Ariana - Coventry

I rarely complain, but I have to warn you: The old Shagbah (which used to serve delicious food) across from The Hersall Pub, now called The Ariana, served me the worst Indian food I have ever tried. The photo shows only TWO pieces of chicken in my Madras, which was essentially spicy tomato soup with an excessive amount of chili powder. It was inedible. They charged me £10.90 for this dish, which left my mouth burning hotter than the sun and guaranteed me a long time on the toilet tomorrow. Trust me, stay far away from this place. Not only will your behind hurt, but your wallet will feel the sting as well.

The curries at this restaurant are top-notch, with excellent biryani and delicious naan bread. The menu offers a variety of curry options, all of which are high quality.

I ordered a meal and it was terrible. I requested no onions in the jalfrezi because last time we ate from Ariana, it was mostly onions. This evening we ordered buttered chicken, which looked like a trifle and should come with a cardiologist appointment. Do not waste your time or money here.

The title says it all. We tried Ariana after having their menu put through our letter box. Very efficient, two lovely tasty interesting curries and at a very competitive price. Will we be ordering again? Absolutely

Historically used to be the Shah Bah and for about 25 years I used it every Sunday evening without fail, great food! Tried it once just as it changed hands and was like a lot of Anglicised Indian restaurants one pot of highly coloured tastless food smoothered in ghee. However, thought I would try it again after about 3 years. The Tandoori chicken (usually comes in a foil lined bag and is lovely and dry) was in a plastic container covered in bright red onions. The meat was very moist, tastless and tough, I suspect prepared in an ordinary oven. Mushroom rice was very greasy and tasteless, Tarka Dahl lacked the garlic kick and the potatoes in the Bombay aloo were undercooked. Complimentary popadoms were soggy!