Archana Restaurant — Restaurant in Belfast

I ended up going to this place after a positive experience having ordered a takeaway previously. I have to be honest and say that this is the first time I was disappointed by an Indian restaurant.

Our family of three visited at dinner time. Upon arriving we were greeted by the manager and shown a table for 4. We asked if we could get a corner table considering my wife was expecting. The space available was set for six (but could have been split into 4+2) . I thought I understood at the time why the manager didn't want to do so lest he get a party of six. But later on a party of 4 came in and the manager offered them the same space. It was only later that I realised that they had more seating upstairs and that dampened my mood. But the low number of stars is not for to this. I'm actually giving the restaurant the benefit of doubt.

Let us get to the main event- the food. We had a mixed starter between is to get going. It was average. Nothing great about it, but nothing to complain either. One thing that stood out was that I felt that may be the oil used for fried starters( onion bhaji and aalu bhaji) was not fresh. Again I was willing to give them the benefit of doubt. For mains, the punjabi chicken masala was recommended to us. I also picked an evening thali and Bhindi masala side to go with some naans. My thali had three dishes- chicken , Lamb and Dal, some onion bhajis, salad and pulau rice. The lamb was cooked perfectly, it came out nice and soft. Chicken average and Dal- slightly below average. I could have cooked the Dal better at home event though I come from an entirely different part of India .

The punjabi chicken masala was good.i must give credit where it is due. But my biggest disappointment that neither me or my wife could distinguish between the sauces in the lamb, chicken dish from my thali, the Bhindi ( lady's finger/okra) or the punjabi chicken. They all felt similar. If you had got me to blind taste then, I could probably have recognised only the Punjabi chicken. And that my friends is what killed it for me. Inspite of having five different dishes on the table, it felt like just two. On their own the dishes were so-so .

Summary-

Ambience. - nonexistent COVID safe- I felt it was too cramped for my liking. ( They do check COVID certificates ) staff do not wear masks. Value for money - No. Quality of food - average Will I return? - definitely not .

We came home with a feeling of regret. We could have gone to our local Indian and had the same disappointing experience. The next day, we purchased a tikka masala from Tesco which left us...

On may 5th My wife and I went in hoping for a nice dinner, but what we experienced was one of the worst dining experiences we’ve ever had.

We waited 25–30 minutes for our main course with zero communication from the staff. No updates, no apologies — just silence. Meanwhile, the staff were loudly arguing with each other right in front of customers. It felt more like watching a behind-the-scenes meltdown than being in a restaurant.

Out of concern, we asked what was going on, and to our shock, we were told that some of the employees hadn’t even been paid yet. That explained the low morale and complete chaos.

To make things worse, the guy who took our order was clearly drunk — the smell of alcohol on him was unbearable. Other staff were just staring at their phones, totally disinterested in doing their jobs.

When the food finally arrived, it was genuinely appalling. We ordered butter chicken, but what we got looked — and smelled — awful. The chicken looked undercooked, the gravy was unappetizing, and they tried to pass it off with a sprinkle of coriander. We didn’t even dare take a bite.

The garlic naan was equally bad — rubbery, cold, and clearly reheated. Honestly, it felt like chewing on stale cardboard.

Trying to make the best of it, we asked for lassi. “Not available,” they said. We asked for cocktails listed on the menu. “Don’t have those either.” My wife then asked for a coffee — only to be told the coffee machine wasn’t working. It was like everything we asked for was “unavailable.”

The only entertainment? Watching the staff argue like a live soap opera. If you’re looking to witness a restaurant falling apart in real time, this place might be for you. Otherwise, avoid it at all costs.

Total waste of money and a ruined evening. Definitely...

Archana food quality used to be great but last night was such a major disappointment. Starter plates were greasy and our mixed vegetable platter contained 2x onion bhajis & 1x pakora which were hard & dry, flipping them over we found they were also burnt so we sent back to the kitchen and declined a replacement course.

While waiting on our mains, I decided to read other customer reviews & was tempted to leave but decided to try for ourselves.

Both plates for our main course was served cold & my knife appeared to have been used as a screwdriver as the head was bent. It was clear that as the 2x waitresses watched us that we were not impressed. The head waiter asked if everything was ok to which we replied how disappointing this experience was to which he assured the same family owned this restaurant.

5 mins later our main course arrived with fresh Peshwari nann bread which contained a powerful portion of coconut, Tandoori chicken appeared to have been oven cooked, unfortunately both sauces were somewhat bland with little texture & clearly water based as it surfaced to the top when left alone for a few mins.

The lack of quality may have been due to the local man cooking in the kitchen cooking Indian food.

This experience was at a cost of £70 which explains why now only 3 people were dinning here during peak time.

A note to Management: Issues listed here must be addressed otherwise this once, vibrant establishment will fail to attract...