Golden Bengal in Purbeck

Definitiely different chef on from the good one. Good portions but disappointing. Only Tarka Dal tasted good. So many dishes - tasteless and no spice. MSG in food? Felt a bit sick next day. Different waiting staff on from usual - no english at all, like a deer in headlights - felt sorry for him. Golden Bengal has gone down in quality and experience. What a shame.

Came here for my husband birthday. The staff were friendly and made us feel welcome, the portion sizes were great but the food had no flavour.

Very disappointed asked for garlic chicken curry ended up with garlic chilly chicken don’t like chilly had garlic Nan bread no sign of any garlic it was like eating cardboard expensive for what it was

All the curries in my vegetarian Balti were tasteless. Even the garlic and cheese naan tasted of nothing. My husband's curry was ok but we won't be visiting again

Delicious food and a very warm welcome. We visited twice while we stayed in the area. Staff there are great!

Top tier food and very good customer service. Highly recommend for anyone looking to go out to eat with family or friends. Food was delicious words can’t explain.

Handily situated just a few yards from our lovely holiday cottage, this was a real treat! So nice we had two meals from there, both delicious. My son said it was the best Chicken Tikka Balti he had had, and he knows his curries. Really lovely staff too, great to chat to whilst we waiting for our meal. Apparently Jonathan Ross used to be a regular when he had a house in Swanage - well, good taste, Jonathan! If you find it isn't near to where you are, they do deliver, but you need to contact them directly.

Horrible rude staff, spend your money elsewhere! I called them on a Tuesday to have CLOSED shouted down the phone then them hang up.... after placing an order online and waiting for it to be acknowledged for 25 minutes, that is when i decided to call them. Plenty of other places in Swanage to eat and a Indian take away in the town centre, spend your money there instead

Lovely evening spent…. First time we have visited and we shall be returning. Very tasty dishes, excellent friendly service and cosy restaurant.

The food was very nice and the service was excellent, however, it was very cold in there, so much so, that by the end of the meal I had to put my coat on and I was still cold! Turn the heating on and it would have been 5 stars!

Was staying in Swanage for the weekend with a group of friends and went to the Royal Bengal on Friday night. The meal was OK, nothing special but perfectly palatable all the same. A bit pricey though at £71 for 2 people. Also, what annoyed me was that we came in a bit later and from the off it was immediately apparent that the staff wanted to rush us out of there - if so, why not refuse us the table in the first place?

Went to this restaurant for last night of holidays as previously was made very welcome and food was great. Last night a totally different experience, service was very unfriendly when trying to ask for some assistance with the menu choices no one wanted to help and food was not as good as previous. But the worse part was when we were told at 10.15 before our main meal had even arrived, that they would be shutting at 11.00 even though there website states 11.30. Our food arrived 10 minutes later and was reminded once again before they put the plates on the table that we had to hurry up as they were closing at 11.00😡 we would of been finished by 11.00 easily but they were just rude and obnoxious and basically stood there arguing that we had to be gone before we even had chance to start our meal😡 this was such a shame as we were looking forward to our last meal here. We will not be using this place ever again😡

Lovely and cosy little Indian restaurant - great food! If you’re a vegetarian there are plenty of options, but here’s a tip - ask them to make you the tikka masala and just make it vegetarian. Delicious!

We approached this takeaway with done trepidation due to some mixed reviews Our experience was better than expected. The veg samosas were lovely. Seemed homemade with just the right amount of heat and spice and the real highlight of the meal. The chicken tikka was good and rice was hot and fresh. The Dahl samba was nice but just missed on the spice but was perfectly edible. Overall a nice meal

I'm not going to lie, some of the reviews on here are pretty shocking and we almost didn't ho because of them. We left booking a restaurant very late and all those in the centre of town were fully booked. The Golden Bengal fitted us in no problem despite us being a group of ten. All in all we had a very pleasant meal, no problems at all. The menu was extensive and the food good. Plenty of people were waiting for takeaways too. We would definitely fo back if holidaying here again.

