Reviewed
Jan 04

The first time was a relatively late night post pub visit when let's face it, we weren't the most discerning of customers and would have been satisfied by pretty much anything. However, having waited for over half an hour from the time of ordering for a couple of onion bhajis (in an empty restaurant), we were less than thrilled when they eventually arrived dry and small. The main courses were better, (although such an accolade is not saying much) and we sampled a couple of the chef's specials. The Jeera Murgh - a mild chicken dish with cumin seeds was quite nice and relatively non-greasy compared to my Korai Murgh which was spicier and positively swimming in oil. The Pilau rice and plain naan that we ordered were average in every sense of the word. Our bill, including a few drinks came to just under £30 for two which is cheap though given the standard of the food, I wouldn't say that it offers value for money.

It was the delivery that we ordered that ensures I will not be returning to India Garden. We'd ordered just over twenty pounds' worth of food, including a couple of appetisers, more main course specials, a panner (cheese) naan which is not on the menu but which they said would be no problem to make for us, and the usual rice/ popadom accompaniments. We were clearly unwise to give the onion bhajis the benefit of the doubt and try them again as they were just as bad as those we had in the restaurant, and stone cold to boot. Several items were missing from the order and yet appeared on the bill, and it appeared that they'd changed their minds about making us a cheese naan - this was no where to be seen. All this would have been less irritating - after all, we still had lots of food - were it not for the fact that we stood outside for nearly forty minutes waiting for the delivery which should have arrived within half an hour and instead got to us over an hour later. The man who delivered it claimed to be the boss (something I wouldn't like to have to admit to) and refused us any reduction on the bill. Any apology was similarly out of the question. In my experiences, the standards of both the food and particularly the service at India Garden is a long way below that of the many other Indian restaurants that I have tried in Oxford.

Victoria Lorne