New Zealand Herald

Reviews for Calcutta Wala Indian Cuisine

by Jonjon
11th October 2012

I used a deal voucher yesterday and brought three vegetarian curries.

The Curries itself was creamy but it had little substance into which was mainly sauce. There could have been more vegetables but the sauce was a bit too much for me, however the sauce was not too bad, average i would say the least.

They do however make really good normal Naans which I’d get again….but the price for a 17 dollar takeaway was a bit too much. …if I had not used the deal voucher I would say that it was a very very very expensive curry for takeaway

by Becky
7th October 2012

Went with my partner on Tuesday as they had the $10 main promotion. We took note that the poster states except seafood and Tandoori. On the menu, after appetizers list, it states ‘mains served with rice’ along the heading for Chicken followed by Beef, Lamb, Fish…etc, so the assumption would be everything after appetizers are mains. We decided on briyani (meat with rice dish), which the waitress took our order but said nothing more. We waited for some time until a bald waiter appeared with our dish. I took the opportunity to ask about the complimentary papadum (which is provided to each table once you’re seated) plus 2 spoons for the rice as we were given fork and knife. He sarcastically say “it is for first time only, any additional would be charged”. We informed him that we did not receive any prior. In addition, did he not see our table was empty before he brought us our mains?! He simply walked off. We waited about 15 mins thinking he could be waiting for the papadums to cooked but he never returned! I had to request from another waiter, which he provided immediately. When it was time to pay, we found out that briyani was not considered as main, so I asked the waiter/cashier which are considered mains. He replied curry. Given this bad experience in service, we will not step foot in there again!

by Justin
25th September 2012

We bought a deal voucher to buy 3 takeaway curries & were greatly disappointed with their food. Their website menu was very misleading. We ordered chicken rara which was meant to be dry chilli chicken and we specified no artificial colouring yet the curries were bright red and the food colouring could not even be washed off from the chicken. When we complained, we received no apology. Overall, the flavours in the curries were not authentic and we will not be going back.

by Thomas G.
2nd September 2012

Have just come from Calcutta Wala for dinner tonight, i couldnt disagree more with the negative comments here, I eat here up to four times a year and have never experienced any slow or bad service, every seat was full tonight and they were able to keep up and serve takeaway walk-ins, the only disappointment from tonight is that i couldnt finish my main after such a yummy filling starter, Calcutta keep up the great service and dont change a thing, outstanding!

by Maria P.
14th August 2012

Been going to this place for two years now, it used to be my go to restaurant for a good curry, the take away portions are generous (easily 2 meals in one curry) and their dahl makhani and paneer makhani are amazing. The service used to be really good but it’s definitely gone downhill in the past year or so. I’ve been 3 times recently and the service wasn’t too friendly. One time they forgot our order, we waited almost an hour for our take away. Once people that had come in after us had all gotten their order I asked the waiter when we would be getting ours and he didn’t even apologise, just said “it’s coming, it’s coming” (we waited another 20 minutes after that). Last time I got take away from there I called in advance to make my order and was told my food would be ready in 15 minutes. I arrived 25 minutes later and the food was nowhere near ready, waited a further 20 minutes for it! It’s a shame the service is so poor since everything else about this restaurant is really good: location, price and above all the food.

by Jayson S.
19th June 2012

Was served on a dirty plate, once i told the staff they dint bother apologizing – customer service was very average. On the other hand food was OK.

by RuthW
31st May 2012

Very bad service! Rude and serious under staff!

I had to wait 15 mins to place an order! The lady handed me Diner Menu so I ordered from it. When I asked where was my Nann Bread and was told by the Man I ordered the lunch special only which includes rice only.
Alright Can I change it? No, he already put thru and could not change. I asked why nobody told me at first place.
This man just walked off….

Food was very average… There are so many other Indian places that offer much better quality of food and services.

by chloe
13th May 2012

Ordered a delivery from them tonight – curry was yummy – but was only midly warm when we received it as the delivery guy couldn’t find our apartment… the salad was sadly pretty inedible but will cook up as a stir fry tomorrow so no love lost. I’m sure if we had dined in the food would be lovely – they just need a GPS.

by Kath
11th May 2012

Yum Yum Yum. The food was great we enjoyed every single mouthful and wished we lived in Auckland so that we could go again soon. We had the kathirolls (sorry if that’s spelt wrong),
beef sagwalla, mango chicken and rogan josh. We were the first to arrive for the evening so were a little concerned that there was nobody else there but it was early and soon picked up. It was absolutely beautiful and I dont think you will get better Indian anywhere.

by Jana
9th May 2012

Not a big fan of Indian food in NZ, however was plesantly surprised by my experience at Calcuttawala. Dined on a Sunday evening in a group of 4. Restaurant was not very crowded, got good sttention from waiting staff. They were all friendly and professional. The decor of the restaurant is quite nice. The food way better than most Indian restaurants elsewhere. They have Indo-Chinese on the menu, which was gr8! Will definitely go there again.

