Had a wonderful meal with my other half on Sat. Tried a few cocktails from their new menu, staff were very attentive. Dessert is always the highlight for me, had gratted carrot pudding with pistachio ice cream and it was divine. Thank you Indian Essence Since my first review we had a change to visit again and had the best and well traditional Indian deserts ever, yes we had tried another 3 of them. Since my first review we had been back a couple of more times and every time food is just amazing. Last time service was very slow and we had to literally ask for get some attention from the waiter. No idea if they were super busy or because we sat outside. Sharing some more photos.

What was an exceptional meal was spoilt quite alot by the lady who turned up to sing 90s ballads and was no better than a cat being strangled at karaoke bar. Hence the 3 star rating rather that would have been a simple 5.. The first 40 minutes of being there was really peaceful, brilliant service, (which continued throughout), along with pleasant Indian background music. The food was first rate and very enjoyable, even to go as far as arguably the best Indian style food I've had. Although I wouldn't revisit unless I knew that woman singing wasn't there.

The good was truly delicious, we had the 3 courses weekend meal deal. With a bottle of wine shared in three the final price was £50 each. Great selection of wine for reasonable price. It’s expensive for a small town but worth it for the food and atmosphere. The only reason I’m not giving 5 stars is because the staff seemed untrained and confused.

An excellent night out. We had Maharani set meal - vegetarian set meal. Lovely starter. We had an alternative dessert to the one on the set menu.

Everything you order is Super Tasty and Delicious, Staff is so co-operative and feels like royal treatment!!! Food presented in a way it looks tempting. 😋 Bring your loved one with harmony here when you are convinced yourself to spent too much money than average !!!😍😍 Food and drink prices are over expensive and food quantity is so less!!!!😭😭😭 No Discounts, No Offers!!!!!!! Request to owner to work on to reduce Takeaway prices!!!!!!

It was quite a long drive for us to go there, but it was worth it. The staff were super nice and made sure that everything was just right. We went at lunch time and had the set 3 course menu with prosseco which was absolutely amazing. The down side is that other Indian restaurants that we always thought were good have now gone down a notch. However this is a restaurant owned by a Michellin star chef (Atul Kochhar} - and it shows. We went away very happy.

Fantastic dining experience, authentic Indian flavours with a twist. Service was second to none. Great wine list.

Excellent service and food. We had an amazing evening here celebrating our 35th Wedding Anniversary. They took such good care of us here. The food was out of this world. The live entertainment was absolutely fantastic, making the whole evening very very enjoyable. We will definitely be returning. Thank You.

Food amazing and great portion size. Service was excellent. For me this place is better than Cinnamon Culture and Tamasha.

I have never left a negative review in my life but the standard and quality of food of this restaurant is very poor. Where do I start? Have orderd Daal, sabzi bhaji and chicken Surprisingly, the sabzi bhaji was not even near to how it should be and the taste of the daal was not upto the mark. However, the chicken was not able to eat because it was not cooked propely. They deliver the undercooked chicken which is not good for the health at all. In short the experience was terrible!!!!

Food was presented well and delicately spiced. The female who showed us to our seat was very matter of fact when asked questions. However, all the male staff were very amicable. Otherwise, it would have been 5 stars.

What wonderful food. Bravo. We often order takeaway but decided to visit the restaurant in person. Can't recommend them more. Superb.

Busy, tight seating to the extent neighbouring tables can easily listen or glance into your evening but as I play tennis I shut that out and focused on my sister's great conversation and the meal. Some might struggle though. The tasting menu looked fantastic and had a paired and unpaired option that was reasonably priced for the quality on offer. However, I went for the mixed Kebabs and my sister had the Street Food Bubble Wheat which looked and was reported as delicious my starter was too. We had a goat curry, mushroom rice, charred aubergine and a Naan basket and it was all excellently presented and the taste lived up to that. The Coconut Creme Brulee for dessert didn't disappoint. I am AF and th Salted Lassi was great although the second was over salted. The art of a a good restaurant is the experience as a whole bur also ensurinf that enquiring minds will wish to revisit and try something else on the menu. I would. As a reasonably frequent visitor to Michelin Star restaurants, mostly in Asia, I would say the service is a little bit quirky. As siblings we were wished a Happy Anniversary and a waitress made a very long job of the crumb scrape with a strange smirk at the end which seemed a bit odd. The jacket collection at the end was also framed with in jokes between the staff at the end of their shift which also seemed a bit out of place when customers hadn't left yet. Overall I would go back for sure and the menu has been well designed. I enjoyed the evening for a variety of reasons with the food and company being the foremost.

