Cinnamon — Restaurant in Epping Forest

I used to frequent this establishment a number of years ago - at least once or twice a month. I have since moved from the area and have not eaten there for over 3 years. I decided to return last Tuesday for my sons birthday and felt disappointed with the experience encountered. The restaurant seemed under staffed and those severing were rude and unhelpful. When enquiring about items on the menu the waiter seemed annoyed. When the change of course was being prepared, pipping hot plates were literally thrown at the table in front of us, as with the cutlery. A wrong side dish was presented, but when we tried to bring this to light, we were ignored. As we were finishing our meal, we felt the waiters were rushing us and encouraging us out the door. I felt the service was akin to Won Kei in china town - not how i remembered the restaurant at all. The food quality was good, however, not the best i've had from Cinnamon. Also, the atmosphere was not as vibrant and buzzing as i remembered. What did shock me most of all was the price. It was double what i used to pay - a far greater increase than the quality of food and service warranted on this occasion. Also, check the bill before paying - they added an extra drink that i did not receive! I'm sorry Cinnamon, i will not be...

I've been visiting Cinnamon in North Weald since it opened 18 years ago.

It was within 5 mins walking distance, but I moved and it's now a 25 min drive - I miss it badly!

Not only are Chas and his team really friendly and provide great service, but their food is awesome - quite simply, it's the best Indian food I've had - and I've had a lot!

Cinnamon has become the benchmark to which I measure all Indian meals - most others are nowhere near as good, and whilst a very few have come close, none have been as good, or better than Cinnamon.

I now live in Chelmsford, and whilst there are a lot of Indian restaurants, by comparison none measure up to Cinnamon, so I rarely have Indian nowadays!

High praise indeed, but...

Had a take away from Cinnamon and have to say we were very disappointed. Chicken curry was extremely bland. Chicken tikka had a strange smokey flavour to it, a bit like a pepperami or something. Plus points there was huge amounts of food, even the mint sauce came in a metal tin lol. We were charged for the sauces and onion salad even though the mint sauce and salad was supposed to come free with the tikka. The Lamb was also very dry and tough. They also forgot the lime pickle completely. The chicken madras wasn’t even hot! How hard is it to make a spicy curry?? I’m giving 2 stars as it was just about edible and we got some free popadoms but definitely not worth...