Cilantro, Paignton

Although I only had the vegetarian thali for lunch (and also the Cilantro cocktail which other reviewers have mentioned - yum!) I agree this is exceptional Indian cooking where you least expect it. I hail from Leicester now (originally American) so I have had a lot of Indian food both good and bad, and this is up there with the best. Also, the vegetarian thali at £5.95 is very filling - 5 small pots and a rice pudding and a large chapathi, preceded by a poppadum starter with three refreshing dips. Along with the cocktail, I could barely waddle away for just under £10. Nice. I wish I was in town long enough and on a lavish enough budget to try the scallops and one of the many fish curries. I would have given them a 5 but it's true the service is amazingly slow, though polite, once they show up.

This is not your run-of the-mill Indian restaurant. Many of the dishes you will probably not have heard of elsewhere. Unfortunately the descriptions on the menu are not full enough to enable a considered choice to be made. In particular it is not made clear if the dish contains nuts, and the strength is not indicated. That said, the food is well cooked and the flavours are good, if a little hot for my palate.
The downside is the extremely slow service, and I would definitely recommend avoiding the latter part of the week. We have twice been on a Saturday, and on each occasion it has taken two hours from being seated to the arrival of the main course.
The dining room is fairly plain, on two levels, and not carpeted, and is consequently quite noisy. Also the lighting is kept low making it difficult to read the menu.
Specialities include Lamb Shank Rogan Josh, which is very tasty, and less tomato-based than in other restaurants.

The service was a bit slow, but the food was worth waiting for. My Dhansak was very very hot, just about my limit....so delicious. Regretted supping so much of my water while I was waiting for it to land. The lemon rice and naan were very nice too and the pappadoms were served with a welcome absence of lime pickle!

Evolved Indian cuisine, whatever that means! Popular place and with good reason.

Our favourite indian restaurant. Portions are smaller than conventional indians but it's a case of quality over quantity. More fine dining that your run of the mill Indian.

This really is not like any other Indian restaurant in Torbay ~ and that’s a good thing. The experience is akin to what you’d expect from a first class restaurant, not a run of the mill Indian.

The food is amazing, with plenty of interesting and varied dishes to choose from; such the honey and orange glazed scallops that are always cooked to perfection. As well as the traditional curries, there is a wide variety of exotic main courses to really excite you. The food leaves you with an overall impression of expertise and freshness. These guys know what they are doing!

When we visited on Sat 22nd August, we were expertly sold a “Cilantro Cocktail” to start our meal and it did not disappoint. Made fresh with vodka, coriander, honey and other spices it was well worth the £3.95.

The wine menu is one of the best I have seen in an Indian restaurant, especially when we spotted the Gewürztraminer – an excellent match to eastern food.

The only downside is this – quality comes at a price so expect to pay more than you would normally in a curry house. This is a special venue though and is worth the few extra pounds.

decided to spend my Birthday at this new restaurant in the bay (Paignton).It turned out be one of the best evenings ever.First of I did have any expectations as it was just an other curry house and that too in Paignton.Mind I have tried all the places in paignton and Torquay.I was wrong.This is no ordinary curry house.The staff very polite and attentive,the decor nice and clean without the usual dark shaded,lighting very romantic and the food out of this world.I tried 2 starters-apple pakora and the spice crusted lamg tikka-amazing.For my main course I had the Goan Scottish Salmon curry-never tasted an Indian fish curry so good.The choco mossa and tandoori pineapple was a real treat.I put a full stop with a cilantro cocktail which was an apt digestive.What a surprise?I can never forget the big cake full of sparklers and the table decorated with ballons..and banners..and a nice B,day card printed in India.. and a picture of the memorable day...send out to me on my email....all on the house.Believe it or not.You cannot ask for more in Paignton.On leaving myself and some of my friends booked in for the Cookery demo Evening and for the Live Indian Music night....we will be singing praises and this place deserves every bit of it.Check out the website www.cilantroonline.co.uk.......

Had a dinner there once for my boyfriend’s birthday. Amazing curry, lots of original dishes to choose from, including fish curry. very friendly staff. It has a contemporary look, a modern curry house. Amazingly clean. Good value for money. Will definitely go there again.