Aniseed — Restaurant in London

I spotted this place on my way back from the Canary Wharf Tube station to my hotel nearby. I was looking forward to a classical Indian meal and this seemed to be the right place.

On walking in I was dismayed to find that, at towards the back of the restaurant there was a loud group of foul mouthed, middle aged men finishing off their meal. Thank goodness that they were close to leaving so that I only had to put up with their loud, uncouth foul language for 10 minutes or so.

After they had left I could focus on my meal in what was a practically deserted restaurant. I ordered a large, chilled Cobra beer, papadums and pickles, onion bhajis, spicy chicken Vindaloo and pilau rice. All good.

The service was great. Friendly, polite and at least one of the guys was ready to joke with me about their music which was anything other than atmospheric Indian. But at least he found one tune which enhanced the atmosphere of such an...

The lassi and mushroom pilav were subpar, to say the least. The lassi did not taste fresh, and the mushroom pilav was bland and tasted more like jeera rice. The prawn balti was hot but lacked any other real flavour. The naan that came along with it was good.

The service was slow (even though I was initially the only one there), and the manager occasionally preferred to chat with others (in person and on the phone) over taking the table's order.

There are plenty of Indian restaurants around, many of which are good. This one has some way to go before it can be considered half-decent.

A good Indian restaurant combines flavourful food with warm hospitality and a lively environment. Aniseed has vast scope to improve on all...

Went there a week ago to enquire about a dish that was not on the menu. I was told that they will prepare it for me on request. Was there tonight and ordered the dish. Was presented with another dish being passed of for it. I googled an image of the said dish yet the waiter insisted it was the way it was prepared. It was an entirely different dish. With no apologies! I did not have the dish and requested my bill. Really disappointed as I enquired about the feasibility of the dish being prepared before actually attempting to dine there. With regard to service, the younger waiter was lovely and courteous but the older one will certainly benefit from a course in people skills and...