Essence of Bengal in Redditch - Phone Number, Reservations, Reviews

Excellent service , atmosphere and the food was delicious !! Couldn't fault the staff !!

Love this place my last visit was over 8yrs previously & was so happy one my favourites was still on menu & waiter very helpful to explain what certain dishes were

Mid week visit and it was busy with a few large groups. Great food as always.

Had the Ceyan this time and it was perfect! Very consistent curry house with a lot of variety. Always here on time and not too expensive compared to a lot of other curry houses in Redditch.

Would recommend, will use again.

The restaurant needs to remove the online booking system as it doesn't book. Just took 2 calls as well as online booking to find they hadn't got a table for us and left us with no time to find an alternative

We were disgusted with the extras they charged us , I always take the rest of my meal home , they charged 95p for the tray, charged us for extra chillies we didn’t have, extra for asking curry to be madras hot & extra for pickles we didn’t ask for , will not be goin again & would never recommend the place

Hadn't been to Essence for a good few years, some friends had been and said give it a go. Decor is first class, really comfortable. Ahmed as always the perfect host and all the waiters friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. Starters onion Bhajee beautiful subtle taste. Tandoori Kashie chops, amazing taste. Lamb Rogan,so much lamb,had to do the doggy bag. All in all best in headless cross area. Very reasonably priced! Definitely going again. New year's Eve.(Party of 8) Very disappointed tonight. Food excellent,but no toilets,then told 15 mins,for loos spent part of night guests to run over road to use facilities at another pub.(ladies) did finally get to use loos later. It was mentioned that it is essential for a resteraunt to have loos and be able to wash hands for guests, perhaps someone could advise on this. Mind you did get " 1" free pint of cobra. Won't be going back for a while. Food **** Toilets , hygiene zero Revisit 18/04 Surroundings nice and clean and facilities. Service excellent and food quality good. Bengal chicken/lamb mix excellent,not for those that like a medium hot curry,a madras hot curry,the Mass tikka ok little too curry and less tandoori. Poppadoms, pickles starters,onion pakora spot on, essence of Bengal perfect. Just one comment the bill came and we asked why we were charged for a white not a red we had chosen which was dearer, then told our red was actually dearer ,but wine list prices hadn't been updated. Price on the menu, wine list is what you pay. Check your bill. Revisit 24/01/24 Excellent night, excellent service, excellent food. Fish dishes perfectly cooked, Baingan burta, Bengal mass wow.lamb Pepsica,Paneer shashlik all perfect. Will definitely do a mid week again. Tonight five stars! 11.03.24 Excellent food excellent service.wine not the best. Try the Jalsha ,medium,hot sweet and sour. Upmarket Pathia. The onion bhajee spicy ,lighter starter. If you want an in-between curry but not with the sauce try the Paneer shashlik,lots of chick/meat but drier , onions etc Very much improved,will go again. Another visit excellent, lamb beautiful, jalsha perfect. Stuffed pepper, aubergine perfect. Cobra (yes I know perfect). Try the pinotage very good quality. Improving every visit, definitely coming back. 01/05/24 Excellent service! Excellent food! If you want possibly the best Indian food in Redditch you won't be disappointed. Jalsha and shashlik perfect,for a good wine try the pinotage and of course the cobras. Well worth another visit.

A few weeks ago I was asked by a client to recommend a nice Indian restaurant. I recommended the Excellence of Bengal cause of my many pleasant experiences dining there. We then visited the restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed our food along with a few alcoholic beverages. Unfortunately the evening was spoilt when we received the bill for the meal. -We ordered 2 poppadoms and was given 4 and charged £7.20 and charge separately for the accompaniments. -Then had 8 brandy’s ( 4 doubles) which cost an astronomical £127.60. It would be justified if was a special cognac but it wasn’t,it was just Hennessy (rrp £36-40). I felt really disgusted about that and when questioned the owner,his reply was “that’s the price” 5 stars for food but unfortunately I will not be revisiting this restaurant after this experience was truly a disappointing on. S Singh

