Caprice Restaurant at Crowne Plaza Reading — Restaurant in England

I stayed for a few days at this particular Crowne Plaza, known for its popular Indian restaurant, the Caprice. Although not my favourite cuisine, I was glad to see a lot of options on their all-day menu and a very ambitious set-menu to say the least. As well as an Indian menu, English, Italian and French dishes were also available, including a luxurious dessert selection.

On my first day I ordered the corn-fed chicken breast that came with carrot purée and seared broccoli. The purée, broccoli and thin thyme infused gravy was delicious, however the star of the dish- the chicken, was bland and a little dry. For dessert I had an amazing rum sauce plum and blackberry crumble. Perfectly crispy crumb, soft plums, and a vanilla custard that brought the flavours together wonderfully. On my second day, I ordered the duck salad, confit pork belly and the dark chocolate mousse. The duck salad was disappointing as it was dry and chewy, a far cry from the melt-in-the-mouth experience I was expecting. The pork belly, though paired with a rich herby mash and light serving of vegetables, was again lacking in quality. Having only a few days prior tried a pork belly dish at another Crowne plaza, I was perplexed to see the inconsistencies in food quality. In this case the ambition and complicated elements of the dish, took away from the quality of the meats served.

Nevertheless, dessert hit me with a high note, the dark chocolate mousse was sweet, light and paired perfectly with the tart raspberry purée and strawberry sorbet. I went with a few more sides after that, and I’m happy to say their triple cooked chips were the best ones I’ve had in a while.

We also had breakfast on both mornings which was delicious, especially their full-English and assortment of pastries. I also favoured their plain praunta which was reminiscent of a savoury crispy pancake, mild in flavour and suited to all tastebuds, as opposed to authentic Indian flavours. Their garlic naan and poperdoms were also perfectly fresh and piping hot, but after this good experience things only went downhill…

Unfortunately their paneer was solid and not as fresh as it should have been, and their plain lassi was so bad it made one of our table members sick for two days. Stay on the safe side and order a fine wine or a fresh juice, that lassi gave stomach aches to all who drank it. Yet again, dessert saved the evening- their array of ice creams and perfectly soft and moist chocolate brownie wetted the sweet-tooth.

Service in the restaurant itself was a 10/10 experience. Staff was very accommodating with seating and table arrangements, and very familiar with dishes on all the menus which made ordering a pleasant experience. We got to know our servers well and I was astonished to see they remembered our past food preferences as each day went on. The only reason I have given four stars as opposed to five, is due to a bit of a breakfast mishap where another room’s order was sent to our door and I had to have a rather unpleasant and tiresome phone conversation as to how the order was not ours. However, credit is due where it’s due and the reception did call back to apologise as the breakfast order was indeed sent to our room by mistake. Overall, staff is very friendly and efficient, but my experience in the restaurant was much better than my experience with room service.

Overall I was happy with this Crowne Plaxa’s staff experience and pleased with their excellent, luxury standing desserts. It is very unfortunate about the room-service mistake and the upsetting results of drinking the lassi. Sometimes less really...

Breakfast was great, but I'm excluding it as it came with the room. I'm going to review the restaurant independently to the hotel and spa.

First things first: the price. The food and desserts were way too overpriced for what was given. And I understand it's fine dining, but the taste does not justify the price.

One of the pictures I have is of their Indian rice pudding. There was also a kind of carrot cake. I have to say the Indian desserts were incredibly disappointing. The texture and presentation is okay, and it is warm... Other than that, flavours are lacking. Rice pudding had no taste, it was just warm. You get more flavour from a Muller Rice Pudding pod from Asda. There should have been cinnamon, sugar, cardamom flavours. You can't just decorate it with some pistachio and charge £9 for something so bland.

The other Indian dessert was the carrot cake (Gajar Ka Halwa) which I don't have a picture of. Same thing. No flavour. The strawberry they garnished was the only good thing about this dish. Again a £9, small plate, with the cake no bigger than half my palm.

I mention desserts first because I visited for the Spa at the hotel, and thought to have a quick tea and cake beforehand. There was a dinner with my stay which I'll get into now:

The set menu is £35, for a starter, main and dessert. I've already given my thoughts on the Indian desserts, but there were a few more which me and my partner didn't manage to try. She got a Sticky Toffee Pudding, which was actually really nice. But it's a shame that was the tastiest thing out of all the desserts we got.

My main was a Lamb Rogan Josh, which was actually not bad. My partner got a Butter Chicken. Not enough coconut or sweetness flavour in it. The actual chicken was not tender enough. Felt as if it was pre-boiled, frozen, defrosted, and put into a generic Butter Chicken sauce. The Jera and Pilau rice on the side were basic, as if boiled rice with some spices sprinkled during the plating.

I got two sides (which I paid £5 extra for each). Onion Bajhi, and Vegetable Samosas. They were too fried and soaked in oil. The fillings I could see were done well but, lifting it off the plate, you have a pool of oil. I only had a bite before asking the waitress to take it back. Good thing they took that charge off my bill. Starter was okay, a lamb seekh. Texture was good, and flavours were there but it was too small.

Judging the restaurant alone and not the hotel, the Indian menu is several disappointing, especially because it was the only halal option. My stay and the meal were gifted to me, but if I had to pay £35 out of my pocket for an uninspired, lackluster meal like that, I would have complained much more. And for the food I did like, they were not impressive, just passable. For the restaurant to look so nice, boast it's elegance and high prices, the food was not good enough.

If the staff and decor were not as good as they were I would have given it 1 Star. Though even the lighting was too dim. I would have taken nicer pictures of my meal if I could see them better.

I hope they take this review as constructively as possible. I do see the potential in the food and menu, but as of first impressions...

We are currently staying at the Holiday Inn Reading and were booked in the Caprice Restaurant Fine Dining. At time of order we stipulated that I am allergic to nuts and almonds, as one of the dishes contained these. The food arrived and I happily ate. As I ate I felt funny but continued, then dentified that almonds were infused in to the dish! My reaction got worse and we had to leave to buy medication! I had a restless night and I was very lucky that I did not have to go to hospital because of their error. Today we were upgraded to a suite, but this is simply not good enough.

Christina, from your email, you seem to think you are a medical professional who can judge the severity (or non-severity, as the case may be) of allergies. I say this because you are saying I had a mild reaction. You point out that we left the restaurant and then came back; this is true, because we had to find somewhere to purchase cetirizine hydrochloride tablets to reduce the allergice reactions. We did return, as you say. After paying for drinks and desserts, we did go to the room. I might add, we had no help from your staff, to get the medication; we had to find a store that was open and able to dispense the medication. After retiring to our room, I was unable to sleep, let me educate you, THIS IS THE ALLERGIC CONDITION; it got worse through the night, as I mentioned in the morning to your staff, that should have relayed it to you. Anyway, you would know the nature of allergic conditions, if you were a medical professional. If you are not, and I would not like to assume, then you would not possibly know this. Also, just to respond to your accusation that I am trying to gain compensation from this; I am not; I do not feel that an upgrade for one night is enough as a gesture of good will; and this was agreed with by your colleagues...