Tandoori Nights

Best curry house in Cockfosters! The chicken chilli masala is particularly good, service is friendly — there’s nothing bad to say about this place.

Tandoori Nights got close to being a great Indian restaurant but unfortunately for me the lacklustre service knocked it down from 4 to 3 stars. The restaurant itself is touted as Goan, and although there are 2 or 3 dishes of Goan origin they seem almost afraid to wholeheartedly embrace their Goan roots and create a genuinely Indian restaurant. They have instead taken the safe option of supplying the standard North Indian/​Pakistani/​Bangladeshi dishes that are on offer in every Indian the length and breadth of the UK. This a real shame as Goan food is amazing and the dishes they do have are very nicely done so the chef has clearly got good tastebuds. I went in expecting a plethora of sea food curries but found only a couple of half hearted options as starters which was a shame. The service however is where Tandoori Nights realy falls down. The restaurant had only 3 tables occupied and the same number of waiters, but they seemed more intent on staring into space than taking orders. After drinks had been delivered and menus put closed on the side of the table (the international sign for «I’m ready to order») it took a further 10 minutes of neck craning and «excuse me’s» to lure a waiter from napkin folding/​staring out of the window to take our order. This was the same at every step where interaction with a waiter was necessary, it’s a shame and I dread to think what it’s like when it’s busy in there. This alone puts me off going back unfortunately, a shame as the food is great.

For me, this is the pinnacle of Indian dinning. The food, the service, the décor, the atmosphere is as good as it gets.
Surprisingly, the price you pay to eat here seems fairly consistent with other local Indian restaurants.
I used to eat here regularly. Then when I moved further afield it wasn’t very convenient. Now I’m thinking its well worth the extra milage to eat in such a good restaurant.