The Royal Indian — Restaurant in Great Britain

UPDATE: Went back for a family meal in September 2021 hoping that there had been some improvements but sadly not. We had a new waitress who could not really help and was not being supported. Manager who spent more time taking phone/online orders (even whilst taking our order). Ultra-slow service - we waited an hour for our lacklustre main course. Also the food is underwhelming. I will not be going back I'm afraid....

Previous review - We reserved a table on Saturday night in the ground floor seating area for a group of 12. We were really looking forward to an authentic Indian meal after hearing some good reports of The Royal Indian. This is quite a modern-looking narrow restaurant. Our hopes of a good meal and service were dashed quite quickly. Lacklustre (unattentive at times) service, errors with orders (how could you get a naan order wrong?) and a kitchen that could not cope with a busy Saturday night did not help. Starters were mediocre at best and way too spicy. Avoid the Mixed Grill. It is too dry and lacks flavour. We waited for over an hour for our main course.... What you would expect was a simple order of an "on the bone" chicken curry came to us as a boneless curry. When we raised this, they said they could rectify this quickly.... Indeed our dish did return quickly but after closer inspection we saw that 2 or 3 on the bone pieces had just been added to the original serving bowl. The Kheema Peas was just boring, plain and watery. This was a tasteless under-spiced main course. I am sorry to write that this was a truly unimpressive restaurant and meal. They really have some hard work ahead of them if they wish to improve their offering. Worth avoiding and worth going...

Great food at a great price but it's always empty.

I've been here on 2 seperate occasions and the food has been lovely both times. I strongly recommend the Paneer sizzler. Although a little spicy for my taste it's cooked to near perfection and literally comes out of the kitchen sizzling. Whilst you wait you are given a free appetiser of pappadoms and 3 chutneys. (mango, mint/raita and the third I can't remember)

The owner/waiter seems friendly enough. Although there are 3 main issues with this place.

The place is literally empty (apart from the owners friends) on both occasions visiting me and my friend have been the only one there. As mentioned above, both times I have visited the owners/waiters friends sit at the table next to the bar. This wasn't an issue for me but as my friend mentioned it would be slightly intimidating for a girls night out having 4-5 mid aged men sitting next to the bar glancing over every so often. The toilets. Again I have the blessing of being able to stand up and pee. Unfortunately my friend wasn't able to use the toilets (which are located up the stairs on the right) as the toilets were not very hygienic.

In conclusion I think this place would do alot better if it was located on London Road or where paprika used to be further up melton road. With its own car park and seperate building. Although the food is lovely and would tempt me back not on a date but...

A standard practice of a restaurant is to get the basics right; which is food, service and pricing. Service subpar; no knowledge of what the item is (had to google half of the menu). Food; eh everything is dry how do you expect a small peice of chicken and half a leg to cook at the same time. Pricing, this is the most ridiculous thing about the whole ordeal, they have put different prices for the same items on justeat, ubereats and deliveroo. And they even have different prices on the same items when you call them directly for takeaway or delivery. They charged us as per their convenient prices which is not professional in any way whatsoever. The food is subpar at best but not worth the hassle really. Won't order next time. If you can't get the basics right, stop and invest your money in something you're good at such as garbage...