Cochin - London

Booked a table for six people for 8pm tonight. It was my sister's birthday and I wanted to take her out to dinner. I got an email confirming my booking last week but when we turned up the restaurant was closed. No cancellation, no warning, nothing. Thanks guys, great service!

My Malabar lamb biryani was delicious, if short on lamb for the money, and the piping hot garlic and coriander naan acceptable. The manageress was lovely: welcoming and funny. But she said the Thalis were off (not good for somewhere that celebrates South Indian cuisine). And the 'bottomless beer ' offer only referred to just out of date 'Komban premium black IPA ' and 'that was the only beer they had. ' I didn 't like it. So much for the list on the menu. I didn 't mention the boxes of Cobra I could see next to the drinks chiller cabinet. Also apparently they didn 't have any of the cocktails. The atmosphere was a bit sad, with rather melancholy music and bad lighting. A group of ball lampshades in the middle of the ceiling was a nice try, but pointing at all the seating against the walls were spotlights. So the ones that worked were in your eyes, but only about 25% did work, and they were a stupid mix of halogen and two colours of white LED. Amateurish and not conducive to an intimate meal with someone. WARNING! TIPS DO NOT GO TO THE STAFF! THEY ARE ADDED TO THE BILL AUTOMATICALLY AND CANNOT BE REMOVED TO BE GIVEN SEPARATELY. GORDON RAMSEY WOULD HATE THAT. AND SO DO I. Pay the staff the tips, have what 's on the menu in stock or remove it from the list. Fix the lighting and music. Your chefs and waiting staff deserve better support from the owners.

We’ve been ordering from Cochin every single week and don’t get me wrong, the food is good. But the level of service is horrendous. We’ve ordered on uber and after more than one hour of wait the order was cancelled. We called the restaurant to understand what happened and where was our order, and we overheard the manager say “if it’s a small order don’t bother just hang up” and they just hanged!! We are appalled by the service especially as we are regular customers.

Wonderful food reasonably priced great hosts again top marks to Vinod and the team hear, had tandoori roti lamb chops succulent tasty not like the hard leather at some places masala Dosa is crispy and fresh sambar spot on and the coconut chutney perfect spinach and chicken curry tasty and fresh, chicken tikka masala traditional and creamy chicken jalfrezi moreish and the egg cury great, not to mention a proper Indian chai in an authentic metal cup with bowl just how it should be, ambience is great unhurried but the team especially Vinod are attentive, met the owner who is more concerned just like the team on you as a customer enjoying your evening and meal, have been lunch time and evening and recommend anytime, they were also super busy with takeaways but you do not notice this all food served fresh hot and perfect just wish see had space for desert and if you ask for specifics for instance I asked for my jalfrezi to be extra spicy they did just that, also asked about my next visits meal deffinetly recommended if you fancy a good clean authentic Indian meal, can either go with the family or equally with a few friends it is homely and also a good place for many occasions. Do not mind paying for quality as the quantity is great and it is not heavily priced like some central London restaurants. Yet again I tried to take some photos of the dishes but as fast as it comes out from point of order it goes down just as quick, also to add note you do not get upset stomach after a meal a massive thumbs up and thank you to the team and chef.

I took my mother for Sunday lunch. We were booked for 1pm and arrived slightly early. The restaurant was empty. The staff seemed a bit bemused but were friendly. The restaurant was very poorly lit. We ordered some food my mum's dish arrived several minutes before mine and the starters much later. The tandoori chicken was the last to arrive. We couldn't finish our meal so had it packed. Whrn I got the chicken home I realised the following day it was raw.