Akbar The Great in Darlington

Great menu! Great service! Just great!

We finally managed to get the family together to visit Abus. Darlington has a good selection of Indian restaurants and we've seen lots of good things about Abus. It was nice to walk into the warm restaurant and be met by a gentleman with a big smile and warm greeting. Always a good start especially with my older parents who will always rate a restaurant with good customer service. The excellent customer service continued throughout the meal which was amazing. So fresh and tasty. We are all looking forward to our next visit. Thanks again!!!

Enjoyed the food the service was pretty good. What I would say though. Go in there with some sunglasses on because it’s like Blackpool illuminations in there specially how bright it is.

Best taste of food with adequate spices, I had not experienced for a long time. Strongly recommend

If I say best food in the area , I may not have exaggerated. Strongly recommend

Very good food (quite small portions though) and an interesting modern environment. Small tables. What really let this establishment down though (in our opinion) was the volume of the music. Too loud folks.

Nice curry house. Very nice staff and the restaurant is spotless. Food is not subtle and created for a non-indian palette. Drinks rather pricey.

Worst ever food I have in my life never gonna try again

Visited today with my family of 14, the decor is extremely impressive, clean and modern. The staff were very attentive, polite and welcoming. The food was great, especially if you love spice!! Youve got a big car park to the rear, great food at a great price and top quality service. Thank you to the team at Abu's for looking after me and my family and I'll be sure to visit again in the near future.

First time we ordered from here. Everything was perfect and delivered early.Will definitely be ordering again.

I haven’t had an indian in years. Usually because it ends up being over cooked or stale. But the chicken korma was unreal! Chicken was soft and curry tasted fresh. I loved that there was a choice of chapatis instead of just naan breads too. Plus the delivery was early. I really recommend them!

Simply the best curry 🍛 in darlington and I have had lots from them every time it's brilliant what a place 👌

Excellent food, as it was mid week it lacked atmosphere

Great service loved the food best curry I have ever tried I strongly recommend it to anyone in the area

Discussing uncooked food how the hell has this place got good reviews chips frozen hollow curry sauce bland sorry but awful

Great place good and lovely staff. Definitely would go again. Would recommend the Balti!

Excellent food and great service!!

Great food, great service and very nice and clean. If you like Indian food .. this is the place to go! Darlington's finest! 100%

Fantastic food and service, would highly recommend to eat here! Very clean and friendly staff we would 100% come back again.

Came on Christmas day and as always Fantastic Food and Service, Only one complaint, far too many people packed in, tables far too close together and very manic between sittings , tables not ready, no crackers, second year we have been at Christmas but it will be our last due to what i can only say is greed,

Was absolutely beautiful xmas day set menu thank you

Just had the £14 - 50 set price meal, absolutely brilliant meal great friendly service and restaurant immaculate, definitely call again

Go to Akbar's in Middlesbrough for a curry that actually tastes decent.

Don't no why I listen to reviews About this place.... Madras was like watered down soup Never Again

Great service and fantastic food. My son has a peanut allergy, and their kitchen is nut free, which is perfect for us. We will be coming back.

Beautiful restaurant with below average food , far better out there.

A nice curry, really friendly staff and some great things on the menu. Only thing that is odd is the take away part of the business being in the restaurant, but other than that, its lovely and didnt take away from the goregous food.

Food was magnificent!!!!! Very friendly and helpful staff. Will be back there very very soon.

Will be returning as it was that great.

Came here on a bank holiday weekend for an evening meal. Excellent, friendly service from the moment you arrive. Nice, new modern surroundings in which to eat. Couldn't fault the starters and dips with poppadoms. My chicken madras was not as thick as I'm used to from other restaurants but plenty of chicken with keema rice and a keema naan. I will definitely go back. Cobra bottled Indian beer.

Great choices and delicious food, but service was ok, not top quality .