This is my Fav Indian restaurant! The food is outstanding & their set menus are absolutely worth it.

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.

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.

It's not every day you get to spend a Tuesday afternoon with lovely friends celebrating my birthday in the company of your amazing restaurant. Food was amazing every single flavour that was listed on the menu I could get from every single dish. The fantastic birthday celebration cake that they made for me and the 5 Star service received really made today a special day.

We enjoyed a good lunch on a Sunday. The starters were lovely, and the chilli prawns had a real kick. The sauce on my main course of prawn, sea bass, and squid was too rich and sweet. But apart from that very good. Recommended.

Indulging in the culinary tapestry of Indian Essence was an exquisite journey into the heart of authentic Indian flavours . Each dish, a harmonious blend of spices, transported my taste buds to a realm of gastronomic delight. The kaleidoscope of aromas and nuanced tastes showcased the culinary prowess embedded in every creation. Beyond the delectable fare, the staff's attentive service elevated the experience to a symphony of hospitality. Their genuine warmth and knowledge of the menu added a personal touch, making the dining sojourn truly exceptional. A culinary haven where impeccable flavors dance in tandem with impeccable service – Indian Essence is a gem in the realm of gastronomy.

Exceptional food full of flavour as always. Love this restaurant and always feel very well looked after.

The best butter chicken in /around London area... absolutely amazing

Amazing, lavish food

Amazing food, friendly service.

Very nice food and good service

This place should be called Heaven for food

I have tried so many indian restaurants in London. To be really honest I was disappointed this time. I went by the reviews and paid a visit here for dinner. We ordered lamb nihari. To my surprise it never came with the lamb shank !!! I missed the fat and the shank bone. I asked them why and I was told that they have stopped serving the shank bone and instead cooked the cut meat from the lb shank in fat. To my disappointment I neither could taste any fat nor was the meat from lamb shank. It tastes so bland. In addition the food is so highly priced here, not sure why. I had Rabbit meat for starters and it wasn't that impressive. Lacked flavour and spice. Kind of bland too. Sorry, although the ambience is good and the drinks were great, the food was really bland and disappointing.

Utterly superb. Delicious starts, sublime mains and scrumptious desserts. This is a great fusion experience. I had prawn cocktail followed by steak and chips. The prawns were served in a rich tomato and chilli sauce were unctuous and spicy and delicious. The steak two ways had rich chunks of marinated beef and a bowl of fragrant beef curry. Served with chips,of course. My companions had duck and lamb shank which were equally great. Great atmosphere. Friendly staff. Good reasonable priced wine list. The portions are a good size too. This is a truly excellent special occasions treat.

Had the most fantastic lunch and you have to try the "Indian Essence Martini".

Had a great meal here. The service was excellent. I had 3 courses and all 3 were delicious.

Fabulous meal, great service, wonderful dishes that are not available at any other Indian restaurant

What a lovely evening. Delicious cocktails, attentive staff and fabulous food. Sure, it's quite expensive, but it's worth it for a special treat

One of my favourite restaurants.Incredible food, accompanied with perfect wine. Staff are so friendly and attentive. Highly recommend this restaurant Xx

Had a lovely birthday dinner at India essence. Great ambience, wonderful staff and great Indian food .

Had a 90th celebration meal at Indian Essence early this month. From the moment we entered having drinks and nibbles an hour earlier than usual possible on a very rainy Saturday afternoon, the excellence, professionalism and warmth of service was clear to see. As much as the excellent service, my Dad was treated like a King and the portion sizes matched the magnanimous nature of the staff. Rabbit was a surprising revelation as one starter, chicken cooked several ways different to many other Indian restaurants starter selections offered was very good. The choice of mains were varied and sauces they were cooked in a sign of a top notch restaurant at the top of their game. By the time we reached desserts (washed down by more than one bottle of Chablis), the restaurant was filling up fast and buzzing for a normal October evening. After a pandemic and associated lack of celebrations for all, this was a choice I was more than happy to have made for such a special occasion. We will definitely be back and would recommend it to others for anything from normal meals to large celebrations. 5 star occasion...well deserved.

