Killermont Polo Club

Myself & a party of 9 which included two children, visited this establishment on Sunday 3rd March 2008, maily due to there being no other venue available that night. Three (including the two kids) decided on the Al la Carte. The rest on the buffet. The choice was poor to say the least - and the containers appeared almost continually all but empty. After a long wait, the Al a Carte was served. One of the kids ordered a steak. Sitting next to him, I became aware of an awful smell... a truly revolting stench. This steak was returned due to it being under cooked. Upon its return, the same dreadful oudour was noticed. The lad bit one piece of the steak & immediately informed his father that it was "off". The smell was so bad I had to leave for fresh air. This steak was obviously putrid & must have appeared so in the kitchen. The staff changed it for another meal (not steak!) but otherwise appeared uninterested. Much is made of the reputation of this establishment. However, i have always found the food bland at best. this incident will ensure we never return & I'd advise others to give this a (very) wide berth!
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S. Montgomery
Monday, March 03, 2008

Very presentable table, nice starched linen napkins. We ordered mixed starters at £4.75 each which included pakora, potato cake, samosa, chicken - ok but a bit dried up. The menu stated that a pre-starter was included with the mixed starters, but none arrived, and no poppadoms were offered. Of our party of 4, three of us ordered Dum Pukht dishes, supposedly a healthy eating option. I had Chandi Kaliyan, a lamb dish costing £12.95, and dramatically overpriced for the poor quality on offer. The lamb was tough as old boots, indigestible, and by far the WORST dish I have ever had in a restaurant in over 30 years. After a couple of mouthfuls I said to a waiter "Compliments to the chef, but I can't eat this" and it was taken away.

The manager then told me that tikka meat is used in this dish, but after many years of enjoying lamb tikka when the whim

takes me, I kinda know by now what it should taste like thankyou, and there was no evidence of this inedible "lamb" either having been marinaded or cooked in a tandoor. The lamb should never have left the kitchen. Pure laziness in preparation.

To their credit, they did come back with the same dish made with more tender stewed lamb. But the sauce was just plain weird, not like curry in any way - insipid beige, sickly, runny and spice-free, much much closer to Campbell's chicken soup than curry. The Dum Pukht dishes come on a plate for each person, with boiled bismati rice, mushrooms and salad, so you can't have the usual fun of sharing with your dining companions. My wife had a chicken curry dish, not Dum Pukht but a far tastier sauce, however her chicken was dry, tough and stringy. Poorly prepared food, poor quality ingredients, wildly overpriced. Lazy and slovenly service - my wife was annoyed that the waiters reached over her shoulder to serve food and drinks to our friends on the other side of the table. Maybe OK for a transport caff. Inexcusable for an expensive restaurant.

All four of us had coffee, rather than risk the mainly bought-in frozen desserts on offer. Latte was strong, excellent taste. With our coffee for four came two empty After Eight mint wrappers (continuing lack of attention to detail), and when our friends pointed this out, the waiter replaced them with 6 actual mints.

A big problem here is the noise. We were in a busy room with wooden floors, no curtains, so no dampening of any kind for the noise. No-one had bothered to close the blinds against the dreich, black and cold February night. We had to shout at our dining companions. So, a dead loss for a romantic liaison.

This place is another example in the UK of style over substance where the kitchen and serving staff are not interested in doing a proper job. A noisy and miserable experience. Very poor value - we paid over £20 a head for 2 courses of poncy below average food with only sparkling water for drinks. For proper curry made with real passion, Balbirs in Church Street is excellent, a real Indian family restaurant run with passion, where you are meant to share the main courses. Or the Village Curry House at Tradeston, as long as you don't need alcoholic drinks. Or really anywhere you can share well-cooked food, served by properly trained and competent waiters, speak to your companions rather than shout at them, and generally have FUN eating out. Personally, I'd much rather stay home and share a traditional curry takeaway than shout at my companions at the Polo Club on a Saturday night.
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Sunday, March 26, 2006