Clifton Restaurant

The service was useless. When you're the only people in the place you shouldn't have to wait 15 mins for your first drinks to arrive, let alone 1.5 hours for the starters.

The food was average overall e.g. madras quite good, dansak utterly tasteless.

Nice decor, as long as you're not sitting under the dripping from the ceiling. No atmosphere as completely empty (friday lunchtime so should have been packed), but might improve in the evenings.
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Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 6
Thursday, August 10, 2006

I have been to this place and absolutely love it. I do agree that the place has a few downsides, but have found it only next to Khan's (in Paddington) in terms of value for money.

Positives:

Great Service- Amit and Aziz are guys who have served me most often. They are friendly, affable and polite.

Ambience- One of the best I have seen in an Indian restaurant.

Value for Money- This is Clifton's USP. I think it is worth every penny.

Food- I've read some pretty whacky stuff here. But my recommendations are Sheekh Kebabs, Lamb Xacuti, Chicken Madras, Chicken Karahi, Lamb Biryani, All the fish dishes, Bhindi Bhaji and Dal Masaldar. All the comments about bad yoghurt and bad Paneer being used are absolute nonsense.

Negatives:

Ambience- The music is sometimes loud.

Food- The Chicken Tikka Masala is not the best I've had. For all those diet-conscious people out there, here's the trick: Do specify when you order if you need less butter or cream. I normally ask my food to be made spicy and it is really made that way - whereas some places on this site just add a dash of spice and that is the ideal way to murder a curry.

All in all great service, good ambience, amazing food and a must visit place if you are in the Docklands.
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Krishna
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Went with a friend for dinner with the with no great expectations but wanting decent and satisfying meal. Sadly it was a very dissappointing dining experience. The very good service and ambience simply could not compensate for the abysmal quality, poor taste and preparation of the food.

Potato Chaat: It is not supposed to be Potato cooked like a curry presented in a bed of Oil! Could not fisish this "non starter".

Shubon Kofta: An outrage to think that this was a Onion Bhaaji cooked in the same style of the Potato chaat with the exact same gravy. And this a recommended chef special main course!

Mutter Panner (Peas +cottage cheese with gravy): This dish is the most easy to make. The paneer was not from a good source or not fresh and peas was hard (?) the dish left a lot to be desired.

Indian Breads: (Kulcha and Naan) This can be best described as Pizza Base sprinkled with Garlic and spices. Did not have the fresh oven (tandoor) baked taste.

Sweet Lassi (Buttermilk) This was a very good tasting buttermilk and was highly enjoyed.

Raita: Yoghurt used in this was sub standard.

May be their non-vegetarian choices are better.
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Venkat C
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 4
Wednesday, June 28, 2006

TOP TOP TOP...class!!! FOOD was great! Service was top form!! thank Amitt (our waiter) who was very poilite!
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, May 19, 2006

Ive read the reviews and the last one is a bit over the top! are you sure you went to the same restaurant that i did??? i went on a friday night and the atmosphere was great! Me and my girlfriend walked about 8:30 and the place was packed! We had to wait for a table for about 10 minutes (our fault for not making a reservation). We were were taken to our table by a very short waiter…lol but very polite. Anyway we started off with drinks and papadoms and then orderd starters..i had the Grill Fish Tikka and my girlfriend had the masala dosa…both were very tasty!!! For the main I tried something new Chiken Tofa which was different but absoultly gourges and my Mrs went for the chicken tikka masala..which was very nice! We also had the bhindi baji and aloo gobi which were nice! Overall food was excellent..service was suberb espiacially for a Friday night. I have to mention his name as I promised Amitt thank for your service! On the way out a young lady handed our jackets and opened the door. No wonder Ashley Cole came to this place!! Thank you for a great evening we will be back again.
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steven ballerd
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, May 18, 2006

Fantastic food, great service, stlyish surroundings and great value. I went here with six friends, all were agreed that it was a great choice. This place pays real attention to detail. Well worth a visit!!
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Roger Houlihan
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, May 07, 2006

The food wasn't presented well. The prawn tandoori looked more like a stir fry. My friend always orders it as it is dry and flavourful, so she didn't want to eat the dish as it looked brown and was soaked in oil. The spinach and okra dishes were overcooked and could hardly be told apart - they were two greenish brown lumps sitting in two separate dishes. The service though polite was not well trained. The bottle of still water was left on the table unopened and we had to open and pour water ourselves which you wouldn't expect from a good restaurant. Masala dosa, which is my favourite Indian dish, had the pancake raw instead of crisp, and was actually soft! As the mains we ordered didn't look very appetising either, we decided to leave and try another place for dinner.. Having waited for a while for the manager to appear, we went to offer to pay for the food that we actually had, as it was already 10 p.m. Saturday night, so we'd still have a chance to jump in a cab and get some decent food elsewhere. The manager instead of apologising insisted we pay for all the food we ordered even though we hadn't touched the mains. As we insisted we'd only pay for what we'd actually eaten, he said he'd have to call the police, which didn't really make him look like he had much idea of customer service.

It's up to you to try this place, but dining out has come a long way from the days when it was just about serving something to eat, so to us this seemed somewhat a step backwards. Still waiting for apologies from the management of the Clifton Group.. However, the cab driver who drove us to another restaurant from there did congratulate us on leaving in a cab than a police car!!
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Ruvini Pereira
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Saturday, April 01, 2006

Excellent place, service and food.
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Niru Naker
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Thank you very much. Great & friendly service, excellent food & the venue, I had party of 8 incl. clients from Australia & we highly recommend you entertain your friends, family & clients with full confidence. I made the trip (blind date) from Rugby and there was no disappointment. Highly recommend
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Krishna Naker
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, March 06, 2006

hello,

I am amanda philips. I have been served by a waiter(mitoo) i was very charmed by his hospitality.I wish to come again and enjoy the excellent food and the quality service.I also think this waiter deserves a good reward.thank you
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amanda
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, February 19, 2006