Mela

Bad, Bad service...I have never know the waiters to be so rude and when we said the food was bland, he told us that was how it was supposed to be served - not going again, disapointed that the kitchen closed at 9.30pm and we were told we had to order or leave....very disappointing!
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R
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Thursday, November 06, 2008

I with my friends went to this restaurant this saturday we ought to be surprised to get a table quickly on a saturday night. I read about the two for one offer that they run but when asked for it i was turned down by the gentleman saying i had to have a prior reservation to qualify for the offer .We decided to go ahead with the order the drinks came in no time and so did the starters but our food took ages to arrive not before i myself went to the manager and had to ask him for my food. It did came in fifteen minutes but our appetite was dead by then.We paid our bill and left for good of us.

I myself have visited this restaurant a couple of times in the past but have never found the service such bad. couldnt forget the evening of eighteenth as it was my wifes birthday.
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ivan dias
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Sunday, October 19, 2008

I love the food at this restaurant (particularly the melt in the mouth grilled meats) - but I don't go often because you can never be sure what kind of service you'll get. My partner point blank refuses to return after we had rude and slow service one time. So I went with a friend the other night - with a free glass of wine offer from TimeOut that I had booked that day. Horribly predictably they made a fuss and said no such offer existed, and then it did exist but it had expired etc. etc. Eventually we got our wine but it took the shine off the whole experince - although the food was great. What a shame as there are also some really nice, friendly staff there too.
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Stow Eater - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Wednesday, July 02, 2008

The food was average. We had aloo tikki chat for starter(good) and mirch baingan salaan (raw and not tasty), paneer(pretty good). Roti and nan were alright,Cauliflower paratha was quite good.

It took 45 minutes for our main courses to be brought, although only 4-5 tables were being served when we went in on Sunday afternoon, at 2.45 pm.

Decor was alright, On the positive side, when we told the manager about the baingan being unedible,he waived it off the bill and gave us a complementary kulfi.

Next time - Nope.
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Prashant
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Monday, June 23, 2008

I totally disagree with the last review that i have read about Mela resaturant. Being a regular petron of Mela for the last 4 years i can assure you that the food & service of Mela has just been above average & the comment written by this last reviewer is a total blame on a place that not only offers you good food, value for money, but also very good & friendly service.
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jigs
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Saturday, June 21, 2008

This is THE worst restaurant I have ever been to. After reading mixed reviews for Mela, I and a few friends decided to try it for ourselves instead of going to the high-end Indian restaurants like Veeraswamy or Banares. Was that a mistake or what!?

Eating out quite a few times a week I know what to expect from restaurants and this one left a lot to be desired. From the moment we sat down we were hurried to make our orders by two waiters hovering around our table and it was only 8pm! After we had ordered we were told that the we couldn't have any bread as the oven wasn't working, which was fine. But ten minutes later another Waiter informed us that we could actually have bread but we could only order three pieces and he gave us a poor explanation to the reason why. I gave up asking for a wine cooler after the third time!

I ordered the muscles for starters- it was nice though I really had to look around my plate to find any mussels as half the shells were empty! Our main course then arrived even before we had finished and was very bland and quite tasteless. After a very rushed meal we wanted some coffee but were told that the coffee machine wasn't working we then ordered some Cognacs instead. They arrived in shot glasses and not cognac glasses as you'd expect! By then we had had enough and asked to see a Manager. One of the waiters told us that the Manager was busy and it was only after we insisted that we wanted to see him, did he go and get him.

The Manager was no better then the Waiters and was very defensive and kept making excuses for shoddy service. I can deal with bad food, but bad service is not acceptable! A 30th birthday dinner which should have been a good night out was ruined by the terrible service at this awful restaurant.
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Shah
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 3
Monday, June 09, 2008

I've been exposed to a lot of Indian food over the last decade and a half, so I have pretty high standards. So in my opinion...the food was good, but the service was a lot to be desired.

I think the night I came was when I was given a waiter who was in a bit of a mood. Firstly I was moved to accomodate a pre-arranged large party, so there was some disorganisation there; as I was ordering the waiter was holding my menu, trying to drag the bloody thing away from me when I'm trying to pronounce the dish! Just be patient!! Finally the portions weren't particularly big for what I had to pay. However there were some innovative dishes on the menu and certainly worth trying. Oh yeah, and the same guy was hovering around me on my last 5 mouthfulls. Christ he was annoying me.

Overall, if you've had plenty of Indian food experience and can handle large menus (a la Bradford/Manchester restaurants), then take your money elsewhere. If you're a novice who likes a simple menu with outlandish dishes, then this is the place for you.

If you do go, then I insist you try the cottage cheese naan. It's been a revelation to me.
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Jamie
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Went for the first time on Friday night, after being turned down at a few restaurants (we hadn't booked, it was an impromptu celebration), we went into Mela. The maître d' approached us and said they were fully booked (my partner looked crestfallen as it smelled so good in there and started to leave). The maître d' laughed and said he was joking and said of course he had a table for us, he tries to keep double tables in case couples show up and chatted for a bit while our table was being set up.

The service was fantastic and perfectly paced, not too fast or slow, but the real star of the show was the food. We have never come away from an Indian meal thinking the vegetable dish was the star (we normally order 2 meat dishes and one veg). We had ordered Ameenabadi Aloo: potatoes stuffed with cashew nuts, raisins and pomegranate seeds, among other things and it tasted fantastic with the right amount of heat. Our next favorite was the rabbit dish, though it we thought the combination of rabbit meat with the soft shell crab's sauce would be an idea worth trying. A pity we were too stuffed to try and of the deserts and with half bottles of wine on the menu, it makes a worth while visit for those who want a little wine with their food without buying a whole bottle.
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mresta - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Monday, May 19, 2008

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