Tamarind Table Westhoughton — Restaurant in Bolton

A western Indian dilemma.

This is a 1.7 star review. 🌟

Tamarind table was recommended by a work colleague so I decided to give it a go as the Google reviews were also very good.

I messaged the restaurant the night before via Google (the first time I had used the Google contact service) They responded quickly.

The restaurant is on a main road with privite parking at the rear. We booked early as we expected a Friday to be busy.

On arrival we was seated promptly. (me, my partner and our 5 year old daughter) Shortly after a waiter came and took our drink order. I ordered a pint of cobra. It was served promptly but didn't taste like cobra. It wasn't a bad pint probably something different but It was good enough to drink.

The waiter came to take the food order shortly after and we advised we was vegan and my partner asked if they did a sagg dish (spinach) as it wasn't on the menu. The waiter was unsure so Another waiter came shortly after answer was no but they did a palak dish which was the same. (technically its not the same but similar). My partner ordered dahl soup for starters and I ordered onion bhaji. The waiter later returned to inform me that the onion bhaji had egg in it and was not vegan so I ordered a vegetable samosa. We ordered the vegetable palak and a vegetable bhuna and requested the bhuna spicy with lots of fresh corriandor. On Google said the restaurant had a children's menu but this was not true. They offers us chicken nuggets but we opted for a small portion of butter chicken and chips for our daughter.

The starters arrived promptly. The Dhal soup was nice, it had a prominent dry earthy tumeric taste to it that may not be to everyones liking buy it was nice to us. It could of done with a little salt seasoning. The samosa was lightly spiced with a gentle crisp served with a side salad. It was reasonably good. We decided to order 2 papadoms for our daughter after the starters had been served which came with a sweet mango pulp puree. Papadoms were on the menu but we never requested any initially. It is the first Indian restaurant I can recall ever visiting that has not brought papadoms to the table as a complimentary appetiser. This is not a critical point in my review but more an observation.

I had requested a second pint of cobra that seemed to be the genuine article. mains followed shortly after. The sagwala was different from what we had ever tried at any other Indian restaurant and certainly wasn't the best. The bhuna did not resemble a bhuna what so ever nor did it have the corriandor that was requested. It was more like a tin of sweet tomato soup with a spoonful of garam masala added. I had to question if the chef was really Indian. The waiter said he was but admitted that he wouldn't eat that food himself. He explained that bhuna was not a spicy dish but that was not really the issue. He also explained that the food was aimed at the western palate (this is maybe the driver of my issue) The waiter advised that he would bring another dish that was more like what he would order. When it arrived it was darker in colour, hotter and had a little more depth of flavour but despite tasteing better it had the same sweet undertones.

The staff were friendly and polite. One of them engaged in conversation about veganism and was very friendly. Overall despite the friendly staff The food was very disappointing and far from authentic Indian cuisine. The decor was modern and contemporary, generally clean and tidy with a slightly cold ambience. It is hard to believe that this has a 4 start plus rating with the dishes that they served but maybe we are just victims of the...

A very disappointing Saturday night meal. I have visited this restaurant many times, and sadly, last night their standards were very poor.....a victim of their success....the place was unbelievably busy. Standing room only downstairs at the bar and waiting area,and upstairs fully occupied. We were a large party, booked in advance, and everything was slow, service was chaotic and food was not what I have come to expect. Mixed starters were not fresh, temperature was tepid at best, with disappointingly bland flavours. Poppadoms and dips were ok. Asked for water at the table, and this took 2 hours to show up, despite asking for it repeatedly. A few people ordered coke, and they got very flat dilute syrup....asked for it to be changed.....came back the same......eventually bottled coke arrived. The mains were nothing special. I ordered fish shashlik....it was awful. The fish was mushy, salty and tasted of nothing. I didn't have rice, just naan bread....again disappointing. Overall, one of the worst curries I have had.....and doubly disappointing as I have had some very very nice meals here...

My wife and l visited the Tamarind Table on Christmas Eve yes it was busy we booked for 7pm we expected that what l need to bring to their and your attention is the quality of the food we had the usual starters pappadoms and rashmi kebab and a thrown together prawn puri.it was the mains that let us down my wife asked for chicken tikka on a skewer this came and was tandoori chicken My main was king prawn madras which came with what seemed to manufactured prawns nothing like what l expected whatsoever please don’t get me wrong it’s not the first time visiting there by far but on this occasion very disappointing indeed, I was also violently ill a my daughters the following day l cannot say for sure what caused that event,l would be interested if anyone else had my problems and food issues.This will not stop us trying the Tamarind again but NOT on a special day such as Christmas or the New Year celebrations.j Many thanks...