Flames — Restaurant in South Staffordshire

If anybody reading this is a regular - PLEASE go elsewhere - there are many, many more Indian restaurants that are MUCH better. Right from the get-go, this was never going to be a glowing review. Staff were nice and friendly. Place itself looked a bit tired and uninspiring. It's called flames because they normally have a roaring fire - not lit tonight and it was cold outside. Coke's were flat. Chicken pakora starter was meh. Probably the worst I've had. Main courses weren't flavoured very well - very bland and not many layers of flavour. Even the rice was bland! The pashwara naan was the worst one I've ever had.....you guessed it.....bland and lifeless. I've had a lot of curries and this was an absolute disappointment. I've actually had better supermarket ready meals than this place. So disappointed. AND expensive. The most I've ever spent on a curry - £51.65 for 2 cokes, 2 pakora starters, 2 mains (not the expensive options either) with rice and a naan. But to top it all off, we waited ages on the bill, and ages for him to collect payment, so much so that I had to go up to the main desk to pay for it as I was so fed up waiting, only to be told then that their pdq machine wasn't working and I could go to the cash machine or pay by bank transfer. I don't have internet banking so my wife had to walk to the cash machine to get cash, a 10-15 minute round trip in pitch black, while I waited in the restaurant. I cannot walk far due to health issues. I asked what discount he would give me for my inconvenience and he smiled and laughed. I said "no.....really", and he said call it £50!!! So he took off £1.65! Absolutely shocking. While I was waiting, a few more people came in to eat, and no mention was made about the pdq machine being out of order. Obviously if he told them when they came in, they would have went elsewhere, as we would have. Pretty sneaky. This is a bad review tbh but feel free to look at my other reviews.....I'm very fair but this was just a rubbish experience. Go elsewhere - you will be surprised! Even buy an Asda ready meal - it will be better and you'll have...

Ordered 2 meals & sides for collection as this place is only a few minutes drive from where I was staying, food was ready in 20 mins. This was a Saturday night at 7pm, so no reason for it to be a Monday night stand-in chef. Garlic naan was cold & heavy, as if left over from the previous day - didn't taste of garlic either. Ordered 3 poppadom's but only received 2. Chicken pakora was soggy instead of crispy. 'Mango chutney'?? - it was a bright yellow runny liquid that tasted like mangoes pureed with yoghurt. Not the sort of thing you'd want to dip pakora in. My main was North Indian garlic chicken listed in the menu as 'very spicy'. Not a hint of spice apart from the occasional munch of a bit of green chilli that had not passed its flavour to the dish at all. At over £27 for 2 people, it wasn't cheap. Had far better curry for £3.75 from Morrisons. Also, when you order online, the only payment option you get is cash. So I got cash out to pay, on arrival to find that the guy was taking a credit card order...

The chefs in these small indian restaurants would benefit by researching the ingredients and method of making chicken tikka masala

Whilst not being a traditional indian dish the correct recipe could be researched by buying a ready made dish from tesco asda sainsburys etc and reading the label

There should not be any red food die its not supposed to be bright red and food die is supposedly unhealthy containing lots of e numbers

there should not be any coconut or coconut milk it should be only cream

it does not need additional sugar

Had the same disgusting type meal at viceroy at milford are they the same owners or chef ?

it cant be just me or the big supermarkets with their huge budgets would be serving red sweet coconut dishes

The chicken should be pre marinated and browned off under a grill not hidden...