occasion: ordered to be delivered. Got a call from the driver saying they couldn’t find our house. Turns out they were in a completely different suburb, even though I sent a drop pin of my house to the managers mobile. Called the restaurant and asked them to remake it and I would pick it up. When I got there they had missed an item off the order, so had to wait 15 minutes while they prepared it.

Third occasion: didn’t even risk the delivery. Got to the restaurant when they said it would be ready - waited for 20 minutes. Then they’d forgotten an item again. Had to wait 15 minutes while the rest of the food went cold.

Worst part is they never take ownership for their mistakes - it’s always someone else’s fault.

Way to slowly run a restaurant...