Holi and Bhang Indian Restaurant & Cocktail Bar, Durham — Restaurant in England

I was so ready to love this place but it wasn't the best experience. Food was meh, more takeaway standard than restaurant standard, but with restaurant prices.

The mango lassi was really bad. It tasted like it had been made with the cheapest possible yoghurt, and the mango flavour was quite weak. It also had stringy bits in it. My partner ordered a mojito which was overly sweet and quite bland. The rice was fine and the naans were fine but nothing special - and not garlicy enough. My curry was a little on the oily side and tasted slightly like burned spices. My friend's Saag Aloo was too spicy despite her asking for it to be mild, but thankfully the other 3 curries were all as hot as we'd asked for (mild, medium & hot).

The interior is a bit tired looking, but it's in a lovely quiet location with a great view from the garden. We decided not to sit outside though, as it smelled strongly of cigarette smoke and the tables were dirty. There was no atmosphere as the restaurant was empty, but we did go early (17:15). However, still no one there when we left around 18:45.

The service was also not the best and we were quite disappointed. At the time of booking I put in the notes that one of us is coeliac, and that I have a mild peanut allergy. The person taking our order didn't reference this so we said it again when ordering to make sure it was taken into account. He asked what kind of flour the coeliac couldn't have... which suggested they don't read the booking notes, but that more importantly he didn't know what coeliac is - imo, essential to know if you work in a restaurant. We asked if the poppadoms were gluten free and the response was "I don't know. We buy them from the shop so best to avoid" - no offer to check the packet ingredients. I asked if the Paneer Makhani Masala contained peanuts or just nuts, and he said it did have peanuts as that dish is nut-based. It sounded like he was conflating peanuts with nuts so I clarified I can have nuts (cashews, almonds etc.) as I'm only allergic to peanuts and asked if he could check. He said he was pretty sure it had peanuts in as that dish is always made with peanuts but that he would check. I've had that dish in countless restaurants and it never contains peanuts so I think he didn't understand that peanuts and nuts are not the same thing. Unfortunately, he didn't check for me and someone else served our food, so my partner and I weren't able to share our dishes. He did seem very friendly, but the customer service was still...

We had the popadom starter which was 1.95 each including the pickle tray- you only got 1 popadom with no real option for more. My partners curry came out ok- he asked for 3 popadoms with his curry which we got charged 1.95 each for them- this wasn't on the menu as an extra so we couldn't really dispute it but I couldn't believe we got charged almost £6 for popadoms! We got a rice to share which came in a little ramican- we'd both ordered extra sides so only wanted half of portion of rice each, what came in my opinion would have been classed as only half a portion of rice. I got the chilli and garlic chicken but upgraded to prawns. The prawns were over cooked but OK, the sauce however was much spicer than advertised. I tried scraping the sauce of the prawns so I could at least eat them but it was still too spicy and after a few mouthfuls the spice had settled on my stomach and put me off- the couple next to us had the same problem complaining the food was far too spicy so I know it's not just me (the dish they had ordered the same as mine was left un eaten). We didn't get anyone asking if our food was OK and most the staff were either really young or didn't speak English but were all too busy to call over. When they cleared our dishes I did tell them I thought the dish was far too spicy and I would recomend they tell customers how spicy it is when ordering. The chef/ owner came out and said that the dishes in the restaurant are spicer than what we are used ti and that because I had the prawn it was spicer than the chicken: were in England so please spice rate appropriately to not mis lead customers and I've never heard of a dish being spicer because of the meat, nor did it say this on the menu. At this point I was annoyed because it was being made out it was my fault- I hadn't asked for a refund but offered advice for future customer service after being unable to eat my tea- £63 for 2 later and I went home hungry The garlic...

If I was rating only the food this place would get a banging 5 ⭐( well, maybe 4 as the rice portions were on the very small side). The lamb was cooked perfectly, sauces were rich and full of flavour and the paneer starter was incredible and beautifully presented. The naan bread was incredible. Food aside, the wheels fell off slightly with the service side of our experience. We booked a table for 9pm, this didn't seem to be a problem but I wasn't made aware they closed at 10pm. We ordered starters to come out with the mains but they arrived first , which wasn't an issue but this meant that we weren't served our mains until around 940. The kitchen was being closed down by this time and staff were finishing their shift which made for an uncomfortable inhalation of our main course ( and lack of photos to add to this review) made even more awkward by the silence from the broken music system and the lights being turned out around us . With staff sitting on nearby tables waiting to leave we didn't dare ask for another drink or to see the dessert menu ( on reflection my waistline is thankful for this 😅). All in all the food was fantastic and I'd return based on that alone but maybe the timings for last service should be reviewed so people don't feel rushed and...