Cardamom Black

Innovative, perfectly executed Indian food. Yes it is a drag queen’s burlesque theater, but the food is transcendental.

In a nutshell…
— Upon arriving we were left to stand, whilst waiting to be seated, for 20 minutes without drinks or menus.
— Waited to long for menus when eventually seated
— Waited an obscene amount of time for our starters, with one of the orders having been forgotten about.
— Waited again for our mains to arrive.
— The acoustics are such that if a family member was talking to me from the other side of the table I couldn’t hear what they were saying.
As the bill came I suggested to the waiter that we might have a small discount on the bill (much to the disgust of my family who don’t like speaking up) due to the inconvenience’s which had occurred during the evening. He went to speak to ‘the manager’ who suggested that as it was his (the waiters) area he had to deal with the problem. The waiter, who had been nothing but courteous and engaging all evening suggested that he might buy us a round of drinks. After some discussion it became clear that the cost of this round of drinks would come out of his pocket. Needless to say we didn’t accept the drinks and, one week on, management have not offered any reply to an email I sent.
For this reason alone I would not eat in this restaurant again. This kind of ‘management’ was practiced all to readily when I was 17 (many years ago now). The restaurant needs to address its company policies and look at the ethical side of how staff are treated by management… and employ a reasonable number of staff for a Saturday night.

I thought the place was a bit ostentatious and over the top when I saw a flashy car fenced in against the store front, but when I came in, I was rather impressed. Service was great which goes a long way with me. The hostess was occupied as we arrived but apologized as soon as she was free. Our wait staff was very attentive but not intrusive or annoying. The décor was modern and chic, plus the open theater as a restaurant venue with high ceilings reminded me of a modern version of a 1940s club. You don’t see that every day! The food was better than most! No complaints at all. I like that the menu has a mixture of new creations and classics, perhaps there are even too many selections. Is that possible? You won’t be disappointed. I really liked that they had Kingfisher on tap! It was not as expensive as I anticipated considering it is in Harrogate; I thought it was on par with higher end curry places. For two of us enjoying three courses and drinks we paid £45. All in all pretty darn good!