Haven't been there for a while, but service was quick and with a smile. Much faster than last time. Atmosphere was spot on. Tried something different this time which could be risky, but wasn't disappointed. Mixed grill (pictured) was tasty, but I would highly recommend Chicken Tikka KARAI, especially with a Naan, just ask for a little more sauce 😋

Can’t rate this place highly enough, the staff were lovely, really friendly & good fun, the food was absolutely delicious, 5 of us all had different dishes & we all really enjoyed our food, portion sizes were good & no different to any other Indian restaurant we’ve been to. We don’t live in Redditch but would happily drive in to eat here again x

Friendly, hardworking staff and incredible, mouthwatering food. They are always busy yet the food never tastes rushed, the decor is very unique and the presentation of each dish was impeccable. They go above and beyond highly recommend booking a table.

One of the best meals I’ve had and I love eating out! From start to finish the service, restaurant, and food were excellent. The selection was extensive all with great descriptions and the food didn’t disappoint. The Peshwari nan was delicious, so different to ones I’ve had before trickled with honey!

Unprofessional behaviour. Don't bother booking they will give your table away to unbooked people, you have a better chance at getting a table by just turning up. Ended up going elsewhere. We won't be going back again, plenty of other nice restaurants to choose from around Redditch.

Not been here for a while and now I remember why! Service was a bit slow, The food itself was ok but the portion size was not worth the money, one meal wasn’t cooked properly and was taken back to be sorted which was ok at first. Asked for the bill and we were charged for the meal to be changed, one meal wasn’t eaten so asked for it to be put in a doggy bag, we were charged for the container that it was put in!! Staff were ok but the manager’s attitude stunk!! Told me that all restaurants now charge for containers?? I will never have a meal or take away from this place again

We booked a table for four people to celebrate two birthdays. Having arrived on time there was a group of 11 people before us who hadn’t booked. They showed them to two tables and then asked us to wait in reception. After waiting over 20 minutes we walked out. Terrible service from staff who don’t care about their customers. Will not be going back.

Never had a bad meal here , Top service and top food , one of the nicest nargis kebabs I have ever had , pashwari nans are unbelievable highly recommend , will be back soon

Good food as always. Well cooked, prompt service. Mixed grill is excellent. Just stop asking everyone if they want another drink every 2 minutes please. Will be back for sure as food is starting to of the show. Book ahead of a weekend.

One of the best restaurants for there service and atmosphere,

Recent visit with friends Superb food, fantastic service from well trained and charismatic staff. Highly reccomend. Sir Anthony.

The food !!!! Perfection every time . Prepare yourself for a long wait though because they are always busy . Well worth the wait .

I highly recommend it Signed French on vacation with sister-in-law

Placed order for delivery, still waiting a hour and a half later than the estimated delivery time after being fobbed off on the phone then delivered the wrong order

Great service and delicious food

This is easily the best place for all of your curry needs in Redditch. If I want to go out for a curry, this is where I go. It is the best in Redditch . Best food, best service, hands down. I have been a customer for well over 15 years and the standards haven't slipped. My only regret is that I don't visit enough!

Ordered curry , unfortunately they gave me a portion you could put in a tea cup. Curry also cold when served along with others in my party. Perhaps they kind of think , these people are drunk and wouldn’t realise , REALLY get a grip and serve your customers good honest food that is HOT . Terrible experience will never use again.

Nice atmosphere, friendly staff , clean and welcoming , but the food wasn’t great . Yes it was busy but Out of a big can, I’d say. Everything was the same colour . Overcoloured without any individual spice tastes . Tasteless pilau rice . What was that red stuff to go with the popadoms ?

Will not return, my friend and I felt rushed when we went before couldn't wait to get us out the door. Booked a table for 7 had email to say had to change it to 8.30 no good to us , manager very rude on the phone to my friend, went elsewhere had a much better experience .

Can't fault the Essence of Bengal. The food was amazing and the staff were great. Highly recommended.

