Spice Lounge — Restaurant in England

Please do not expect good desi food here. The staff and owners are very nice so it pains me to have to write the rest of this review, please accept my apologies in advance. From purely a managerial sense you seem to run an amazing restaurant. Let me preface this by saying my standards are not high, and I assure you I am quite happy eating those tescos indian microwave meals. I have been to spice lounge around 12-13 times for various socials and events and I must say very few dishes here are even remotely passable. Expect bland, over sweetened, and often very strange flavours. I keep going here again and again after reading the reviews and assuming something is wrong with me. Why cant I enjoy these dishes?

The service is very nice, attentive, and honestly I have no complaints, the wait staff employed here at the moment are very good. the restaurant and ambience are also quite frankly better than a few few places in durham and the location is excellent. I just cannot recommend the food. Here are a list of items I have ordered over the years which I have had multiple times and would steer clear of:

Starters: Onion Bhaji ,Samosa, Paneer Tikka Starter, Hariali Chicken Tikka. Chicken Tikka Starter

Mains : Makhani, Madras, Dupiaza, Pasanda, Bhuna, Rogan Josh (In chicken, chicken tikka, lamb, lamb tikka)

Biryanis : Chicken and Chicken Tikka Biryani

Grills: All.

Dishes you should/can order:

Naan (the naans are not bad, they are a little thick, I wouldnt go just for naan but its no worse than...

The capital has always been our number 1 stop for curry in the north east..... that was right up until today. We decided to break from the norm and give the spice lounge a go and I honestly didn't think that curry could taste so good.

We had the tandoori Thali and it was absolutely out of this world... I literally couldn't fault a single thing. It's a dish that has a little bit of everything, tandoori chicken, tikka mutton, Sheek kebab, tandoori king prawn, tikka masala, pilau rice and a peshwari naan. All of the meats were extremely tender and seasoned to perfection. Tikka masala can sometimes be a little over sweet but it was a perfect balance between sweet and savoury, I've never had it that good before.

The service was absolutely outstanding, all of the staff were extremely friendly and accommodating when members of the group wanted to make small changes to the menu. I don't normally do this but I asked to speak to the manager/owner as I wanted to compliment how fantastic everything was, the guy was such a genuine nice and friendly guy who took the time to stand and chat a little with us.

This is hands down the best Indian food we have ever had and one of the best dining out experiences I've had. This will 100% become our regular haunt and I can't recommend it...

A group of 6 on Saturday evening. First visit. No greetings, were led to table. Drinks orders taken by a non-responsive young lad who just stood there. Very odd. The glasses were not clean. They saw us polishing them, no reaction. No smile, nothing! Extensive menu with some odd descriptions (Sri Lankan, Singapore). Food order taken, they saw us struggling with some choices. No help, no recommendations – These are all upsell opportunities!!!! Open the wine bottle! Pour the wine! Interact! Wake up!!!!!! The Onion Bhajis were good. The spicier curries were ok. The Korma was sickly sweet! The Biriyani tasted of nothing, no depth. Halved cherry tomatoes added, really? It came with some unidentifiable curry mush in a bowl, which again was extremely sweet. The parathas were super expensive and not flaky, not good enough for that price. Never were we asked how the food was, no interaction from the staff. Totally lacklustre experience on paying the bill. No thank you, see you again when we left. Staff sitting around on their phones. Overall: Not even distinctly average. A complete fail! 1 out of 5 is the lowest I can give, the 1 is...