Bengal Lounge - Stroud

It was a friends Birthday so I suggested taking her the the Bengal Lounge because although I only go there a few times each year, the food is always excellent. Perfect poppadum’s followed by a lovely curry. I had the chicken Balti and she had a curry with pineapple. As usual, the service was excellent and the food was excellent.

Difficult to describe just how poor. Curries with no hint of real spices other than chilli......sauces resemble cheap supermarket gloopy tomatoey 'cook in ' sauces. Dahl like water. Naan bread tasted stale and slightly rancid. No resemblance whatsoever to authentic Bangladeshi or other food from the Indian subcontinent. We threw it all away. Absolute disgrace.

I am a bit of a curry obsessive (don't judge) and I can honestly say without fear of accusations of hyperbole, that the BL produces the best curry within 30 miles of Durlsey probably beyond I just haven't searched further! Mo the head waiter is unbelievably professional and knowledgeable about the customers and what they want. On one occassion the boss even drove to my house to deliver 2 naan breads they had forgot to pack!

This is not the first incident with this restraunt. Ordered food at opening time and 2 hours and a phone call later it arrived after having cancelled it and went elsewhere. During the phone call the staff were rude having said every excuse under the sun that they were busy , it 's first come first serve , and that they couldn 't get through to their driver once told that the order was made at the time of opening. No communication was made to say that the order would be delayed at all and I wouldn 't be writing this if this were the first incident. There have been previous orders missing food, food being cold, and none of the orders have arrived on time unlike other restaurants. TLDR: Order elsewhere and you 're more likely to get your food and get it by the estimated delivery time.

Brilliant food, friendly staff, 10/10. Don't usually have Chicken Chat as a starter but thought I'd have a change. Also chose the Chicken Vindaloo as main course. I love chilli and this was hot hot HOT, lovely.