Spice Village - Tooting
If I had to eat a cuisine from another country (other than Nigerian) for the rest of my life, it would probably be Indian. I LOVE INDIAN FOOD. I'll never say no to Peshawari naan🤤🤤🤤 (shout out to my bestie Comfort for bringing me in on that.)
Disclaimer - I am a foodie; but by no means a professional critic. I'll eat whatever you put in front of me at least once. All of my reviews are based solely on the singular dining experience described and is subject to change if revisited. When it comes to food; I'm very opinionated, making me incisive, especially when I don't like it. This doesn't mean you won't, it just means I don't or I've had better.
I've been to more Indian restaurants than I can count, from little shacks on Brick lane to fancy restaurants on Liverpool Street. As such, I think I'm reasonably qualified to pass judgment on what is good and what's not.
I'd been to Spice Village once before, about 8 months ago. I had a good experience, so when I knew I was going to be in the area, I decided to satisfy my cravings and visit for the second time. I kinda wish I hadn't. Not because the food was bad, but because the restaurant's standard had dropped.
I turned up at about 7:30 on a Thursday without a reservation, I waited for about ten minutes for them to clear a table before I was seated. As soon as I sat down I mentioned that I was expecting a friend who's running late.
I then ordered peshwari naan before even looking at the menu, I pulled out my book ( The secret lives of Baba Segi's wives) to read whilst I waited. In the space of fifteen minutes I had three different staff members come up to me and ask if I was ready to order. I said I was waiting. Ten minutes later another staff came up to, almost kinda hinting for me to order or leave even though there was no one waiting to be seated.
When my friend arrived, I signaled that we were ready to order, several waiters came and went before one finally attended to us. I went for the Ghosht Salam (lentil lamb curry) with Peshawari naan and a Mango lassi. My friend initially ordered a lamb biryani, on thinking about her choice, she then asked the waiter if she could add prawns to the lamb option to which he rudely replied "No". I was really baffled by this especially because it wouldn't have made the meal preparation any longer and we were willing to pay extra. Our waiter (one of many) was really impatient, abrupt and had a miserable demeanour, we were rushed through our order. She ended up getting the prawn biryani instead.
As soon as we ordered it seemed like all the staff members began to disappear. We were sat close to the door and at some point someone left it open and it got really cold (we had to put on our jackets) we requested for it to be closed or to be moved before our food arrived, he disappeared and never came back, we then asked another waiter who also disappeared, he turned up 10-15 minutes later and I asked again to which he replied the restaurant was really busy and he couldn't find us a table, even though I could spot three empty tables.
My drink arrived first, the waiter just sort of slammed it on the table in front of my friend and walked away. The man at the table next to us noticed this and shook his head. At this point I was already sorely disappointed, if I was alone and hadn't placed an order, I probably would have walked out.
Nevertheless our food arrived nice and hot, the Peshawari naan was a little dry, but the flavour was intact. (I ended up ordering pilau rice too - which I didn't finish). Both our meals were good. The rest of dinner was pretty uneventful, no one came back to us until we asked for the bill.
If you're willing to deal with crappy service (I'm not) you'll be fine. The food, for the portion they serve is pricier than other places of the same calibre, mains were about £10, along with the sides and a drink our bill came up to about £30.
In a nutshell
Taste - 3 out of 5 Aesthetics - 3 out of 5 Service - 0 out of 5 Value for money - 2 out of 5
Would I go back?
Definitely not! There are several other Indian restaurants in Tooting alone, I'd much rather spend my money at friendlier restaurant with better service.