Masala Bay — Restaurant in England

Booked for an anniversary meal whilst on a short break in Dorset. Welcoming very well dressed staff and lovely atmosphere and it was full all the time we were there. We asked to move as I needed a chair as oppose to padded bench and the staff owner was very accommodating.

I ordered the lamb korahi and onion rice and my husband had chicken tikka phalli and mushroom rice, we shared a saag paneer, it was all cooked fresh and tasted absolutely delicious and very authentic.

The onion bhaji's and the veg Samosas, both the best we had ever had. We had chapati and peshwari naan too, all good.

You can bring your own wine and lager if you want to, which is a nice touch as wine and lager can be expensive in restaurants

To finish we had pistachio and mango kulfi and they were so creamy and tasted pure and were a great pallette cleanser to end our meal.

We asked to sit outside after to finish our wine and asked if we should pay beforehand, they were relaxed and said no that's fine, so we chilled in the garden comfortably and did not feel rushed at all.

Overall 10/10 from us, we highly recommend this restaurant and beautiful food with attentive and...

Our experience at Masala Bay ended before it started. We booked a table on-line for 5 for Saturday evening, we had our reservation confirmed by email. We arrived at 19:55 to a heaving restaurant and que at the door. We spoke with one of the waiters once we managed to get through the door to confirm our arrival for 8pm only to be told they did not have us on their list of reservations!! Despite our booking confirmation we were asked if we could return in 45 mins. We understood this could have been an error and mistakes happen so agreed to return in 45mins. On our return to manic busy restaurant our arrival was acknowledged, however we were then ignored and left standing at the door for a further 20 mins with no hope of any table coming free anytime soon restaurant was heaving!. We decided to leave and found another Indian restaurant in Christchurch 'Mela' who were able to fit us in on one of their last available tables and the food was delicious. Would not trust a booking with Masala Bay again it seems their booking system is nil as we were not the only ones on this evening who were without tables after phoning and booking online...

First time back in three years and thought we'd try it again as the general standard of Indian Restaurants in Christchurch is poor. We had three starters. Chicken Tikka was well presented and decent. The prawn puri was ok.The prawns were tasty enough but I've never seen it served up in a dish with four tiny bits of Chapati along side it, as opposed to being served on a complete one. The mains were very poor overall. The Biryani was totally devoid of any flavours and served with a small bland curry. The Butter chicken was a tastless thin broth and very poor. The Lamb Madras again lacking any real flavour or consistancy. The one decent dish was the Garlic Chilli Chicken which was nice enough but at £12.95 for a not too generous portion, it ought to be. The service on the night was slow and haphazard. We didn't bring our own alchol so asked for tap water to accompany our meal. The bill of £104 for 4 was expensive in my opinion for the quality on offer and bearing in mind that did not include any alcohol. It would be a lot longer than three years were we ever to...