The Silver Oak Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in County Clare

I've been going to Red Onion as a treat for years now, two, maybe three times a month.

My last two experiences have turned me off returning sadly. The second last time, I ordered on their own website. I went in 35 minutes later to pick it up and the young man at the register said I never placed an order.

I said I most certainly did, through their website. He came back a minute later saying that they just recieved my order and questioned whether I had just placed it on my phone. I said no, I ordered at such and such a time. He got a bit tick and rude, demanded I show him a receipt. Which I did in my emails and he saw it was the same time I said I had ordered at. He just walked away, no apology. After maybe 10 minutes of waiting, I asked him if my order would be long, he said 20 minutes as they had received my order late.. when I did finally get my order, well over an hour after I paid, when I got home I discovered the two nann breads were missing..

My last, and final order, I got the same dishes I always get and both tasted drastically different than normal, my order of chicken tikka masala, smelted, looked and tasted completely different than what I normally got or even from other restaurants before. A very strong taste of curry powder and the sauce was yellowish, not the orange / red it normal was. The chicken was all burnt too. It tasted horrible and I binned the majority of it as did my partner with...

There is always something to say about how a restaurant makes customers feel when they enter. This one didn't disappoint! There is a warm and inviting feel to the place. It is quiet yet has a nice ambience, with subtle nepalese/Indian music playing. The place as you enter is very nicely presented with enough room between the tables to have privacy and not to be obtrusive to other diners. The place is very clean with what can only be described as freshly vacuumed carpets. They were so clean. The staff are extremely helpful and don't bother you every two minutes to see how you are getting on. Very professional, warm, and accommodating. Then we come to the food... oh my God! It was easily the best Indian cuisine I had tried in quite a long, long time. Flavour was present en masse, the textures were different yet complementary. Take the garlic naan as an example. Generous portion (like everything else), but it was soft, hot and had little burnt crispy bits that just elevated the bread. The murgh methi malai was to die for. I cannot recommend this dish enough!

Don't take my word for it. Try it and...

Really great food. But the service is even better… as they have four restaurants under the same name and same website. We were visiting family in Ennis and I rang for collection what I thought to be the Ennis branch but was the Athlone branch… to be fair an easy mistake to make as Athlone is the first Contact Us number even when you hit the Ennis branch link on the website. So when I rang the gent who answered the phone did not say it was Athlone and I went ahead with the order for what I thought was ennis… long story short when went to pick up the food the mistake was realised and we had to order again (€80 charged twice) so I rang Athlone branch and they said they cannot refund the €80 as the food cannot be now sold… after pleading my case they agreed to fully refund the €80 so fair play but v stressful experience. They really need to spell it out which branch you’ve contacted. However the food was exceptionally good… I mean one of the best Indians I’ve ever tried… just be careful which...