Blue Elephant Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in England

This is the first time that I've visited the Blue Elephant having heard mixed reports about it. I decided to go on a Tuesday to try the advertised 4 course buffet for £10 deal. The building is very imposing and well situated and the potential for making a unique eye-catching spectacle has been sadly lost. The exterior is shabby with paint peeling, cracked flags on the steps and the grounds infested with weeds - this was my first visit to the restaurant and these are the things I first noticed, my first impressions. Once inside, again you see the potential for this place. It's a great sized restaurant and modestly decorated in an 90's style. The 4 course deal is a con. In any other restaurant, 4 courses suggests starter, main, dessert and either coffee or cheeseboard. At the Blue Elephant, 4 courses comprises of poppadoms (which any decent Indian restaurant should do free as standard), appetiser, main dish and a choice of either rices or breads. That is it! The fact they consider that rice and/or nan is a course in itself and should not be included with the main is laughable. Food portion size was questionable - I did leave hungry but more importantly flavours and seasoning were missing. I had tandoori mixed grill to start and a lamb main from the chef's specials selection (think it's called a Shaktor). The food was presented well with 80's style tomato and cucumber carved flowers but was so, so bland. The mushroom rice was the nicest thing I ate that night - it was quite good but everything else was sadly very underwhelming considering the the amount of effort they have pout into a recent advertising campaigm with flyers etc.

They claim to be award winning - the only award they have won is a food hygiene award - they have won nothing for tjhe quality of their food and it is highly likely they never will when they produce a standard of food that can be easily matched by opening a jar from the local supermarket.

On a positive note, the staff were very attentive yet not overbearing and very, very polite and professional. I could not fault them.

I would not recognise this place to the discerning Indian food addict and sadly I would not...

Having moved from Birmingham a few months ago, we are now very happy to have found our regular Indian!! There was ample parking for the car, and the overall restaurant was spotlessly clean (fresh tablecloths etc between each diner). The serving staff were very polite and efficient; no constant badgering or false smiles, very sincere, welcoming and knowledgable about the menu. The food was fantastic, everything arrived piping hot and timely, plus it tasted great! In total we ordered, 4 starters, 2 mains, 5 sides, 2 desserts and 2 drinks for the grand total of £60-could not have been more happy with this. The menu itself was very wide ranging; from all of the familiar curries, to some of the more obscure (but great sounding) Bangladeshi specialities. Can't wait to get back there and try the other dishes. If you're in the area and are looking for a decent Indian, The Blue Elephant is definitely...

Food as always was lovely but the wait time for our food was unacceptable, waited 1hr 15 for our starters & then over half an hour for our main meals all in all we were there nearly 3hrs. The waiters were lovely as always I wish I could say the same for the manager who was not interested at all with our complaints, there were 6 of us who all complained to him. We weren’t the only people who complained I believe some people walked out & lots of others complained including those who were waiting to pick up their food orders. The onus seemed to be on the Just Ear Orders, the manager couldn’t have cared less, when one our party had finished saying what they wanted to say he said ‘have you finished’! Not sure if we will go back which is a shame as the food...