Vegetarian options: Veggie options were very limited and tasted over seasoned
James Lau
Had four of the tasting menus. We upgraded to lobster for £18 and would highly recommend it. Chicken and lamb was fantastic courses too.Staff were slightly slow with the courses, refilling drinks/water. And also we think we were missing 3 bowls of rice that came with the main course as we had a one small bowl to share between four. On the plus side we wanted to try a Dahl which they provided complimentary for us.
Rosie Lyon
Really good
Don Fowler
Innovatively presented and well spiced food. Portion sizes for the main course were 'scroogy'. Decor and setting were pleasant. Service attempts to be high-end but feels disjointed, I presume because it's new and things haven't quite coordinated yet. Might be tempted to revisit one more time but needs to improve. Booking was confused and felt taken advantage of by not being offered plain water rather than assuming I'd wanted a £5 bottle of mineral water. This sneaky ethos works against retaining custom. Not a bad experience but actually enjoyed a £7 curry canteen in Maidstone slightly more.
Fluke 7
My wife and I took an early dinner reservation, and glad we did. Before we even had starters, the restaurant was bustling for a Saturday night.As always, we were donned with some popadoms to start, while we made decisions on our upcoming meal. We received our cocktails, admittedly I had a beautiful pineapple and ginger virgin version. These were bloody stunning.Our starters then arrived. We ordered a trio of tandoor chicken, which each were beautifully juicy. We also ordered prawns which were very tasty, but the prawns were only just over cooked. It didn’t detract from how flavoursome they actually were.We ordered our mains at the start, which the waiter weighed in with some advice. The advice was welcomed as my wife ordered a beautiful lamb dish, and I ordered a melt in the mouth goat dish. The advice the waiter gave, was to not order a rice each, but to maybe try a vegetable dish also. We shared a lemon rice and a potato and chickpea dish. It was great advice considering the portion sizes. We also ordered a bread each, my wife having a plain naan, and myself going for the keema version. Every part of the main was awesomely delicious, with the potato and chick pea side dish being our least favourite. Now by saying that, it was hard for any dish to contend with the lamb and goat dishes. It was nice, just lost within the awesomeness of the mains.We ordered some more drinks and pondered over the dessert menu. I went with a chocolate fondant with orange curd ice cream. My wife had an apple and plum crumble with cinnamon ice cream. For the first time in our relationship, I had food envy of what my wife had ordered. It was the best crumble I think I’ve ever had, which is hard thing to say. The chocolate fondant was slightly overcooked, but my goodness was amazing paired with the orange curd ice cream. I just wished I’d ordered that bloody crumble.Overall, every part of our experience there, including the service staff, was simply exceptional. Given this place has been around for a decade, there isn’t much I could say that probably hasn’t been said already, but just want to highlight that this place is worth the value of the pound notes spent.
Colin Forrest
Been eating here since they opened. Superb restaurant. Sets a standard that other local restaurants can't match. Had the set menu for two on a Sunday evening. No difference in the standard of food, service
Amanda Jane
Food was great and restaurant is pleasant. However what does let this place down is the incredible hard sell on expensive wine suggestions and pushing the al a carte menu. They only give you the lunch time set menu to look at if you ask to see it which can be a little intimidating. Overall a nice place but their customer service approach could be a little warmer. I have eaten in many celebrity restaurants more welcoming and less intimidating than this.
iraj almasi
Our staffs enjoyed the food , thank you
saurabh gupta
One of the best afternoon dining experience and despite the unforeseen challenges with their gas supply, everything tasted perfectly and the service was top class.From the poppadums to starters to mains, everything tasted perfectly.They also looked after my mother’s special dietary requirements.Five star restaurant and must recommended.
Alistair Wiggins
We were really excited to try this restaurant… and weren’t disappointed.We had the tasting menu which was excellent - especially the lamb course. Prajwal - our waiter - was very friendly and knowledgeable. This is definitely a place we would come back to for a special occasion.
Food is flavourful but nothing too different to any other curry house for it to be an Atul Kochar house!. The chicken 3 way and the kebab platter was a bit on the dry side and didn't feel it was that freshly cooked though some of the itemshad good flavours with salmon being the worst and prawn being the best. One batch of poppadoms was slightly stale. The nan bread was too thick. The chicken tikka pie was unique and tastey. Had run out of Kachori. The lamb in the nihari dish had no lamb taste left in it and the nihari sauce was not that interesting. Mirch Baingan and dal was nice. For a Sunday dinner, the place was packed.
ramesh sharma
Did our Xmas party with friends - was busy but service was good and efficient - food was good and flavoursome - the ambience was nice. Would recommend- price was as expected, not overly expensive nor cheap but good value.
jennifer wroe
I had a surprise birthday meal with my daughterand family for my birthday. Loved the food and the service. I am letting people know how nice it is there.
Barbora Narkeviciute
incredible restaurant.the food was impeccable - the best steak I have ever had in my life. everything was extremely delicious and the service was lovely.I didn’t even specifically request a birthday surprise, but they did one for my mum nonetheless - so thank you so much for this!!!5/5, I recommend this place to everyone.
Vishal Kuppili
Visited with my family of 3 on a quiet mid-week dinner service. Many of my friends had recommended this place and I ofcourse had high expectations going in, so the bar was already set high.What I loved:1. The staff were super helpful, very polite, courteous and friendly.2. The ambience was nice, no loud music, clean and cosy setting.3. Food was good. But frankly for a dinner that costs 100quid for young family of 3, the food has to be good.What I feel could have been better:1. The service was a bit slow, I noticed only 5-6 tables were occupied but still a simple glass of tap water took close to 15mins to be served and that too when we were sitting right next to the bar.However once the server arrived they were a pleasure to interact with.2. The ice cream was very disappointing, have had better ice cream in Tesco.I would certainly recommend Indian Essence to anyone looking for a good authentic Indian fine dining experience.
