Coriander's City — Restaurant in Christchurch

We were recommended to go to Coriander's Restaurant whilst visiting Christchurch as we were told they had a very good vegan menu. We decided to go after a comedy show & arrived at the St Asaph St Corianders at 9.30pm very hungry. Staff were very welcoming & said they were open until 11pm so we could get a table for two. We explained that we needed all our food to be Vegan & Gluten-free & they said they could do that. We ordered vegetable pakoras & onion bhajis for starters & a glass of wine each which was all very delicious. The waitress bought out a yoghurt sauce with the starters which was quickly whisked away by the head waiter as it had dairy in it. So we thought that they had the allergies & dietary requirements sorted. We ordered two curries to share with rice as our main both from the vegan menu & were told that the curries were also GF & Vegan (we always ask several times as this combination is very rarely catered for well at any cafe or restaurant anywhere in NZ). Everything was absolutely delicious & we were impressed with the soya chunks in the curries (used instead of chicken in the vegan curries), so much so that I asked where I could source it for my Vegan, 99% GF wholefood cafe in Timaru. I was told by the waiter that it was called Soya Chaap & could get the tins of it at local Indian Supermarket or through food service providers. Later that night my husband was feeling very uncomfortable with gut pain & bloating & the next day he was not well at all, barely able to function. He is very intolerant to gluten (basically a coeliac), but we couldn't figure it out as we were sure that Coriander's had catered to our vegan & GF needs. We decided to go to the Indian Supermarket to buy some of those tins of Soya Chaap & to our great disappointment discovered that they contained not only soy, but gluten wheat flour which was the 1st ingredient. So as we own a 99% GF cafe, I definitely couldn't use it at all. We are very hot on making sure the 1% of ingredients that do contain Gluten in our cafe (organic oat milk & organic date scones) do not ever get cross contaminated with the GF ingredients (as my hubby is very intolerant of course). Anyway, I am very sorry to have to write all of this as we initially were thoroughly impressed with the service & the delicious food but I feel like I had to do this review to let other folks who are GF know that they can't have the vegan curries with the soy pieces in them as not GF. My hubby was sick enough from just one meal but it could have been much worse for someone with chronic Coeliac Disease. Suggest staff need more training all round both FOH & Kitchen staff as they may not be aware of the gluten content of the Soya Chaap they are using but it was clearly labelled on the tins of all the different brands at the Indian Supermarket. We won't be going back unfortunately, which we are...

My family have dined at this and other Coriander Restaurants previously and have thoroughly enjoyed our meals. Unfortunately, our recent meal (a week ago) was very disappointing. Our group was large 25 admittedly but we did book in advance so the number should have been expected.

First the good - all of our meals were very colorful and tasty (as they usually are) and what we expected. Now the not so good. It took about 20mins just for water to arrive, later drinks were ordered and started arriving at about the 45min mark. I had ordered a beer but at about 1hr was told the kegs needed changing over so hence there was a delay. As Murphy’s law would have it, when my beer eventually arrived at about 90mins into the evening along with two other beers in nice tall glasses, the waitress had a moment with the tray meaning 2 of the glasses, were poured down my back, over my jacket on the back of the chair and onto the floor!

The waitress was very apologetic of course but as one wasn’t offered, we had to ask for a cloth (and were given one) to try to dry at least of the beer off me less I smell like a brewery for the rest of the night.

Anyway continuing on, teenagers were at one table, adults at another. About at the 1hr 45min mark, the meals started arriving. The rice went to our table, the curries to the teenagers table. After 10mins we gave them our rice while we waited for our curries & rice. That took another 15/20mins so the kids were basically finished their meals as we were starting.

Aside from apologies, I wasn’t offered anything so asked for my beer to be free which was accepted as was the only meal that was not correct - it was cooked diary free when it should NOT have been and the flavoring is quite different. The rest of the meals were all good and paid for.

At the end of the night, we were told some of the waiting staff were new and I guess that explains some things. Mistakes do happen, I’ll get over the beer incident. But to have to wait 2hrs for meals, is not acceptable sorry.

We were also told Uber Eats orders added to our delay. Personally if that’s the case, I think Take Away customers should take second place to sitting customers. So this is something that needs looking into by Corianders management.

Appreciate C19 may have caused staffing tissues but this experience wasn’t good clearly and I’d be very reluctant to come again in a large group. Sorry Corianders but some points to be learned...

A great place that has dropped the ball and left me in disbelief and sadness. I used to rave about Coriander's as being the benchmark restaurant for all Indian restaurants in Chch. My yesterday's lunch experience, a few things that went right; naan, bhature, rice and discount when we went to pay for their poor service. Things that go to well at all; it took more than 30 min (from when we ordered)for the food to appear in front of us, black lentils with half cooked cream and tomotes, I asked for cholle to be hot instead they were far from it as my friend could eat mine who only eats mild, cholle were also cooked with a lot of tomote paste- sour, salt was missing not just for me but for another customer too (Caucasian lady) who was sitting behind us as she stood up and asked for extra salt, and we had to ask for the status of our food after 25 min as other customer ms were served who ordered after us. Now my friend (who I went there to dine with) told me that she had a bad experience the last time she was there, this was when we hadn't decided the venue, but we disregarded her last experience to one bad day at the office, different chefs different hands, etc., because we know it is coriander restaurant after all and they have high standards so we must give another chance. Black lentils,where do I start this is something I grew up with cooked at every function at banquets, gurdwara, home, grandparents house when we visited them, dhabas, if you can't get that right you must question what's going on. The cholle bhature - my cholle what happened to those from Coriander's? This is the North Indian dish you can find in every corner. Famous in Delhi opposite to the new Delhi railway station. You have failed in the two dishes on which every north Indian would judge you, but worse an European knows this is not how it is supposed to taste because they have tried better at your restaurant in their previous experience. Thsi feedback is filled with sadness...