Alishaan - County Durham

Table booked Arrived 2 minutes after that time Table not ready no problem sat in comfy seats with menus Taken to table Sat at table for 25 minutes utterly ignored. No drinks, not contact with staff members. Decided to leave. Gentleman at bar spoke to us, served us drinks and assured us that we would be fed. Ordered food. 15 minutes later same gentleman apologised and we said that we understand things go wrong no problem. 40 minutes after ordering food we left for good. Gentleman asked if we could wait 5 minutes. Award winning food takes more than 5 minutes to make. We said no. I understand that things go wrong. I understand that people make mistakes. I make mistakes, I do not understand our being ignored. There were a number of waiters just wandering around avoiding us. That is a management issue they were young adults with nothing to do. They did not even have any food to serve to people. The table behind us ordered a starter. I was offered this. It seemed rude to take it not least as my wife is allergic to prawns. As I nipped to the toilets she was reoffered the prawns. The table behind eventually got the prawns plus the really nice sounding house soup starter. Something went badly wrong tonight. It was not handled well. Just tell us that you cannot feed us, we respect that and return some other time. But no. We just sat there hungry. We spent 30 minutes on 1 bus and 10 on another and ate at home, not at Alishaan which is so highly spoken of.

We arrived in a busy Durham (students starting at Uni) for a meal at Alishaans. When we arrived at 5.30pm it was empty when we left it was packed out. It’s a very popular restaurant, and we can see why. Great location, smart interior, great, helpful staff and most important, the food was excellent. We had 2 courses each, a mixed platter Alishan, (tikka chicken, veg pakora, sheek kebab and a small bhuna prawn on puri) for my daughter and tandoori king prawn for me. For mains my daughter had tikka chicken Makhoni and I had the Tikka chicken Kharai. We had rice, chips, poppadoms and naan breads as sundries. All of the meal was spot on with the staff able to help with the choices. There is a sister restaurant in Sunderland too which is closer to our home but we’d have no problem visiting both. A great treat out.

First time here . First class location, First class service and food absolutely delicious. It's definitely worth the travel to get there. We will be recomending to all our friends

Popped in on a Tuesday night to an empty restaurant which was great. Had onion bhaji which was brilliant to be honest. Very small but nice all the same. Main meal was brilliant, so I ordered something I've never had before with a garlic naan, again not the best naan, very little garlic on it. Beer is way too expensive. Just had 1 each instead of maybe 2 or 3 if cheaper. Staff were great and I would definitely go back.

After a fantastic evening at Alishaan, this Indian has now taken over top spot for our favourite Indian Meal. The duck starter i had was tremendous really tasty and cooked perfectly. The staff couldn't do enough for us, explained a few dishes to some of our group in more detail and kept the drink flowing for us all evening. Outstanding service and will certainly be back.