Arena Restaurant in Newcastle-under-Lyme

We would like to think that we are curry connoisseurs 😜. Been to a lot of different restaurants. We moored up near the harecastle tunnel and decided to pop into kidsgrove for a curry. We were recommended Arena by a customer that was standing outside. We took a chance and it was a good decision. Karen was brilliant and the food was fantastic. The lamb was so tender, fresh cauliflower in the bhaji and the channawalla was so tasty. Would thoroughly recommend. Unfortunately we were early and the restaurant was empty so I can’t give a great review on the atmosphere.

The curry was amazing karen is the best. I recommend you come here karen is really nice and the food doesn't disappoint

Always have a takeaway curry from Arena absolutely gorgeous, hot ,fresh and quick delivery thank you . 2nd to none .

Just started eating a takeaway from the weekend & found a dead fly not good Feel sick.

Family meal last night. My meal was spoiled by extremely dry, fatty lamb. At no point did the lady serving ask if our meals were OK, as I was going to tell her. She put the meals down & didn't return to the table. Won't go there again as there was an extra £2 charge for the biryani & to be served dry, fatty meat made for an unpleasant meal.

Just had a takeaway and it was so tasty. The staff are so friendly and our order was there ready to collect.

Probably the worst food we have experienced in a long time a drab restaurant that has gone downhill massively. Our food consisted of strange textured onion Bali’s a tasteless jalfrezi with soggy peppers and onions and poor quality chicken, a tandoori mixed grill also poor quality meats with no vindaloo sauce as requested, and an extremely doughy naan, disappointed to say the least! I would not recommend this restaurant!

Brilliant excellent food service and friendly, very welcoming. Nice clean restaurant with a bar, eat in or takeaway, give it a try, its been there a long time & we've just been & everything was cooked to perfection, fantastic flavours & cobra lager. The prices are very reasonable. If you like onion bhaji you've got to try it, best we've ever had.

Excellent food, service & prices. We've not been for 4 years to the Arena as we live a distance away, it was really good having a catch up & being remembered. We had the mixed starter for 2 & there was plenty of it & tasty, the onion bhaji is the best we've ever had. For mains we had 1 chicken shishlak & 1 mixed tandoori & we enjoyed it very much & tried our best to eat it all, as the portions are a good size, with the salad & sauce. Nice clean restaurant & your made to feel welcome with a easy going atmosphere. We can only say give it a try, everything was freshly cooked and hot. 100% Arena we hope to come back soon. Thank you for a pleasant evening.

Great service and fabulous food, never fails to deliver exactly what we want All tastes catered for Highly recommend

Lovely food very friendly atmosphere.

I would highly recommend a visit Excellent food Excellent service Excellent staff Had a fantastic time

WAS my regular Indian, just spend £40 on a rubbish meal. Bhuna masala turned up being a tikka masala but with extra raw onions! Garlic chilli chicken just tasted of the gravy with little spice. Uneatable meal, last time you see my cash.

We have had a takeaway twice in the last 4 weeks from here and I would just like to say on both occasions the food was beautiful definitely recommend trying. Thanks Arena will order again soon 👍

Always good food we use the Arena for take out when we need a good curry.

Decided on Arena after friends stated that it was a decent curry and we just fancied chilling with a take away. We had the chicken tikka massala which was flavoursome and enjoyable. Chips were decent. The only thing that let this meal down a little bit was the garlic naan, lacked any real flavour and wasn’t as good as naans at other places, all in all though, a decent meal.

Very nicely presented restaurant. Food was well presented, and of a great quality. You'll certainly leave with a full belly, the portion sizes are massive. I was full after eating the Tikka starter, the main course was delicious.

Ordered for the first time was extremely disappointed as the reviews were quite good and expected a lot more than we got, nan bread bread was very thin and crispy chips were like cardboard and curry was very bland and it cost 25 pound which I dont mind paying if it's nice but it really wasnt I found poppadom in my curry and 2 chips when I poured it out on my plate which led me to think maybe I've had somebody's leftovers??? I dont know, the one thing I do know is I will never be ordering from this establishment again.

