India Club

Having read very positive reviews of this restaurant about a year ago (autumn 2010) I had been meaning to visit it ever since. The promise of 'authentic' and 'cheap' Indian food in central London sounded wonderful.

In December 2011 I was on the Strand looking for an early dinner and so finally made my visit. I could not have been more disappointed.

The food and overall dining experience were abysmal from start to finish. I would not have cared about the poor décor and rude service if the food had been as excellent as promised. However, it was truly disgusting. I ate better curries in my school dining room as a child. I have travelled extensively in India and have never eaten food this terrible anywhere in India, not even in the cheapest, grimiest eateries.

We ordered a lamb curry (I forget which) - the meat was overcooked, the curry lukewarm, the sauce a tasteless brown gloup; a portion of rice (which we had to ask for several times) - overcooked, possibly reheated, low quality rice; a mushroom dish - tinned mushrooms in the a similar, or possibly the same, brown gloupy sauce as the lamb; a plain naan - not freshly made but out of a packet and barely heated; a paratha - stodgy and heavy not light a layered; a masala dosa - probably the best thing we ate but the dosa was a bit soggy and the filling mediocre, the coconut sambar was luminous green and not very good; finally we had a sweet lassi - neither sweet nor drinkable.

The service was rude and inattentive and when we came to pay they kept pointing out that service was not included.

The food is not particularly cheap and there are far better Indian restaurants in London for a similar price. But to be honest even if they were giving away this food I would not chose to eat here again.

After our visit I checked some more recent reviews of the restaurant several of which said that the restaurant has recently changed hands and has since gone downhill. A shame, but please do not fall into the same trap I did based upon older reviews. The restaurant is terrible. AVOID!
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0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Sunday, January 15, 2012

I have been coming to this restaurant on a regular basis, (every other month), since the early eighties. I was introduced by a friend and attended "The Curry Club" luncheon. This club was formed in 1962. I was proposed and seconded for membership and after two further visits as a guest, I joined. Joe was the head waiter and bottle washer back then with Doris manning the Calcutta Rowing Club bar on the first floor. In those days we even had a Ladies' Lunch arranged in September. Lots of water under the bridge since those days, but things haven't changed much. We have an elected committee with a Tie Sargeant who makes sure all members are wearing their club tie and jackets are kept on until the Chairman advises all that due to the warm weather, "Gentlemen, you may remove your jacket" etc. We have chains of office a large carved Indian elephant centre piece guarding the gavel etc. I allways enjoy my meal the "Loyal Toast" to the Queen and the toast to absent friends.You probably realise by now I consider the food to be excellent and the surroundings all part of the illusion. Long may the India Club and The original Curry Club flourish.
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Brian Nightingale (Past President)
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, July 01, 2011

Went to the India Club for a meal and drink last night. The food is excellent, (I'm anglo Indian/Burmese so familiar with the cuisine), but I was disappointed by the wine and port. It's a wonderful place to go to amidst the hustle and bustle of the Strand. Decor is part of the experience although chairs could be replaced because the rips in the chairs snag ladies tights and also if wearing a short skirt the chairs are uncomfortable. To solve this problem ask a member of staff for a more suitable chair. I can see what the bad reviews are getting at re the decor but it's part of ambience of the place. I can't understand the bad reviews re the food, I was brought up on this food and cook it myself and it really is homemade 'just like my mother's food'. I tell my guests not to expect something plush just simple, dining room eating with an authentic feel, as if in India. There are many European simple diners which are similar. These places seem to attract all classes of people which I prefer rather than overpriced trendy types of restaurant with snooty people. At the India Club people talk to one another and are very friendly.
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10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Yes, I've reviewed this place here before, but after the superb time we had there last night, all 35 of us, I felt I had to come here and review it again. It was my wife's birthday party, and they did us proud in the lounge beside the bar on the 1st floor, which they're now hiring out for private parties. There was no cover charge, just the cost of the food (a very reasonable £500 for very a plentiful and varied vegetarian thali for 35), and a relatively cheap pay bar. They let us bring our own music and cake, and they looked after us incredibly well; friendly smiling staff being kind and caring. We've eaten extensively in India, and I have to say the food was as good as being there, in fact the whole place is like a little slice of India in the heart of London. I have no idea what the review below is talking about, we've been to the India Club many, many times, and have always eaten very very well indeed in a nice atmosphere, and I know we will be back many more times.
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nik devlin
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, May 29, 2011