Whilst the food was very tasty, I will not return. The portion size was very small compared to any other Indian and it was more pricey. When we arrived and ordered we were rudely told that we had to order a main meal each as the chef expected it. As a mum with 2 young girls we often order a few dishes between us to share plus all the extras like chips, rice, naan, popadoms etc. we are not big eaters so can’t manage full meals each. We ordered an extra dish just to satisfy ‘the chef’ but felt really awkward and have never felt this way before. As it happens portions were really small so we need not have worried. Waiters were friendly but kept coming over every few minutes to check if we wanted more drinks (even when we had full glasses on the table). At £3.30 for a small glass of lemonade I’m not surprised they were pushing the drinks so hard. To be honest, we couldn’t wait to finish our food and leave. Such a shame as the food was lovely and the restaurant was nicely decorated.

Last Frid, 17th Nov was my husbands birthday so my daughter booked a meal at Essence for 9 of us including my granddaughters 2 year old. I ordered a chicken balti. It was so hot that I had to add the yoghurt dip to it to cool it down but I was unable to eat hardly any sauce. I also noticed that one piece of chicken tasted different to the rest. Not unedible but obviously precooked. After a while my little great grandson started to get miserable because he was getting tired so his parents decided to ask for the food to be put in containers so that they could take him home. The attitude of the waiter at this request was disgusting. Very rude, he said it was a lot of food to put into containers!!What would he prefer--that they stay with a tired, miserable child annoying the rest of their customers or just getting on with packing the food up for them. When they arrived home they discovered that only part of the meal was there?We had gone out to have a nice meal celebrating my husbands birthday and it had been ruined by the waiters attitude.We hadn't been home long before I was violently sick. Needless to say we won't be returning to essence. I think the chef needs to learn the difference between a vindaloo and a balti and that the waiter concerned needs to learn some manners !!!

Excellent service and food. Had a Bespoke curry made and couldn't fault it.

Absolutely outstanding from the minute we arrived. Very friendly staff who couldn't do enough for you. There were seven of us and we all had something different to eat. Every single dish was amazing and we'll presented, I tried a salmon dish for the first time as I wanted to try something different and I wasn't disappointed it was amazing. This will be our Indian Restaurant of choice from now on. Highly recommended!!

First time here and was well worth it. Al meals were good and very attentive, friendly staff.

Lovely food. Definitely recommend.

First visit and was really impressed. Possibly the cleanest curry house I've ever been in, the place was immaculate. Staff were friendly and funny, service was quick and the food was excellent. Visited with a child and their food was cooked exactly as requested.

Amazing food, recommend the samosas, they were so addictive they should be illegal ahaha 😋

After a long break, we returned to Essence for a meal. It was disappointing to be honest. The food wasn't great, pretty greasy and bland to be honest. Portions are tiny now and I'd expect better quality and quantity given that mains cost £10 or more plus another £9 for rice and naan.

The food was very good and the restaurant is clean and modern. The staff weren’t great though. They were either moody or over friendly (e.g saying they were going to get us drunk). I know some people like a bit of banter with their curry but to be honest I’d rather just have polite, professional service.

Just had great family meal , everyone loved their meal , can't wait to go back

Excellent food Friendly staff Good decor with good use of lighting I would definitely recommend

Food was very nice. Unfortunately the prices in the drinks menu do not reflect what you are actually charged on the bill. When questioned the manager shrugged his shoulders and said what do you wanna do. I replied pay the advertised price. He wasn't happy. In hindsight I wish I had asked for the menu to check those prices as well. We shan't be returning

After having a recommendation we decided to try. We phoned our order through & then collected. We were very pleased as the food was delicious. I had bombay aloo, my husband had chicken balti. We also had rice & plain naan bread. Will definitely be ordering again & would like to try dining there too. Highly recommend 👌

Excellent dining experience. The menu offers lots of slightly uusual variations as well as the usuals. The vegetarian stuffed pepper, for example, was delicious and the peshwari nan was the best I have ever eaten. Meat eaters and veggies all enjoyed the meal very much. It is very smart and attractive in decor and the staff are friendly and helpful. Undoubtedly the best " Indian" meal I have had in years..

