Essence of India — Restaurant in Dudley

Very impressed with Red Peppers. I’m fussy when it comes to Indian food (being Indian, I know what to expect), most Indian restaurant serve pretty much the same dishes, they’re either too oily or the lamb/chicken is ridiculously massive and overcooked! But, everything from here was bang on! 2*Popadoms came with the order for free (which usually you have to pay extra for on takeout). I had the meat samosa to start - was very impressed, the pastry was nice & crispy but the meat I wasn’t expecting the spice as they’re normally not spicy, but it was a nice spice and not too overpowering (I guess these are brought in and not made on site?). I then had the Balti garlic achari with mushrooms (similar dish I’ve had before, everything else on the menu seems the same as other restaurants but I’m sure the chef(s) offer their own twist). Once again very impressed with this dish, started off having less than half to start off with as I noticed the pieces of chicken and lamb were quite big (I prefer bite size pieces, so had to cut them down so it would fit in my naan), but it was very moreish and had the rest of it! Could taste a few bits of pickle in it and the occasional chunk of garlic. The sauce it was cooked in was very nice and cleaned up with the remaining naan bread & fries. Had a garlic naan bread as well, there’s some hint of sugar in it, which is annoying and unexpected. Mint yoghurt & chilli sauce were provided and both of these are very nice, yoghurt mint was a nice consistency and moreish, whereas the chilli one had a nice kick to it. Fries were hot when they arrived, however had some bits that tasted like it was over cooked or from the old batch of previously cooked chips. Overall, will be ordering again and hopefully visit to eat in. Highly recommended. Only took a picture of the starters, should have taken a pic of the mains, but trust me it...

A year before food was great - went last Saturday- partners starter chicken was rubbery n couldn’t cut it so complained -waiter snatched plate off her and started aggressively saying see you can cut it and threw it back on the table - my lamb byriani didn’t taste right tasted like liver which is the one meat which makes me shudder so I stopped eating after 2 little pieces ( as it was cut up ridiculously small ) and complained - I got told it was lamb - manager came and apologised but the rude elder waiter was hostile asked us what we were waiting for - the manager said he would replace the starter as we were going to leave - elderly waiter told us there was no food coming aggressively - manager was polite offered slight discount but didn’t offer to replace my meal just the starter- I paid £25 for 2 cobra beers - a chicken starter which 1 piece had been eaten - lamb byriani which I ate 1 piece of as well - terrible attitude from the waiter who just wouldn’t even look at us when the manager said he was incorrect - we won’t be returning and didn’t take the replaced chicken starter as we just wanted to leave by that point due to the mean angry old waiter - disgusting attitude but the manger tried his best to appease the situation- sad situation as it used to be lovely food and nice...

Regularly use Essence of India for takeaways but went after a night out to eat in. Ordered meal for 4 just mains and sundries no starters, price charged was a lot more than the menu price. 4 poppadoms £3.50 menu price 50p each! chicken pathia £9.95 menu price £6.95. Chips £2.95 menu price £1.95. Apparently this is the dine in price and they are waiting for new menus. I get that prices are increasing but if you are not told in advance and you have then eaten the meal not much you can do other than pay what they demand. Total of our bill should have been £41.20 according to the menu but we were charged £54.30. The food was ok but much spicier than expected and that was all dishes from the pathia to the biryani. The explanation for that was we should have asked for less spice!!! Overall poor experience and will find a different takeaway for future meals and take our...