Kalpakavadi Restaurant — Restaurant in England

What an absolutely shocking experience we had a Kalpakavadi on Thursday 9th December.

It was our office Xmas party and we decided to try out this restaurant as we'd heard positive things. I had originally booked for 12, but due to drop outs we ended up as a party of 9. We arrived around 8pm, and it took about 15 minutes to get a drinks order (they were busy, but not overly so, there were empty tables). We ordered a popadom selection which was delivered quickly to get us started. We had to wait a while to place our order, and we each ordered a starter and main course. About 20 minutes later the manager came over and said that everything we had ordered formed part of the set menu and it would be quicker and more cost effective to have the set menu, so we agreed. After a long wait, some starters started to arrive, and nothing was what we ordered, although the food was relatively tasty, there wasn't a great deal of it and it wasn't what we ordered at all. After another long wait, we then got a course we weren't expecting consisting of a lamb chop and a piece of chicken, which was tasty enough. We has been there coming up for about an hour and 45 mins at this point, and had had a couple more drinks, once we managed to track down our waitress. At this stage two of our party had to leave, without having had their main courses. At about 10:15pm, after various complaints, some main courses started coming out, but again it was not what we ordered (some dishes were, but most weren't). I complained to the manager who was pretty aggressive and stubborn not seeing that they'd done anything wrong - we had agreed to the set menu and understood that things would come in bits and pieces, which wasn't the case at all, we accepted the set menu on his advice on the understanding that we would get the dishes we ordered. He then tried to charge us full price for everything, even though 2 people had to leave without having their main courses. We didn't have any deserts, which were supposedly part of the set menu. I complained again, and he knocked a small amount of the bill, at which point I started getting pretty angry. I eventually agreed to pay approx two thirds of the bill, which the manager was not happy with, but that's where we ended up.

I would not recommend this restaurant, the manager is obnoxious, the food is ok, but the service...

On every trip to England I always try to have at least one Indian meal. Such is the case with my choosing Kalpakavadi due to its high rating (which, as I late found out, should be taken with a pinch of salt, as the restaurant offered each reviewer a free main course in a monthly drawing for high reviews) on Tripadvisor .

Mindful of being a solo diner without prior reservation, I called the restaurant ahead to ask if they'd have time/table for me that evening. The call went unanswered for a few minutes before being picked up, and a male voice enthusiastically answered: "... no problem! Come, come! What's your name? ... Sure! We'll be expecting you!"

However, when I finally walked there from my hotel, I was subject to an entirely different kind of greeting. For the first 5 minutes I was totally ignored. I took the time to size up the room - no more than 10 feet away from me were two men in discussion behind the bar, some waitstaff working at the back of the room and reporting to these men, and there were several open tables.

The uncomfortable silence stretched on until one of the men behind the bar acknowledged me with a smile and a nod. I had expected a quick "we'll attend to you shortly" or some such platitudes, but no such luck - he went back to his conversation with the other man.

That's when it downed on my that a woman dining alone was not welcomed at this establishment, despite what had been said over the phone. I turned around and walked out - there was another Indian restaurant down the street that looked much more lively (and I'll separately review my experience there).

Perhaps once there had been some obscure and unwritten code of etiquette forbidding a single woman dining alone, but the society has moved long past that. It just takes a place like Kalpakavadi to show what ugliness still lurks...

This is a great place to eat, let me tell you why. Five of us (1 wheelchair user) went here on a Sunday night. We were greeted by Suraj who made sure we were all seated and comfortable. We were given a menu which is not your traditional curry house menu as all dishes have a very detailed description. The dishes themselves are Indian cuisine not your bog standard korma, tikka, jalfrezi, vindaloo, etc. After ordering our meals the poppadoms came quite quickly to the table. These were an indication of how fantastic the rest of the meal would be. They were fresh, crispy and tasty, and also in the dish were some plantain, chickpea bits and another tasty snack. There was a variety of different dips to accompany them. These were extremely tasty too. We didn’t have to wait long for our mains. I personally had the Quilon Carb Moilee, which was absolutely lovely. The deep fried soft shell crab was cooked to perfection and it was served on a soup like base, almost resembling a Thai yellow curry with added onions and peppers. The rest of the dishes were superb too. The portion sizes were spot on. We were checked on during the meal by Suraj who was attentive at all times. When we were due to leave, again he made sure that we were satisfied and assisted with the wheelchair user. We then engaged in conversation with Suraj who turns out to be very knowledgeable and a cracking bloke who gave a personal touch to our evening. He’s a real asset to Kalpakavadi. The total bill for this wonderful meal including starters, breads, mains, rice and drinks for the five of us was under £165. It was worth every penny. It’s such a shame we don’t live in York otherwise we’d be...