We had our food delivered last night and was very disappointed king prawn balti with mushrooms well the prawns were def not KING couldn't see the mushrooms they were so tiny and finely sliced and the Lamb sagwala well couldnt even bite into the chunks of lamb so gave it to the dog loads and loads of tiny chunks of onion and hardly any spinach will not be returning

First time there very good all round would go back for more

Hadn't been for a while, but will definitely be my go to place, Indian food meets master chef,top end food, so friendly and helpful staff, busy around 6/7 so would book and look forward to

As mature adults over 50yrs, we dont often have a meal at Essence. We earn good money. but when we leave, we always leave a £5 tip. We were appalled by the owners disbelief and his attitude relayed back to us insisting that the nan bread did arrive on our table. His staff and chef said it arrived on a silver tray which they cleared away. We pointed out that popodums and sauces were served on the silver tray and we didn't receive the nan bread. He slammed our chocolates on the table, then said he will remove the price of the nan (£3.50) from the bill and check the CCTV. We were shocked over the incident. My partner reply as we left saying if the CCTV shows that the nan bread was served at our table, he will pay all the staff's wages. I have left a more detailed review on Google. We will never return.

Essence has been around for many years. We live a very short walk from the restaurant and we have dined in an handful of times before this incident. The meal was ok but not enough for us to return regularly. We were invited by friends to attend an reunion at Essence. We enjoyed our meal so we decided to return, which we did, quite a few times and we always left a £5 tip. On this occasion, we ordered our meal and the nan bread did not arrive on the table. We waited and waited, while eating and we realised it was not going to arrive. There was only two sets of couples in the restaurant so it was not busy. My partner told me not to say anything about the missing nan bread and see if they knock It off the bill. I normally order a chicken meal served with rice. The rice was a very small portion, not enough really so I ordered more rice which we were charged for. My partner had his meal and used some of my rice. The owner, the man who wears the waistcoat, arrived to take our payment. My partner told him politely that the nan bread,which was £3.50, did not arrive at the table. The owner said one moment I will check. He was gone a while, talking to his waiters and his chef. He returned. Slamed our chocolates on the table and said there's your chocolates and I will check the CCTV because the staff told me that you had your nan bread because they cleared away your silver tray. My partner replied and said the popodums and sauces/ lettuce were on the silver tray and the nan bread did not arrive. The owner replied, not in a polite manner, that he will remove the nan bread from the bill and check the CCTV. We were both shocked by his reply. The owner obviously did not believe us. We are both mature adults, well over 50 years of age. We both earn very good money and we would NEVER lie about a £3.50 nan bread. The attitude of the owner was very disgraceful. As we walked out, my partner, who is a funny guy, said to the owner. When you check your CCTV or if you check your CCTV and it shows that the nan bread arrived at our table, I will pay all your staff wages. We walked out with our head held high and we will NEVER return.

I was there with my girlfriend and because I was doing fasting I didn't want to eat. They told us that I couldn't stay with my girlfriend after seating us and bringing us our drinks. We could only stay together if we were two order 2 main meals. You are not able to stay here if you won't be ordering from the main courses! The staff was rude and made us wait for seating when there were many spaces to sit and didn't talk nicely but childish with poor manor. Left that bad place and will never go back.

The food was amazing. The guys who served our table were lovely and friendly. Sadly the manager is arrogant and rude. He was worse than the after-effects of a vindaloo and 12 pints. It's a shame as I don't think I can eat from hear again.

Came here with a friend for a curry & naan. Nice restaurant with a pretty extensive menu, it’s a shame nobody seems to do Dal Makhani over here as that’s probably the main vegetarian curry dish in New Zealand. I opted for the Tarka Dal instead which was very pleasant, a good portion size although you have to order the rice separately. My rice was quite hard and clumpy, other than that everything else was very good. The poppadom’s had some beautiful accompaniments and the naan was delicious. Staff were friendly and attentive, thanks for a great meal

Had a lovely meal here with 2 pals on a Monday night. Food was very tasty. Rice portions are pretty small so not enough for two to share. Toilets very clean. We shall be back.

