Kovalam

We placed a takeaway order of several main dishes, starters and sides which came to over £30. They said it would take about 45 mins to deliver. After waiting for more than an hour we phoned up, and they seemed to have no knowledge of our order. They then found the order and said it would be about 15 minutes. After waiting for another hour the food finally arrived - over 2 hours late! The food was not that great and the fish curry was very disappointing because the fish was very stale. Not at all impressed, won't be going back.There are much better Indian restaurants nearby that do really nice food - and deliver on time!
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Brett
3 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Kovalam is rather different from many other Indian restaurants in London. Tucked away in the little known road of Willesden Lane (North West), it offers tasty rather authentic South Indian foods made from obviously fresh ingredients (9 of 10 times I was there). Here you won't see stale meat smothered in thick sauce to conceal its state.

The menu is typical for an Indian restaurant in the sense that it is very long (which is not necessarily a bad or good thing). It has many typically South Asian dishes such as lentil soup, tikka masala, etc that you can find anywhere. However it also offers quite a few dishes that are not seen in better known places like Brick Lane: pancakes or delicately flavoured lamb fry. It's South Indian food after all which is not yet well known in a city where there is an Indian takeaway at every street corner.

I am not vegetarian but this place is a safe bet if I am accompanied by one. The vast vegi sections are rather substantial, from starters to main course and sides.

Main courses' prices are typically £4.5 - £5 (vegi) to £6.5-£7 (meat/seafood). Portions are decent.

The decors includes strong colour blocks and mirrors, in short, not the most pleasant to my eyes but the seating is comfy, there is good distance between tables. Indian music is always played rather gently in the background. The place is never noisy (great!) for that and also because it is never packed (I can only blame the location - half a mile from Brondesbury Park overland train station, Kilburn Park tube and Kilburn tube). Importantly the staff is pleasantly soft-voiced and non-pushy, this is for me is a big plus. There is noboby at the door harassing you.
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Rose - View all reviews by this user
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Sunday, August 28, 2011

Great food, literally jumped over the vada's...it's lovely...staff chats breeze..But ok
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Hinesh Patel
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Great Food...Great Atmosphere...Area around the restaurant is not good. But value for the money. The food is almost near to orginal from south india
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John Joseph
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, March 02, 2011

I bought a few friends over to Kovalam and thought to myself why not try something different as opose to Geeta and Vijays. Me and my friends favour seafood! Luckily they had a few seafood specials like the koonthal roasted (squid) and fried Kerala fish curry. Both were delicious, it felt like being in Kerala without the seagulls! I had an amazing time, and I'll certainly visit again.
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Marshall
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Thursday, December 10, 2009

Really friendly, pleasant Indian restaurant. They specialize in south Indian cuisine, which means they have dosas, a thin pancake wrapped around potato, chicken, or whatever you like. It's good as a starter to share.

Prices are reasonable, and the selection of dishes is nice. A combination of the typical curries you'd expect to find, as well as a few surprises, some of south Indian origin and some seem like their own variations on what have you.

Don't expect the most exciting surroundings, but the place is nicely done and clean.

We order takeaway from here as well, and they're generally prompt and very courteous.
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J M - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 9
Saturday, February 28, 2009