The Bengal Lancer

Ordered a delivery from the Bengal Lancer last night. Spent £60 for three people, so it is not at all cheap compared to others - you therefore naturally expect it to be good! The food was late, and I was sorely disappointed with the quality of food which was barely average at best (I agree with comment re soggy parsnips below..!). Added to that, the order was wrong and the food was cold - had a medley of reheating through microwave, oven and frying pans..! Won't be ordering from here again in future..
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Chris M
2 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 2
Sunday, February 05, 2012

Contrary to other reviews we had a fantastic meal here.

Superb food - a notch above other Indian restaurants in terms of the quality of the food.

Very friendly staff - brilliant service too.

Fast delivery of food.

complimentary starter and pudding dish from the chef.

Will defiantly be returning and highly recommend!
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Rob
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Saturday, January 21, 2012

I have been a fan on the Bengal Lancer fir 12 years. But recently they are just bashing out expensive ok food and worse than this they are not taking care of their loyal customers! You often have to wait an hour for delivery and the food is rarely correct when it arrives! The least they could do would be to have a database of customers so you no longer after spends 30 minutes on the phone literally struggling to be understood - come Bengal Lancer make an effort.
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SNP
4 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Friday, October 21, 2011

We ordered delivery from Bengal Lancer last night. The food was fantastic! Both meals ordered were very tasty, hot and more than enough to fill two very hungry people. They threw in some free onion bhaji and soft drinks which was a nice touch too. The delivery guy was one of the friendliest I have had. Top marks all around for these guys, I do not know what some of the other reviews are complaining about!? Just thinking about my meal last night makes my mouth water and it is only breakfast time... hmm maybe there are some leftovers...
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Dennis Peper
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, January 03, 2011

The starters were a little tasteless, we had paneer tikka and chicken pakora. The mains were average.

The waiter wasn't very attentive.

Be careful if attempting to park your car in their "ample parking area" as it is actually a private area with a lot of warning signs about clamping and tow-aways being enforced. We phoned the restaurant but they told to ignore these and park anyway. We used our better judgement and parked elsewhere.

Just like other reviewers we suspected that we were overcharged on the food.
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jam - View all reviews by this user
2 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, October 20, 2010

My partner and I visited the Bengal Lancer late last Saturday night. We both had both been unimpressed from previous visits some years ago but thought we'd give it another go to see if things had improved.

I'm originally from Bombay, and both of us are accomplished Indian menu cooks.

We ordered a parsnip starter to share. Knowing the Indian genius for creating something exotic from plain basic ingredients I expected something rather special but what appeared was a huge plate of soggy parsnips with fried onions and tomatoes. Rather school dinner standard I'm afraid.

For mains, I ordered sea bass which was fine, but my partner's lamb sag (it was called something else though), with lime infusion was prectically inedible because the cook had overdone the lime (probably from the bottle, not fresh).

When the waiter came over to enquire about the meal we raised this point, but he tried to make out that it was lemon not lime, and that the meal contained Karelia, obviously hoping to capitalise on our assumed ignorance of Indian food.

We then asked for the bill, and here's when the fun really started.

They had somehow added a Duck Brest (sic) curry, plus a few extra beers thus bumping up the bill from £34 to about £52. On pointing this out the waiter blamed the 'new' person on the till as if he was not aware himself that the extras on the bill were entirely bogus.

The message : Don't trust the food. Don't trust the staff.
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James Ahmed
2 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Monday, July 05, 2010

This restaurant has changed a bit over the last few years, most notably in that it's lost it's former front entrance and bar area. This is fine, since the seating area is unaffected and, from a customers' point of view, that's the important bit.

It's possibly a little over-staffed, but at least you know you won't be kept waiting during a rush. They're very attentive; perhaps edging towards pushy, though. But if you keep a cool head and know what you want, you won't be pressured into ordering things you don't want or need.

I've always liked the food here, but lately I've noticed a marked drop in spiciness! They shouldn't worry about offending local palates. Most Londoners can handle most things and know what they're getting if they walk into an Indian restaurant!

As for price - no problems here. They're also quite generous with special offers, if you have one. There has never been a problem having one honoured and indeed they appreciate the increased custom.

I look forward to going back.
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Alan Ingham - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Food was cold. Waiter swore twice.

I've been to 10 different curry restaurants before, and this is the worst of em all.

Did not provide child seat. Mango lassi was watered down.
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Andrew Chong
2 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Sunday, January 31, 2010

My wife and I had been to the Bengal Lancer only once before, around eight years ago. It was a good experience as I remember. Yesterday, we paid a return visit. The decor and the layout had changed a bit but the food was very good and the dishes were not swimming in oil as in so many Bangladeshi-owned restaurants. The staff were very pleasant and the portions were generous. We won't leave it eight years to return next time.
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Curryman
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Monday, January 18, 2010