I have always heard good things from this restaurant, so my current move to the swanage area made me think I would give it a go , I was very upset as it was between a curry and a cheeky kebab wrap from rainbow kebab shop which BTW is amazing after a couple beers ! Any way enough about that my starter was basically salt in a tray not what you expect from an onion bhaji and mixed kebab lamb and chicken , on to the rice and curry’s we both like a bit of mushroom rice with a curry but not when it has been served Straight off the desert floor , im surprised the rice survived such an ordeal,curry’s them selves were appalling I’ve never had a flavourless lamb rogan curry in my life actually I’m pretty sure it was goat or horse meat I was eating, my partner had a chicken tikka that turned out to be a chicken shitta! Full of flavourless meat that was more likely to be the neighbors cat , one good side to it all is the peshwari naans so sweet it removes the salt taste from everything, if you want some good advice , get yourself a kebab other than that this garbage!!!! Inedible in fact!!!!

I visited Swanage on holiday. Fancied a take out. I’ve eaten Indian/Asian since I was a small child. I must say this was the worst I’ve ever tasted. Chicken tikka was tandoori. Lamb madras was like rocket fuel. My friend’s chicken biriani was very dry chicken. Very expensive mistake. Most has gone in the bin.

Young staff in a hurry but friendly enough. Restaurant is pleasant and spacious and that stopped them getting 1* Sadly the food is low quality, bland and pretty tasteless. Chicken rubbery and everything seemed like it had been cooked yesterday and heated up. Portions large but sadly that just meant we left more. Pretty poor overall and we have eaten at hundreds of Indians and know what to expect. We went to a very busy cafe style Indian in Swanage last year where the food was superb but it was oh so hectic. Be the dream ticket if they took over this place. If you love Indian food don't come here 😒

Lovely family meal; everyone really enjoyed their dishes and staff were very helpful in recommending some new ones to try! The sizzling chicken tikka sambuca was fab! We’ll be back on our next visit!

From the outset this was bad, firstly we had to swap our still fruit juices as they tasted fizzy, normally meaning the juices are off. At the point alarm bells started to ring. Now to the food. This has to be the worst Indian meal...

We stay in Swanage quite often and had had a takeaway from here before but been unable to eat in the restaurant due to Covid restrictions. However on our most recent visit we were able to eat in the restaurant. The food is lovely, just...

Visited on a Monday when most other local restaurants are closed. We had Chicken Dupiaza and Chicken Patia. Much like some of the other reviews, apart from a few extra onions, it wasn’t that easy to tell them apart (which is not really how it...

Went to this place because it was the closest to our accommodation. We were shocked. Absolutely amazing food. Great portion size, tasty and good value for money. Garlic naans = delicious! Warm poppadums and the chuntneys were tasty. Shout out to the staff who were...

We stayed in Swanage for a few nights as a last minute getaway. We found the majority of local pubs and restaurants were all seafood focussed, which is fine, but not really to our liking. Fortunately, we found that Golden Bengall was just a few...

Got a brilliant takeaway from here. Highly recommend the king prawns and tandoori chicken in particular. Yummy!

Had a korma and rice tonight !the food was cold wh Had a korma and rice tonight !the food was cold when we got it back home. There wasn’t When I went to pay for my meal the owner was rude !! Because on contactless...

The Golden Bengal does great curries. We had Lamb Madras and Chicken Anna Purna with a Naan bread and portion of Mushroom Rice. All very tasty and served in a timely manner by friendly efficient staff

Very friendly reception. Not as busy as it might have been due to covid restrictions. Very helpful staff and good food. Worth a visit.

Nice place, nice food, shame that it was spoilt by one particular waiter who was very short fused and not customer friendly. Kind of spoilt the evening! Shame.

We decided to visit the Golden Bengal because it was near to where we were staying in Swanage and we didn’t want to travel any further for an evening meal. We were sceptical considering the amount of negative reviews but decided to try it for...

Having recently moved into this area, we tried this restaurant the other evening. We had a really lovely time! The food and drink were simply excellent, the service second to none, and the pricing reasonable. It was such an enjoyable experience; we wouldn't hesitate to...

