India Club

Having read very positive reviews of this restaurant about a year ago (autumn 2010) I had been meaning to visit it ever since. The promise of 'authentic' and 'cheap' Indian food in central London sounded wonderful.

In December 2011 I was on the Strand looking for an early dinner and so finally made my visit. I could not have been more disappointed.

The food and overall dining experience were abysmal from start to finish. I would not have cared about the poor décor and rude service if the food had been as excellent as promised. However, it was truly disgusting. I ate better curries in my school dining room as a child. I have travelled extensively in India and have never eaten food this terrible anywhere in India, not even in the cheapest, grimiest eateries.

We ordered a lamb curry (I forget which) - the meat was overcooked, the curry lukewarm, the sauce a tasteless brown gloup; a portion of rice (which we had to ask for several times) - overcooked, possibly reheated, low quality rice; a mushroom dish - tinned mushrooms in the a similar, or possibly the same, brown gloupy sauce as the lamb; a plain naan - not freshly made but out of a packet and barely heated; a paratha - stodgy and heavy not light a layered; a masala dosa - probably the best thing we ate but the dosa was a bit soggy and the filling mediocre, the coconut sambar was luminous green and not very good; finally we had a sweet lassi - neither sweet nor drinkable.

The service was rude and inattentive and when we came to pay they kept pointing out that service was not included.

The food is not particularly cheap and there are far better Indian restaurants in London for a similar price. But to be honest even if they were giving away this food I would not chose to eat here again.

After our visit I checked some more recent reviews of the restaurant several of which said that the restaurant has recently changed hands and has since gone downhill. A shame, but please do not fall into the same trap I did based upon older reviews. The restaurant is terrible. AVOID!