Dipali Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in London

It had been twenty three years since my wife and I visited Dipali. Our experience then was of lukewarm food arriving late. Surely things had changed? I took the time, and the offer to, "eat out to help out" to find out.

This was a weird, déjà vu experience. A direct comparison is difficult but in terms of world beating languor, the service second time around tops the league.

The serving staff were few in number and uninterested, not a welcome, not a hint of a smile. (Of course, when you go in you don't know at that point that they have nothing to smile about.) We waited fifteen minutes before ordering. Our starters arrived twenty minutes later. Food OK. Another forty minutes and continual prompting of staff who'd clearly rather be watching Netflix (good choice, I'd say) and our mains arrived. Again the food was decent apart from a barely warm, doughy nan. Our joy at having something to eat was not to last. Our neighbouring table, diners who arrived right after us, had had nothing at all to eat in over an hour. Not a smidgen, not a complimentary poppadom, not a pickle. Somehow, they were placid and took this stoically as if mentally shrugging it off as part of life's cruel tapestry. They did get served, eventually, but any pleasure we had in wolfing down our curry was marred by an occasional glance at their hungry faces, the smells of our food having elicited a Pavlovian reaction.

So, you think, "this can't get worse; we're eschewing dessert so can make off quickly". No. Paying was such a trauma that my son and I eventually left my wife in the till queue and walked home while she followed later in the car. The problem? Another unfortunate diner was having a debate on the bill - particularly, the Government discount. Bizarrely, the till man couldn't work it out. He believed that the unfortunate diner got half price on either the soft drinks or the food, but not both! This particular interpretation defies common sense yet on he ploughed, trying to charge half price on the cokes and full price on the food. It was then a fuming diner revealed himself as a fuming trading standards officer. No, you could not make this up.

So, in sum, if you're looking for joyless service, sullen atmosphere and enough time to get through a sizeable chunk of War and Peace, this is the place to go. Anything else and you'll have a terrible night. Just avoid. Life really...

I'm giving a low rating due to the upsetting customer service. The main waiter who served us kept a straight face and spoke in a 'strict' tone. I politely requested the waiter to provide another table as the one provided to us was very smelly due to smelly table cloth and napkins. I'm usually quite tolerant but the smell was quite bad and both of us could smell the bad strong odour and we were quite hungry and tired. He got really upset and said I gave you the best table and don't say that the table is smelly as other customers might hear it. I found it funny as he was trying to hide it. I smiled and said but that is the truth. The other table where we sat later was not smelly. The whole time he had this strict look and tone. Other waiters seemed alright. 2 others served us. They were alright(Especially the youngest one).

While leaving when we checked the bill, massalla Dall was priced as £4.95. But in the menu it was for £3.95. My GF politely asked him the price and he said £4.95. After all that had happened, we didn't want to upset our moods by confrontation for a quid so we just paid the bill and thanked him and left.

Solution: All he had to say was.. Oh sorry about the smelly table, you can take any other table as the reataurant was about 70% empty as it was just before closing hours. Bill should be printed after double checking. Staff should be trained to be professional.

Positives: The ambience was nice. Chapatis and Massalla Dall was nice. (Better than most of the other Bangladeshi restaurants). Mushroom curry was not bad.

Thanks...

This is a terrible restaurant. Avoid it at all costs. The waiters were rude and acts like you're inconveniencing them for being there. We paid £125 for 3 people’s meal that were barely edible. It was lunchtime. We had just visited Alexandra Palace and were like looking for some indian food nearby. What a mistake! They were serving rotten salads and may be the chicken was cooked at least two weeks ago.

Almost anywhere else would have been better. I don't know whether it was the fact that the food was listed under veggies or that there was a 10% service surcharge on top of the inflated prices or that soft drinks cost £10. I don't know whether it was instant glare we got when we entered the restaurant which made us feel unwelcome, the snappy and rude 'No' response when we enquired whether they had any vegan meals.

I don't know whether it was the hieroglyphic bill designed to confuse us on leaving or the scared and silent faces of the several fellow tourists also incarcerated alongside us. We made good our escape and paid someone to let us out of the front door (leaving our card details would have been too risky)!

We can only hope that those we left behind, later managed to find safe passage out, possibly when the guard's backs were turned by means of some distraction. The cheapest possible food at the highest possible prices, effectively a greasy spoon masquerading as a restaurant. The only plus-side was my indian curry looked like a...