Namaste Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in Howick

22/02/2015 – Ginger, Moore St.

And Dan said, “Let there be curry,” and there was curry. Dan saw that the curry was good, and he separated the Vindaloo from the Butter Chicken. Dan called the Vindaloo “a man’s curry,” and the Butter Chicken he called “Clint’s.” And there was Do Pyaza, and there was Saagwala—the first meeting of the Royal East Auckland Curry Club.

Ambience First impressions best summed up by Adam, “Decor was [rubbish]”. Ginger is more of a functional eating space than environment for a dining experience, with no noticeable attempt to decorate. The absence of artwork, or any sort of wall covering, made it kind of like eating takeaways in a house you’ve just movied into. Zero atmosphere. 3/10*

Food “Squid Pakora: I’m not sure how I managed to live 40 years without it” – Dave S.

Perhaps the good people at Ginger ran out of creativity for their walls because they put everything they have into the flavour. Exceptional. Not a bad dish on the table. Beautifully cooked and packed with flavour. The breads were well made and generously sized. Black mark for presentation “who puts a slice of tomato on top of a curry?” – Varun. Standard beers on offer, Kingfisher Strong for the President. 9/10*

Service Friendly and accommodating, but only one person working so service was very staggered. 6/10*

Summary A solid first effort from Ginger. The food, though exceptional, was never going to be enough to make up for the bleak surroundings. A great option for a takeaway.

Final score: 6/10**

*Scores may be reviewed after a scoring benchmark has been established **Mean average of...

Dreadful. Google should really have a no star option , because this place is so bad it wouldn’t be fair to give it a one star rating. When we initially walked in, we weren’t even sure if the place was open or not . There were no staff , diners ,music or heating on , even though it was a really cold night. We had to hunt around the venue looking for someone to ask if it was actually open or not. When we finally tracked someone down , and asked if they were open , the guy just stared blankly at us as if we shouldn’t be there , we thought he said something like “the usual guy wasn’t here” . We asked for the heat pump to be turned on, as it was a cold winters night , he seemed reluctant to do it . Instead , he turns on a small oil heater at the opposite end of the restaurant to where we we seated . When I explained it wouldn’t do anything to keep us warm, he explained the heat pump, was “ broken” which I didn’t believe because all the standby LED's were lit up. When the food arrived, a chicken Madras, it was very average and not much of it. They didn't even bring the rice at the same time as the main dish, we had to remind them to bring it. It would be impossible to forget the rice as we were the only people there. Had we not been short of time ( we were attending a play ) we would never have stayed. In no way can “Namaste Howick “ be described as a restaurant . Simply put, it's just a cold, sterile room containing some chairs and tables, on which to eat your (very average)...

Really good food but really bad service, there was only one person at the front who was maybe new to the industry as she missed quiet basic rules usually restaurants follow while serving the customers. After serving the mains she left the front and never came back from the kitchen to ask if we needed anything else, I had to call them on phone after finishing as their kitchen was upstairs and I wasn't sure about going up there. When she came back I thought maybe she will feel bad for whatever happened but rather she preferred to suggest me to use the bell on the counter in a situation like this while totally ignoring the fact that she...