Went here with a few old work mates. Food was outstanding and reasonably priced. Very fresh food with a lovely authentic taste. Everybody enjoyed there meals. Will definitely be returning to the restaurant. 5 ⭐ 👌

We get a takeaway delivered every week and the food is always spot on . But the last couple of weeks the food has been a bit poor . Maybe it's a new chef but the quality has changed. The sauces last week were just like water especially the korma sauce. The chapatis were halfthe normal size as usual . We always big up the food from here but the last few weeks have been poor maybe it's a glitch but hope the quality food that we are used to comes back.

Excellent. Food really good and service even better

Takeaway delivered super fast..the food was absolutely gorgeous and best tikka prawns were best I've ever had.. first time customer and I will definitely be a,regular now ..excellent

First time I have ever dined here. I travel all over the North of England and try one restaurant in as many different locations at least once a month. Wonderful staff, great food and beautiful interior. Would highly recommend. Reasonable price too.

Very rude service dirty cutlery and the food is disgusting

Amazing hosts and beautiful food !!! Will definitely be back

Called in tonight for a lovely meal at Akbars new restaurant, absolutely beautiful! And that’s the food and the building!! Their new venue is very modern, bright and the bathrooms just wow!! The decor is fab! Family ran business, warm and friendly staff. Both our meals were very moreish! We have different tastes my partner and I, he likes spice and I like sweet. We were both accommodated for! 10/10!

It was delicious. Lovely vegetable pilau rice, superb tandoori with soft, succulent chicken, prawns and lamb. Beautifully cooked. Will definitely order again. Akbar the great is the right name.

Hi we had delivery Friday . I had the chicken biryanis with madras vegetable curry. I was poorly all night may have been the potatoes under cooked. Stomach acid and burning no sleep all night. This is first time ever. Always order from Akbars. I wasn’t going to bother but my daughter said I should let you know and not just give up and go elsewhere. Best regards David Tweddell

Took advantage of the 20% off dining in instead of ordering a takeaway as usual- so pleased we did! Starters of prawn puri and chicken pakora were top notch, the raita with the chicken was amazing. Mains were ten out of ten even though we admitted defeat and took the rest home for dinner the following day 🙈 Lamb Mumbai korhei and a chicken tikka masala with fresh made keema naan both absolutely the best thing I’ve tasted in a long time. Love the restaurant, service was impeccable and can’t wait to visit the new premises ❤️

Fantastic food, wonderful staff, wpuld strongly recommend a visit. 10/10

Just had a takeaway for the first time and last food was bland and tasteless very disappointed

Perfect...food amazing,.loved the atmosphere, felt like i was in a different country....

Bought a takeaway. Best Indian in Darlington

Fabulous food the best yet well done Akbar the great

Excellent resteraunt fantastic food and great owners best Indian in town by far

Went here for the first time yesterday and was extremely impressed! Came all the way from Leeds and was definitely worth the trip. Booking next week to go again. Can’t wait!

Excellent service awesome atmosphere and food too staff are brilliant

Was awful as you can see from 2nd photo did not eat much An experienced Indian restaurant owner so I know what I’m talking about enough said !!!

We have had a few takeaways from here last year and they were always lovely. Finally got round to sitting in on Saturday, the restaurant inside was beautiful and absolutely spotless and the food was delicious and a good price for great quality food, with not just the typical Indian meals on the menu which for me is a bonus as I like to try new things! Definitely somewhere we will return too in future!

Bloody lovely food and staff is fabulous 😊

Our first time here and a very pleasant experience Indeed, fantastic food and service . A variety of Excellent food on menu's.

Very tasty food, brilliant unhurried service (no hurry up and get out) and very reasonable prices. Will certainly go back.

This is not Indian food I am sorry. Loads of quantity per item but quality totally flat. No salt, no flavour, no spice. I have visited Darlington only on holiday and took a big takeaway.. chicken tikka biryani, veg biryani, paneer tikka, paneer masala (it can be sold as a desert to be honest not curry this one) , mushroom paneer And Chana Puri all were horrible and tasteless. Papodams they were generous. Never threw that much food. Please give this lovely town properly cooked Indian food kindly don't fool them with sweet curries..

