Dilshad Tandoori Restaurant — Restaurant in England

I was a regular at the Dilshad about 30 years ago when I lived in Hartlepool. So last week when I was in town for an old school reunion, I was pleased to see it was still going. It's near the railway station and opens at 4:30pm, so I decided to have an early dinner there before my train left. A friend had already told me it's still the best Indian restaurant in town, so I had high expectations. I was not disappointed.

Arriving as the doors opened, I was the only sit-in customer for a while, but others soon arrived. At non-peak times they do a £10.95 5-item deal (£1 extra if you want items from the tandoor), so I picked this, and also ordered a couple of papadums and chutneys at extra cost, and a pint of draught Kingfisher for £4.50. The chutneys included a red sauce with a lovely unique flavour I had not tasted before. They told me it was a "Hartlepool special".

The mixed kebab starter was simply excellent - check photo. Several pieces each of chicken tikka, lamb tikka and sheek kebab, served with a fresh salad, spices and garnish.

For main I had the Karai chicken tikka, which again was superb, with pilau rice. The deal also included a plain nan bread. Portions were generous and I ended up taking away a small container with remains of chicken and rice, together with half of the nan.

Service was good - staff immaculately presented and attentive without being intrusive. Were interested to hear how I had been a regular 30 years previously, probably before most of them were born. Bill was £20 in total on card, and I left a cash tip.

Highly recommended, one of the best Indian meals I have had, and as my friend had told me, probably the only Indian restaurant worth considering...

Avoid at all costs Should be 0 stars to be honest waited 3 hours for food fair enough you got busy but if you cant handle it stop taking orders when it finally arrived it was missing items told they said it would be another 20mins this would make it near 11 at night for rest to arrive said dont bother just want my money back said they would bank transfer which they did not "too busy" It takes 2 seconds to ! Went into see them as not happy after havimg cold chicken tika which just got tossed in the bin told them to come back for food but driver had left the area 5 mins after drop off and i asked for a full refund and they only offered me a 5 pound then slammed 2 pound on the till. 7 pound back from 25 quid its diagraceful! And also broke data protection as they just had my bank details and name on their till on show!!!! If you look at just eat reviews you will see the issues from others wish i read before ordering could of saved a...

I started going back to The Dilshad about a year ago, I eat a lot of curries so i do move about the restaurants but The Dilshad is the one i use the most. Sit in or take away i think ive had one meal which wasnt top notch in the last year. The price is very competitive especially on thursday and sunday when the 3 course special is on, they may call it 5 course but lets be honest its 3. But for 8 quid take away or 9 quid sit in its an absolute bargain.The place has just been re-decorated which doesn't mean a lot to me but looks very nice. The staff are very friendly and good at their jobs and the main thing....The Food, Very close to ten out of ten for me, get a vindaloo and you can taste every ingredient unlike a lot of places who just plough the curry powder and chilli's in because its a vindaloo. I've tried a lot of the chefs specials and to be honest my mouth is watering thinking about them, give it a go, see...