by Dan
13th March 2012

We love Indian food and eat it regularly.
This is without a doubt the best yet.
Simple, humble surroundings but clean, tidy and welcoming.
Pleasant service and prompt professional customer attention.
The highlight however is the food. Seriously outstanding.
You can taste fresh ingredients and beautifully cooked chicken and prawn dishes. We highly recommend this and will be back for sure. Well Done!!

by philip
30th August 2011

Excellent Indian restaurant. Went there with the online voucher and got a great meal. Quality, tasty curries, pleasant service.
The restaurant decor has a nice atomosphere.
Prices all seemed reasonable.
Would I recommend this place to others – absolutely. It is one of the better Indian restaurants around.

by Nicole
29th August 2011

We ate here last Thursday, having bought a voucher deal for a mixed platter, 2 mains, 2 naan & 2 beers. We were very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food – we thought seeing as we’d purchased a special deal, the size or quality of the plates may have been affected. The platter was fantastic – probably a little on the large side if anything – and the two curries (chicken korma & beef saagwala) were equally as good. The restaurant was busy and there seemed to be ample staff on, but my only complaint would be the service was a little lacking and we weren’t asked if we’d like another round of drinks nor to see the dessert menu. A minor complaint to an otherwise very good evening.

by CelesteReviews
15th June 2011

Last week I organised an Indian Lunch for interested colleagues at work (something social for a Friday).

On a negative note: Calcutta Wala didn’t return my polite email asking how best to place a large order with them. They also don’t list all their dishes on their website, but luckily I’d picked up a full printed menu a few weeks earlier.

On a positive note: I phoned through the large order (10 dishes) that morning and the food was delivered on time, with everyone’s order correct, and with a few complimentary poppadoms.

Great service, great value (the 1/2 size is only $7.50 and is very filling), with all those who ordered the full size @ $12.00, taking home leftovers for dinner).

Myself and my work mates thoroughly enjoyed our meals, and we will be placing another Friday Indian lunch order again soon.

by Noe
7th June 2011

I had a lovely lunch at Calcutta Wala today. The place is very nice and tidy, and the food was absolutely delicious. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this restaurant

by Bryce P.
18th May 2011

I had the best curry I have ever had at Calcutta Wala. I would definitely recomment if you’re an avid curry fan. Will definitely return!

by Sachin C.
5th May 2011

I haven’t received such a bad service in years. i am not sure if they were under-staffed or just ignorant. I waiters didnt have any suggestions when the kid asked for the drinks and i had to wave my hand around more then once to be noticed.

service put me off so just didnt really enjoy the food.

by Rickki
2nd March 2011

who is Nitin P and to be honest sound like he is been paid to write this negative comment.
Otherwise he can be a competitor fellow.
what a shame to write negative about this place and i am regular in this restaurant and the food was always great and very upmarket and very high standard from camparing other Indian Restaurant.
I will rate this store as one of the finest Indian Restaurant of Auckland.

by Nitin P.
1st February 2011

Very very average food or I should not up to standard at all. I mean the service was good, the guy on the counter named Abhishek was good but the chef need to know how to cook as we ordered 4 curries not even one of them was cooked properly. The chicken was cooked properly so I guess tandoori chef knows what he is doing but definitely curry chef was hopeless.

Won’t go again….:-(

by Liz B.
24th January 2011

We received the $110 voucher as a Xmas gift from our son.

We were very impressed with the friendly service, the choice of dishes and the food. We wondered if there might be a different menu for use of the voucher. But were very pleasantly surprised to be able to choose anything from the usual menu. We loved the food, authentic, fresh, hot and plenty of it. We would not hesitate to recommend Calcutta Wala to our friends and will definitely be back for more.

by Vivien M.
18th December 2010

We go to this restaurant probably every 2nd week. We love the food and the atmosphere. There is great variety in the menu and everything has been devine. We always have the lunch special which is extremely good value for money. The service has been good, so far nothing really to complain about so I have also gone for the Ilovedeal voucher. I will review this restaurant again after I use it to see if it is different in the evening.

by Rickki
21st November 2010

I have been in this restaurant few times and i can say that this place will give other restaurant run for their money.
great food with very disciplined service and very good selection of dishes.
Very authentic food with new introduction of dishes which is never been tried by other places.
SAlute to this place to keep proud of the Indian cuisine not same as other place selling cheap food with compromise quality.
I have read the above review and do not agreed because we also purchased the same coupon and enjoy the night because $110 value you got in just $50 .
The above reviewer gone greedy to abuse the deal and we have to respect the deal rather than asking more and more.
Other place you will get one main with drinks mate on that peanut price.
I rate this as BEST among the other Indian restaurant.

by Praveen
9th November 2010

I was really put off going to Calcutta Wala, after I purchased a voucher from I love deals, and rang to book in a group of 8-10 people and was told I could only book in up to 4, despite it not being stipulated on the voucher anywhere. When I asked to speak to the decision maker, I was told I couldn’t. I couldn’t believe how short-sighted it was, because we would have spent well over what the voucher entitled us to and would have paid the difference as well as introduced between 8-10 customers who had never been there before and could have potentially become repeat customers. Instead with the inflexible attitudes they did themselves a disservice and has made us disinclined to go there in the future. Also its made me wonder, what they’ll be like on the night itself.

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