Absolutely cracking service fantastic food would highly recommend

We go practically once a week at some point and have been going for over 10 years, never disappointed...…..the BEST onion bhajis I have EVER had anywhere....Tandoori chicken is plentiful and comes with a separate sauce and salad...….GREAT....

Small but well established authentic curry restaurant, great value , caters for all levels of spice , staff very friendly, great food and great service, also value for money.

Lovely food good portions frendly service will be going back

Absolutley amazing food.fantastic service and attension to customers

Looked like we had a dead cat in the curry Food was cold Looked like the noodles were rats tails Never ever again

My wife and I went here tonight..... great food..... lovely people.... Will use again.

Saturday night out with our friends and another chance to dine at Arena it was wonderful the food and the ambiance was just perfect. The staff really treat you well there they look as if they enjoy meeting and greeting all of there customers which is very warming. The flavours of the food were excellent, thank you Arena. Kidsgrove are so Lucky to have this restaurant.

We go once every 10 days or so and have been going there for 10 years, never been disappointed....the onion bahjis are by far THE best around......

A big surprise night to Arena in Kidsgrove living only a few minutes away I just couldn’t believe how lovely the restaurant was and the service was excellent. The food was very tasty and a extensive menu. As we all sat so comfortably in Arena with the decor being lovely and bright and very clean I just could not believe I hadn’t found this place this place before. We will be back.

never had a bad meal from here really tasty every time

Good but expensive for what you get.

The best bar none! I have been going here since it opened in 2000 Never had a bad curry, the staff are amazing, friendly and very reasonably priced. The best traditional curry house around and a hidden gem. Try it... you won't be disappointed !

Food lovely , drinks pricey though

This is my second review of Arena in Kidsgrove. We visited Arena again on the 15/09/18 to take my mother-in-law for a birthday treat. We don't need to wonder what service we will receive, or the quality of the food, as we know that the Arena, gives us everything that we want in a restaurant, everyone is down to earth & friendly, you're not pestered as soon as you walk in, you can sit & chat, peruse the menu which is so simplistic to use & feel that it's all value for your money. You are treat better than just being a customer, they really want to know that you are enjoying your food. I try something different when i go, & I tried the Madras last night, & it's the best Madras I've ever had, there is a heat to it, but not a burning I can't taste anything heat. I had a sagwala vegetable curry instead of rice & it was all fantastic. My wife & mum in law had malaysian curries, with coconut, banana & pineapple, the peshwari naan's are fantastic. We are not even bothered to try anywhere different to eat, as we get made to fel like family when we go. If you like polite friendly service, quality food, & down to earth people, then give it a try. Thank you everyone at the Arena, including the Chef & kitchen staff, we really enjoy coming. My mother in law gave me a massive hug, before we left to come home & said she had really enjoyed it.

We have not been to the ARENA for approximately 6 years, as we don't live in the area. It was our wedding anniversary & we were in Kidsgrove, so went on the spur of the moment. The menu has changed & is easier to read & pick your meat & curry sauce from to order. The poppadoms were large & thin & crispy, the main courses were fantastic. I had the mixed tandoori meat, which comes hot on a cast iron skillet, with side salad & vegetable curry sauce, it was reallly good, I had bombay potato as a side & a cauliflower side dish, really nice mellow curry flavour, everything tasted so fresh. My wife had the rogan josh with pilau rice & peshwari naan, the others had korma's, everybody was full & we enjoyed it. It was definitely worth the money & everyone who works there are friendly. We will definitely go back.

Great place for a curry it's friendly great value and enjoyable

Lovely curry, friendly staff, nice clean restaurant, overall very good night, surprised it was so quiet on a Saturday night

Good curry house, reasonably priced

We both enjoyed the food. It was excellent. The service was really great and the waiter took great care to make sure that all of the dishes we received were suitable for my wife as I had told him that she is allergic to dairy products. The chappati was wonderful. Overall, it was a great meal in a really good restaurant.