Beautiful food and excellent service

The food and service were amazing. My mum's a celiac and they were very helpful explaining what she could and couldn't eat. Through the whole meal they were very attentive, polite and generally nice, chatty people. Thanks so much, we'll definitely be back!

Absolutely the best Indian food I've had in years, would definitely recommend, great and speedy service too.

Best curry I've had in a long time, fresh and tasty ")

Absolutely lovely meal, the service was excellent and we were made welcome, we fully enjoyed our wedding anniversary, thank you x

Was away for the weekened so nipped in here for a curry. Staff and premises excellent. BYOB/water for the table. Poppadoms and dips were excellent. Onion bhaji's were fantastic. Chicken tikka rogan josh i found a little bland, not as rich as i normally like it, but that's a personal thing. Pilau rice and garlic Naan, very nice. Overall very impressed and priced very good too.

Fantastic, friendly staff and the food was beautiful, our fav Indian for eat in and take away highly recommend!

Ordered early for a later delivery for my sons birthday which was no problem our food arrived right on time and all hot food was as always amazing and they gave him a bottle of wine honestly the best food and the nicest people!

Ordered from here for the first time tonight n the food was amazing. We decided to try the egg rice instead of plain rice and even the 2 year old was wolfing it down :D will deffo order from them again.

Just ordered for the first time thanks to a cheeky uber eats discount code, what a great surprise, amazing flavours, fresh ingredients, melt in the mouth meat. Will 100% be ordering again and will definitely recommend.

First time but not the last. Will be using for takeaways in Lockdown #2.

First time ordering..On Uber eats. Delivered on time, Starters and mains really fresh & delicious and plentiful,will definetely re order, and recommend.

First time ordering from Akbar. Opted for home delivery though Just Eat... arrived 10 minutes earlier than expected and very hot. All items on order and a nice surprise of popadoms and dips. Everything was really nice! Would definitely order again. Thanks very much!

Again Akbar a fab meal tonite well done and thankyou. Ordered at 5.45 and delivered at 6.30 excellent service as always . Thankyou.

Fab food, always piping hot & on time. I would 100% recommend ordering from Akbar as well worth the wait 😁

Very friendly staff, especially the waitress, nothing was to much for her, will defiantly visit again

Brilliant test. Delicious food. Recommend it

Under new management but what a lovely place to eat staff are really nice food is out of this world thank you for a great time

NEW MANAGEMENT!!! Needs to be renamed Akbar the inedible. Prices up - quality down. Chicken hard and inedible, obviously old. Had returned after a delicious meal last time but the changes are for the worst. Won't be going back.

Really nice restaurant and amongst one of the best Indian restaurants in Darlington. The staff are very friendly and the food is excellent.

I'm frustrated by this restaurant. Glowing reviews, particularly for in house customer service. My experience left me feeling that takeaway customers are left out in the cold. The order. Monday 9.30pm ish. 25/11. Just Eat estimated a delivery time of 35 minutes. Arrived on time. Polite delivery man. I live less than half a mile away from the restaurant. It takes 2 minutes in a car. Yet the food was warm not hot. Really disappointing. I could have walked and it would've been the same temperature. Delivery 4/10. Popadoms, onion salad and three dips included complimentary as is expected of a £30 order. No green salad - no matter. Plain Nan. Standard size. A little chewy but still nice. Nan 7/10. Pilau Rice. Tasted like fried rice. Odd. Unhealthy. But tasty. Disappointingly container was of the smaller type and was only 80% full. Rice 6/10. Lamb Tikka Korahai. This was a dish of really mixed quality. Large size foil container which was 100% full. Described as quite spicy. It was mild. Contained several deliciously tender pieces of lamb (among the finest I've had in a takeaway). But also contained a few very grissly pieces of lamb, an entire (near) raw onion. And one unchewable (I really tried) foreign object - appears to be the corner cut from a cardboard/foil food carton. Main 6/10. I will not presume to provide feedback on my friends meal. However I can say that we both finished our meals. We are big lads and we were hungry. But rather than any discussion there was a notable silence afterwards. Overall there was potential for a good meal but it missed the target in a number of places. Having further inspected the numerous 5 star reviews for this restaurant I note that in some cases customers have submitted multiple (3, 4 or 5) 5 star reviews. Perhaps the restaurant has it's favoured customers? I cant condemn this restaurant nor can I recommend it.

