Chequers Indian Lounge in Mid Suffolk

(Edited to update - the '1' rating has now been updated (as of mid-October 24) to a '5' following a new inspection which addressed the issues which gave it a '1' rating previously. I hope the service and food have also gone back to their previous quality.) Note this restaurant has a '1' rating from the gov's food standards agency - which means Major Improvement Required. I hope they can get their act together and take it back to being rated as a good restaurant as I enjoyed our first visit. We went back there recently and it was poor compared to the first time we visited. Took an hour to receive the first food. The food was ok, not as good as the first time. Dishes were very 'saucey' with little veggies & meat in them. One side dish was not as we ordered. Prices were rather expensive. The decor is nice and modern although we were seated at the back at a small table which felt like it was in the corridor. The diners on the table alongside us walked out due to significant delay in getting food plus the cool food when they did receive something.

The food is exceptional.. the service time and time disappoints. If they could get this sorted it would be five star. If you can get over the disappointment of poor service, long waits... The food will blow you away.

Superb service food faultless, highly recommend inside outside facilities

We have eaten here a number of times, and the food is usually excellent. Today, of the four of us, 2 were fine, 1 ok and the 4th a little below what we expected. However, we stopped coming here due to slow service, and despite mentioning this tonight to the managment prior to eating, it took ages. I suppose we have got used to staff asking us if we want anything else etc, but we had to do a fair bit of "flagging down" tonight. Shame as its a lovely venue.

Good Indian restaurant for a celebration.

I have rated this restaurant high before, but last night has changed my mind, sorry guys you let your standard fall, I ordered a collection, 45 mins I was told so it went to collect after 30 mins, 1 hour later I came out of there got home and food was cold and was given lamb instead of chicken in one of the meals. Now I know you was very busy, but that is no excuse. Your front of house was terrible, with the young girl flustered and telling everyone to get out from behind the bar, leaving me and other customers standing around waiting.

Food tastes lovely but this place is mayhem. I got a takeaway from here and it took 20 mins of waiting past my allotted pick up time. When I got the food, they gave me a chicken tikka starter instead of main (lucky I checked). Waited another 10 mins for the main to be cooked. By the time I got home all other food was cold.. They also gave me a plain naan instead of cheese nan, only realised when I got home.. I feel sorry for the lady behind the bar trying hard to keep it altogether. But this place is manic with zero co-ordination it feels. There were many people in a similar situation. One guy was waiting for 30 mins… Drinks were also arriving late to people’s tables because they were sat on the bar for about 10 mins! It’s not cheap so they really do need to sort out these service issues. Real shame, would’ve given 1 star but the taste of the food (even though it was cold) saved them

Same delivery guy we had last time. We've ordered once before and he remembered me and said he'd make a note of which house is ours as its a little tricky to find. Absolute lovely man! The food is top quality like it is in the restaurant 👌🏻

I recently visited this restaurant, and it was a delightful experience. The atmosphere was warm and cozy, with rustic decor and soft lighting that created a relaxed vibe. The food was outstanding - I particularly enjoyed the lamb kebab and garlic naan which was perfectly cooked .. The service was friendly and attentive, with our server providing excellent recommendations. it didn't take away from the overall experience. I'd definitely recommend this restaurant for anyone looking for a great meal in a charming setting.

Great decor, great service, great good!

Third time here and, as always, excellent. Very friendly attentive staff. Food was excellent. We've booked for Christmas Day

ordered at about 5:20pm and food didn’t arrive until 7:45pm ordered a drink and they forgot that until they remembered 10 mins later and came back with it food wasn’t the best too asked for some money back due to the delay and they refused

Great food. Was not to busy. Would come back

Thankyou so much for last night for my daughters 40th Birthday meal.Everything was perfect.The food was amazing we all loved it.The atmosphere and the restaurant was beautiful all the staff are so lovely and helpful and friendly we will defo be back.Thankyou all so much

29th August 2024 All I can say about our experience with you on the above date is that we had a really good relaxing time in a pleasant atmosphere. The meal was very impressive all cooked to perfection, the Naga I had was fantastic just as I like it (hot and spicy). My wife's Pasanda was to her liking too. All round a very nice evening and very pleasant and courteous staff. Thank you very much. Bruce Lawson.

