Sai Surbhi, Indian Restaurant, Fulwood Preston — Restaurant in Preston

I visited Sai Surbhi on Sunday night and managed to get a table within the hour (last minute decision to eat out!)

I had been here in the past but just for takeaways based off recommendation however I had never dined in. The lady that greeted us (in the green cardigan) was incredibly pleasant and I do remember her from going previously being helpful with sorting out vegan dishes. The menu had clearly marked allergens with vegan, vegetarian etc all marked.

A waiter took our drinks order and offered us some poppadoms which were very nice. Being truthful, no idea what the green sauce was but we guessed some kind of parsley, coriander, chilli sauce that I have never had elsewhere but it was excellent! (If you can let me know what that was, thanks in advance!) We had Cobra to drink, and enjoyed it thoroughly! No complaints there. For starters, the Onion Bhajis and Cauliflower 65. The Bhajis were as good as ever, but the Cauliflower was amazing. Very glad I chose them! The flavours were amazing and you can taste lots of different ingredients including a nice subtle anise which in my opinion went very well.

We hadn’t eaten all day, so we didn’t shy away from the food… For mains, I had a vegetable Jalfrezi which was nice! If I was to be very picky, I could’ve took some more heat as it was described as very hot on the menu but I would personally consider it more medium. That however is a personal preference and it is always difficult to gauge heat right for everyone. That didn’t take away how much I enjoyed the dish however, I chopped the Indian green chilli used as a garnish and mixed it in to give it more of a punch. Perfect! My partner had the Dal Tadka which I have had before and was very good. Both dishes complimented by a mix of the lemon and mushroom rice which were both faultless however I preferred the lemon if I had to have a favourite! The coriander and mustard seeds in the rice worked perfectly! All scooped up in a naan bread and I couldn’t grumble.

We didn’t have any room for dessert, not sure if there was any vegan options but I don’t think so. Maybe some sorbet could have gone down well as some general feedback! The price was very reasonable for what I can honestly say was an amazing meal. I absolutely love Indian cuisine, it’s definitely my favourite. I have eaten curries all over the world, and from my memory this was genuinely the best Indian meal I can remember. Not only for the amazing, tasty food but also for the team. The staff were amazing and a real credit to the establishment. I run a restaurant too, and it is so refreshing to see a team that care, that smile and make you feel welcome. What a credit to Sai Surbhi. Please pass on the feedback! Thank you to the staff service and for the chefs for an...

Poor service .

Raman ,( so called head of the restaurant ) , was very rude to us.

She would not take order for a starter (for the kids) . She said that we had to wait until all of our group were there to place our order, although more than half our group was there. Apparently the kitchen was too busy , but many tables were still empty .

I then asked her " So, if our friends are stuck in traffic, should we be sitting here ,hungry? We would rather walk out" ...She said " That is your choice". I was shocked to hear her response. I then asked " is this really what you say to your customers?" She snarkly said " yes" .

We would have probably walked out by now, but they had already taken a big deposit while booking the table and our friends were travelling a long distance to meet us .

We had ordered 2 jugs of lassi which arrived promptly, but we had to ask three times in 20 minutes for glasses . At last we got 6 glasses for 9 people! I wouldn't recommend it for the taste .

So I would discourage anyone going in groups.

If i need to say something positive, The starter...

The food isn’t nice at all. You can’t taste any flavour in the meat or curry. The service we had from the waiter was also awful when told that the food didn’t taste nice he made comments like oh well etc rather than trying to rectify the situation. The other staff members were helpful but the food was just awful. I have highlighted the issues below in hope they will read this and improve. I went there a year ago and it was nice but this time it wasn’t worth the £97.

We had the following dishes.

Tandoori Chicken - Wasn’t marinated properly which meant it had no flavour in it. There wasn’t any taste to day it was made from the tandoor.

Pani puri was nice it had all the right stuff but they didn’t give enough water.

Butter chicken - We ordered desi style but there was no flavour in it at all. You could just taste the butter that was it.

Dal makhni & Panner butter masala - Both of these dishes again had no flavour in them. They also lacked salt. The Dal makhni was still nice tho but...