Staying at the Abbey Spa Hotel and popped into Essence (Redditch) for a meal. A decision I don’t regret, the food, Service and decor were all “Spot on”. I’ve visited a lot of Indian restaurants around the country, this ranks up with the best. Thank you.

Waited far too long!!! Good food but waited over an hour and a half for food to be delivered. I think they need to realise the point of a takeaway is it comes relatively quickly or it defeats the object. I have also been to the restaurant and the service is also slow there too.

I visited with a large group for a work leaving-do, the staff were great, they have a good selection of dishes, including some rarer options, my shashlick tarkari was excellent, it all came in good time, no mistakes, overall a good night out with great food.

Awful awful awful service. Over 2 hours order to delivery. Over an hour late on time they gave us for delivery. Lied to us when chasing where order was. Didn’t care when I told them I would never use them again. “Ok mate” was his reply.

Always good food and lovely staff.

Ordered food at 7pm. At 8.30pm we called to ask where our order was. We were told, sorry it very busy tonight its on its way 10 to 15 minutes. Called at 9pm as still no food. Told sorry it very busy! Told food will be with us in 5 minutes. Food finally arrives at 9.30pm! The driver trys to short change us! It is the last time we will order food from your restaurant. Food was luke warm when it finally arrived so not worth the wait. Here's an idea, don't take orders for food it you can't deliver in the time you specified which was 1 hour. We were more than patient!

The delicious food ever eat in Birmingham Highly recommend

Nice curry, friendly service. Quiet night so atmosphere 4/5.

Rude staff. So unprofessional. We had a big party, we booked way in advance and paid a deposit. We was waiting around for ages. One of our guests had a stroke and can only use his left side of his body, he accidentally knocked a empty plate when trying to get to his sit and the owner went mad! Then we sat down and ordered our drinks to be told another party is coming in and we will need to move and to give them 10 minutes to set it up. We've been here waiting for 40 minutes at this point. The attitude of the owner was disgraceful and I for one will never eat there again! Shame because we used to order all the time! We took our deposit back and went to a beautiful Italian down the street. If they can't cater to big party's when they are busier, they shouldn't take the deposits! Poor management skills!!!

Avoid this restaurant like the plague we arrived at 7:30 and by 9:15 we managed to have a popadom they clearly overbooked and could not cope we spoke to the manager and to say the least he was non apologetic to the point of being rude -,when I told him to expect a poor review his response was “ I don’t care about reviews “ We have eaten here many times on the past and the food and staff has always been very good it has now gone down the pan we will never visit essence again and would advise anyone to avoid it.

Food was very good, in quality and flavour. Very comfortable seating, service very good.

Not a bad curry here to be fair, and lots of choice on the menu. Service is slow and the they love to push the drinks it seems. The portions are small and I’m no massive guy. Your curry comes in a separate dish and...

Mixed emotions here. Food excellent as always although service was a little slow, but not a problem as restaurant was quite busy. Our bone of contention was being charged extra for “doggy bag” packaging in order to enjoy this high quality unfinished meal at home at a different time. Have just returned from holiday in Spain where restaurants actually encouraged doggy bags and respected as a compliment and totally free of charge.

A delicious curry served in a stylish and contemporary setting. A wide and diverse menu, with plentiful vegetarian options as you would expect, and draught beers, including Cobra. The staff were excellent hosts: attentive, friendly and efficient. Highly recommended.

It’s been several years since I last dined here. I wanted to see how the restaurant had progressed since it opened some 18 or so years ago. Restaurants only truly blossom if they provide consistently high quality food with professional customer-focused staff. I wasn’t disappointed…. The meals were every bit as good as I remember. The staff team are what every other reviewers seem to say - friendly and knowledgeable. On a busy Friday night, many restaurants feel cramped - not this one…. Beautifully laid out, there’s room to spare. They could wedge another couple of tables in - many would. Glad they haven’t as the atmosphere is all the better for it. Well done everyone. See you again soon, eh? 😌

Lovely food good value staff excellent

Not very good. Several better places in Redditch. Main problem was how over cooked and tough the meat was. The lamb was dry, tough and really quite hard work to eat. Isn’t lamb tikka also meant to be cooked on a skewer first? No skewer...