Really great food. Good place to go with several friends. Easy parking but fills up quickly. Make sure you book

The service was amazing. There was only 4 of us so wouldn't expect anything less. I had a king prawn dish which I was very disappointed with, don't get me wrong nice flavours but I only had 3 prawns in it. For the cost of £19ish just for my dish I wouldn't go back. The place itself looks really good inside a bit dark for my liking and had no music in the background. Even tho our conversation was flowing just would have been nice to listen to music when eating

Absolutely delicious food with an extensive choice of dishes I've not come across before. Generous portions, cooked and presented very well. Nice atmosphere with very comfortable seating. Would benefit from slightly larger tables as we found it slightly difficult to make space for 5 people eating different dishes. Service a little slow to start with, but we we're generally looked after well. Would definitely recommend a visit.

Waited two hours for the food to arrive. Food arrived lukewarm, so a bad experience overall.

Went here as it was meant to be award winning. Food wasn’t anything out of this world, biggest disappointment was the amount of chicken in the dish. Must of been about 5 lumps which isn’t enough to feed anyone.

excellent food, highly recommend this restaurant

Took my two teenage sons here for a treat, amazing food, yes a little pricey but so worth it and my nhs discount helped! Service is great, lovely welcoming atmosphere. I have been before a few times and every time has been perfect.

We had a last minute table of 22 and we cannot stress enough how incredible our experience was. The service was outstanding, all of the food came out together and was piping hot. We notice other large tables and also the restaurant was full so to be able to pull off our party with no glitches was amazing. We also were unable to get a taxi for a little while and the staff were so accommodating. We will be back as soon as possible and the food was out of this world!! The honey and chilli chicken is a new form favourite! Thank you so much to all of the staff for giving us such a lovely evening and such delicious food, we would highly recommend you. X

The food was incredible but let down by the service. Upon arrival, they were quite quick to take the napkin rings away, even taking the napkins off of a family members plate just to take the ring. At this time, they took the wine glasses away before we had ordered any drinks which while we didn't end up ordering wine is something you should always wait to do just in case. We were given one drinks menu between 5 people and it took a while for us to decide what drinks we wanted when we sat down as we wanted to talk for a bit and take our time. We had two different servers come over in a very brief time period and we were not ready. When we got around to ordering food, we had the opposite problem and we had to grab the attention of the server by leaving our seats to take our order. We ordered 1 poppadom each and they brought out 2 chutney trays, which the server said "ill bring another one over" when he initially only brought one out without consulting us. And between each course they kept on asking us whether we wanted to keep the trays which we did as most of our party had ordered bhajis with the mains. When we got our mains, we didn't have any plates this was solved quite quickly however. Traditionally, Baltis are served with a naan and in their own special dishes. Had we have known it came in a normal bowl and without a naan, my mum would've ordered something else. Although, I can't complain about my food as it was really good and they were generous with the amount of meat in the dishes. When they came to take our plates, the server seemed very frustrated and even admitted 'he was stressed' and we helped him with the plates as much as possible but you could see he was struggling and it ruined the mood of my sisters birthday celebration.

very tasty food..well cooked ..Will definitely order again

Highly recommended, amazing food and great service , will be visiting again soon Thank you

Best Indian Restaurant in area, Always great quality of food, professional service every time & great atmosphere too, Always other diners when have eaten in restaurant, Make sure you book to avoid disappointment. Presentation of food is delightful & restaurant surroundings are very plush. Baboo & staff are very pleasant, professional & kind & always feel valued as a customer. Thank you very much for always being accommodating for our family meals.

Me and my partner went in on a busy Friday night, we were a little early but the staff were happy to seat us and our drinks were delivered quickly. There was already a bottle of water on the table so we helped ourselves. No issues with ordering and when it arrived the food was absolutely fantastic. As it got busier the speed of service deteriorated but this is expected and the staff were very friendly and you could see they were doing their best. We eventually got the bill and 99% of it was absolutely fine. I was really shocked to find out that the bottles of water that are already on the table when you arrive are £4.50 a piece! It’s grossly misleading that there is no mention of this anywhere, especially when it’s set up on each table as standard. Please do better and be clearer on this as it put a souring end note on a very pleasant evening.

