A highly original Indian restaurant with exquisitely spiced food. Reasonably priced. Bright, spacious surroundings. Friendly, competent staff, not intrusive. Try it and you’ll start recommending it to your friends.

Perfect meal from start to finish. I had the lunch platter with tandoori grilled chicken, rice, papdi chatt, cabbage and bhel puri instead of daal. Bhel puri is easily one of my favourite dishes on earth, and has just about every desirable texture and taste one can want in a dish: creamy yogurt, tangy tamarind, savoury coriander, crispy puffed rice, peanuts (sometimes) and a little spice for good measure. (I can go on but I’ll spare you!)

The perfect bhel puri at Imli would already earn it 4 stars in my book but everything else I had with the platter was ridiculously tasty as well. The plainly described ‘grilled chicken’ was in fact really delicious, tender pieces of tandoori chicken breast. And even the salad was a nice serving of lettuce, beets and cucumber with a coriander dressing. Sadly I had no room at all for dessert even though i skipped the rice, but when I return I already know I’m springing for the gulab jamun dessert (and hopefully I’ll get someone along who’ll try the rice pudding so i can taste that too!) I also heartily agree with a previous reviewer that described the really friendly but not overly familiar staff. Surprisingly there were only a few tables occupied at 12:30p but perhaps today was an exception. Either way, the ooh’ing and ahh’ng coming from nearby tables tells me that if the word isn’t out about the great lunch deal at Imli yet that it won’t be long before it’s near the top of everyone’s Soho lunching list.

Interesting idea: tapas / Indian. And it’s pretty good too. I took the advice of the other Qypers and went for the £16.50 taster menu. At first I was worried whether it was enough, but it was fine. Service got the thumbs up too - the waitress was chatty without being too over-familiar.

In fact, there was nothing to complain about at all: so five happy stars.

Found this restaurant with iQype.co.uk - iPhone map sent us straight to the door - first serious usage of iQype, so I’m a believer.

Door sticker says it is open all day. Quiet when we went at 5:15pm, but got busy within an hour. Service was still prompt, friendly and courteous as the traffic built. Tables laid out fairly close, but neighbours didn’t feel so close as to intrude on conversation - partly because of background noise.

Small portions served in bite sized pieces, pre-cut mouth sized breads, dipping sauces, finger-food if you want to get close to the dish. Tastily spiced aubergine, really good crab and prawn cakes, uninspired by the chicken appetizer but a decently spiced chicken main. Spicy squid was soft to the bite, not at all rubbery and pleasant chili warmth. Plain rice with all the main courses.

Staff recommend two or three dishes per person is enough. They’re right. This is no budget buster - but the urge to try just one more dish can creep the bill up. You probably won’t resent anything extra that you order. Great for sharing food. We covered our table in dishes with all the different stuff we’d ordered…

Toilets were clean, but down the stairs - didn’t see any easy way for impaired access (but didn’t ask). Music was a moderately modern Brit mix (not Bhangra or sitar). The hard surfaced decor makes it pretty noisy - the music gets lost before the restaurant is half full; we left to have dessert and finish our conversation in a nearby patisserie. The noisy background was part of the reason that adjacent tables didn’t interfere or seem intrusive - wouldn’t go mid evening if you had a headache, but fine for a meet with friends and family.

After going to Imli once on a whim -- I’d heard it was good -- I’ve been back several times for their delicious and different Indian meals, which are a great option for modern Indian that won’t leave you with a shockingly large bill.

With plenty of vegetarian options that are presented well and ready for you to share, I was extremely happy. My favorite dish is the matar paneer, which has a fantastic tomato flavor and packs quite a spicy kick. The dishes all cost between £3 and £8, and though the restaurant recommends three per person, you can easily get by with two.

I also found that when I ordered takeaway, the portion sizes were much bigger!

My only complaint is that they don’t serve naan.

Brilliant! I enjoyed the food, service, decor and pace everything arrived at.

I had the sampler for £16.50pp and all of us were stunned with how brill it was.

Settle down for a moderately long lunch but food arrives fresh and hot just when you are ready for it.

The ice cream at the end is gorg!

This is a great concept, the food is delicious (but surprisingly light for Indian), it’s great value and it’s right in Soho and ideal for a quick bite while shopping or drinking. What more could you ask for? Top tip: try their ice cream, it is amazing! Mmmmm.

“Indian Tapas” - I went to eat there simply because of the this definition… The taster menus are highly recommended, and are more than enough (we never finished it).

Worth booking in advance, as it gets full after 8pm

Wanting to experience something different, I sampled this restaurant quite literally by ordering the sampling platter.

Wow - from the first small dish to the last, this certainly is a modern take on Indian food. While I would hesitate to call it Indian, I cannot think of a better definition of this unique food style.

The atmosphere is fantastic and the service was wonderful. I would highly recommend this place.

Imli advertises itself as a modern take on Indian street food. I can see what they mean, having been to India: they serve up tapas-sized portions that would fit in a take-away cup. But it’s all done with fine restaurant attention to taste and presentation.

This isn’t the place to come if you want a giant bowl of curry. But if you want to try a number of different things, or you like sharing, and you’re up for some twists on familiar flavours, Imli is great. Due to the small portions, you can eat quite cheaply if you want to.

The restaurant is nice inside, with great service, and plenty of thing to try. It’s definitely a modern restaurant.

I also recommend getting on their mailing list: they have frequent deals and promotions on, so there’s always an excuse to go.