The Shalimar — Restaurant in Derbyshire Dales

First of all, the staff are 5 stars, friendly, very helpful and went to great lengths to check our order was suitable for my partners allergies/intolerances. The gentleman on the phone was polite and took the time to check over our concerns before ordering.

Before you read on, the photos were taken after plating and before either of us even tried the food. After reading reviews and getting the recommendation from our holiday staff, I anticipated this review would have been 5 stars. Unfortunately the food was a let down, still the photos are nice hence why they are included.

The food looked good, but tasted bland and was not up to standard. My partner ordered the chicken Desi, unfortunately she remarked on the lack of flavour, I tried some and agreed. My lamb Rogan Josh had some spice to it, and the meat was cooked very well, but again it lacked the usual flavours expected with indian cuisine. The same can be said for the sides, my Keema Naan was bland and still very doughy, my partners Chapati was burnt on one side. The small side salad contained wilted lettuce, one sad tomato and cucumbers which were going bad. The chutneys and pickles were nice though.

You're probably wondering why didnt we phone up and ask for a new order, we were in holiday (staying 3-4 miles away from Matlock), it was very late, our 18 month old had just gone down, and we were told the restaurant was busy. We ate until satisfied/full and left the remains. Which is a shame because evidently the restaurant produce good quality food, just unlucky on...

We enjoyed and absolutely wonderful evening at The Shalimar last Thursday evening. The restaurant was not busy and it was nice and quiet. While it was dark outside it was lit sufficiently inside for us to be able to read our menus (something which many restaurants fail to do). We ordered poppadoms and pickle tray, mixed vegetable platter, chicken korma, tandoori mixed grill, lemon and cashew rice, a cheese naan and a peshwari naan. The portions were perfect and we had plenty to eat. All the food was very tasty and nothing was too spicy. The pickle tray and mixed vegetable platter came with a decent sizes sauce boat of Raiti, which again, was very tasty. Everything was as good as we have ever had and will definitely be returning. In particular both naans were excellent, with the cheese one having a visible layer of cheese all the way through. Both the naans were very moist and unlike many peshwari naans, nothing fell out of it while I was trying to eat it. The 3 staff that served us were all very pleasant and welcoming and they were always keeping an eye out in case we needed anything, so we did not have to wait long at all when we needed somebody. As I said at the outset, we had a wonderful evening as everything was perfect: atmosphere, staff, food quality, flavour, portion sizes and price. We look forward to...

I regret to say that our recent visit to Shalimar was far from satisfactory. From start to finish, there were issues that left us feeling frustrated and unimpressed.

To begin with, the table behind us voiced a concerning complaint about their chicken being raw—something that immediately raised doubts about the quality and safety of the food being served. Our own dishes were bland and lacked the rich flavors we had hoped for, failing to deliver the authentic Indian cuisine experience we were expecting.

On top of that, the billing process was confusing and felt unprofessional. Our total bill came to £133.70, and when we requested to split the cost, we were both charged different amounts, both exceeding half of the bill, despite the server using a calculator. This left us feeling overcharged and bewildered.

Adding to the discomfort, just as we finished our meal, a staff member waved an NFC card to solicit reviews—a move that felt forced and insincere. This practice might explain the abundance of glowing reviews the restaurant appears to have online, but in our experience, these reviews seem misleading and far from reality.

Overall, Shalimar fell short in both quality and professionalism. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this restaurant based on...