Star of India

John (17 May 2006)

Hugely overrated. Disinterested service was a bad start. Sitting around for upwards of five minutes without being offered a drink or a menu is simply unacceptable. The menu, leaning heavily on cream and butter, is hardly for the health conscious. My vegetarian starter was ordinary. Main course had a poncey title but amounted to four spiced up chicken balls immersed in a sickly sauce. With chappati - surely the mainstay of breads in an any authentic restaurant featuring food from the sub continent - unavailable, I was forced to lump down yet more calories with a nan bread.

Frankly, despite the pretence at sophistication, there was precious little on the menu that I would have wanted. The decor - all up lighters and dodgy wallpaper featuring semi-naked nubiles - is borderline ridiculous and a step down to the toilets, where nothing appears to have been decorated for at least 20 years, is an experience that is not in keeping with a restaurant that clearly has a ticket on itself. A glimpse into the kitchen was similarly interesting. Words like war-zone springing to mind. The American tourists and chinless cravat types seem to like it. I didn't.

Warwick (23 July 2005)

The place to be. Creative, exotic fusions of flavour using imaginative ingredients. Subtlety combined with fiery panache. Not your average Indian!