Went to this 'establishment' a couple of days ago on the recommendation of a 'curry buff'. Speaking as someone who has travelled extensively on the sub-continent and been in some of the most rustic as well as most lauded eateries in a number of cities across India - not the guff that the restaurant reviewers in the glossies do, but rather the ones locals in a city recommend - believe me, this is not the taste of India. You can forgive cranky and insolant service as well as a 'rustic third world' feel if the food is up to scratch, which is certainly not the case here. Food is mediocre at best; the chicken dish I was 'served' was semi-cold. When I asked the waiter why he said 'this is how it is in India'. Right - may be if you were sitting on a glacier in the Himalayas, but not if you were somewhere that cared about what it served. Got the bill, which at £15 for one is steep for portion sizes that would suit supermodels. The bill also indicated that 'service was not included' - how spot on that was. In a world of curry houses, this place is near the bottom, but it doesn't top the place I went to in my student days in which the chicken curry had a pineapple ring submerged within it to make-up for the lack of meat. We're not there yet with this place......
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1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Friday, February 04, 2011

One of my friends has been raving about this place and took us on an adventure back to the days of the Raj. It was quite an experience. What a bizarre place - tucked away on the Strand.

It was really cute to discover one of the hidden delights of London - but to be honest, the food is really not that good. Not even for basic.

For authentic Indian food, at very good value, the best places are still in the Eastend.

Any of the canteen restaurants in East Ham beat the India Club hands down.
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Delores VanCartier - View all reviews by this user
4 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 2
Thursday, December 02, 2010

Hmm, Decor interesting and characterful. Service OK. Food pretty bland and not very much of it. We survived.
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Powej
6 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 4
Friday, October 08, 2010

We went there last night with friends and had one of the best Indian meals I've ever had in the UK, and as good as many we had in India. Egg curry, Masala Dhosas, Lamb Keema, Brinjal Bhaiji, Sambar, veg curry, dry beans and coconut, lemon rice, chapatis and naans - enough wonderful food to feed 4 of us very well indeed for £51. We brought our own Cobra from the offy next door, but the India Club, once dry, does do beers at the table these days.

I do think, based on comments below about the decor, that this place appeals to people who've been to India much more than people who haven't. But for food of this quality at prices like these, I don't really care that it's a little bit careworn. They also don't do the usual UK curry house thing of doing huge mains, rather they adopt a more Indian thali approach, where you get little servings of lots of different things, which I far prefer.

Oh and the mango lassi was to die for!
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nik devlin - View all reviews by this user
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, August 08, 2010

Everyone seems to have given this restaurant either 10 or 0 stars, with very little in between. It's the restaurant equivalent of marmite! ;-)

I neither loved nor hated it, however. The food was nice but not exceptional -certainly doesn't compare with the meals *I* had in India. The waiter was less welcoming than the ones in a local curry house, but he stopped us from over-ordering (always an occupational hazard in Indian restaurants) and didn't mind that my boyfriend had brought his own bottle of Cobra beer when they actually had it on the menu. (Guess the 'BYO' thing doesn't apply to beer...) It's not tremendous value for money, but considering its location and the quick service, you could do a lot worse for a pre-theatre meal.
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Scranhunter - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Sunday, May 09, 2010

I have known the India Club for 20 or more years since I was at College at King's just down the road. It was staple for students and after seminar bites and it still does what it has always done - well and unpretentiously.

Aspersions have been cast at it's authenticity. Well, I took my friend Manish from Mangalore there a couple of months ago. On walking though the door he said 'This place smell like my uncle's restaurant in India'. It took him right back home and he confirmed that the food was typical of this style of restaurant. He knows.

It's cheap. it's basic. It's formica and plastic jugs of water and beer in bottles from the bar in the hotel downstairs. The staff are polite but not servile and service is normally pretty brisk.

The dishes are thoroughly cooked through. That is, five minutes after eating a spicy dish your palate is clear. There are very few places in London that can do this (Chutney Mary used to be one but I haven't been there for ages). If you feel that this is an appalling restaurant experience then you may be be a delicate flower for whom value for money is probably not a top priority.

If you want something genuinely different and at a good price in the West End, come here.
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Steven Rhodes
8 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Thursday, January 07, 2010