Punjabi Virsa - Cafe & Restaurant — Restaurant in England

No exaggeration, the worst Indian takeaway we have ever had! We ordered a chicken korma, chicken tikka masala, plain rice, naans and a few other bits for a new years treat! Obviously the chef doesn’t taste the food before serving as everything was full of hot spice! I am lead to believe korma and masala are not supposed to be hot and spicy and when we have had it in the UK including other restaurants around Newbury and abroad it is full of flavour and people that don’t like hot spice or are unable to have it these are their go to dishes. Not in this case, totally inedible for us and the kids so in the bin. Tried ringing to discuss with the restaurant but they are not picking up. If you are going to serve spicy food then indicate this on your menu! You use the chilli icon on various dishes on your menu to indicate hot so why not these dishes as we would not have ordered with yourselves or at least been aware so we could have asked for no hot spices to be added. Another thing is your portion sizes, never have I seen such a small flat naan, the size of a pancake. And the chips, we counted 27 in a bag, all mashed together so give or take a few! I don’t think the excuse of a busy New Year’s Eve will wash as we got our order through when the restaurant opened. Obviously if you like spice then maybe this place is for you but won’t be wasting our money here again and should have gone with a regular local restaurant. To the manager of this place, update your menu or get some quality control in place before inedible food is...

Has got the ♥️. So much promise, so disappointing.

The location is so unusual. The restaurant is cute. The menu has many interesting dishes. The service is good. The owner and front of house team are delightful. The presentation of the food works. This is such a anice place!

The food doesn't work.

Am I missing something here? How can something that looks so good with all of the aforementioned support be so disappointing?

The Punjabi starter: dry and tasteless Chicken Tikka, Stodgy and underwhelming Samosa, a strange dry disk I presume was Lamb (or something AWOL from the Birds Eye beefburger museum?), the Onion Bhaji was the savior.

The Lamb Bhuna Bhuna: Beautiful textures, zero taste, zero spices.

The Aloo Gobi: Cauliflower cooked perfectly. The potatoes a little large and almost al dente. The sauce texture perfect. But again like the Bhuna, no taste, no spices.

I'm actually praying this little gem of a much needed authentic Indian restaurant can sort the cuisine.

Give your chef a couple of decent cookbooks ( Made in India - Meera Sodha, The Curry Guy - Dan Toombs, Flavors of India Madhur Jeffrey) or get a new Chef.

I paid 27 GBP for the above and two pints of Cobra. This could have been outstanding.....

I'm going back to give it one...

Was really craving authentic Indian food so took the family along on father's day. The service was excellent, very attentive and a warm Indian welcome. Ordered far too much food as we always do but glad we got a chance to try it all and we brought home quite a few leftovers as portion sizes were very decent. Ordered paneer pakora, chilli paneer, aloo paratha, bhatura, chicken bhuna, mushroom rice, dal makhani, garlic naan, samosa chaat, poppadoms and finally kulfi, with Draught Cobra, mango lassi and salted lassi to wash it down. Ingredients were of excellent quality and the flavours very authentic. We specifically asked for less spicy versions because of the kids but the flavours were still there which they really enjoyed. Nothing was too much trouble and staff were polite and obliging. Seating wise, there are about 4 tables inside, it's quite compact but adequate, parking may get interesting if all tables are occupied as spaces are limited outside but there is parking on some streets around. Definitely recommend the place, it was everything I'd hoped it would be. And price wise, very...