Avoid this restaurant at all costs. It is terrible. I was born, raised and lived within 5 minutes walk of 14 Indian resteraunts and takeaways in West Yorkshire, and I am a life long curry lover. The Indian Cottage is not only the worst curry house I've visited but also the worst restaurant, and by quite some margin. Allow me to describe my last meal there:
Chicken Tikka on the bone: burnt black on the outside and cold in the middle.
Mushroom Pilau Rice: Just normal pilau with what seemed to be a tinned mushrooms stirred in, they had not even been heated- the mushrooms were cold and the rice hot.
Garlic Naan: Didn't look different to a normal naan, but when I ate a piece it was so strongly 'garlicy' it made me wince and I could hardly swallow it (and I love garlic).
Prawn Curry: Very watery, but the sauce was quite tasty, to be fair.
Even worse than the diabolical quality of the food was the reaction of the staff and the management when we complained. We didn't want to make a fuss, just pay for the drinks we'd had and the starter we'd eaten (which wasn't too bad to be fair again) and leave, never to return. Rather than placate us, the waiter and then the manager started shouting the odds. Neither myself or my friend raised our voices once, both being laid back types of chap, but the staff themselves created an unpleasant and unneccesary scene. Very poor.
I had visited the restaurant before, and the food had been average at best, but until Shurovi's opened this used to be the only option for curry in Guisborough. I can only assume that the postive reviews of this restaurant are by the staff/owners themselves or their friends, or by Guisbronians who have no experience of other curry houses. As I say, I was born and raised on curry and have probably eaten at hundreds of curry houses over the years in West Yorkshire and London. I know good curry and this is not it. read more