Lost the plot

Unfriendly, poor service and mediocre food - that sums up our experience at Uraswamys. Having enjoyed numerous visits in the past, we were looking forward to new dishes and old favourites in one of the UK's oldest Indian restaurants. But on entering the establishment, we were immediately aware that all was not well. Despite being about half full, there was no lively buzz, the atmosphere was distictly subdued. We were duly ushered to our table where we slowly worked our way through the usual plate of poppadoms and pickles, waiting for our order to be taken. For half an hour. Eventually a bored and unhappy looking waiter took our orders, and we sat in eager anticipation with little to do as we had already finished our poppadoms. We watched as other people were served, then commented as they left shortly later with glum expressions and barely a thankyou exchanged between them and the waiters, who didn't even bother to open the door for the customers. So, how long does it take to prepare a chicken chat starter? Over an hour! And when it finally arrived, the main courses were delivered at the same time. Well, as time was getting on we were not going to send anything back and tucked in to what was once regarded as the best chicken chat for miles, if not the country. But not any more - the plate of scorched meat beared little resemblance to the sweet smokey dish that we all expected. Oh well, on to the main course then. My chicken Ceylon had been presented as a "coconut chicken" by the waiter. On questioning, he assured me it was chicken Ceylon. But it was like no Ceylon I had ever tasted before, what should have been a fiery treat of spices and flavours to rival a vindaloo was instead a bland paste of porridgy goop with just six tiny pieces of chicken. We had all finished within ten minutes. Not once did the waiters ask if the meal was okay, maybe they were scared of the response! Still hungry, we ordered desserts, which being prepacked were fine although presenting them still in their plastic packaging was a little unprofessional. We paid and left soon after while the waiters moped nonchalantly about, no goodbyes or "did you enjoy your meal?". There are a large number of excellent indian restaurants in the area - Noor, Akash, Cafe le Raj, Kalijeera, and many others. The loss of Uraswamys from our list of regular venues will not be noticed.

RST Reviews ltd - 01/05/2008 | report this review