Masala Cafe & Bar — Restaurant in North Island

Had heard good things about the food here so popped in with a group of friends for what we hoped would be a lovely meal before going for drinks with friends. It took half an hour before anyone so much as came over to take a drink order and they only did after we waved at them a few times. We then waited over an hour for food and finally had to ask several times again where our dinner was. They eventually brought out rice which sat on our table for another 10 minutes and went cold. Our mains came out after and the entrees came last. The poppadoms were a complete no show and we waited another 10 mins for our naan bread which ideally you’d have with the meal not after it. Most of our curries were cold and one appetizers wasn’t even the correct order. Half the drinks never showed up. Just a total disaster and understandably we were hungry, annoyed and disappointed. All in all we left 3 hours after we arrived, and the rest of the evening was cancelled because it was just too late by then to meet our friends. We really tried to not let this ruin our night but the restaurant was less than apologetic and even argued with us that they had another larger table that they needed to serve. Just not acceptable. I would not recommend this place unless you have a whole night free and there’s only two of you, any larger tables be ready to sit and wait. Food was actually tasty once we got it but we were so hungry by then and the whole experience just spoiled it. Note to the restaurant, be present with your tables, check in and see if people need anything don’t leave them hanging for an hour. If people aren’t happy with the service, some complimentary poppadoms would go a long way to keeping hungry people happy. I don’t normally leave reviews but I was so disappointed with how this turned out and how we weren’t offered any kind of apology to make up for it that I wanted to make sure others know in future not to trust this place. plenty or other curry places to go to, don’t waste your time and money...

Among the most comprehensive menus I've ever encountered at an Indian restaurant, including Manchurian Chicken, & a few items I'd never even seen before! They also had an impressive drinks menu for a restaurant, including a good selection of Craft, Imported & Domestic beers, not to mention wine & spirits. The wife & I had Onion Bhaji as entree, followed by Lamb Korma with Cheese & Garlic Naan (& of course rice). All were delicious, & the serving sizes were generous. The heat rating system however, was a little different to what I'm accustomed. Mild, Med, Hot, Kiwi Hot, & Indian Hot, where I'm used to seeing around 8-12 heat levels. I ordered the 'Hot' to play it safe, but personally found it to be quite mild, so if you like it hot, you'd best look to at least the Kiwi Hot or Indian Hot. (To be fair, as I was taken a little off-guard by this system, I didn't think to ask if they offered varying levels of Indian Hot, so probably my own fault.)

The service was great. I attended with a party of 14, arriving only half hour before they were planning to close kitchen, yet they were very accommodating & patient. Both drinks & food were served promptly & with a smile. We ran out of rice, but they were happy to bring us more as required. Overall, highly recommended. If you visit Windy Welli & enjoy Punjabi food, look no further, this place is for you.

Unfortunately, as I was with a large group I didn't take any photos of the food, so took some of the restaurant interior as we were...

Food was average but we were unpleasantly surprised by the service. The house wine had turned (brown + sour) so let the wait staff know. Another man came up to the table and told me to order a different wine, and weirdly kept saying “this one is cheap, this one is cheap too”. I tried to tell him it wasn’t about the price, that I just wanted them to know that the bottle they poured the first glass from had gone bad, but he wouldn’t listen and kept talking over me. Never once apologised for the bad wine. Then when we went up to pay the same man tried to overcharge us by over $30. We asked for an itemised bill, and noticed he hadn’t honoured the 50% discount off mains that we’d pre-purchased via First Table. He said “ok, ok, I’ll fix it for you”, then gave us a new bill with an extra rice added?! It was so weird. We had to take out pen and paper and show him how much the bill should be ($55 instead of $87). Thankfully one of the younger staff seemed to know what she was doing and gave us the correct bill. Honestly was embarrassed by the man’s behaviour. The place was dead on a Friday evening and we were wondering why, but the fella’s attitude kind of...