Solomons Indian Restaurant & Takeaway — Restaurant in Newcastle upon Tyne

7 years ago I gave Solomons a 5☆ review, which was fully deserved. We've been going here for the best part of 20 years and for good reason, but our last visit may well be our last. The food could not be faulted and has been consistently good over the years, but lastnigts service was quite frankly abysmal. When we arrived there were only 2 other couples inside, so you could reasonably expect a decent level of service. Upon being shown to our table, we waited maybe 10mins before someone came to take our drinks order, this is normally the point where you're offered poppadoms and pickles while you peruse the menu, unfortunately we weren't offered any (A missed sales opportunity from the start.) The couple next to us said they too weren't offered any, so orderd them as a starter instead. A little while later our order was taken and again, another sales opportunity missed. We didn't ask for any nan bread when placing our order, and in the past, if this happened, the waiter/waitress would always ask if we would like any. After our starters, we had finished our drinks, and although the glasses were taken away, we weren't asked if we would like another, again we've always been offered more beverages on past visits, ( yet another missed sales opportunity goes begging.) After finishing our meals, we asked for the bill , along with the couple sat next to us. A perfect opportunity to ask if we would like a desert or coffee, but again, not taken. The 4 of us sat for another 10 mins waiting for our bills, they never came so we went to the front counter to make payment. We asked the guy there if we could pay our bill, he said " can you remember what you had?" Really? In all honesty we could have just walked out without paying, it was that chaotic, it appeared that the staff were more concerned/ overwhelmed with customers collecting takeaway orders, to observe what was going on with restaurant matters/payments. I didn't recognise any staff from our many, many previous visits, so maybe the establishment is under new ownership? Either way, many opportunities to increased revenue were missed and there was a severe lack of any attentive customer service which to me, is a no no. Shall we return? Based on this visit...

We usually love this place and look forward to visiting. We go at least once a year and it's the highlight of our Christmas day out. It's usually our go to venue to celebrate big occasions. This year there were nine of us. This time we were disappointed with our visit. We were seated upstairs after placing our drinks order at the reception desk (all pints of cobra). The drinks took around 15 minutes to arrive and the cobra lager just didnt taste right. We were the only table of people upstairs. The poppadoms and dips turned up quite quickly. Our starters took ages to arrive but were very nice. The main meals were the main problem. We waited for a long time for them. The rice and nanns turned up and sat going cold. The naans were mixed up on shared plates. Eventually the main dishes started arriving but one was sat on a spare table to our side. It took around 10 mins from the first main arriving to the whole table being served. One of our friends decided to leave. The food was great however and staff very apologetic for the situation. We did get a slight discount but it really didn't compensate for the service. Staff said it was busy downstairs but that doesn't excuse us being forgotten. The place hasn't quite been the same since the menu change a few years ago. I think our next big meal out maybe in the city centre ending over a decade...

I've never had any problems with the food from here - it's really good and I have recommended it to friends on numerous occasions. The service is brilliant and on the odd occasion there has been a mistake with my order, it has been rectified quickly and politely. Thank you :-)

I do need to let you know that one of your drivers has a bit of a problem - sorry! I've been meaning to mention this for a while, now.

Every time I place an order, I write a note asking the driver to ring me, because I live 3 floors up, and can't always get to the door immediately (I thought that was what the note part on the order was for).

It's mostly fine, although there's just one driver who shouts at me if he has to ring me (he never knocks the door first - the whole point of putting my number on is that I don't mind him calling if he's tried the door first). I have very good hearing, and 9 times out of 10 I am also downstairs when the driver shows up, so will hear the door. But I don't like being shouted at when I have paid for food. I stopped ordering for a while but got some food tonight as a one-off, and I am nearly in tears (he was just ranting at me, repeatedly, as soon as I opened the door). I don't think I'm going to order again and that's a real shame because I was ordering every week (multiple times a week), throughout...