Maharani Restaurant, Clapham, London

After walking up and down clapham high street i ended up in this place and would say never have i been to a restaurant where you have a minimum charge of £16 per head and extra if you want breast of chicken. we ordered bombay potato and popodoms as a starter and was pushed into trying to order something else to which i said no. Then as no supprise to me the waiter still brought the dish he offered us. I sent it back and got what i asked for. Then when mine and my girlfriends main came out the chicken was the horrible strangly bits you would normally throw away. To top it off i could see the waiters looking over and laughing as if they had done something to my food as i did order a vindaloo to which he said its hot.
I do know i felt like saying i have only been eating it for years.
I just could not wait to get out of this place and asked for the bill when it came to the table everything was scribbled so that i could not see what it said and the bill for two with one starter one main each one rice one naan one beer and a tap water £40 what a rip off please please please stay away!!!!

I have dined in the Maharani at least 60 times in the last 10 years and have never had a poor meal. The food is excellent, what more can I say, the fact that I keep returning speaks for itself.
The staff have always been friendly, and if treated with a degree of civility will respond in kind.

Pity about the uncomfortable seating and the absence of a whb in the gents urinal area.

This place does consistently good, reasonably priced, tasty Indian food. The meat is always good quality, even at the end of an evening. Their delivery service is truly excellent, with free beer or wine for regular customers and extra pappadoms always thrown in.

The gosht kata masala is really, really good, as are all of the tandoori meat dishes.

If you’re eating in you’ll have good and friendly service and get your food quickly. Not much more you can ask for from a local curry joint!

Very, very nice curry. I had a Bhuna-Balti and it was extremely good. The staff are friendly, in a strange and good way and its quite good value for money too.

There is a note on the menu saying 'you must spend fifteen pounds on your meal’, but when we asked the waiter he said it was fine to not pay fifteen pounds. Odd, but fine!

Look out for the photo of Pierce Brosnan in the 80s on the wall near the toilets…

I’ve regularly popped in here for takeaway after a good afternoon’s drinking in the Alex. I must say that this place is fine for a decent curry at a reasonable price.

Its a good size restaurant, and great for large parties. The menu is also pretty much what you’d expect, simple standard curries.

I was surprised it had won awards, as i don’t put it in that bracket of quality, but its deserving of 3 or 4 stars. I haven’t found so many decent Indian restaurants in this area, so i’ll veer on the side of 4.

This was quite possibly the most appalling Indian meal I have ever had. Full marks to one of the waiters for the most hilarious wig ever. No marks at all for the insincere service, disgusting drinks and radioactive food. Avoid the vegetable masala like the plague unless you like frozen peas and raw onion skins. As for the sauces with the poppadoms…they are quite indescribable. Crap, crap, crap.

I don't know how I feel about this place. As the other reviewers have noted, they sure like to promote themselves with all the newspaper articles in the window. I went at 9:30pm on a Wednesday and it was pretty packed - always a good sign. I was seated promptly by the pretty indifferent staff and then promptly forgotten about for 20 minutes. I eventually ordered the Chicken Korma which is the yardstick by which all Indian restaurants are measured. When it eventually came I did a double-take because it was served in what looked like a dog bowl. Not exactly appetizing. The food didn't look great either, there was something about the color that reminded me of school chicken stew. It tasted reasonable but nothing to write home about.

But when I settled up, everything changed. The waiter helped me on with my coat, tucked in my chair, walked me to the front door, held it open and wished me a pleasant evening. WTF?

The food here really is excellent, no wonder they've gotten all those awards! But the service on the night I came here was disappointing. It felt a bit like being on a conveyor belt and having food shoved down our throats before briskly being pushed back outside into the cold and rainy night. Obviously they'll be busy on a Friday night and service needs to be efficient, but we came to eat quite late and it wasn't that busy, no need to be so brusque and unfriendly. Mirch Masala down in Balham is another great (and very cheap) curry house, and that place is always busy, with queues going out the door. Still, they seem to manage efficient and fast service without making you feel you're an inconvenience to them.

These guys are proud of the fact that Pierce Brosnan once dined here. They have a big picture of him and some of the waiters in the front window along with lots of awards for best curry etc. from food critics. This marketing tool obviously works as i strolled in thinking "If it's good enough for James Bond, it's good enough for me." The curry here is very nice and the restaurant is spacious. It's no cinammon club, but it's good for clapham high street. Prices are decent and the staff are always friendly. I'll be eating there lots more in the future!