Ayeshas Authentic Indian Restaurant & Takeaway — Restaurant in North East Derbyshire

Ayesha’s Authentic Indian Restaurant was such a letdown, I feel people should be warned.

There was nothing authentic about this place. No welcome when we arrived, no hospitality whatsoever. The main waiter was outright rude, not just dismissive, but visibly irritated when we asked a simple question about ordering off-menu (egg curry and chilli chips, both of which had close variants on their menu). His response was a flat and unfriendly “No,” with zero effort or explanation. Not what you’d expect from any decent Indian restaurant.

When we asked what he’d recommend, he said “It’s all good” — clearly just didn’t care. The service felt rushed and dismissive, like they wanted us gone. They even forgot one of our starters and we had to reorder it.

And the food? Genuinely awful. Every dish tasted the same — bland, lifeless, and totally lacking in seasoning. The rice was dry and clearly not fresh. It honestly felt like most of it came from a freezer.

This was hands down the worst Indian restaurant experience I’ve ever had. Unwelcoming staff, poor service, and terrible food. If you care even a little about good Indian food, do yourself a favour and stay far away...

On arriving, we sat down in front of the bar. We were there for a while until we were asked to confirm who we were and a drinks order was taken. After this our food order was taken. We then waited a while for a table, though we were given updates regarding how long we would have to wait, which was good, though the escort to our table tended to feel somewhat rushed. On seating ourselves, again we waited a while to be served, though granted it was a busy Friday night. Then cutlery and plates were placed on our table somewhat roughly, an audible noise as plates hit the table for instance. A little later our order was served. Again this was put on the table somewhat brusquely, mushrooms almost falling off the plate of mushroom pilau. However, on tasting the food, it was found to be flavoursome and well cooked, though my Bhuna was a little cool. Toward the end, we ordered two more bottles of the excellent "Black Sheep" which were brought quickly. On the whole, we enjoyed ourselves and felt we'd had a worthwhile evening at a reasonable price and decided that we may...

We had a curry from Ayesha's a while ago and it wasn't that good, so we avoided it for a while. We decided to give it another go and this time it was great; the food was plentiful and the best thing for me was the metal containers full of the usual sauces (yoghurt and mint, mango chutney) which lasted from the popadums, through the starters and into the mains, why do you never usually get enough sauces?! .... it's a little pricey for some dishes, but we will be back again soon, not least to make sure that the previous less than satisfactory experience...