Imli

I went to this restaurant after a recommendation from a friend, and I was curious in trying out ‘Tapas’ style Indian food. I love Indian food, but was unpleasantly surprised with the way the food is cooked and served.

The menu was a little confusing to understand and even after the waiter explained it to me, I was left even more confused. I was shocked when the food arrived, as I felt the portions were miniature in comparison to the price they were charging for it. The curries we had all looked different, but the taste was very similar which was disappointing. I left the restaurant feeling hungrier than I came in.

We paid the 12.5% service charge on a bill of £24.05 for two people, which I couldn’t see what extra services they did apart from bringing the food out from the food lift 50cm’s away!!
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Denis Charlette - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Horrible experience - cant recommend this restaurant on any parameter.

Food: we opted for the 2 for 1 deal on the tasting menu. My husband is vegetarian while I'm not. We called in advance to confirm we would be allowed to order 2 different tasting menus (since they were both the same price). However, once at the restaurant, we were both forced to order the vegetarian menu. And I soon realized why. The portions are exceptionally meagre - I'm pretty certain the restaurant is passing off a single portion as one that's now meant to suffice for 2 people (they serve "2 portions" in the same dish!) The food didnt taste fresh. All the curry dishes tasted very similar- there was no difference in the spices used. Also, the taste leads me to believe these guys have a Bangladeshi cook, and should not be trying to pass themselves off as an Indian restaurant. We had asked for our food to be made a little spicy - all that resulted in was a layer of green chillies on top!

Service: no concept of service with a smile. 3 waiters in the restaurant, mostly absent, when only 3 tables were occupied for lunch on Sunday, all the time we were there. We did pay the 12.5% service charge, but im not sure for what. Will never go there again.
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Suruchi
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Sunday, April 26, 2009

Service: Very poor, unenthusiastic. the guy mentioned how he wished he was at home and not serving us! Service gets a 1 because the food arrived on our table eventually. Drinks took 30+ minutes to arrive and not all at once.

Side shelves/decor very dusty and dirty, I wondered about the hygene of the place.

Atmosphere: average, casual, but the layout of the place was abit dingy.

food: poor, very small portions even for tapas. Not much taste, the cocktails were supposed to be a highpoint but I had to return 2 for being undrinkably disgusting (ingredients had gone off or something).

Value for money: Very poor, 2 meal deal/taster menus, a few additional dishes and 2 rounds of drinks £95. I was disgusted about being charged for the optional 12.5% service charge as I make it a policy not to visit restaurants that charge this. I'm a generous tipper without being condescended into it.
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richard
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Sunday, April 05, 2009

Decent food but super-stingy portions. Certainly not value for money if you're after a meat/seafood dish. The meat & seafood dishes lacked character; the textures and sauces were fine, the taste was what suffered - I got the feeling the chef couldn't decide whether to do 'Anglicised tandoori' or 'authentic Indian' and made a hotchpotch between the two. Thankfully the vegetarian dishes stayed authentic. Service was the high point of this badly-disguised canteen place.
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Sajini
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Sunday, November 30, 2008

I was quite excited reading all the reviews everywhere about imli. And the rush as well, at the restraurant also got me thrilled about food. The starters we ordered, got our taste buds tingling but, the major disappointment was the main course. The food taste was disheartedly something I would never like to taste again. Also the serving lady just 'forgot' to get an ordered item. Overall, our evening was ruined and we had to settle with chicken & chips.
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Mangesh Karekar
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 5
Friday, October 31, 2008

This is a novelty restaurant. The concept - Indian tapas - is a promising one. Unfortunately, the food is not great - pretty much all of what we tried as part of the tasting menu had that heavy, over-oniony flavour you so often get at mediocre Indian restaurants. Fashioning such food into cute little portions and various guises is not enough to distinguish it. Good atmosphere and friendly staff, though.
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Salsky - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Friday, August 15, 2008

we visited here on a tuesday night and shared lots of vegetarian dishes. atmosphere was good and it was busy which is always a good sign.

the staff were very helpful and attentive and the food was delicious.

Excellent value too with the bill coming to £30 including drinks and service and i was full!!
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Annie - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Staff are above average as was the venue. The food was definitely bellow par! There are a dozen Indian restaurants within a five-minute walk with a lot better food! I love food and will never recommend this place to anyone.
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Greg
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Imli is a concept restaurant and as a concept it does work. Indian tapas? You can't imagine it, can you? But there it is!

I went to this place last night after hearing rave review about it and I'd say it is worth going to for the experience but not for the food.

The staff were very attentive from the word go and thoroughly deserving of the service charge I left (in cash). The lychee cocktail is east meets west and gets married in style. The same can't really be said for the food.

We went for the £16.50 tasting menu, for which you will need to go on an empty stomach as the stream of dishes is seemingly endless. All the food was hot and beautifully presented. But that's where it ends. It's mostly style and lacks substance.

I eat out a lot and have had some truly delicious Indian food, but the food at Imli's is missing that special ingredient. I can't identify what it was, but after a while the dishes all taste more or less the same. The level of spice is appropriately hot without overdoing it, but it still manages to blank out any other flavours. Try as I might, I couldn't find any subtlety in the cuisine. The one item that did stand out above everything else was the mango sorbet desert, for which alone I might be tempted to go back.

Imli is worth going to for the experience, but the food is unremarkable taste wise and left me feeling very full but not satisfied.
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omaira - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, November 07, 2007

As a non-londoner I used the london-eating website to find a place to go for a birthday meal with friends, and I wanted somewhere in this location. Based on the first review at the time which was very good, I chose Imli & proceeded to book a table via the web for the 50% off Tasting Menu offer. The booking process was free & very simple - no money was charged to my credit card and confirmation came through within about 12 hours. I called the restaurant to change the time of my booking to half an hour earlier which was no problem at all - the guy on the phone was very polite & helpful.

When we arrived, the staff were very nice & the restaurant was busy (always a good sign!) I showed them my booking form but they knew who I was & what I had booked so there were no problems at all.

The food came promptly and there was plenty of it - so I am confused as to why previous reviews said there was not enough food. It was delicious & a new concept on me. Several dishes to try and definitely hit the spot for a Friday night! Staff were friendly & attentive and the atmosphere was great. I work in the catering industry and I found this place to be clean, the food was well presented & tasty, and the service was faultless.

Our bill came to about £200 for 9 of us, and we had 3 x bottles of sparkling wine at £19 each, 8 beers the tasting menu at £12.50, and a dessert at £3 or £4 so I didn't think that was too bad.

I would definitely go there again. Lovely!
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Verity White
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Saturday, September 01, 2007