Mela

Excellent food, excellent atmosphere, and excellent service. And all at affordable prices and in a convenient location!!
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, May 16, 2008

My wife and I and another couple we were with had a pre-theatre dinner at Mela. The food was excellent. We were not in a hurry, so service may have been slow, but it may have been response to our pace of dining. The wine list included an Australian shiraz that we drank with the entire meal (2 bottles). Even the desserts were well above average.

One couple had a set vegetarian dinner and one the non-veg set dinner. Other dishes may not be as exquisite as the set menus, but we were glad to have a broad spectrum of tastes without needing to be experts on the various dishes.

The are many very good Indian restaurants in the USA, but none we have been to was better than Mela on the night we ate there. Even the Naan was better than most places.
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Josh & Betty
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Friday, May 16, 2008

Appaling service (slow, clumsy, and unprofessional), lewd glances by waiters and average-quality food (non-vegetarian menu for two). Not going back there nor referring it to my friends.
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Victoria Cheng
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Tuesday, April 29, 2008

I hate it when an otherwise lovely restaurant get bad reviews but...

.. it shouldn't take 20+ mins to take drinks orders,

... we shouldn't have to chase them up,

... or food,

... and wait over and hour for it, with no apology or any contact from the staff.

I know it gets busy, but downstairs had only 4 parties, and with two guys serving - we all had the same experience.

And they ran out of cobra. On a Friday night!

However, the food is good and tasty (though our vegetable curry - i forget the details - tasted burnt).

Its a nice place - but keep and eye on the time, and the staff.
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John
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Saturday, February 16, 2008

One of my family's favourite London Indian restaurants although we hadn't been there for some time. But not to worry, the food was as good as ever. Heston Blumenthal (and he should know) said recently that the mark of a good restaurant was consistency.Mela delivers this in abundance. We had vegetable bhajya and whitebait as starters followed by chicken makhani (my son likes it so it has to be included), chicken methi, mixed vegetable stirfry, pilau rice and assorted breads including peshwari naan (my son likes them but so do my wife and myself), plain nan and a fantastic roti. Difficult to squeeze in a pudding after all that but we managed somehow - gulab jamon with ice cream and carrot halwa. Fantastic flavours. Good service as well. We won't leave it so long before visiting again.
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sean
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Monday, January 21, 2008

Good food, but I think the sample menu here underestimates the prices. We went for an early lunch so it was pretty dead, which is understandable but from the pretty functional interior and close-packed tables I can't really see how this place could have fantastic atmosphere. Didn't need to have the waiter explain to me that my main course didn't come with sauce but maybe I look like more of a lager lout than I realise. To be honest I doubt I'll be going back, felt a bit too much like a canteen for my tastes, but I can't fault what we were given to eat at all.
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Tom
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 6
Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Quality!

I unfortunatly went there just before peak time, so i missed the fantastic atmosphere it provides according to my girlfriend, that said the atmosphere was quite nice. One slight quibble being the tables against the walls were slightly too close to each other, but you can understand its to maximise revenue.

the food was fantastic, my girlfriend ordered what i think was a desert for a starter, which was chick peas inside a pastry ball coated in a creamy yoghurt type sauce and sprinkled with serve (the sticks in bombay mix), unique and special are the words that come to mind.

the main dishes were also fantastic, beautifully cooked and presented.

the service was fast and they were happy to serve us
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Krish C
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Oh Wow!!

I'm not sure quite how to put into words just how good this restaurant is. I went there with my wife on Saturday evening, as part of our honeymoon. We had researched various Indian restaurants in Covent Garden on this site prior to booking Mela.

When you first walk in, you are greeted with very understated decor, a very bright, clean place. Mela means carnival or fair, and the tapestries and paintings on the wall reflect this theme, but quietly. The music was similarly quiet and unobtrusive.

We were seated promptly, and the waiter was very helpful in going through the menu with us. I wanted to know what a mango lassi was like and he offered me one, saying that if I didn't like it he wouldn't charge me. So, a great start.

We shared the tuna for starter - the fish was flavoursome, and melted in the mouth - it was so soft.

We shared all our dishes, in fact (well, it was our honeymoon!!), including the salmon tikka (awesome), the mushrooms, the mixed vegetables, and the lababdor (cubes of cheese in a tomato sauce. All the flavours were different, all were perfect.

I cannot recommend this restaurant enough. We have found a gem, and will be regular customers from now on. Thank you Mela, and thank you London-eating, for finding it for us.
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David G
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, October 15, 2007

I'm a Punjabi and I keep coming back to this place.

It may not be the finest Indian restaurant in London, but I know I'll always get a good meal here for the price I pay.

The reason I like it as that it's authentically Punjabi in spicing and spirit. That may be an odd comment when there's things like lobster, scallops, rabbit and seabass on the menu - hardly things we eat at home every day - but the point is that what they do with these ingredients is authentically Indian.

Highlights? The khargosh (rabbit) and lobster are wonderful, if somehat fiddly, dishes, and the jhinga kali mirch (black pepper prawns) is one of my favourites - although it's not quite been up to scratch once or twice.

The daals and vegetarian dishes are all up to the standard we'd have at home, especially the saag, paneer and karhi (how many restaurants in London have this most Punjabi of dishes?).

The grilled meats are all proper hearty dishes, and the beer-soaked lamb is sublime. However, the last time I went it hadn't been soaked in beer, and didn't taste quite as good. I don't really understand these inconsistencies - if they were ironed out, this would be a truly brilliant restaurant.

I also didn't like some sort of chicken dish which came in a bright red sauce which was far too tomatoey.

But grumbles aside, all I can say is that every time I've been here with family or Indian friends, they've all loved it. Even my mum liked it, and we all know how hard it is to please Indian mothers with their "I can make this at home for nothing" attitude!

English friends who've been here with me have mostly adored it too, although one or two were disappointed - but what would they know?...
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hc
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Thursday, September 06, 2007

Hello every one

Been to this restaurant again and as usual enjoyed a lot.... every thing food atmosphere quality and quantity was fine... the only problem was the service was slow as the restaurant was too busy... the only thing i can say about this restaurant is that i jst love this restaurant for the taste of food i have tried many indian restaurant in london but havnt found any ones food so delicious...

dont believe me then you can personally try...
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Salil Bubere
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Saturday, May 26, 2007