Mumtaz Lounge & Merlins Tandoori — Restaurant in England

We have had a very good meal at the restaurant previously which made us want to return for a family birthday. It was a Thursday evening and a completely different eating experience. While the welcome and service was friendly, the starters were good it was when we received our mains that we were disappointed. We have over 30 years experience of Asian cuisine after growing up in West London so we know what to expect from our orders. So I was surprised when I ordered a balti dish lacking in identifiable vegetables and flavour apart from an abundance of salt, the chicken was undercooked and rubbery. Another of us ordered a biriyani and asked that the vegetable side dish have a little heat to it to contrast with the rice. The waiter suggested Phal strength (we are not the type of English people to be competing on levels of chilli intake) to which he said 'no, just a little heat please'. It seems the waiter or the chef did not understand this and basically put overly massive heat into the rice (not a usual Biriyani) and the vegetables, which by the way, were unidentifiable apart from onion. The tikka masalas were extremely sweet and red (which I know is different everywhere) but the sweetness meant you couldn't taste the tomatoes. It was a family celebration so we didn't complain properly, although we did ask why there was the extreme heat in the rice, and if the chef was ok and the waiter brought yoghurt to bring balance but apart from heat and salt it was still lacking in all the many wonderful flavours we should have been able to taste. It was not a cheap meal and it was one of the worst meals we have had, and sadly it only takes one bad meal to stop going to the restaurant because there are many other restaurants which consistently make great food. Unfortunately we can't recommend this restaurant to anyone on...

Went here today for our anniversary where to start ordered 2 cokes both were flat so asked for them to be replaced so off to a bad start we got there about 6.30 the place was empty we waited ages for our food when it came was told sorry we have 30 deliveries which is why we waited so long. When the food got here we were missing a nan bread when I tried to speak to the guy to ask about the nan bearing in mind the restaurant was empty he cut me up and said let me stop u there the phones ringing then another guy came and replaces the nan I then ordered a cobra beer which was also flat at this point I was done complaining and just wanted to leave when we asked for the bill the guy tries to make up for a bad experience by offing us free drinks on the house and we asked if we could get them to go there was a bit of no we can't but then came back with one bottle of cobra for me and the wife were we supposed to share it as for the food was pretty bad it was a good job I wasn't that hungry I ordered the tandoori mixed grill first time here for our anniversary will be our last time bad service bad food and bad compensation for the above also I rarely ever complain as I'm too embarrassed but...

Tonight I had a reservation here with a big group of friends which was booked weeks ago...when we got there at 7.45pm as we were asked, they said they were not ready for us. So we had go away and come back which we did an hour later....they were still not ready for us...another 30 minutes later we got in...we were sat down on two tables near each other...after already giving them our food order a few days before to make it easy, they still went round twice to collect the food orders!!! So two hours after our booking time and still no food....some of us eventually got our food at 10pm....others were still being served their food at 10.15pm... some of us had to wait for drink orders to be taken whilst the other table had their drinks a while before.... when some of us started leaving as it was getting late, they miscounted the people left to split the bill so some people who were drinking Champagne and some who drank water ended up paying the same!!! What an absolute joke of a restaurant....the only good thing I can say is that the food was very well cooked and tasted lovely....but was it worth a two and a half hour wait.....ummmmm NO!!! I'm afraid I will NOT be...