Review of Taste of India in King's Lynn: 'I’m hoping we caught them on a bad night but we won’t risk return visit'

Contrary to what some may believe, food reviewers (well Lynn News ones, anyway) do not revel in giving bad feedback.

For one, it’s our evening meal and we want to enjoy it, and for two, we really do not want to spoil the reputation of a local business.

However, when reporters go out for the evening with the express purpose of reviewing food on offer, they have to be honest. It would be disingenuous to be otherwise.

So, it’s now probably obvious what’s coming: the food served to my wife and I on New Year’s Eve was just not good enough.

We felt fortunate in managing to book a table at late notice and when we arrived at 6.45pm we were surprised to be the only guests.

Greeted in a friendly manner, we were shown to our seats, albeit my wife nearly falling on a wet, slippery floor. A couple came in a few minutes after us and the lady also slipped.

We were quickly asked what drinks we required and there was a good choice of alcoholic, soft and cocktail drinks.

I enjoyed a favourite of mine, Cobra lager, and Josi said her Pinot Grigio was dry and punchy.

We chose two poppadoms and pickles for £4.20 to start with... and were soon disappointed. Although the selection was better than at many similar restaurants, with six dishes, a couple of the tomato slices in the salad and a lime in the hot pickle looked dry and were clearly far from fresh.

Same for the poppadoms – they tasted okay but were rather stale and without crunch.

The highlight was our starters, with both my mixed vegetable platter (£4.50) and Josi’s chicken tikka (£4.25) well presented and tasty. But the main courses were so disappointing.

I went for the veg Afghan Chana (£7.95), which promised to be cooked in a ‘spicy special sauce’. Unfortunately it was not very spicy at all. There was very little taste and I was left with some bland veg, chickpeas and rice, which I ate little of.

My wife had a disappointing dish too after choosing the Taste of India Special (£7.95), consisting of chicken cooked with cheese and coconut in a special sauce.

She was so surprised by the sauce that she insisted I try it, and neither of us could believe quite how sweet it was. It reminded me of my childhood, licking out the mixing bowl after my mum had made a cake.

These weren’t dishes we could send back. They were not burned or cold. Just not very nice.

I’m hoping we just caught Taste of India on a bad night, but it’s not as if they were busy, with just five customers by the time we left. We won’t risk a return.

Ratings out of five:

Food: The starters were fine, but the pickle tray contained stale fruit and the mains were not enjoyable. **

Drink: We both enjoyed our drinks and there was a good selection too. ****

Staff: We saw four staff during the evening and they were all friendly and polite. ****

Price: Had the food been pleasant, £48 is good value for three courses, but it wasn’t. **

Decor: Nothing special and lacking a bit of love. **