Now up to 3 hours since we ordered, still no food has turned up. We’ve called three time, second time we were told it had left the restaurant 5 minutes earlier. We are a 3 minute drive from the restaurant - 45 minutes later still no food. Awful service and blatant liars

One of the very finest in Indian cuisine. a truly remarkable show of service and quality.

Me and my partner visited this place for our anniversary. The food was absolutely incredible, lovely flavours and beautifully spiced. I was glad to have tasted something different from all the other “Indian restaurants”. Only thing i would say that needs abit of improvement is the service as for my standards it was terrible. Would highly recommend the food but be aware the service is abit slow.

What a great find! Recommended by friends and enjoyed by us and our dear friend last evening. Thank you so much for a great experience.

Take away mistake. Balti uses best herbs and spices, but tasted the same as the vegetable curry, which wasn't much. Vegetable curry contained frozen veg as some weren't even cooked through, and all same size. All sauces very very oily so even more reason to be disappointed.

Shocked to find the same meal has gone up by 40% between our quarterly visits. My other regular place hasn't increased its prices by nearly as much. Nice curry house but not going back. An award isn't a license to rip people off.

Excellent food service & atmosphere. Started to get busy around 5.45pm the car park was full when we left. Will definitely be going back soon.

Delicious food all round, good price also, service was good and quick.

Only had a takeaway but the food was really good. Inside the restaurant is very classy and looks very good.

I had been put off Indian food with the awful restaurants around Ipswich untill we found this one my faith in Indian food is restored with the Chequers Indian lounge the best food I have ever had thank you and wonderful service clean restaurant and fantastic atmosphere

Turned up and was cold, majority went in the bin.

Disapointed in 2 of the starters .one was like kentuckuy chicken strips no spice ,unlike a oakora .samosa lacking in fkavour Mains were reslly good

Food was delicious! The place itself has a lovely warm feel to it, we were sat upstairs which I preferred as there was less tables so it wasn't as busy as downstairs. The staff were great. I can't wait to come again. Definitely recommend.

Clean and awesome decor. All staff we interacted with were very polite and friendly. The food....we'll.....let's put this way.....I'm not going to any of the Indian restaurants nearby again. The food here was on another level. Already discussing going here again in n a few weeks.

Went here on a Sunday evening after a friend recommended it to us. Absolutely awesome meal in a nice friendly atmosphere. Will highly recommend to anyone wanting a very good Indian meal in the Ipswich area. This is now my go to Indian.

Always the best curry around, tops tier service from all staff also. Highly recommend.

We were here for a family birthday 13 people, excellent food and service, I would thoroughly recommend 😊

Lovely staff, delicious food- were very lucky to have this as our local Indian restaurant!

A great first experience! I have heard how good the Chequers Indian Lounge was so decided to try for myself and I was not disappointed. Excellent service, the staff were friendly and attentive and the food was delicious and hot. Would highly recommend!

Really nice Indian restaurant. Definitely come back

Visited for the first time yesterday evening. Excellent experience from start to finish. Staff very polite and welcoming. Joni looked after us during the evening - charming. Food was superb. Highly recommended. Will definitely be returning.

Amazing food and excellent service. Highly recommend . Vegetarian and Gluten free well catered for

First visit, but won’t be the last as lovely authentic food and great service from all staff, Joni in particular was so friendly and efficient. Thank you 🙏

One of the beat Indians I've had and the service was fantastic.

Main course, rice, nan, poppdum, water bottle under £30. Plenty of parking. Too much red colour on food.

What a chaotic place!! Ordered a takeaway for collection via their website, I arrived at the allocated time & still had to wait over 40 minutes for our collection. There is no where to wait whilst awaiting your takeaway so stood at the bar but felt we were constantly in the way. We continually asked for an update on our order and kept getting told they are now cooking our final dish!! Surely it doesn't take over 1.5hrs to cook 3 starters, 3 mains & 3 naans!! Very disappointed that as we had ordered via THEIR website we were not entitled to the 20% discount as offered on their menu as we hadn't placed our order via the telephone. Surely by saving your staff time by ordering online you would be more entitled to the discount....🤷‍♀️ The bar tender was not able to cope with a busy bar, shouted quite a bit trying to get other staff members attention & was also swearing which is very unprofessional when customers (incl children) are stood at the bar. It just felt a very chaotic & unprofessional restaurant & will not be returning, which is a shame as the food tasted OK!!

