What has happened to the Dulwich Tandoori?

[Sue]

We hadn't been to the Dulwich Tandoori for a while, and went there yesterday evening for the buffet.

There were very few people there and the place was far from busy, but we didn't get a welcome, nor a smile from any of the staff the whole time.

The buffet seemed to consist mainly of chicken dishes, including the sag, which whenever we have visited in the past has been prawn. As I prefer not to eat chicken unless I'm sure it's free range, this didn't leave me much choice, particularly as the few non chicken dishes had not been replenished and were virtually empty

None of the tables had napkins.

The last straw was when the bill came. We had two buffets - ?17.90 and two large Cobras - ?9.90. That was all they had to add up. The total shown on the bill was over ?40.

When I pointed out that this was wrong, I was told that there was "a problem with the calculator."

:)) :)) :))

They didn't get a tip.

This place used to be really friendly and welcoming, with lovely staff and reasonable food, and to the best of my knowledge I have never been overcharged there before.

Has it changed hands? Were they using temporary staff over the holiday period?

We won't be going back.

[Jeremy]

You really do need to avoid the buffets... they're all well dodgy, always have been.

[Sue]

The actual food we ate was OK.

There was quite a lot of the fish curry dish available, to be fair.

It was the lack of choice (ie too many chicken dishes) compared to previous buffet eating visits there, the overcharging and the lack of friendly smiles that were the issues.

Particularly the overcharging and the feeble excuse for it :(

[siousxiesue]

I was overcharged last time we went too, unfortunate. This used to be hands down the most value for money curry house around. Now the prices are comparable to other places and the quality is not! We voted with our feet. Manager guy is lovely, always has been, but if he's not there it's not terrible welcoming

[dharamsala]

Hi Sue

Perhaps you could had asked any of the waiters to replenish any of the non chicken dishes and I'm pretty sure they would had done it straightaway .

In my opinion the quality of the food at DT is outstanding , service has always been really good too

[hammerman]

We were at the DT yesterday (New Year's Day) and as usual (vintage users) found the DT staff to be very friendly, welcoming and the tables laid out with napkins etc. and the food to be fantastic!

Yesterday evening there was a big family gathering in one corner which took over half the restaurant so maybe Sue you were a bit unlucky with the food choice but we managed to eat a plateful load!

[Sue]

hammerman Wrote:

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> We were at the DT yesterday (New Year's Day) and

> as usual (vintage users) found the DT staff to be

> very friendly, welcoming and the tables laid out

> with napkins etc. and the food to be fantastic!

>

> Yesterday evening there was a big family gathering

> in one corner which took over half the restaurant

> so maybe Sue you were a bit unlucky with the food

> choice but we managed to eat a plateful load.

There was no big family gathering when we were there.

And nothing could excuse the overcharging.

[dharamsala]

oh please Sue , is just a mistake !!!

They didn't want to overcharge you intentionally

[Sue]

dharamsala Wrote:

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> oh please Sue , is just a mistake !!!

>

> They didn't want to overcharge you intentionally

And you know this how?

SiouxsieSue above was also overcharged.

They had two things to add up. I don't see how they could have accidentally added two things up wrongly. It wasn't by a small amount.

And to say they had a "problem with the calculator" is just ridiculous.

Even if they had had (how?), they should have noticed that the bill was nearly 50% more than it should have been.

It wasn't lines and lines of items. It was two lines!

If it was a mistake, it was one that shouldn't have been made.

But anyway, that was just one issue.

[dharamsala]

Sue probably they just got confused with another bill , as I said I'm sure it wasn't intentionally . This restaurant is been there for at least 35 years !

[Sue]

dharamsala Wrote:

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> Sue probably they just got confused with another

> bill , as I said I'm sure it wasn't intentionally

> . This restaurant is been there for at least 35

> years !

I know it has.

I've been going there since the early eighties.

The bill was handwritten and had only two lines on it, which said what the items were and how much they were.

How could they confuse it with another bill?

To add balance: Last night we ended up at The Actress with friends, as Franco Manca had a technical problem with their oven.

We had a really nice meal, which I wasn't expecting based on our last experience there some time ago (raw pizza 😀).

The service was friendly and they had a nice porter (ale not person 😀)

We will be back.

[Sue]

I have just found this thread whilst I was looking for something else.

I had completely forgotten about this incident, but unfortunately very recently we had another bad experience at the Dulwich Tandoori.