Food was fantastic. Really enjoyed it.

First time for me when visiting family. As a curry addict I would give this 5 out of 5 the service was very good the staff really friendly in surroundings that were immaculate I always test a first visit with a ticka chicken madras and tarka dhall with pillau rice. Pleased to say they were excellent. I will be bac without doubt.

Really good Indian back to how it was when garden of Indian was at its best. Really good tikamasala here

Went to this restaurant more by accident but hey we found a real gem. Six of us plus a toddler to celebrate a double birthday Food was super and the staff were brilliant. Extra portions for the kids and no charge. Pleasant surroundings and a complimentary bottle of Prosecco for the birthday folk. Would highly recommend to anyone who loves Indian food. You will not be disappointed.Would give a six star if it were possible!

Staff brilliant service excellenct food good quality .

Very good service, excellent food good quality

Brilliant experience at this restaurant! The staff and all so friendly and helpful! The food is so tasty and full of flavour, we got a starter on the house and it was a great little touch - it was an onion bhaji each and was fresh, homemade and delicious. The mains were authentic combinations and flavours! I would totally recommend going here to anyone looking for a fantastic indian restaurant.

Have visited this restaurant several times now and once again outstanding

Fabulous food...extra portion free...chefs compliments. Lady was great happy singing along to cliff Richards had lovely conversation and even got a hug...very impressed highly recommend.

They were really busy and we had a mix up with food for a delivery. They sorted it out quickly and were really nice, food was delicious!

Wonderful place .lots of choice. Just good food will be going back

Wow, well I don't know where to start! I felt like a bit of a celebrity with how attentive and friendly the staff were during our meal. In between our starters and main, we were even treated to complimentary dishes and even offered complimentary drinks AFTER our meal. The food was beautiful, easily the nicest coconut rice and peshwari naan I have ever tasted. I was so stuffed full I couldn't eat it all and they kindly boxed it all up for me to take home. Deffo my new regular 😍

By far the best Indian resturant in Darlington. Food is amazing quality, beautifully presented and staff are incredible. They cannot do enough for you and make their customers feel so welcome. Would recommend to anyone.

We had a family dinner and can say it was one of the best experiences I had as to Indian food and the service was top notch. Owner is really friendly. Food was great - We had different dishes which we shared so we can taste more as well as their traditional pistachio ice cream. I can openly say everything tastes great whilst enjoyed a lovely atmosphere. Well done and highly recommended. A+++++ Thank you 😊

Visited here for my dads birthday a few weeks back. Mohammed was as always a lovely host who is welcome to help and treat his regular customers like royalty. Commendable attitude towards customers and always professional. Keep it up Mohammed!

Amazing food once again , every time made so welcome this is the best Indian restaurant around it’s a must try

Lamb in Rogan Josh was super tender, chicken chaat masala starter also lovely

This resturant was good and food was great .This was organised by the red tours company.⚙

Great food and great service. Ordered a selection of food all of which was full of flavour and cooked to perfection. This was my first time here and now would not look elsewhere! Please trust the reviews, you will not be disappointed! THANKYOU to all the staff.

Staff, food, atmosphere second to none....we loved it....first class.

Ist time there will definey be going back

In one line . Its awesome fabulous amazing...

Great food, both Indian and Thai highly recommended