Very slow service. They took a good 10 minutes before menu was given to us. Then we had to wait for nearly 20 minutes for order taker to come and take our order. Took huge time (over 2 hours) to finish lunch.

Overpriced bland curry. Meat is good quality and staff are friendly… food is lacking.

They got the order wrong, sent out more food 2 of us sat for an hour waiting for it whilst others ate there meal.. Food Turns up and the poor delivery driver had apparently been asked to get £5 for delivery. I rang them as I was s little bit annoyed at this point and the management has the cheek to blame it all on the driver... how low can you get..... I did get to try some of the appetisers not good ay all overpriced food that taists like pataks jar They did say they would send the entire order out again but we didn't Want it 2 hours after?should have refunded the whole meal as it wrecked what was supposed to be a nice meal I wouldn't even expect a free meal of this lot

This restaurant is a little gem in Pettswood. The staff took good care of us. Food quality, ambience, portion size , house wine and live music are second to none. We will definitely visit again.

I was really looking forward to eating at The Indian Essence. Vegan options are limited. I chose (chickpea and potato) it was quite tasteless and I'm certain it had been re-heated. I asked the waiter if the saffron rice was Vegan and he said 'you have boiled rice'. There were 5 of us and we all said the food was quite bland. My niece ordered a salad to accompany her steak and it was a plate of raw onion. Sadly I won't return, it wasn't for me.

A very enjoyable meal for my wife and I. Seekh kebab and Raj Kachori to start with Lamb Nihari and Murg Makhani with Pindi Chole. The two Lamb dishes I had were filling and the flavours were delightful. Raj Kachori was beautifully presented tasting as good as it looked. Was surprised I had to remind staff to for side plates for poppadoms and also the potato in the Nihari was too hard. Despite that, the rest of the food was very nice and staff pleasant and helpful.

We came here for our wedding anniversary meal with a voucher gifted to us. However, we were also presented the option to use the voucher to put towards other menus so we didn’t have to stick to the set menu. We opted to do this so we could try the tasting menu which was several courses as this was our first time at the restaurant, and I’m so glad we did. The food was delicious and full of flavour, and the portions were reasonably generous for a tasting menu. I informed staff that I wasn’t a fan of lamb and they happily offered to replace one of the dishes out for monkfish instead which was delicious, as were all courses. When the dessert was brought out, we had a candle in both of them and a piping message wishing us a happy anniversary. It was a lovely little touch, and staff really took note of the celebration. The service was brilliant, our main waiter was very knowledgable and friendly, and we appreciated the time taken by staff to let us know what each dish was when they brought it out. All in all, the restaurant did not disappoint. Expect to pay a bit more than the average Indian restaurant here, but it’s because the food isn’t like your average restaurant. It’s definitely a cut above other places and aims for quality in its food (which on our experience, hey achieved) and is well worth the money for an occasion.

Delicious food, friendly staff and would come back again for some more food. Live music to celebrate was an extra treat. Not forgetting the Mumbai sour (my favourite drink right now) and the masala chai for gorgeous dessert. Thank you.

This is one of the best Indian Restaurants in the country. The extremely tasty food is complimented by the amazing team in this establishment who have consistently delivered a top-level dining experience. Service is attentive and of high quality as are the ingredients used in every dish. Definitely try the Khasta Murg (chicken tikka pie) which I haven't come across in any other Indian restaurant. Keep up the good work guys!!

The food is superb and service excellent. The chocolate desert is a must.

Brilliant staff and Brilliant food, while maintaining safety measures This place always delivers. We tried Grill platter for starters and it was delicious, especially the prawn. For main course it was the Lamb Biryani , malabar paratha and lamb curry . The spices were there as it should be and not a toned down version. For dessert Bhapa doi is a must try.

Amazing dinner. Enjoyed our evening out for my husband's birthday and catered for a gluten allergy without any issues. Helpful staff, fantastic service and delicious food!! We will return :)

The food was okay nothing what was shown on website and over priced

Very nice, taster menu gave a good variety, little pricey but knew that going in

This restaurant has taken payment from my credit card this morning, which wasn't even authorised by me. Beware of fraud taking place here.

