Zaikaa — Restaurant in Epping Forest

This review in my eyes, is totally justified at 1 star. As a vegetarian, I wouldn't expect very much from Zaikaa, which by the way should not be advertised as Indian Cuisine. It is very much Bangladeshi cuisine and there is a stark difference. The saag paneer was sweet, the naan was sweet, and so too was the lemon rice. When we kindly requested a recommendation for a vegetarian dish as we didn't like the sugary paneer (we paid for it still), the waiter recommended a mixed veg dish. The dish that came out was a tomato INCREDIBLY SPICY (we like spice!) mish mash of horrid vegetables. How can you even serve that to anyone? it was promptly sent back to the chef, and no one asked us what they could do to improve the dish. Over priced naan for the quality of what it...

Nice place to come for ruby. Everything seems very clean and tidy, upstairs but that wasn't too much of an issue (Might be if you're a bit worse for wear.) Had the Tandoori duck for starter and it was the perfect size portion of duck breast with a little salad and very nice. Had a lamb tikka vindaloo with mushroom pilau and sag paneer for main, all very good. The perfect amount of heat to taste ratio. Sag paneer was a little too sweet for my liking though. They ran out of Cobra beer halfway through the meal but the kingfisher sufficed and we got a free shot at the end. A little on the pricier end of the scale for an indian, but you get what you pay for foodwise and it's worth the extra not to have to use a toilet that seems more third world...

Very disappointing dining. Although the front of house was excellent with attentive, friendly and well presented staff and a clean, relaxed environment (although the modern lighting is a bit over the top), as well as a nice drinks selection and a good location in Epping high street, the whole experience is let down by the absolutely terrible food. A bowl of generic, likely bought in, red sauce with a few pieces of meat dropped in is not a curry. The fried foods tasted of old oil and the rice was mush. What an embarrassment. At least the naan was tasty so well done to whoever was on the tandoor oven. Sack your chef and sort your...