Cafe Spice Namaste

After seeing Michael winner ar wiltons we walked to cafe spice but having read the reviews I wondered -should we ? Who wants "bland" Indian food, not us

But it very much was not bland it was indeed very spicy and very good.

Interesting room ,not smart in the Bombay brasserie style but atmospheric, very pleasant staff. I had prawn patio to start -a favourite of mine-it was listed as one chilli heat on the menu , but it was just perfectly hot and slightly sweet as it should be with small pieces of toast on which to place the sauce and prawns a good start.

Then a lamb dish marked with 3chillis on the menu,my goodness it was good ,very dark very strong sauce with plain rice on the side the lamb very tender-by this time I was a convert as was my wife who had king prawn curry which she thought excellent. No pud , no room the wine without excessive mark ups.

All in all top marks.

The reviews mentioning bland food make absolutely no sense because if you want spicy as usual you follow the chilli grading on the menu I am wondering whether there might be some malicious competitors posting comments.
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Alan fowle
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Friday, November 18, 2011

Cyrus is undoubtedly a great chef ready to push boundaries in exploring the art of fine Indian cuisine offering an array of in season vegetable dishes as well as ostrich bhuna, quite unique in many respects, how often do you see that on an Indian restaurant menu?

I certainly had high expectations before my visit, this was short lived to say the least. Getting to the point, I cannot understand the criteria well known food guides use to review restaurants. My passion for food, especially Indian, has led me to understand and appreciate Indian food and reading the reviews makes no sense as the vast majority seem to suggest that the food served here is amongst the best in London. Perhaps the opinions are biased. I for one can honestly say that the word that best describes the food is, bland. What a great shame apart from the food, everything else seems well refined. The best way to describe the food is 'prepared for the adventurous who is about to try curry for the first time'. If you love curry, then this certainly is not the place to excite your pallet. And finally, value for money? You'd be a lot wiser to donate to charity.
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Oli
3 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Sunday, October 09, 2011

Being a lover of indian food I was desperate to try this place and what a disappointment! The 1st thing I noticed was that there were no indian people eating in the restaurant which I found strange considering all the awards its won! We all ordered different starters and tried a bit of each others! The starters were all quite nice and I will give credit for them but the mains were tasteless and bland to say the least! I ordered the chicken curry that supposedly takes 10 hours to make! I could have made a tastier curry with a jar of ready made sauce from the local supermarket in 20 minutes, it really was that bad! The naan bread was ok but a very small portion and to top it all off the bill came to around £50 each and we certainly didnt over indulge in drinks or anything! I dont mind paying the money for good quality but that just made it all the more disappointing! I can say I have tried it but definitely will not be going back.
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3 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Monday, October 03, 2011

Her: Not being very versed nor adventurous in Indian cuisine, I was excited to go to this trendy and award-winning restaurant. The setting was a tad disappointing and made me think of a café. Well, yes, I know that's what its called, but let's say its a bit 'bare'. I ordered the marinated salmon as a starter and the scallops in spinach as mains. The salmon starter was like salmon with some green marinade on top. The mains was something I would have cooked when I was starting my studies at 19 (but not with scalops, that would have been a waste, even back then I would have known that). Let's just say that I got 4 halved over-salted fried scallops swimming in what could have been defrosted spinach puree and some microwavable Heinz rice pressed into a cup to look cool. No kidding. No one ever asked if we wanted something to drink nor if the food was good. And the price was exorbitant for what we got. I will never go back.

His: Oh, what a disappointment. I was really, really looking forward to a good Indian meal. The good news is that the main dish I ordered, Dhansak (the pride of Parsees everywhere) was absolutely genuine but lukewarm. The brown rice accompanying it was plain and mediocre. The accompanying sliced onions and coriander were just that - sliced onions and coriander - perhaps a top chef might be a little more inventive. My starter and the other food on our table didn't merit a second visit, let alone an award. The service was largely absent - from never coming to the table after bringing the food to not asking if we wanted any drinks (even water) to not bringing our coats back to us to not saying thank you as we left - I was left wanting to be served. Yet, I know others who are from India, know what a Michelin star is, and have eaten there well. So, it might just have been the substitute chef that night who failed to perform. Perhaps Mr. Todiwalla should stop running off to collect awards and get back in the kitchen.
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His&Hers
4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 4
Sunday, July 24, 2011

A thoroughly disappointing experience. Previous reviews which I should have read before going indicated food was bland, portions small and overpriced and all 9 of my party agreed. That being said the place was full so I imagine many others were misled by the hype on their website. I have been to very good and average Indian restaurants but this easily ranks as the worst by miles.
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3 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Friday, June 10, 2011

I found this restaurant to be a great disappointment

small portions and overpriced

I have tasted better curries from Tescos
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5 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 1
Thursday, April 28, 2011

Slightly out of the way. Interesting decor but disappointing overall. the food was significantly overpriced, the portions were small and the quality wasn't v good.
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4 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, April 20, 2011

This must be up there with the UK's top London restaurants, excellent food and a lot more interesting and thoughtful dishes than your usual Indian restaurant. The staff were very helpful and both of us were more than happy, not always the case when one of us is vegetarian and the other a keen carnivore. Looking forward to going back again to try out more of their menu.
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P Thompson
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, February 16, 2011

I felt compelled to provide a review for my take-away experience of Café Spice Namaste this evening. I’d seen good reviews and heard great things about the restaurant but was just so disappointed in the portion size, taste of the dishes and the price…it was just so expensive for a take-away!

We had a Tandoori Tukdey main dish (selection of duck, venison, beef, chicken and salmon) which was £13.50. The dish arrived with literally one bite sized piece of the above which all tasted pretty bland apart from the salmon piece which tasted so suspiciously ‘fishy’ that I couldn’t eat it.

We also had a lamb Dhaansaak (£14.95) which came with brown onion rice and was meant to include an onion salad which wasn’t delivered. There was one very small piece of lamb on the bone and approximately 3 smaller pieces of lamb. In short, another tiny dish. Accompanying this was a cheese, chilli and garlic nan which again, was really bland (£3.25).

When the dishes were split between two plates, both were only about 2/3rds full at most. We thought they must have delivered starter size portions in error.

The take-away menu which was recently delivered indicated that new customers would receive free delivery (I literally live next door so hardly out of their way) and 15% discount. When I mentioned this with the order, I was told that I’d receive free poppadoms and chutneys for 2 people instead of the discount and I was receiving free delivery. The poppodoms were again tiny, literally fist sized, and we received 2 tiny pots with about 2 teaspoons of chutney. With a bottle of Cobra the delivery totalled £36.45. My boyfriend and I are still hungry and have ordered a pizza.

I have genuinely never been so disappointed with a take-away curry before, especially when paying £36.45 for the (lack of) pleasure.
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Abby
1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Saturday, October 30, 2010

Amazing food and great service - I've been here twice over the last six months and both of them were great experiences.

If you like your indians to be a little unusual, this really is the place for you. The Ostrich Bhuna, to give you an idea of the uniqueness of the food, was particularly good.

It's also not massively expensive, and while the location's maybe no ideal for some, it's nice to get away from the hustle of the city.
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8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, June 02, 2010