The Clay Oven

i was in The Clay oven Lounge last thursday with my wife and couple of friends.

we heard a lot about the clay oven, so we decided to go to lounge.

i must tell you it was amazing experiance i had, very good food with excellent service. the ambiance was great.it happened to be my wedding anniversary and the guy who was serving me brought a small little cake for me and my wife, that was a very good gesture.

overall it was good experiance and we will be back
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arvind
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, May 03, 2011

We went to the Clay Oven Lounge in Kingsbury as a party of 10 at Diwali 2010. Good ambience and good food however overpriced for what it was. The portions were pathetically small - a plate of 4 (half) chicken wings for about £7 for starters. Similarly all starter dishes were very small for what they charge in comparison to other restuarants of the same calibre. The service was mediocre.

Overall not value for money and I would not go back.
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Purnima
4 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Monday, March 07, 2011

i was there in the clay oven lounge last saturday for a group party of 12. we really had very good time. the whole atmosphere was amazing, its very nice and trendy place.the food was excellent espeicaly the butter chicken and the nalli gosht.the service was good aswell. after 11pm the dj started playing and i thought it was good value for money. on a whole it was a very nice experince.
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9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, February 08, 2011

This a review of the clay oven lounge in Kingsbury where we went Saturday night for 2.

Starters tasted great and fresh, we had lamb kebabs and chicken tikka.. It went down hill after that.

Mains of Methi chicken was too salty and the Karahi prawn was not cooked completely.

Asked for the cheesecake for dessert but were told it may be warm as its frozen and they have to microwave defrost it which sometimes warms it up! I said I'd like it as it should be served at room temperature which he couldn't guarantee. Never heard of warm cheesecake before! Went for a chocolate mouse dessert which also came out rock solid so we sent it back.

The main guy who dealt with us after we complained to the waiter just huffed and puffed and said "thats just how it comes" and rolled his eyes. Come on! they must serve food fit for consumption

Service is pretty bad, not a smile or warm welcome in sight And their attitude is terrible, as reflected in some of the bad reviews. (Some of the waiters were fine)

All in all not a pleasant dining experience. Don't be fooled by the flashy lights. I wouldn't recommend this to friends.
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Raj
5 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 3
Thursday, January 13, 2011

I my name is Asif and i live in hayes. I went to the clay oven in ealing broadway on one saturday night. We were welcomed by the waiter and since we were five we were given a round table opposite the bar.

i ordered a butter chicken and a lamb dish but when it came to the table i saw pieces of chicken floating in oil and the colour of it was very red.

I said to one of the waiter is this butter chicken. He said yes it is thats how it is cooked.

Another dissapointment was , i had my girlfriend with me and her family members including her younger sister. I saw two chefs coming having a look on us and passing coments to one another. I have never in my life seen chefs standing or coming out of the kitchen. It was an awful experience at the clay oven in ealing broadway.

To all the curry eaters i won't reccomend the clay oven.
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asif mian
4 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Friday, December 17, 2010

We, as a family, have been eating at The Clay Oven (Ealing) for 20 years now, we've hired the venue for lots of parties, and had food made for private catering too. The service as always been good, where staff make an effort to remember you and can be professionally informal enough to make you feel welcome and valued. It has changed over the last year or so, and my only experience that I would say has disappointed me here is last week when going up to the bar/till area, the chef's came out of the kitchen and just stared. Sounds like nothing major - but actually it really was uncomfortable, they were making no secret of the fact that they were listening in on a conversation I was having with the manager. We watched them - and saw that they did this a lot. The food was good though.
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Ani S.
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, November 24, 2010

I have been going to the Clay Oven for over fifteen years. The quality of the produce compared to 99.9% of the High Street type Indian restaurants in the country is simply mindblowing. A few years ago, a friend of mine in Manchester kept boasting about his local tandoori, and how it was the best in England, so I finally went up there and tried it and was horrified at the cheap cuts of dry meat, smothered in thick marinades that obscured all flavour. So I persuaded him to come and try the Clay Oven and he admitted it was the best he'd ever tasted.

If you're looking at gourmet restaurants like Chutney Mary and Bombay Brasserie, then of course it can't compete, but as a straight forward Tandoori restaurant, I have found nowhere, and I mean NOWHERE in England to beat it. The chicken Tikka is moist and juicy and sizzlingly mouthwatering, the Tandoori chicken is a cheery red colour with the singed edges of a perfect Tandoor, where the charcoal and the clay sizzle into the flesh to produce the most perfect meat dish I have ever tasted, and it is consistently good. The Tandoori king prawns are as big as lobsters and just as firm and succulent. And the choices of currys are second to none, with the head chef often experimenting with new undiscovered flavours.

