Cinnamon Lounge - Waltham Cross — Restaurant in Broxbourne

I arrived at the restaurant on a Saturday night @ 22.00hrs, apart from a large party of around 12 people i was the only other customer. I was greeted & seated, my drink order was taken & I was offered poppadoms (Which I declined). I ordered the mixed biriyani, plain rice, Bombay aloo, & a nann bread. Nothing fancy. Whilst waiting for my food the party of people started to come up to the counter. One member wanted to pay for what they had had separately from the main group, the staff member behind the counter seamed put out by this request, and kept repeating that the customer should have stated at the beginning of the evening that that is what he wanted to do. It felt like a harmless request seeing as they wasn't rushed off of their feet with lots of customers.

My food arrived and was presented well, my plate, although not cold was only just luke warm, I plated up my food and proceeded to eat.

Let me start by saying the biriyani was perfectly spiced in my opinion, (a biriyani is my go to dish whenever I have Indian food & over the years I've eaten more than I care to think of) My mixed biriyani of lamb & chicken was so delicately spiced as not to overwhelm each component. The lamb was plentiful though unfortunately the chicken was a little inconspicuous, the vegetable curry that accompanied was again spiced nicely though slightly bland, just green beans & potato, the bombay aloo was in very large chunks of potato, the sauce was very under spiced, infact the whole dish was a disappointment. No my biggest problem with the whole meal was the actual temperature, it was just warm, I could have complained there and then & in hindsight probably should have asked them to heat it up some more, but I never. Whilst I was eating the rest of the party came up to the counter, (I was sat at a 2 seat table directly opposite) I heard the customer question the bill especially the drinks charges, somethings were said and agreed then the bill was settled and everyone left, leaving only myself in the restaurant. I was able to finish my meal quickly as previously stated it wasn't hot. I paid a fair price and on leaving I was asked whether it was my first experience of the cinnamon lounge. It was & in all probability will be my last also. & - perfectly spiced biriyani plenty of lamb good nann (though shouldn't mess this up as a staple )

only just warm food hardly any chicken tasteless bombay aloo bland vegetable curry no atmosphere disagreement with customer over payment

Sorry Cinnamon Lounge but it is a disappointing review that I feel I...

Booked for New Years eve after the restaurant was recommended by a friend. A group of 7 of us 5 adults and 2 children. Two families, the first arrived at 7pm and were seated and waitied 20 mins to get someones attention and ordered a drink then then the others arrived at 7.20pm and sat down and again waited 30 mins for anyone to come over having called a couple of staff who kept saying one minute. When the drinks finally arrived we then took the opportunity to order our meal. The waiter made very poor excuses that due to it being New Years eve and lots of takeaway/on line orders we should order quickly but might have a little wait. The restautant only had approx 30 guest in total througout the evening. After being completely ignored for a further hour watching 2 couples leave due to the bad service our starters finally arrived @ 9pm. The waiter was very unattentive and proceeded to hand the food over our heads to get to the end of the table rather than walk around. We then sat for a further hour now having asked 3 waiters at different junctures where our mains were and being told the kitchen had calmed down and they were on their way. Bearing in mind we had 2 small children with us who had been waiting 3 hours for their dinner!! at 10.15pm our mains arrived at this point you are beyond hungry and damn right fed up. The kids were tired not happy and this was supposed to be New Years Eve. There was no music to create some kind of atmosphere and to top it all it was like a scene from Fawlty Towers with the only background sound the constant ringing of the phone, and the sound of yet another customer complaining about the wait time ranging from 2 - 3 hours. By the time we started to eat the Keema naan and 2 Peshwari naan were both returned to the kitchen as they were under cooked and still very doughy. Unfortunately although the rest of the food was relatively tasty after such a long wait we were unable to enjoy it. We gave up and asked for the bill at this stage ONLY did the waiter make any effort to communicate and asked if we wanted a complimentary drink unfortunately he was about 3.5 hours too late. We discussed this with the Manager who until that point also did not make any effort to tend to any of his customers or apologise for the wait having seen how long we had all been waiting for our food. So to summerise customer service rating 0, Atmosphere 0, service 0 and food 3 shame they really did not give customer service a thought I will not be returning and would...

The best kept secret in Waltham Cross We discovered this restaurant a few years ago as a nice stop off on our way home from work on a Friday night but it is actually so much more. It is not expensive or glitzy but the food is authentic, well crafted and absolutely superb and Jamal, the man in charge, is a delight who takes real care and is proud of what he offers.. tonight we went off piste and tried different dishes- what a delight- cannot wait to go again and I am planning to hold my birthday party there! This restaurant should be packed but it is on the edge of town and seems to do a lot of take away meals (lucky local residents). We are lucky enough to have eaten in a lot of Indian restaurants but for the quality of food and flavours this restaurant right up in the premier division. As I said it is not posh, trendy or expensive (yet) but I have paid a fortune at other restaurants and not had food as well prepared and cooked as here. It has moved from being our Indian restaurant of convenience to now being our first choice... try it and let Jamal lead you to special dishes on the menu that will suit your...