Great place for a great curry eat in or take out they even deliver as well best tasting curry in the potters with friendly staff and atmosphere

Such friendly staff and lovely curry made to order. Clean restaurant and good temperature. Just had a new selection of premium gins

Amazing Indian food. Lovely people.

Been going to the Arena for about 12 years....the food is excellent, never come away disappointed. Taken loads of friends who also love it too.....

Fantastic Restaurant food is always gorgeous staff so helpful.

Having recently moved to the area we have tried a few local takeaways, this has got to be the best curry we have ever tasted, absolutely brilliant!

This small local restaurant offers a good choice of dishes the food is good and we'll priced the service is good

The Arena restaurant is out of the way and probably as a result underrated. As far as I am concerned, its handy (I live in Kidsgrove), The food is excellent (I have never had cause to complain at any level) and the price is good. Its worth a try !!

Love the arena fantastic curry house my favourite sit in or take out really friendly staff

Mi esposa y yo siempre comemos comida india al menos una vez a la semana, ya sea en un restaurante o como parte de la final del viernes de semana de trabajo 'comprimido'. Ya sea que usted coma la comida en el restaurante o tomar una de arena, no te decepcionará. Cuando nunca me prueba un 'nuevo' india, siempre pedir la misma comida la primera vez, para ser capaz de referencia la cocina contra otros restaurantes. Créeme cuando digo que la cebolla y el pollo Jalfrazi bhaji son los mejores alrededor, he probado el resto! !

We collected a pre ordered takeaway for six people. The meals were ready on arrival. All six of us commented on the quality of the meals. Beautiful !

Steve, the owner, is a great guy and looks after your beck and call. The service is at a nice steady pace and may not suit those in a hurry so please be patient

We often forget to review the 'local stuff', so here it is. This is a lovely restaurant, great staff and good food. It is usually quieter in the week so is relaxing and unhurried. Takeaway is also available.

took another couple with us for a birthday dinner, they were both veggie, they loved the onion bhaji's.....as we do....they chose vegetable madras and vegetable sagwala and really enjoyed their meals. we had chicken sagwala and tandoori chicken, both excellent as always.....

Come here as it's local. Most of the time it's a good meal when eating in. Take aways are a bit hit and miss and prices has gradually gone up we've noticed recently. Still, a good restaurant and visit once a month.

Es un restaurante indio en el sentido tradicional británico, no como el nuevo 'Fusion', elegantes restaurantes y similares que ahora son fiestas en todo el país (y son muy buenos, para ser justos).

Su siempre tranquila en el restaurante principal, así que no es difícil conseguir sentado, la comida siempre es agradable, sin embargo es la comida para llevar lo que uso y es muy buena, el servicio y la comida son siempre encantadoras,

Excellent service with a great meal. We absolutely love coming here and we attend with our young children. They make us feel very welcome especially the kids. Food is delicious. Only thing they could be improved is the choice of drinks and deserts apart from that it's a great restaurant.

not my first review of this place, been going there with friends for over 10 years and the food NEVER fails.....we go to other restaurants frequently too and find the food is sometimes great, sometimes not, but the food at the arena is ALWAYS consistent....the Bhajis are the best I've had anywhere...service always friendly too.....I can really recommend this place if you like Indian food.....!!!!!

I live arena as it's a small curry house with excellent food I adore the mango chicken or the passada, my husband lives the madras new been on several occasions excellent food and service also great value

I have been to this restaurant a numerous amount of times and i have to say it is by far the best establishment iv been to. The service is excellent! I cannot fault it. The lovely lady that serviced me each time is a joy to be around, very friendly and attentive. She always ensured my glass was not empty and that i had everything i wanted along. The man in charge their is also friendly and welcoming. The food is unbelievable! not only are there a huge range of dishes available but the quality is outstanding! Delicious actually! Especially their tandoori butter chicken! A personal favourite of mine! The food serviced was always hot and beyond my expectations! The place itself is always clean and has a warm welcoming vibe. Each visit i have stayed until closing because its just that good of a place! I would definitely recommend this restaurant!! I simply cannot go anywhere else!

