Dhamaka — Restaurant in England

Booked a table for 7.45. By 8.15 we had water, and my husband a glass but no beer. The lovely tables sat next to us were 45 minutes in, drinks and Poppadoms. But they asked for their drinks 3 times before they arrived. Me and my husband decided to leave. As a prior restaurant worker, this service is poor and unacceptable. When my husband addressed the issues with the front of house staff, he became defensive and claimed we were aggressive. No swearing or shouting from us, my husband was simply assertive. There was no apologetic approach or understanding for our frustration. All we said was "you need to get a wiggle on, people are not happy and waiting 40 minutes without their food order being taken. Not sure if your short staffed or what, but ignoring tables isn't okay". If you cannot receive feedback gracefully and respect your customers, you are going to damage your reputation at a rapid pace. I am very disappointed as we visited from a recommendation but it appears a Saturday night is too much for this place to handle. I do not mind waiting, however the staff should inform customers on arrival and ensure they at least...

Based on the great reviews we visited the Dhanaka as a party of 7 aged from 79 to 4 years old.

Everyone was impressed with the decor and ambiance however we all thought that the acoustics were really bad as general conversations were annoyingly noisy. The use of sound absorbing ceiling and wall solutions and porous tablecloths, curtains, rugs should reduce the noise levels.

The welcome and service was excellent, we ordered drinks poppadoms and pickle trays and a range of main courses and naan breads. Everyone really enjoyed all the food, the portions were generous and the prices were very competitive.

As with many parties a number of diners were not curry lovers and were disappointed to find that the restaurant had no alternative English / children's dishes.

Something to note, bookings are either 6pm or 8pm, if you book for 6 you are expected to leave at 7:45. We only had poppadoms and main courses and left at 7:55, I therefore think that the second sitting should be changed to a more realistic 8:30.

Would I come back, definitely but only with people who like Indian cuisine (especially if Karahi is added...

Heard nothing but great things about the food and I can’t disagree to a degree… we were a party of 6 adults and 2 kids age 10 and 7 celebrating a birthday here tonight. Table was booked for 7pm- the night started off perfectly- starters were beautiful- we felt slightly rushed as after 3 mins of clearing the main came. Then in walked in a booking of 10-12 people who were loud and swearing. After 30mins of this we asked to have our meals to go due to the shouting at the other end of the restaurant- we were brought trays and lids to pack up ourselves! Not wanting to make a fuss in front of the kids we did so- who we think was the manager came over to apologise and said ‘it’s the parents fault- what can I do I’m sorry’ (baring in mind the average age of the group was 40!) I understand you have different groups of people out enjoying themselves but felt the staff were telling the other 30+ customers in there we just have to get on with it and put up with it - don’t think this...