Booked to eat in, we waited over an hour after ordering and still no food said we were leaving and waited another 15 mins and they gave us the food to take out order was wrong staff behind bar very rude, Had a delivery from them this evening, arrived 2 hours after ordering woman on phone rude when we asked about the order. Will not be using these again will stick to curry inn in Needham from now on

A beautiful place / interior. A good place for socialising with friends or family. Amazing food, one of the best Indian foods I've had! Beautifully presented food. The flavours were out of this world! We had lamb birianni and lamb corma .Vegetable curry/a side dish was gourgeous! A long wait for food, 80mins or so, but it was worth the wait!Perhaps it was overbooked. It was super busy. After all, it was a Saturday night. Their car park was full. There was a great atmosphere! They need to recruit more waiting staff and advertise jobs. I am sure there are plenty of young people in the area wanting to earn extra pocket money. We will come back to support the business and enjoy their beautiful dishes.

Another delicious meal at The Chequers! Service is always top standard, great with children, the food is well presented, the best tasting Indian food in Suffolk! Will definitely be back.

Welcome was extremely attentive, however it took over an hour for us to receive our food, and when we did one of the meals wasn't what we ordered, despite this the food was incredible, recommend going with an appetite and patience

Just been again, outstanding food

The service was very slow. Maybe not enough staff for the amount of customers. The staff were very polite but had to wait so long for drinks and then even longer for food. Large mount of customers but not enough staff I did enjoy the food when it did eventually arrived Too long a wait especially as we had children in our group. Seemed like they were getting as many covers as they could at one time. I would be happy to visit again for the food .

Food was cold, tasted good though but 2hrs 15mins after ordering when the app said 35-55mins is very disappointing.

Was good, unfortunately since lockdown ended prices rocketed. Not recommended. Originally 1 star but now an easy 5. Good news, it is now under new management and is an Indian restaurant serving excellent food. The staff are very friendly and the atmosphere is really good. Highly recommend. They also do takeaway food which is also excellent.

was told of delay so no problem food as always top class.

We dined at the chequers Indian Lounge last night great food service excellent and friendly and the Kingfisher beer kept well.looking forward to finishing what we couldn’t eat last night (good portions) and returning soon.

What a lovely place to eat, went there for early birthday celebrations with friends and the food was absolutely out of this world, the bombay potatoes are amazing, will definitely be revisting again soon.

I had a lovely meal for Sunday lunch. Food was absolutely stunning - freshly prepared and piping hot! Joni was ever so polite and was really attentive to our needs. Will definitely be returning!

We have made this our regular Monday evening place to eat, food is second to none, staff are extremely attentive highly recommend

I'm down this way for work and treated myself to a Payday lunch. It's a world above anything around my town, the food was amazing and the staff are Top. Joni at the front desk went the extra mile with my service, hats off to him. Lovely décor and I can't rate the food high enough. I'll make the 2 hours drive one day again to bring my wife here and find something else to do in town after. Thank you Cheques!!!

Great food with a brilliant delivery. Thank you 😊

We wanted something different but not too far away to celebrate a birthday and decided to give this a try. So glad we did, the food was some of the best Indian we have eaten and the service was lovely. Our waiter Jonny was so very polite and careful, he is new and explained this to us - he was so lovely - he will be an asset to the restaurant when he gets his confidence. We will definitely be going back there sometime and will recommend happily to friends and family.

Lovely, hot, and spicy dish. Flavours still after hours of having King Prawns Naga with Chicken Biriyani. Good choice to enjoy your lovely evening.

Delicious food and very friendly service. There is a lot of choice on the menu. The curries were presented beautifully. Although I booked online and received confirmation of the booking, they weren't aware of our booking. Nevertheless we were quickly accommodated without fuss. I will definitely be going back and would recommend The Chequers Lounge.

we received our order but some items were missing which we had paid for. We contacted the takeaway we were told that next time we ordered from them to let them know and they would replace the items no offer of refund given they were very rude, unprofessional. Standards of customer service, quality and food portion size very poor. used many times before would now not recommend.

