The Painted Heron

I have now been to the Painted Heron on around five occassions and have been blown away every time. The soft shelled crab starter in particular is an absolute delight.

I most recently went there with some guests from the US and everyone thought the meal, service and atmosphere top notch.

I would strongly recommend this retsurant to anyone looking for good, innovative Indian food (Tandoori Pigeon anyone?).
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Ben
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Visited The Painted Heron for lunch on sunday the 10th of June 07. The food was fantastic and compliments to the chefs . Manager called Akram (hope i've remembered correctly) was very friendly and made sure we were looked after properly. I will defnitely keep on recommending The Painted Heron to friends and family.
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Monday, June 11, 2007

I have found the food at the Painted Heron to be some of the best Indian cuisine I have had the pleasure of eating. It was well presented and well cooked as the meat would almost melt in my mouth. It was hard to pick our favourites and sharing ended up being compulsry.

The atmosphere was pleasent but we were mainly concerned about ourselves and the food definately created a buzz between us all at our table.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Friday, June 08, 2007

I am a regular at The Painted Heron and it has never disappointed me. I have always loved the friendly and polite service and innovative and fresh food. It is undoubtedly the most imaginative Indian food in town at a very reasonable price for that area. From Ostrich starter to Black cod mains, it was all great, aromatic and subtle spicing with a well thought of wine list.
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Jan Leary
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Having been an ardent fan of and regular visitor to The Painted Heron for several years, I was dismayed to read the previous posts, however my last visit in Feb this year bore these out as it was slightly disappointing, with a stunted menu and some relatively poorly executed dishes.

I returned last night with a slight feeling of trepidation that my favourite restaurant was in decline, but can happily report that it's still up there with the best and, if anything, is better than ever!

The Menus are back to their former full-selection glory - such classics as the Strawberry Curry and Rack of Lamb are back (still waiting to see the Veal Koftas back on the menu!) and the service is still very friendly and not too posh. I went with several friends last night and they all proclaimed it the best Indian food they'd ever eaten and are all now firm fans. If you like food of excellent quality in generous portions, with adventurous and imaginative recipes, well presented and in a great atmosphere, you really can't fault The Painted Heron.

I for one will keep returning!
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Jules Alexander - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, June 06, 2007

When I first went to the Painted Heron a couple of years ago, I was genuinely impressed. Excellent service, food and so on. How things have changed! A few weeks ago, I took five work colleagues for dinner there on a Sunday evening, including two from the USA, and it was an experience not to be repeated. OK, so Sunday was perhaps not the best day because the restaurant was virtually empty. However, that didn't matter because at least the food would be good I thought. Everything went reasonably well until we realised that, having sat down for dinner at around 9.00pm, the staff couldn't wait to get us out as quickly as possible. The service was brusque and unsmiling. Starters arrived within a few minutes (not necessarily a bad thing of course) and we proceeded to consume at a normal pace. Suddenly, before two of us had even finished, the waitress had arrived with the first of the main courses. She literally grabbed the part consumed plate of soft shell crab from the lady on my right and slapped down her main course. We remonstrated and she mumbled a half hearted apology, but we decided to let them get on with serving nonetheless. From then on, it was distincly uncomfortable as it was clear they wanted to get us moving. We didn't need much encouragement because the food was mostly very disappointing, especially the lamb rogan which two of us had ordered and which was awful - tough and with a horrible refrigerated taste. The rest was simply poor value. Definitely will not be going back or recommending it to my friends as I once did enthusiastically.
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Gerard Baines
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Monday, May 28, 2007

I have just had dinner in this restaurant tonight (3may07)and i can honestly say that probably the worst food i have ever eaten in my life. The food was bad and the service was even worse. Athmosphere and the decoration is the restaurant was very average.

ps. they have brought me raw lamb chops (they forgot to cook it-i(t was just marinated) and they have brought the wrong starter to my friend)
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Chelsea
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Friday, May 04, 2007

A very disappointing experience.

Lamp chop starters were slightly gristly and fatty. Chicken Tikka with almond, tomato and cream sauce was appalling - the quality of meat was very poor - again, all fat and gristle.

Whilst 2 of the 4 members of the party faired rather better, it was most disappointing that the staff didn't seem to notice nor care that many dishes were left uneaten. Service was charmless throughout (although they were quite happy to tip themselves 12% at the end) - water wasn't replenished, empty bottles were left on the table.

Puddings were better than your normal Indian fayre.

Avoid. There are plenty of genuine "top end" Indians in London.
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Foxtrot Oscar
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 2
Sunday, April 01, 2007

When our taxi driver finally found this place, we were disappointed to be plonked behind a view-obstructing pillar in what could have been a great corner table. The staff were quite attentive, if a little shabby, and the appetisers were great. We both had the set menu at £27 a head. Starters were forgettable, mains were quite tasty and the kulfi for dessert was horrendous - so disgusting we had to laugh. Small but satisfying wine list.
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Lucienne Leigh-Williams
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Saturday, February 17, 2007

The food, wine, atmosphere and service were all superlative. Plenty of choice (but vegetarians might be initially fooled, as veg dishes are listed as sides which can be doubled up to mains - i ordered 3 veg sides instead and they were all great.) For us 4 people, 3 course meal with plenty of wine & water came in at £47 per head. I'll be coming here again.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Saturday, January 27, 2007