Kalash Divine Indian — Restaurant in Sefton

Friday night is busy for most, I'm sure.

Appalled by the service in all honesty. Staff seem smug and unattentive. It's too much trouble to tend your (paying) needs.

To be fair.. I am mostly speaking of one particular staff member, but it appears he is the manager/lead server. I can't differentiate as there were no introductions..

I'm not bothered about that; necessarily, I'm trying to stay mutual, but last night, I was so disappointed. Staff leaning over you to take plates without communication of their intentions. I'm wondering what this place is trying to be, fine dining, or just a typical restaurant.. their attitudes claim they are of the finer sort (including the prices)

Poppadoms are made to seem complimentary as you wait. But don't worry, they will charge you.. there's a real lack of transparency and connection between customers/staff..

I did enjoy the food somewhat, but It wasn't brilliant.. I've had better at the local indian takeaway, in all honesty.

The receipt was confusing too (party of 10)

It was very difficult to figure out the full costs per person as it was all mixed up.

Whilst trying to calculate the costs per individual- said staff member was hovering around and made it seem such an inconvenience, and we felt rushed. I believe I am very fair and I always give people multiple chances, but his service was unacceptable... everything was a problem for him.

Perhaps it's a difference of cultures, however, having travelled the world to a a varying degree I have never felt this way, most places have made me feel welcome and this one of the reviews I have left feeling so strongly about it. Every person of the party has shared the same view, so I am not only speaking for myself.

He delegated as to how much rice or sides we should have 'as he had accounted for it all'

Which leads me to believe they are aiming for a more prestigious type establishment..

There are very few places that offer THAT type experience in Southport.. and this is not the place.

I don't want to appear angry as I enjoy experiencing all types of food/environments etc etc.

But this wasn't the experience I was led to expect.

I haven't contacted the restaurant yet, but I don't even know if anything I say (in regards to this visit) will have any effect on their future projections. I hope it was just a busy day, and they were a bit troubled with what was going on.. if that is the case, I will 100% give them another chance and hope that they can treat whomever may enter their restaurant in a manner of which is exciting and enjoyable.

After further inspection of the final bill, there were extra items added on - said waiter had 'accounted' for what we required, yet we had far too much rice and other various sides.

For example.. if you order 4 beers, it should state 4x beers,

But they seem to work it: 1x beer, 1 x rice , 1 x beer, 1x rice, 1x beer, etc etc (for example)

Even though we ordered drinks initially, which should all be counted in chronological order.

I still have the receipt but didn't want to post a picture as I'm sure I have said enough to give a little embarrassment.

We were very disappointed and haven't stopped talking about it since.

Don't have such high expectations and you won't be...

The BEST Indian meal I have EVER had. Hands down!! GO HERE!!

Absolutely incredible, some seriously clever flavour and texture combinations at play here. (I'm a trained chef and massively impressed)

Upon arrival we gave our drinks order and were provided with some poppadoms and chutney which were welcomed and incredibly crispy and tasty.

We were the only people on the restaurant which was completely unjustified, as you will read below, so it's hard and unfair to score or mark down for atmosphere, so in this instance we gave a 10/10 as the music was a good volume, temperature perfect and overall setting just right.

We started with the Samundri Ratan which is a combination of mussels, scallops and squid in a Goan tomato masala and served in the scallop shell.. exceptionally well used spices providing a great balance of sweet, sour, spicy and saltiness of the ocean. Exquisite.

We then had the Khajoor Bhari Aloo Tiki which was a welcome 2nd dish with it's combination of dates, ginger, cashews, mint and tamarind taking our tastebuds on a journey of the Indian subcontinent. Wow!!

We thought we'd also treat ourselves to the Piyasz Pakodi Chaat, essentially a onion bhaji, or so we thought! Incredible combo of onions, chickpeas, red onion and chutneys.

I personally started with the seafood dish, followed by the Aloo Tiki and onion bhaji to finish the starter journey and each dish outperformed the last.

Which as a massive seafood fan was a massive suprise. Even more so when the first dish was a 10/10!!

For mains my partner chose the monkfish which came in a coriander laden sauce that I expected to be too much, but I was wrong. The sweetness of the monkfish was a perfect match for a heady coriander and coconut rich green curry sauce that was completely unlike anything I'd ever experienced. Paired with pilau rice, plain naan and left over poppadoms it was very tasty indeed (I had the pleasure of finishing half!)

I opted for the lamb shank atop of cumin. It was a very difficult decision between this, the seafood curry and the black pepper duck, however I am VERY glad with my decision as it was the BEST indian lamb dish I have ever had. Perfectly tender, fall off the bone, packed with flavour and each bite was better than the last.

We paired the meal with the Merlot which was a great bottle for the price and really worked with the robust flavours throughout both courses.

We didn't go for a dessert as we'd reviewed another venue earlier in the night.

Overall 10/10, faultless, should ABSOLUTELY be considered for...

Impressive! We booked here as a result of a search on trip adviser and we are so glad we did. We went as a couple who love Indian food but this was not the usual Indian restaurant. Firstly the waiter was lovely and so helpful. When we got the menu we were a bit surprised as none of the usual on there as we are used to such as madras, pakora etc. The waiter asked us what we would have and we told him and he helped us pick from the menu. Chicken 65 is highly recommended...we could have eaten multiple portions.of this it was that nice! The other starter we had was barrah champ...if you like lamb this Is a winner too. Hubby had murg tikka lababdar for main meal as a substitute for chicken tikka massalla and he enjoyed it. I usually have madras so went for chicken chettinad and it was tasty....I usually go for a bit hotter so if I went again I might ask for more heat so if you are used to madras may be worth a mention. All in all lovely setting lovely staff and...