Dakhin — Restaurant in Scotland

My experience was really bad. I just got done with meal at the restaurant and I couldn't wait to pay for the the food I ordered and leave. The staff was ignorant, discriminatory and rude towards us.

When I visit a restaurant that charges me a certain amount for the food I am being served, I expect food and service to match the price I am paying for the food served to me. My friend and I had been waiting for 10 months in anticipation of the food being served at Dakhin. We went in, were given a table in haste and the menu. The restaurant had various dishes representing a large variety of food found in South India. We placed our order and patiently waited for our food to arrive.

This is where our bad experience started. The food arrived at our table. The person who waited on us didn't realise that we weren't given cutlery and napkins. We waited in anticipation that he would get back to us with the same but had to finally ask for it. But this wasn't a big deal at all and didn't matter to us all that much. But then came the discriminatory part. We were given our cutlery with Paper Napkins whereas everyone around us had Linens. We thought it was weird to see so and thought they might have run out of clean linens. Again, not expected from a restaurant that is not cheap to dine in, but it happens. Anyway, we started to enjoy the food on our table and didn't think about it too much. It was after all this while we were able to have South Indian food.

About 5 minutes later, the table next to us was occupied by a couple. As soon as they occupied the table, they were provided with cutlery and Linen Napkins right away. It was then we started to feel discriminated for being Indians. We still didn't bat an eye. We were enjoying the meal in front of us. Nothing mattered for us then.

The food itself wasn't extra ordinarily great but was good. The quintessential element of any restaurant that claims to be serving South Indian food is Dosa, Vada and Idli. The Dosa and Vada were great. The Idli wasn't upto the mark. It was too hard. But it was fine. It was still cooked. We continued eating our meal. And during all this time, we saw the waiter wait on other tables around us asking how the food was, if they needed anything else like they do in all restaurants. But we weren't asked about it. This was our second experience of being discriminated.

We were then served with Appam which upon taking the first few bites, we realised was not cooked properly. Upon confronting the waiter about this, the response we were given was "This is how we do it here." It was then that the discrimination against us became apparent. We asked the waiter to take it back since we were not ready to eat uncooked food on our table. We don't need to listen from someone else to understand whether the food on our table is cooked or not. We then ordered for a Dosa to complete the curry that we had ordered. After all of this, we were made to feel really uncomfortable as if we were bothering the waiter too much for the rest of the duration of the meal.

It was around this time that another group of Indians joined at the other table besides us. And lo and behold, they too were provided with a Paper Napkin. At this point we were just waiting to get done with the food, pay for it and leave from the place that was treating us disrespectfully. We didn't feel like confronting, creating a scene and disturb the other diners around us.

My review is going to be lost in a sea of reviews praising the place. And the food is good and praise worthy too. My review would have been way different if we experienced being treated equally as any other diner visiting the restaurant. This was just my experience. You might find yourself not being made to feel awkward, unwanted and discriminated when you visit the place. But for you who took out the time to read through my review and experience I ask, Would you want to go to a place that discriminates one set of diners...

Have visited this establishment over a number of years and always find the food to be excellent and probably superior to many other high end Indian restaurants. The fact that the restaurant is fully gluten free is a major plus. However and a big however is that on a recent visit an a Tuesday evening at beginning of August 2022 and despite having made an online reservation we were seated at our table and waited almost 25 minutes before anyone even approached us. The restaurant was busy with a couple of big parties and the waiters appeared over stretched but several tables apart from us were left basically to chat. What also annoyed me was that they were still taking in "walk ins" without reservations and were patently unable to deal with the volume of patrons. When a waiter came over at my requesting him he offered drinks(now 25 minutes in to our visit) he could not answer when we would be able to get a food order. His response....."we are busy tonight." We decided to cut our losses and left to go to a nearby Italian restaurant that was just as busy but accommodated us with efficient service. The apology from the person I assume to have been a manager was in my opinion the bland response from some one who just used this to mask inefficiencies. Perhaps they need to take a closer look at staffing resources when taking bookings....and get some...

In my opinion, this restaurant is highly overrated, especially when evaluated from the perspective of someone seeking authentic South Indian cuisine. While the establishment enjoys a good reputation and seems to have built a solid local customer base, I found the food to be underwhelming in terms of traditional taste and authenticity. The dishes appear to have been modified to cater to Scottish or Western palates, resulting in flavors that are noticeably milder and lacking the complexity that is typical of true South Indian cooking.

This strategy might make sense from a business standpoint — adjusting recipes to be more accessible to the local audience can help attract a wider customer base. However, for diners like myself who are familiar with and appreciate the depth of spices, bold flavors, and unique textures that define South Indian cuisine, the experience was disappointing.

Dishes such as dosa, sambhar, and chutneys did not meet expectations. The sambhar lacked its signature tangy and spicy profile, and the dosa was more on the softer side, missing the crisp texture that is usually a highlight. While the service was friendly and the ambiance was decent, I would not recommend this place to anyone looking for a truly authentic South Indian meal. It may work for casual diners, but not...