The manager Rajeev is so warm and greeting that everyone who goes there regularly thinks of him as a personal friend. I never miss a Sunday lunch. Where else, for £7.95, can you eat a gargantuan feast of as much as you like of such wonderful food. Today we had Tandoori chicken, Sheekh Kebab, and the most perfectly flavoured regular medium Chicken Curry I have had for years, along with fresh Nan straight out of the Tandoor. There was also Karahi Lamb, Cashew and Paneer Curry, a Tarka Dhal, three all different vegetable curries, pilau rice, and assorted chutneys. You can stuff yourself as full as you like, all for less than eight quid, and every mouthful is a delight. Never bland yet never allowing the spices to overpower the delicate flavour of the perfectly cooked meats.

Last Sunday we had the most succulent chicken Tikka stuffed with lentils, Lamb choti bhoti kebab, Haryali chicken, and a minced Keema with peas. With all the rest of the rice, vegetable curries and chutneys as they always have. Again all for less than eight quid.

All the staff bend over backwards to be friendly and ultra efficient. Restaurants which charge twice the price should learn from their example.

I wonder if one of the negative reviews that I just read here, was written by one of their rivals in the area, as they sit always empty and deserted and unable to compete, while the Clay Oven is crammed to the rafters. I have never been in the evening and seen a single empty table in the place.
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Ian Levine - View all reviews by this user
10 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, September 26, 2010

We went to the Clay oven in Ealing last night We sat near the bar area next to it is a cupboard. There were a lot of waiters They started bringing large sacks of food in on a trolley opened the cupboard and were wheeling sacks in and loading sacks into cubboards for about fifteen minutes The smell from the cupboard was not pleasant smelt like a bad toilet ...When they had finished that they then got the hoover out and started hoovering ! We had had our starter amid the smell, loading and ring of the hoover My onion bhajis were very salty, warm white house wine We asked for the bill as we decided against prolonging the ordeal and moved on to a restaurant down the road for our main meal They brought the bill no reduction and no apology Advice.......Give it a miss
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- View all reviews by this user
1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 1
Saturday, September 18, 2010

I have been going to the Clay Oven in Ealing Broadway for over ten years. It is my favourite restaurant. Why? Because the staff are freindly, funny and attentive. In ten years I have never had a bad meal there. It is great for myself and my partner to have a quiet chilled out meal, but it is also excellent for having a group meal. I have brought work colleagues on a night out here and all had a good meal at excellent prices. I have also had many birthday do's here mainly because I knwo the food will be good and service outstanding. I cannot recommend the Clay Oven enough.
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Mal Krishnasamy
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, September 12, 2010

The clay oven lounge in kingsbury was the most pathetic experience of my life having indian food in london.

We booked a table for 13 well in advance for around 8pm. We got there by that time and were seated. It was saturday night and so as expected it was busy but what was not expected was incompetent staff, disgusting service, awful food and the manager behaving weird.

For placing order for starters, we had to wait roughly 30 minutes and than when the food started coming out, we saw that we were getting wrong items or items were being missed and so we politely reminded the waiter about the same - he did bring in missing items but they were not what we ordered.

We had to than wait for another 45 minutes to place orders for mains and now is where the major issues start. Since the starters were not upto the mark we didnt order all our mains at one go. We ordered in one lot and than tasted what is good and than ordered the second lot. After ordering second lot we didnt get food for 45 minutes - we reminded the waiting staff once and he said its coming. When we got the second lot, more than half of our order was missing and so we again told the waiter as to what was missing. He went away and didnt turn up for 20-25 minutes. After that the manager turns up and says that we cant keep on ordering in bits and pieces - i politely first informed him that we ordered in 2 lots not in bits and pieces and that his staff kept on missing items. He was adamant that we should not order like this and that his waiting staff was correct and started arguing with us.

At this point, we all were furious as anyone would be, and we told him to cancel the pending order and his response was "I will cancel it and never come to my restaurant again". The funniest thing was after he said that, we got a bill which had all the items we ordered including the ones he cancelled. We called him again to discuss this and without listening he snatched the bill from us and rudely took it away. When we asked his name and tried to take his photograph he panicked and started calling the bouncers as if we were doing nuisance. He started speaking to the waiting staff in local language and one of the other locals there later told us that he was swearing at us.

As a customer we ordered stuff and we paid for it so i guess we did our duty did this guy do his bit?? I seriously doubt - in a customer services business i do understand that mistakes happen but u just have to own it and correct it rather than being an ase hoe and fight with customers. Our bill was a whopping £200 and by no means the food was upto the quality - infact it was the worst indian food i have ever had.

After leaving we also realised that they made us sit in an area which turns into disco at around 11pm and so he wanted to kick us out to make more money on other entrants - typical....

I will strictly recommend all those people reading this to avoid this place - there are much better places up the road towards kenton like blue ginger and mumbai junction. They are million times better than this place who have just spent money on furniture and fittings and not on training staff or learning customer services.
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K Shah
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, July 26, 2010