Caraway

So this was my second visit to Caraway, and it was after a while. The Restaurant has undergone a complete transformation.. it used to be rather elegant, not saying that its not nice now, but it is a far cry from the Caraway pre-covid. The furniture is put together, and the floor is like wooden panels. That said we dined here on early Friday evening and we were the only ones there. We ordered the Samosa Chaat (3/5), the Raan Boti Alishaan (2.5/5 as it came burnt and dry), butter naan (5/5), roomali roti (4/5) and a glass of Mango Lassi (2/5). The service here is ok, and the food is decent. But with so many other options across the road, Caraway has to up its game in both the service and taste department.

Was at a wedding party at this venue 13 August 25, and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. The Indian food was as good as it gets. I have eaten here before and the high standard is consistent. I was with Asian friends on each occasion and it is safe to assume that Indian people would be reliable connoisseurs of Indian food. You will certainly not be disappointed if you eat here. It is genuine Indian cuisine. However, the service was not as good this time though. They seemed a little disorganised and arrived with desserts before the supper plates had been removed. They had to take the sweets back to the kitchen, clear the tables and bring them back again! All the food was delicious, so cannot fault them on that score.

I went during a Tuesday evening place was relatively empty and super peaceful the staff were super friendly and accommodating. The food was amazing I mainly had the non veg but some of my family who had the veg version said it was really good. I recently went again during Diwali and it was quite full, even with a full restaurant the service was pretty good and the staff were very friendly and patient. I had a lot of non- veg dishes that were very good like karahi chicken, chicken tikka, chicken lollipop, chop lajawab all done very well and had to reorder. I would say ask about portion sizes before ordering to make sure it’s not too little or too much. The vegetable dishes like paneer tikka masala was also very tasty. The drinks were decent.

Popular restaurant in Gants Hill which is always busy with the local people. Ample seating with the restaurant good for birthday celebrations and events. Staff polite and friendly. The food is of a good standard, adequate portions sizes. Best to get multiple dishes. Parking within the area is limited, good access to public transport immediately outside.

I have to say Caraway is one of my top spots for an Indian restaurant, lovely food with lovely atmosphere. The staffs were great and the interior design is amazing. There was also a Dj who was singing which had the perfect songs on the whole time. Honestly a 5* never disappoints!!

I don’t know why the rating is not better for this restaurant. Our experience was excellent. We were delighted with the amazing service we received and the food was very tasty. One downside was the spice level, we asked for very spicy but it was mild at best. The drinks were good as well. Good selection of dishes, including starters and mains as well. I recommend to visit this place at least once.

Food is simply amazing 👏🤩😋. Never tasted food this good, highly recommended, my go to place for any occasion! Love everything about here, staff is very friendly and eager to help as well! Music nights are absolutely spectacular 👌😍‼️

Food and atmosphere (live music was great) was on point, but staff were inexperienced without an eye for detail or an understanding of what good service looks like. However I would still recommend it because the staff did care and were polite and professional, but come on Caraway management you are doing such a great job in other areas you can train the staff better.

I give Carraway in Gants Hill an absolute zero rating. I ordered a karahi paneer, which was available and then wasn't! Eventually it was available and was actually burnt. When I called back, had the "pleasure" of speaking to 3 different people, who alleged there was no manager available! Suddenly a "manager" by the name of Krish became available who insinuated I may be being dishonest as the chef had confirmed that the food was fine (but he didn't have the displeasure of tasting it). Very poor quality food, swimming in oil and burnt and then no resolution, other than I'll give you a discount next time. There will not be a next time. I would urge anyone considering caraway not to bother!

You know that feeling when you're totally full but you keep eating because the food is so yummy you can't stop? That's what happened to me at Caraway. While visiting the UK, I had one wish: to consume as much Indian food as possible. I may have been careless in my wishing, because it's literally all I ate the whole week I was there. Most of it blends together in my mind, but Caraway absolutely stands out. The full bar was definitely a plus. I had a drink called the "Woo Woo" which was very tasty, and how could you not order a drink with a name like that? ALL of the food was fantastic. Some standouts were the dal, and this yummy sweet and sour paneer appetizer that almost made me weep with joy. I would probably go back to Ilford just to eat at Caraway. Yum yum!

