Haveli Great Lumley — Restaurant in England

Me and my family visited Haveli for a sit in meal on 07/09/23. We live in Lumley so have ate in house and ordered takeaways from here countless times over the years. The closing time is stated at 11pm, so didn’t think anything of coming in for a table at 8:45pm. When we entered, we were asked “what time do you call this?’ As though we’d walked in 30 minutes before closing. Granted, the restaurant only had one other table in, but if your closing time is listed as 11pm, I’d expect you to close at 11pm.

Our server was consistently rude and rushed us throughout our entire time inside the restaurant. Comments were made throughout the ordering process such as “no starters and just mains then?” and “are you sure you’ve been here before?”.

The food as always was great, but the service was horrific and left us wishing we’d never bothered coming in. Towards the end of our visit, we’d finished our food but a couple of us still had drinks. Our server hovered over us and was waiting for us to finish and said ‘no need to neck your drinks but I want to get home’. A highly embarrassing and unprofessional comment which made us all look at each other in disbelief.

To top it off, I never had to ask for the bill, as our waiter said “I’m going to be cheeky now and go and grab your bill”. Our total came to £93, I asked our waiter if contactless would work - he replied with “it depends if you’ve spent enough”. Once again, highly unprofessional and a disgraceful attitude to have towards customers. I’ll make sure my £100 goes to a better establishment in the future.

I think we’ll stick to Le Raaj from now on, where they know how to properly treat customers, and don’t rush them out of their restaurant and make them feel like a hinderance by putting money in their till.

Response to owners

The fact you’re refusing to accept any sort of accountability is bizarre, I really expected a more professional response from a usually great restaurant. There was indeed multiple members of staff on shift, but the waiter serving us was consistent throughout our stay. I don’t know why you’d have multiple staff members serving the only table in the restaurant. The rest of the staff at the front of house were around the bar area, yourself included where you were sat down at the top table. I have no doubt that you’ve let people stay after closing time in the past, but on this particular occasion we were rushed out of the restaurant as everybody was after an early finish, which is more than fair considering you were quiet and we were the last table, but don’t bother seating customers in the first place if you can’t uphold and maintain your standards and professionalism even...

WOW......jumped on a Facebook feed and ordered my first meal for my birthday last night. Best takeaway we have ever had. Ordered over the phone lady who answered was very polite, took our order and said it would be with us in half an hour. Turned up bang on time food piping hot and really nice delivery guy. So, onion bhajis were lovely and crispy and fresh, 2 the size of a tennis ball with a fresh salad and mint dressing. Deffo need to try. We ordered half tandoori chicken, tandoori thali (take a look at this dish on the menu), excellent price and so much, mixed balti spicy, Every mouthful was delicious, so many flavours, big portions and plenty of meat, not to mention the prawns. Can't wait to have a sit down meal next year when things are quieter. PLEASE GIVE THEM A TRY UOU...

Cannot fault this restaurant. My first time visting tonight.

The staff were fanstatsic with my children and very attentive to our table. The restaurant was clean, it had a nice atmosphere and well decorated. Most importantly the food was excellent and fairly priced.

We used to dine at Le Raaj in Chester Le Street for Indian food, but the prices became astronomical! So we decided to look elsewhere.

Tried here on recommendation and so pleased we did, it was easily the best curry (better than Le Raaj) I have had in a long time. We will be returning very soon, of that I have no doubt.

My daughters said "it was the best restaurant I have been too", word for word, they loved it.

We now have another restaurant to dine as a family.

I would...