I just went along after reading a few reviews of Zala. I’m on a business trip to hamburg from London.

the staff were pleasant. The room was pleasant but very hot.

The food was appalling.

I ordered Chicken jalfrezi and received what I am certain was tomato soup with carrot and courgette in it (and some chicken), no spices, no flavour. My German is not good enough to complain. I left the restaurant straight after I paid the bill.

Please avoid this if you enjoy a good curry.

We were looking for an Indian restaurant as we were in the mood. I came on Qype to read the reviews and we decided to check out Zala as it was in an area we wanted to go to and it seemed quite good. Well, it’s basically average. Without going into all the details which are listed quite well above, everything is simply default. It’s your “typical” Indian restaurant and it has everything you’d expect. At the same time, the decor isn’t examplary. The service is OK. The atmosphere is good. The food is OK (although I have to add this was probably the weakest link…not much flavor, not very creative, and just “basic”). Yet somehow nothing really stands out. Upon leaving we said to each other “that was good”. What followed was “well, good, but I wouldn’t necessarily rush to come back”. I am sure you know this feeling. You go expecting something and it simply is delivered without getting you excited about it. I really can’t say that the restaurant is not worth trying out. On a positive note, the prices are very fair, the lassis were very good and the service left nothing to complain about. The food came quickly and we had a “nice” dinner. I am sure one can find better and I’ll keep looking but this Indian option won’t be at the top of my list the next time I am looking for an Indian food fix.