A Wednesday evening..... 1/6/16.
The 2 stars are for the staff, starters, and the price of the wine.
First, if I had realised that the Food Standards' Agency had rated the place as a "2", then I perhaps wouldn't have gone.
Friends of ours keep rating the place, which is slightly cheaper than the Redolence Spice on Unicorn Hill.
Right, deal with the positives:
Extremely friendly and attentive staff and good with our kids.
The place place had quite a number of full tables, but they accommodated us very quickly.
The wine was reasonably priced for a restaurant.
I'll just deal with my meal first:
Starter: Tetul Mix, and I asked for some fried onions, and these were added, and extremely tasty dish.
I wanted to go for the Chicken Tikka Rezella, however I didn't want the bhindi. I was persuaded, by the waiter, to try the Chicken Tikka Naga Shiri. I asked if it had onions and peppers, as I am not a "just a sauce with meat" person. I was assured it did. What I wasn't expecting was the onions and peppers to have them puréed. My first bite into the chicken revealed it to be either overcooked, or old and cooked. It was tough. I battled through. I asked the waiter if the chicken was fresh, or frozen chicken defrosted and then cooked. He assured me it was fresh.
My son's meal (Chicken Tikka Chasni) wasn't a lot better, and the sauce just bounced off the meat; another sign that we are dealing with previously frozen meat, and that the meat had been boiled in a large pot (possibly) with turmeric to give it the tikka look.
My wife was disappointed with her Chicken Tikka Madra too. My daughter's Shahi Malai had a very unusual sauce in the middle.
They didn't do draught cobra, so had the large bottles.
I think we all agreed that the starters were good and tasty.
Total cost: £80.
Unfortunately, we have to say we will not return; my friends will still go due the cheaper price.
Redolence Spice is about £1.50 per main meal more expensive, but we know they use fresh produce, not bags of frozen meat purchased from the Chinese market in Birmingham. Plus they have a "5" from the Food Standards' Agency.
Also note that the only place to park nearby is the pay and display car park at the Redditch railway station. read more