The food is excellent, a bit on the expensive side, but as they say " you pay for what you get".

First time here, can’t fault anything had a great evening great food great service will def be returning very soon. A big thank you to all the staff.

Food was fantastic but service very slow.

My husband and I have visited the Chequers about 5 times now. The food is always excellent and extremely tasty with a very good menu. We decided to visit with our friends who are also curry lover's and had never visited the Chequers before. On previous visits the service hasn't been brilliant but we thought we would risk going on the Saturday before New Year on the hope that staff issues would've been resolved since our last visit. However unfortunately this wasn't the case. The service was very slow, we had to ask several times for someone to take our order and once we had ordered it was sometime after that when we received our meal (after once again asking whether our meal was going to be much longer?) We also had to ask to order more drinks and then had to ask after about 20mins where the drinks were. If only there were more staff ? Maybe more focus is required on the restaurant bookings rather than takeaways? or don't take so many bookings if not. This is the only thing that spoils it as like I previously stated the food is superb as is the restaurant decor.

First visit Food was good when it arrived nearly an hour after ordering Service very poor Seems no one knows what’s going on Food not cheap but expect far better service Will not visit again

Really disappointed as we have always really rated the Chequers. Food was delivered late and wasn't particularly hot so we had to microwave some of the dishes. If they are too busy they shouldn't accept new orders online. A real shame.

The service here is one of the worst restaurants I've been to. The restaurant wasn't especially busy and it took over an hour for them to start taking the order, even after prompting them several times. When the order was being taken I was having to spend some time trying to convince the waiter we wanted some naan with the starters but the waiter kept insisting it's a main. After the order was taken it took another hour for the food to arrive. There were other tables around who were also looking very fed up as they weren't getting served either. Eventually the food did arrive and it's not the worst but not the best Indian I've had before, certainly not worth bearing with the level of service provided.

This place is so hit and miss, I’ve been 4 times and every time the food has been incredible but the service is poor and slow. We waited for our main for over a hour and a drink for half a hour, it’s frustrating because the food really is lovely and the prices are decent, just service is bad.

I never go out of my way to write a review. Ever. But after eating a takeaway from here tonight, this places deserves one. We ordered via Just Eat, and we are new to the area. The food was absolutely wonderful, and will be our new go to. We both had a Lamb/Chicken Balti and it really does trump any other in the local area. The desserts were 10/10 and even come in a glass dish which we couldnt believe. We love the comfort of pigging out on the sofa on a weekend but we will make an extra effort to go here in person when we have a child free evening. Fantastic, thankyou!

I have been here many times and spent a lot of money, but ordered online for the first time and it did not go well. Discounts are very clearly advertised for takeaway, which you appreciate considering the food is expensive. However, if you order online, the advertised blue light and takeaway discounts are not available, which is not explained anywhere. I even wrote blue light discount in the information for the order so could have been contacted. Made to pay full price despite the advertising. This probably would have been less annoying had the food been good. I also requested two dairy free dishes, as I have done previously. At collection, was told this couldn't be done. Somehow it was done, after it was explained that we have had this many times before. The one dish was horrible. It just tasted like vinegar and so went uneaten. I did speak to the manager, who offered a 5% discount on next order, but I feel the lack of clarity is quite underhand. You can't advertise something and then say except this way which we don't explain at all. Bad meal and bad service. Won't be back. In response to owner. I reviewed, as I didn't feel it was resolved at all, which I think I made clear. Resolving would have been to refund the extra money that had been spent due to your incorrect advertising. I found my meal experience a huge disappointment. You also didn't update the information, which you stated you would.

Aesthetically, this place looked great. This place is as close as you will get to a fine dining Indian restaurant around Suffolk. I can't really fault alot apart from their booking website takes quite a while to register on their system. My advice would be to make a booking over the phone if making the booking for the same day. The food was delicious; not so much the cocktails. The food was decently priced and I would definitely return. One of the waiters even packed our left overs in takeaway plates for us, which was quite surprising as this is the first time I have seen this (normally the customer packs away the food themselves).One of the best lamb chillies I have ever tasted! I shall be back for sure.

