Excellent Food - Bizarre Waiting 'Cabaret' (Ryde Tandoori ( Isle of Wight ))

Member Name: adambrown400

Product:	Ryde Tandoori ( Isle of Wight )
Date:	05/08/09 (88 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great food

Disadvantages: strange service

Indian food is by far my favourite style of food and I love visiting my local Tandoori in Ryde, aptly named Ryde Tandoori. I have been to this establishment many times and it is with some authority that I write this review as I have had both sit down dinners as a couple, as well as larger groups as well as having take way.

Situated on Ryde's busiest street, Union Street, Ryde Tandoori isn't the largest Indian restaurant in the Ryde District. In fact, quite a number of Indian restaurants have appeared in more recent years, but Ryde Tandoori seems to have weathered this competition quite well. It is cleverly situated next to some of Ryde's busiest pubs most notably Wetherspoons and quite a large amount of business must be generated by people coming out of the mega-pub after a bellyful of beer.

I think it is fair to recount our most recent visit to Ryde Tandoori, which was for my 29th birthday. In fact it was a bit of a Dooyoo reviewers get together - both 'JJJJ' and 'tomflint' were there as well as my brother and Carry-On reviewer extraordinaire 'jbsabbath'. Being one of my favourite restaurants I thought it might be a nice place to go.

As with most people I expect there are a few dishes that you enjoy and you usually go for one of those. This also helps because you can gauge the price of your favourite dish against other restaurants that you have been to. I usually go for a few popadoms followed by a keema naan and a lamb biryani. This is exactly what I chose to have on this evening.

We were seated towards the middle of the restaurant on quite a busy Saturday evening. The tandoori itself is nicely decorated, with the occasional tiger picture on the wall. The staff are smart, dressed in the same black outfits. There is Indian techno music in the background, but quiet enough not to grate too much.

Our waiter comes to our table after a short while and we order our drinks. Most of us go for pints of Carlsberg or the Indian favourite 'Cobra' beer. Our waiter doesn't quite look up to the job and mumbles throughout. I even get to ordering my main dish before he clears off to get our popadoms. When our popadoms do arrive our waiter is unsure as to what to do with them initially giving them to tomflint, but then decides against that idea and tries to wrestle them back off him, before placing them towards the centre of the table. Odd!

Theres nothing like popadoms with chutney and after wrestling with them from the waiter, we got stuck in. Once finished, there was quite a long period of time before I had to call a different waiter over so that we could order our main. This guy was much better and knew what he was doing. He took our main orders and promptly went off the kitchen. JJJJ and tomflint went for naans along with chicken korma. I think jbsabbath went for a chicken balti.

Our food arrived promptly and a hot plate was placed on our table. It was a bit of a squeeze trying to get all of the food onto the table at the same time, but we managed after a bit of table Tetris.

My keema naan (naan with mincemeat) was excellent - not too overdone, but soft and warm. My main dish, lamb biryani, was huge! The meat was tender and not too tough with the curry sauce being not too hot or spicy. An excellent dish. I know that JJJJ in the past has complained that his chicken korma has been so tender that it felt like butter melting in his mouth. I think this put him off before, but he seemed to enjoy his dish this time.

We all finished out food off pretty quickly and felt suitably stuffed. I asked for the bill which was quickly forthcoming. However, after paying by card and sitting back with our quarter oranges - another waiter brought me over another bill! I didn't think that they deserved to be paid twice, so I complained bitterly and promptly showed him the receipt from a minute or so before.

Annoyed slightly, we left stuffed and went for a beer in Yelfs, the bar next door. I've been served better in this establishment on many occasions and was quite surprised by the bizarre service we received this evening. Our food was really good, you couldn't fault that, but the service left a lot to be desired.

I would definitely go back to Ryde Tandoori and recommend it to others who want a decent curry on the Isle of Wight. Its just a shame that the service was so weird on this particular evening.

Summary: A great nights entertainment.