Food amazing. Great friendly service. Would definitely recommend Great choice of food. Staff attentive x

As a family we rarely order Indian but for a treat over the bank holiday we ordered from essence. Turn up at our allocated time - waited 20 mins. Get home chicken instead of paneer. I accept this May have been an oversight / mistake...

Yet again excellent service n delivery outstanding curry.and sides well done essence I definitely recommend.

Very good quality food peshawary nan bread are a real treat.

Lovely food great service highly recommended

Had shiek kebab and chicken madras delivered £16.50. Absolute vile kebabs tasteless like eating per. Madras was not a curry watery sauce like a gravey chicken dry a d red hot like vindaloo avoid this pla e

Great food and service. The staff are informative and kind and willing to push tables together for large groups Lovely cosy and atmosphere inside too

Excellent meal, lovely staff,very enjoyable Celebration evening

By far the best Curry House in Redditch, great service, incredible food, lovely friendly staff, I highly recommend this place

My wife and I visited Essence of Bengal for a wedding anniversary meal and as we arrived at 5pm we were greeted with, "I know we open at 5 but no one ever arrives at 5!" We ordered 4 Papadoms for starters which duly arrived...

Me and my partner ate here last night, we cannot say 1 negative thing about this restaurant, the staff went above and beyond, the food was absolutely delicious, can honestly say it's the best Indian meal we've had, thank you you for a lovely night xx

Great food. Great atmosphere and very friendly knowable staff. Nothing is to much. Brought friends for the first time. They Loved it! Definitely coming again.

Very nice meal for 4. poppadoms & pickles, starters, mains, nanns, 2 drinks each, £30 each on a par with most for the cost but very good food & service

My curry was way too hot and they wouldn't accept something was wrong. The people of Redditch are not amongst the culinary elite considering their rating of such mediocre/substandard food at extortionate prices.

Excellent food which tastes so good it can only be cooked with high quality ingredients but generous portions and well worth the slight extra cost. Useful too that they off kids meals as this reduces the amount of left overs and ensures each curry is at a suitable level of spice. Staff are friendly and general service great. 5*

Excellent takeaway again tonight. The chicken madras is another level of tastiness. I’ve never had one so flavoursome. Highly recommend!

Vegetarian dishes excellent and Peshwari naan was also lovely. Also noticed how well they cleaned the tables and chairs. I will absolutely be going back.

Best restaurant ever! (Normally I hate them all). They got nice decoration, fun waiters, good food but, most important, their male clients are so handsome!

Came here as my mom invited me. I hadn't had a curry in about 2 years due to issues when I had one last (not from this place). But I decided to give it a go, the service was a little slow, and I couldn't...

Ordered for a time and Wasn’t ready :(

Ordered meal at 6.45pm, despite phoning several times, it was not delivered until 10.10pm! Disgraceful service, not even an apology or discount. Will not be ordering takeaway from here again.

Nice clean environment, friendly staff,welcoming surroundings & best of all the food was lovely.

Excellent food big portions value for money very polite and helpful staff

Great food but if it's busy the wait can be long.

Ordered takeaway for collection . Food great, would have given 5 stars except told it would be 40 minutes, was actually 75 minutes

My favourite Indian restaurant. Met up with friends not seen for a while and the place to have a meal as usual is Essence. Very constant in service and food quality. Brilliant food, tasty and great choices. All the staff are so friendly and helpful, especially if you don't quite know what to choose to eat, they will advise you. Very enjoyable meal with great company. Hope it won't be too long before we visit again.

Fabulous Christmas meal would recommend to anyone

Without exaggerating, one of the best curry house. Visited this restraunt on a recommendation and definitely left here fully satisfied. The flavour was spot on, thanks to the chef, hope he gets to read my review :) will be visiting again very soon

Food excellent, service appalling. Delivered 2 hours late.

Was rather expensive for the food we got, went as a group of 10 didn't order that much really main side and a couple of drinks each cost £340, food in my opinion was not good enough to warrant a bill that high unfortunately feel like maybe we were overcharged perhaps