Ashiq — Restaurant in Dunfermline

I have a wonderful story about this place that I've been meaning to tell for a while. I spent a year studying abroad in the UK and was very fortunate that my family were able to visit me around the holidays. Since it was the first time we'd all be there together we made plans to meet in London and work our way back to Scotland where I was staying. As part of this grand adventure, I purchased tickets to the Red Hot Chilli Pipers for all of us and arranged for our journey to take us through Dunfermline the night of the concert, where they would be playing.

We arrived to Dunfermline by train the day of the concert. We'd been traveling for a while by then, dragging our luggage across the UK on rolling cobbled streets, and were all completely beat. Our final destination was still a few hour's down the line, so we wearily made our way to the concert venue hoping they might be kind enough to stow our luggage until the event later that evening. With the show just a few hour's off, however, the venue was still shut tight with not a soul in sight.

Exhausted and hungry, we slowly pivoted and began the slow slog down the nearest side street hoping to find a place to eat before we had to make our way back up to the venue. Our search took us several blocks away, however, as many establishments were not yet open and the first one we came to was far too rambunctious for us in our present state of fatigue.

Finally we came to Ashiqs. Populated but relatively quiet with subdued lighting, we found a comfortable booth for the four of us and the staff kindly offered to stow our luggage in the back. Soon we were diving into their delicious appetizers and felt the life ebbing back into us. But it had taken us so long to lug ourselves to the diner that I became increasingly anxious about whether we could have a leisurely meal and make it back in time, much less find a place to stow our luggage, again, in-between. Indian food is not fast-food and not meant to be rushed, so my worries mounted as the minutes ticked by, even as I stuffed my face with their savory entrees and felt my mood slowly improving.

Finally we notified the staff that we needed to hurry because we were due at a show. Amazingly, they offered to keep our luggage locked in their store room until afterward. In ordinary circumstances we might have declined, but in that moment we happily accepted their generosity.

So with bellies full and burdens unloaded, we quickly made it back to the venue without missing a minute of my long-planned gift to the family.

There were taxi cabs waiting outside after, so we piled into one and sheepishly explained that we were headed to the train station but needed to stop at the Indian restaurant for our luggage. He must have thought we were nutters. It was around 11pm when we pulled up to Ashiqs and were shortly reunited with our bulky belongings. It became one of our favorite stories to tell...

Usually a fantastic place and generally can’t fault the food in majority. However the last few orders have been consistently poor in terms of service and delivery. They keep blaming their online systems not showing the orders properly. Good measure for that would be to change it or upgrade it. Waited over an hour and close to closing to find out my order was apparently lost or just received.

I advised this isn’t the first time.. they wanted to change and item that would take too long too make. Fair enough swapped it for another after advising that they couldn’t refund with cash and the card payment would take 5 days.

Got the order after a wee while and it was the poorest tasting order I’ve had yet from here. No real flavour, could tell it was thrown together quickly.

Had to laugh at the tub with complimentary butter sauce. Ie the left over sauce from my order or butter chicken.

Do better Ashiqs. It’s not hard to say here’s a discount off your next order for messing it up (due to your poor systems) or throw in a couple popadoms extra or something at least.

Usually the food is good and very good value for money. Tonight’s and several other others of recent have been poor. Somethings not clicking well and needs...

Ordered online at 4.45 to be delivered at 5,45…. 6. 10 called restaurant who advised they had no record of my order .. and would call me back in 5 mins.. 20 minutes later I called them back.. and they advised that their printer wasn’t working and therefore the order hadn’t been sent to the kitchen.. … 6.50 still waiting … needless to say , funds were taken from my account within 2 mins of the order being placed , informed our food will 10 mins to prep and will be delivered within 20 mins …still waiting … first time ordered from here after a recommendation… NOT impressed .. 7.10 .. food still not here ..despite being only 15 mins away from restaurant… this restaurant allegedly is one of the the best Indian restaurants in Dunfermline.. perhaps their food is good… when it eventually arrives. But their service is awful… still waiting ……..called again… will be her in 8 mins … still waiting … and ‘next time I call, I will be given a discount ‘ ………sadly given the service… I won’t get my discount as I will not be ordering from them again… 10 mins gone … still waiting eventually arrived.. standard food.. not bad.. but not great .. samosas soggy .. with thick heavy batter.. the best I can say .. is that...