Caraway is by far the best Indian Restaurant this side of London. For me this restaurant matches Tayyabs in Whitechapel for the curry dishes they serve up, but maybe not for the grilled starters. The food is simply delicious. This restaurant gets very busy on Friday/Saturday evenings, so avoid these times, unless you don't mind waiting 20 minutes for some seats cramped next to some other diners. The ambience is rather noisy at these times also. The service is also poor during this period. All in all, a fantastic curry house. Beats the living daylights out of anything else around East London.

A fine choice for a casual-to-special indian meal - as long as you aren't in a rush! The service is so lax here the waiters may as well be napping in between taking and returning with your order. I can understand there may be an element of slow-cooking the food in the tandoor or maybe they just took a few other group orders at the same time as ours, but even my cocktail took about half an hour to appear. That said, you could do a lot worse than the food here when it comes to going out for Indian in London. They do a good job of avoiding serving food swimming in oil like a lot of places sadly do, and even had a couple of dishes to surprise me. My favourite by a mile was an inspired choice ordered by my mate's mum of Warm Shakarkandi Salad. Not only because 'shakarkandi' is among my favourite punjabi words anyway, but it's also perhaps my fave vegetable, sweet potato! It was served in tandoor-roasted crispy cubes with bright pomegranate seeds - a new combination for me and really delicious. The main dishes I found a bit samey; it was hard to tell which chicken dish was which among what we'd ordered though the ingredients had sounded quite different. There was a nice amount of spice in all of them though the ladyfingers dish had far too much salt in it. Naans were lovely and fluffy, if a little slow to arrive as mentioned. There were several other groups there, though I do wonder how long the food for the party of 12 took if our 6 took long enough! Plenty of stereotypical decor, gold statues and lacquered wood, to take in while you wait for your food though. Take a group of friends or family if you're in the area...and some patience.

There's not much else than praise to give this place! The food...the closest to authentic punjabi food I've tasted at a restaurant! My friend had a large birthday dinner for friends and family here, and the staff was very accommodating. Would definitely recommend this place to anyone wanting to try punjabi food!

This is one of the best authentic Indian curry houses in London. Food is simply awesome and tasty. Service can be a little slow approaching weekends but one can see the restaurant is always packed and really busy, I take that as a good sign of its popularity. Never been disappointed on quality of food.

I went here for dinner for a friends birthday. Its a very nice calm family orientated atmosphere. Very nice tables and the food is great. The service by the waiters was good but did have to ask the waiters a few times for things as they would forget which wasnt very professional. However they were a bit slow to serve food. Overall I had a good time and I would go back again as I did like the food and it is reasonaly priced.

This is a beautiful restaurant with a friendly atmosphere. We were a large group (around 30), and the service was excellent. The food was extremely tasty and the cocktails were delicious! I would definitely go here again and have recommended it to my friends.

Extremely rude manger. No manner whatsoever. Went with family requested for takeaway lassi and he gave me a face answered so rudely -'We don't do lassi we do food!' Didn't even wait for me reply after the answer. I felt so disrespected. Avoid this restaurant if you don't wish to ruin your evening.

Although the food was good a number of unpleasant behaviours by the staff spoilt the ambience for that meal and also made me swear never to go back there again. When me and my friend popped in at 6pm they seated us to a small cramped table for 2 people. I asked if they could possibly give us a bigger space, the whole restaurant was empty but they declined saying they were busy. They kept disturbing us to order although we specifically asked for more time. After food they told us to go because they needed the table which I considered extremely rude especially since I was ordering coffee. We ordered 2 but only one came after considerable time, and spilled on the saucer and coffee beans on cup. I asked to clean the cup up. That was slow in coming that i decided to cancel and asked for bill. Another Waiter said I couldn't cancel and after some minutes brought us two new coffee's. The bill brought in was someone else's and had to be exchanged. All the time I felt uneasy as i sat through coffee thinking I should leave as they were wanting us to go. The food didn't come cheap so I'm not happy they treated us as they did. Not going in there again!

Portion sizes small for price felt like I had been robbed, didn't seem able to cope with customers, felt that staff weren't treated well , also quality of food was poor