Wasn't the first time dining at the Indian lounge tonight and have always been very satisfied. But tonight was just amazing, in particular the service from Ruman. We'd been advised by friends that they could cater for dairy free, but Ruman went above and beyond to help, explained many dishes and gave excellent suggestions. He took his time and was seemed very happy to help with my husband's very new experience to his dietary requirements.

In terms of Ambience and food presentation it was definitely a cut above most Indian restaurants but then so were the prices. For us something for a special occasion but not a regular eating place.

Excellent food. Prices good. Service abit chaotic at times.

Good sized portions, food was nice. The young lad who was working his first shift there was lovely and had great customer service. It was a large group of us so a few items were forgotten, but quickly rectified.

Service - Waiting staff are really nice but front of house who showed us to our table was extremely grumpy. What was his problem? Atmosphere - the VIP lounge is extremely COLD AND DARK. We kept our coats on for our whole meal. Food - served chicken nuggets instead of chicken pakora (I’m sure pakora is meant to be made with gram flour not breadcrumbs lol). Curries we’re flavourless. Onion bhajis sucked. The poppadums were nice but it’s hard to f that up let’s be honest. Honestly don’t waste your time going here and get a takeout from the Bekash instead.

Not as good as before. 🥺 Portions small and lacking substance.

Super friendly place and delicious food, would love to return soon. Seating upstairs was great as zero people coming past.

Went with some friends and we normally order a main each and share sides...I had the job of ordering all our sides but was commanded by the waiter that I could only order certain items as he asked...I got mixed up between sides and vegetable dishes and he was very rude telling me he is just taking orders for side dishes...sorry I wasn't aware if a sag ponir was a side or vegetable dish !!! Note to staff...take the order how the customer wants to give it to you, they are probably remembering a load of items !! And if you can't keep up with the technology of your iPad then go grab a pen and paper and write it down. Food was ok but prefer certain dishes from my more local curry house. Very nicely decorated restaurant, can tell they have spent money on that.

Had a lovely Sunday evening at the Chequers Indian. The food is absolutely beautiful, authentic and fresh plus really attentive service. Had a great time with the family. Thank you. Highly recommend.

Although the delivery took nearly 2 hours to arrive the food was lovely

Just had the best Indian meal we’ve ever had at The Chequers Indian Lounge in Gt Blakenham. It came with several recommendations from friends and was even better than we expected. We arrived a little early for our booking, the restaurant wasn’t even open, but were shown to our table with plenty of time to look at the menu and decide what to have. We were impressed with the selection and even more so when the food we’d ordered arrived. Everything was cooked fresh from scratch and arrived piping hot and was delicious. Nothing was too much trouble. Given the restaurant is in an old pub we weren’t quite sure what to expect but the place is very tastefully decorated and had the feel of a decadent, boutique dining area with plenty of seating. The staff were very friendly and attentive and we’ll definitely be going back soon.

Honey chilli was lamb not chicken as specified on order

It was a very nice meal in pleasant surroundings. There were ample staff and our food was delivered promptly. We would definitely recommend it to friends.

We heard that it was an award winning Indian restaurant so decided to try it. As much as service was lovely and atmosphere was good, the food was extremely disappointing. Probably worse Indian food I had. Had onion bahji for starters, chicken korma for main. Onion bahji were extremely dry and chicken korma was way too sweet, very much not edible. Husband had king prawn jalfrezi which was OK although not really spicy and not e lot of sauce. Naan bread super dry again. Very disappointed as had high hopes and unfortunately won't be coming back. The only thing I enjoyed was the poppadoms... Shame.

Ordered at 5:20 is didn’t come till about 20 to 8. Chicken looked pink and was cold. Shame as usually the food is lovely and never had an issue

This is the BEST Indian I’ve ever been to!!!! The food ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING! The service ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING!!! We will definately be coming here again! We usually order here for a take away at my mother in laws and father in laws just round the corner. I can’t wait to come here again!!!! The staff are amazing and so friendly. Great business. 😎😎😎