Amazing food and service was great. Best Indian food I’ve ever tasted. Would definitely recommend and look forward to revisiting

Simply wonderfull must visit again soon!

It was brilliant. We had a lovely time. Food was good and Thank you for golden candle topped on ice cream. My daughter loved it and forced me to increase the rating from 4 to 5.

Very good

Lovely food

Great food. Good service. We will be going back.

Excellent food. Great selection of dishes from mild through to fiery and with a broad range of flavour and spice ranges to suit many tastes. Well cooked. Nearly too full for dessert but the kulfi was scrumptious. Amazing cocktail menu with many Indian spiced gems. Great wine list. And when you can't get out because of the children or whatever - they deliver!

Indian fine dining at its very best. Ash and his team are superb.

Just wonderful. Amazing food. A real treat of a night out

Really great food and in no way a typical Indian restaurant. We’ve returned many times!!

Went for my birthday begining of December, Absolutely excellent great food ,great service very well looked after, you get what pay for and worth every penny 👍

Enjoyed dining here. Very friendly staff and great ambience.

Amazing food and service. Consistent for last 3 years we have been going... Nice touch on birthday with suprise candle on ice-cream...

Great Food Great Service will keep going back until I have completed everything on the menu.

Fantastic food - the tasting menu is really special!

I tried many curry places, but this food brings back the memories of our trip to India. Good, fast service and food worth every penny.

Always superb. The quality of the food, the service and the live music.

Good restaurant with some nice Indian foods.

Food is best Indian I've ever had. Amazing.

Lovely restaurant great value for the quality of of food - best place locally

Fabulous Indian food which we've enjoyed many times during lockdown. The standard and cooking style is far higher than your standard Indian take away and really can't be equalled by many other restaurants, and even fewer take aways. Pricy but well worth the cost

Everything about this restaurant is excellent. Avoid it at your peril!!

Lovely venue for a special day or treat. Service is excellent and the food is good with a nice selection. Best time to park is after 7pm. It is a bit pricey with a meal for 2 costing £100.00 with drinks.

Perfect food, perfect service.

Absolute Diwali disaster. I cannot articulate exactly how bad this was. After getting food a few times that was nice, we decided to treat ourselves with their special menu to take away to celebrate Diwali. For me, a restaurant earns their reputation with how well they do when busy and this was an exceptional disaster. Our collection was 8pm. At 9.30 they finally gave us some food after waiting around (constantly promised just 5 more minutes) and that's just the start of the issue. For almost £100, they forgot rice, poppadoms and lassis. The prawns were raw and the salmon was burnt black. The chicken was cold as ice and we had 7 chutney dips we couldn't even try because we had nothing to dip. 100% of this meal has gone to waste and we are boyond disappointed. It was clearly rushed out after being so delayed and was just awful. I will say they have promised a refund but it doesn't get our Saturday night back and it's 10pm and we have no dinner. For those who celebrate Diwali and ordered this, my heart goes out to them, I cannot imagine how disappointed they must feel. I can't speak to the sit in option but I will say go at your own risk. You might end up hungry

Nice food but no different to most Indian restaurants. Small portions and extremely overpriced.

Great food, great service, worth every penny

Excellent food , not cheap though

Really friendly staff and good service. Starters were very good, so we had high expectations for our mains. However it was nowhere as good as the starters. Wife had a monkfish dish which was ok but nothing to say wow! My lamb Nihari didn’t have any flavours and bit too much on the sweet side.

Absolutely awesome

A bit disappointing. Had high expectations, but the food was nothing like the pictures on the website.

Food was amazing and very nice staff.

Tables bit too close together in current climate -- otherwise food and service absolutely excellent

Lovely food... A bit on the pricey side but we'll worth it.

Great food. Amazing value on weekday lunch menu

After looking at the review, Had visited the restaurant to celebrate 40th birthday but we were disappointed by the whole experience. We had ordered veg tasting menu with pairing wines. Wine didn’t come with each meal. Food was extra salty - got it changed but still salty Forgot birthday cake and rush to get us out…. Deserts choice very sad - just sorbet! Overall it was not worth spending £99 per person as did not see value for this…. Strongly suggest to go somewhere, where you would get value for your money.