When we arrived, we were asked if we wanted poppadums - and we said no.

Five minutes later, we were asked again by somebody else - we said no.

Some time later, two poppadums and chutneys arrived. We said we didn't want poppadums and they took them away again.

We ordered two mains, two rice, three sides.

After some considerable time, we were told that there was a delay because "the chef is breaking his fast after Ramadan."

This seemed a bit strange as one would have thought they could have arranged the shifts so that any fast breaking did not affect their customer service, given that they are a restaurant, however we were happy to wait.

When the meal eventually arrived, my prawn madras had a large potato sitting in the middle of it, and tasted of raw spices. When I said I had never before had potato in a madras, they said I had been given a vindaloo by mistake. They replaced it, but I was glad I hadn't actually ordered the vindaloo because it tasted as if the spices had not been cooked.

The rest of the meal was OK, including the replacement madras.

When the bill came, the manager apologised for the long wait for our meal and kindly said he would not charge me for the madras, which we gratefully accepted. He also asked us if we would like a complimentary drink. We said thanks but no thanks as we had already had two Cobras each.

So he (again very kindly) said that, instead, he would not charge us for the drinks we had had. Again, we gratefully accepted.

We had quite a long conversation in the course of which he asked me for honest feedback about the restaurant. I honestly said that it seemed to have gone very downhill since I used to eat there. He said that his father had died recently and he was making every effort to bring things back to its previous standard, including that he was going to try out some of his mother's recipes.

He struck the total from the bill and wrote in a new total.

Unfortunately, when I looked at the bill more closely, I saw that not only had we been considerably overcharged for the food component of the meal (excluding the madras) which we had had, but also that four poppadums (which we had not had) were included..

When we pointed both these things out, the manager said that we would not have to pay anything. We said we did not want a free meal, we just wanted to pay the right amount for what we had had, but despite several attempts, he would not take our money, so the whole situation became quite embarrassing for us.

Another issue was that when I went downstairs to the loo, the chef came out of the kitchen in a really filthy apron covered in food stains. When he came up to the restaurant later on, he put on a clean white apron, so presumably was aware of the state of the other one and didn't want customers to see it.

I don't have particularly high standards of hygiene, but I found that quite offputting.

I know there were several apparently kind gestures in what I have described above, and the manager was extremely friendly, but there was unfortunately sufficiently wrong to ensure that we won't be going back.

At least this time they didn't try to blame the calculator :))

[DirtyBox]

So in January you said you won't be going back, then went back. They made some mistakes and offered you a free meal but even that isn't good enough for you so again you say you won't be going back. What exactly do they have to do to satisfy you?

[Sue]

DirtyBox Wrote:

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> So in January you said you won't be going back,

> then went back. They made some mistakes and

> offered you a free meal but even that isn't good

> enough for you so again you say you won't be going

> back. What exactly do they have to do to satisfy

> you?

Yes it's true I said in January I wouldn't be going back.

As I said in my previous post, I had forgotten all about the January incident, or at least the details of it, until I found this thread today whilst looking for old threads I had started about articles I have for sale.

I won't be going back for the reasons I have stated. I don't suppose I will forget about it a second time.

The offer of a free meal was because I saw that even after everything that had transpired, we had still been overcharged, and in addition charged for items we hadn't had and had said three times that we didn't want. In fact charged double, as they had only brought us two poppadums (which we didn't want), not four.

If I hadn't noticed the overcharging (and probably most people wouldn't have checked the total after the manager had amended the bill) then we wouldn't have been given the free meal.

They have handwritten bills which to the best of my knowledge they don't give back to you when you pay, so I wouldn't even have noticed the overcharging once home.

You think I should go back, then? After all that? There are plenty of other restaurants in East Dulwich, where you get a properly itemised accurate bill produced by a machine, and get to take it away with you.

ETA: And being overcharged on both our visits this year? Very unlucky, and seemingly a rather mistake prone restaurant.

[binkylilyput]

Sounds like a bit of a debacle but that it was also dealt with politely and with honesty, including disclosing a family bereavement and acknowledging that attempts are being made to raise standards.

In terms of the chef and the apron, it is common practice for a head chef to have one apron that is in use in the kitchen during service and one that is kept clean in case he/ she is required to enter the restaurant.

In all honesty I think Lordship curry houses are generic and disappointing but I got desperate a couple of weeks ago and ordered a delivery from Dulwich Tandoori. I thought quite nice actually- I've had a lot worse!