Goa Spice of Life

Ordered take away and wasn't impressed, the food lacked taste.
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Laura
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Tuesday, April 14, 2009

I found the food to be very good and very fresh. The service was friendly and prompt and the whole experience was hard to fault. Although now licenced they still seem happy for you to bring your own wine if you want. I'll be going again.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Sunday, January 04, 2009

My wife and I visited 18.10.08 in the evening (the new Saltdean restaurant, not the Brighton one) as my retired father lives close and we'd been looking forward to being able to meet him at a very local restaurant for what we'd hoped would be at least a decent curry and hopefully something a bit more.

On phoning at midday to book a table for 3 I'd been told 8pm wasn't a good idea as they'd be busy then and we'd have to wait a long while for our food. That seemed a bit odd but we agreed to make the reservation for 7pm. When we arrived there was one couple there and little take away business. Service seemed confused from the start. No alcohol licence but that wasn't a problem as the co-op next door was still open. Starters consisted of chicken tikka for my partner "odd texture, didn't seem to have been near a tandoori oven", I had the sambar which was ok but seemed like Heinz lentil soup with a bit of spice thrown in while my Dad had fried mushrooms which consisted of four huge and rather earthy tasting bhaji type objects. Overall ok and edible but not as good as say waitrose ready meal starters. There was then a very long gap of about an hour till the main courses arrived. The waiting staff explained to people coming in for take aways that their food would take an hour or so to be ready because they were so busy but there was very little food coming out of the kitchen.

For main courses my partner had butter chicken "tasted a bit like the starter...odd texture", my father had lamb korma (he didn't comment but it tasted ok if nothing special) while I had King Prawn Caldine, the most expensive and the tastiest dish we had. Two portions of pilau rice were ample and ok. A Bombay potato type dish was inoffensive. The mustard leaf side dish was like 1960's frozen spinach with a bit of spice in. We had a teaspoon each and left the rest, frankly it was horrible. The nan bread was surprisingly authentic tasting but as my wife pointed out it should have tasted ok shouldn't it??

We hadn't been after a gourmet meal but had hoped to have a decent curry house type meal out. The food was edible but overall very very disappointing and the young group near us sent back 3 of their starters (how wrong can you go with a samosa???). We were also keen on supporting a new local business but sadly this was a very disappointing experience. Admittedly it was cheap but ultimately it was poor quality food and hopelessly inefficient if quite pleasant service. I'd really wanted to be able to give it a good review but unless it improves big time can't see how anyone will be happy with their dining experience here. Even if you visited after a night in the pub you'd want something tastier and you'd certainly want something a lot quicker.
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Ian Grace
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Saturday, October 18, 2008

Pleasantly surprised. Goa seem to have picked up there game, considering older reviews.

Goan Xacuti dish was fragrant, and unusual compared to the 'takeaway curry usuals'. Vegetarian Dosa's and Chicken Madras also good quality.

Cahnging from our regular (Bayleaf - gone down hill) to Goa. Delivery was also pretty quick, although it was early in the evening.
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Matt
Thursday, August 16, 2007