Reasonably priced and good food. I'd love to see a wider beers and ales selection but this is a minor thing.

Had a takeaway and picked it up from arena,don't no why but this is the second week we have had garlic nan bread with our meal and both times it is dry and sorry warm,not hallf as nice as they used to be,dont know if they have changed something,also the curry itself does not stay hot,we only live 1/2 mile away and its warm when we get it home.Sorry arena disappointed not just once but twice in a month.Not good.

Always use arena for a Indian take away as they deliver, food is normally good. But every time you sit in for a meal you are guaranteed top class curry. Great choice on the menu but I always stick to garlic chilli chicken for the main as it is consistently good.

Absolutely amazing food and service. Lovely food, full of flavour. Took on board our requests, lamb fell off the fork, will be ordering again. Thanks guys. Will be down to the resteraunt soon.

Takeaway ordered on a Saturday night. Forty minutes wait. Food arrived on time and as ordered. Portion sizes average but king prawn jalfrezi could have done with more prawns. A bit expensive for what was ordered, 3 starters and 2 mains and one rice but good tasty food.

Loved it here very quiet friendly and affordable very friendly staff and not too long a wait for our meals I'd reccomend this to anybody

Been going there regularly for about 10 years, go about twice a month....the food is always consistent, we've never had a poor meal here in all that time....I have Tandoori chicken ( only because I'm diabetic and am careful what I eat )......but the other meals too are always consistently good......I can really recommend the onion bhaji's....I'd say the best I've tasted......

We do not often go out for meals locally, but when we do if we want Indian food this is our choice. Food is excellent and the staff couldn't be more helpful.Nice clean restaurant and never difficult to get a table. Will definitely return

We go there often and have been going there for about 10 years regularly.....all the dishes are served fresh and tasty.....never had a bad meal yet....

I've been going to Arena since it opened. The food is amazing, they have some great mild dishes that are full of flavour. And the prices are very good. 5 stars all the time from me

Always have fabulous food , good recommendations from the staff if you want. To try a different dish- never disappointed with their suggestions fabulous service

The food was lovely but couldn't believe the price of spirits! This is why we don't go out often. Service was good, waitress seemed quite knowledgable of the dishes. Slightly worried in the ladies as the electric hand drier was directly above the corner basin. Would consider a future visit - sooner if they drop the prices of drinks.

Having being regulars for the last 12 years, frequenting about twice each month....we went tonight, Valentines day....Our table was reserved for 7.30, we were there at about 7.20 and shown to our table straight away and given the usual menu's..... We ordered and were served our starter in about 15 mins, great, no problems.....then, we were just left sitting there until our main course was served after 9pm.....we had waited about an hour and twenty minutes.....during our wait we noticed that the take-away orders were coming out thick and fast......ok, so we accepted they were busy and were ok about it.....When we paid our bill, we were charged over £51 for a meal which normally costs about £35.......OUTRAGEOUS....!!!!!.....especially after being given the usual menu's and NOT being told it was a set menu for a set price....we paid up, but after 12 years of visiting this place so often, we will NOT be going back.....!!!!!....You DON'T treat your bread and butter customers this way......OUTRAGEOUS....!!!!!

We have visited this restaurant twice in the last 2 months. The first visit was great. The food was superb and the waitress (think there is only one) was very attentive and friendly.The second visit was before Christmas. The restaurant had us and 3 other tables so wasn't overly busy. Once again the food was superb and I could not pick a fault with it. The service was shocking though. The same waitress we had previously was there and so was a man who also was waiting tables, or so he should have been but in fact the only one waiting was me. We had poppadoms, starters and curry and they did not do a check back, offer any drinks and never came to clear a plate.They were too busy chatting each other up by the entrance and In the end I walked up to the counter and paid the bill.The waitress never asked how the food was or even looked me in the eyes.It is such a shame as I know the owner has been there for many years and as I said the food was superb but I think a little staff training is needed.

Best Indian I have had in the area. Will never go anywhere else for my Friday curry.