Vegetarian options: Veggie options were very limited and tasted over seasoned
Had four of the tasting menus. We upgraded to lobster for £18 and would highly recommend it. Chicken and lamb was fantastic courses too.Staff were slightly slow with the courses, refilling drinks/water. And also we think we were missing 3 bowls of rice that came with the main course as we had a one small bowl to share between four. On the plus side we wanted to try a Dahl which they provided complimentary for us.
Really good
Innovatively presented and well spiced food. Portion sizes for the main course were 'scroogy'. Decor and setting were pleasant. Service attempts to be high-end but feels disjointed, I presume because it's new and things haven't quite coordinated yet. Might be tempted to revisit one more time but needs to improve. Booking was confused and felt taken advantage of by not being offered plain water rather than assuming I'd wanted a £5 bottle of mineral water. This sneaky ethos works against retaining custom. Not a bad experience but actually enjoyed a £7 curry canteen in Maidstone slightly more.
My wife and I took an early dinner reservation, and glad we did. Before we even had starters, the restaurant was bustling for a Saturday night.As always, we were donned with some popadoms to start, while we made decisions on our upcoming meal. We received our cocktails, admittedly I had a beautiful pineapple and ginger virgin version. These were bloody stunning.Our starters then arrived. We ordered a trio of tandoor chicken, which each were beautifully juicy. We also ordered prawns which were very tasty, but the prawns were only just over cooked. It didn’t detract from how flavoursome they actually were.We ordered our mains at the start, which the waiter weighed in with some advice. The advice was welcomed as my wife ordered a beautiful lamb dish, and I ordered a melt in the mouth goat dish. The advice the waiter gave, was to not order a rice each, but to maybe try a vegetable dish also. We shared a lemon rice and a potato and chickpea dish. It was great advice considering the portion sizes. We also ordered a bread each, my wife having a plain naan, and myself going for the keema version. Every part of the main was awesomely delicious, with the potato and chick pea side dish being our least favourite. Now by saying that, it was hard for any dish to contend with the lamb and goat dishes. It was nice, just lost within the awesomeness of the mains.We ordered some more drinks and pondered over the dessert menu. I went with a chocolate fondant with orange curd ice cream. My wife had an apple and plum crumble with cinnamon ice cream. For the first time in our relationship, I had food envy of what my wife had ordered. It was the best crumble I think I’ve ever had, which is hard thing to say. The chocolate fondant was slightly overcooked, but my goodness was amazing paired with the orange curd ice cream. I just wished I’d ordered that bloody crumble.Overall, every part of our experience there, including the service staff, was simply exceptional. Given this place has been around for a decade, there isn’t much I could say that probably hasn’t been said already, but just want to highlight that this place is worth the value of the pound notes spent.
Been eating here since they opened. Superb restaurant. Sets a standard that other local restaurants can't match. Had the set menu for two on a Sunday evening. No difference in the standard of food, service
Food was great and restaurant is pleasant. However what does let this place down is the incredible hard sell on expensive wine suggestions and pushing the al a carte menu. They only give you the lunch time set menu to look at if you ask to see it which can be a little intimidating. Overall a nice place but their customer service approach could be a little warmer. I have eaten in many celebrity restaurants more welcoming and less intimidating than this.
Our staffs enjoyed the food , thank you
One of the best afternoon dining experience and despite the unforeseen challenges with their gas supply, everything tasted perfectly and the service was top class.From the poppadums to starters to mains, everything tasted perfectly.They also looked after my mother’s special dietary requirements.Five star restaurant and must recommended.
We were really excited to try this restaurant… and weren’t disappointed.We had the tasting menu which was excellent - especially the lamb course. Prajwal - our waiter - was very friendly and knowledgeable. This is definitely a place we would come back to for a special occasion.
Restaurantji Recommends
Food is flavourful but nothing too different to any other curry house for it to be an Atul Kochar house!. The chicken 3 way and the kebab platter was a bit on the dry side and didn't feel it was that freshly cooked though some of the itemshad good flavours with salmon being the worst and prawn being the best. One batch of poppadoms was slightly stale. The nan bread was too thick. The chicken tikka pie was unique and tastey. Had run out of Kachori. The lamb in the nihari dish had no lamb taste left in it and the nihari sauce was not that interesting. Mirch Baingan and dal was nice. For a Sunday dinner, the place was packed.
Did our Xmas party with friends - was busy but service was good and efficient - food was good and flavoursome - the ambience was nice. Would recommend- price was as expected, not overly expensive nor cheap but good value.
I had a surprise birthday meal with my daughterand family for my birthday. Loved the food and the service. I am letting people know how nice it is there.
incredible restaurant.the food was impeccable - the best steak I have ever had in my life. everything was extremely delicious and the service was lovely.I didn’t even specifically request a birthday surprise, but they did one for my mum nonetheless - so thank you so much for this!!!5/5, I recommend this place to everyone.
Visited with my family of 3 on a quiet mid-week dinner service. Many of my friends had recommended this place and I ofcourse had high expectations going in, so the bar was already set high.What I loved:1. The staff were super helpful, very polite, courteous and friendly.2. The ambience was nice, no loud music, clean and cosy setting.3. Food was good. But frankly for a dinner that costs 100quid for young family of 3, the food has to be good.What I feel could have been better:1. The service was a bit slow, I noticed only 5-6 tables were occupied but still a simple glass of tap water took close to 15mins to be served and that too when we were sitting right next to the bar.However once the server arrived they were a pleasure to interact with.2. The ice cream was very disappointing, have had better ice cream in Tesco.I would certainly recommend Indian Essence to anyone looking for a good authentic Indian fine dining experience.