Service from a giggling waiter who when serving our curry almost threw it on the table. My husband asked for garlic and cashew rice, couldn’t find a cashew only a peanut! I ordered Chilli Garlic Chicken my husband Chicken Sisylla - having had extensive experience...

Great food with right level of heat & plenty of meat. Online ordering - quick & easy. Friendly staff

We visited here this evening and it was amazing. The food was really delicious. It came to our table piping hot, generous portions and we thoroughly enjoyed it all.Service was also great with a comedic waiter. Would thoroughly recommend visiting here if you are in Swnanage.

The best takeaway curry we’ve ever had,chicken dhansak loads of chicken and perfect sauce,chicken tikka masala was 10/10 too,magnificent nam breads to boot!.I would come back to Swanage just for this

I booked my family in at this restaurant using the online service - although it confirmed my booking, they had no knowledge on arrival. It was busy which is a good sign and situated a good walk out of the town centre. The staff were very pleasant and didn’t turn us away, squeezing us in without bother. Good food and service. Only thing that stops a 5 star review was the Currys (Balti and Bhuna) were far too mild so next time I’ll have a madras! Thanks again to to the staff for great service.

Popped in here on the off chance they might be able to fit us in after a long walk on the coast path. Omg the food was fabulous saag paneer was excellent. I had chilli garlic chicken and we had lamb tikka dhansak and brinjal bhagi it was all very very nice staff were super friendly

Best Asian meal we’ve had in a long time! Food was absolutely delicious and the service was friendly and prompt. So pleased we stumbled across this restaurant. We’ll definitely return.

The food was very tasty and great portions. The service was also brilliant. The waiter from Burnley made our night!

I've eaten in here before, and had a takeaway a few months ago, but this time it was really disappointing. The naan had a cardboard like constituency and the curry was bland at best. I don't know if we got unlucky with a Sunday chef, but I won't be chancing it again.

So, I recently had a Madras from here. Bit of context, I have an extremely sensitive stomach and digestive system. Some IBS kind of stuff that goes both ways. Gave up on trying to manage it, I just eat what I want and make sure I only own black underwear and have no plans the next day. I also have no spice tolerance but like to eat spicy food to try and increase my tolerance. So, as I started with, I recently had a Madras from here, absolutely delicious although a bit spicy for my tolerance. The next day of course, I prepared myself for the usual post-curry bathroom session and a day of not being able to do much else, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised when it never came! I had a full day of functioning, being able to walk the dog, go on a run, and even enjoy another spicy meal in the afternoon. Amazing quality food, amazing taste, take it some someone who is (usually) easily debilitated with an upset stomach.

Wow. Our takeaway was absolutely lush!! Saturday 4th April 2020 During this lockdown in Swanage The Bengal are offering free delivery. From ordering to delivery was Only 30 mins. Food was perfect . I didn’t take a photo as we were so hungry I really wish I had , because it was just perfect . A feast. I had a chicken Kashmiri (which was a first for me) It was soooooo good !! sweet but slightly spicy in flavour. He had a madras which certainly had a kick. Usual sides of pilau Bahji Naan and poppadums which cane with all the dips. Fantastic value. Delicious food fantastic service, Well done. #SupportLocal

We visited here on Saturday night having not visited for a few years and as usual the Golden Bengal did not disappoint. The food was delicious and the service friendly and welcoming. The curry was delicious with large succulent pieces of meat, the rice was plentiful and the Naan flavourful and soft. Can’t wait to visit again!

Not the best meal we have had there but nice atmosphere and service was reasonable I am sure food used to be a lot nicer .

We used to live near and when returning to see family - a visit here was a "must-do". Had all our old favourites and just as good. Recommend Chicken Chat starter!

"Let's have a quick curry", was the choice. What a brilliant idea. The top of the tree for taste and service, with generous portions.

Decor is outdated but that doesn't seem to matter. The food is fantastic and the stove service is very good and nice and friendly. We have visited a few times and it never lets us down

We went there as a birthday treat for my mum and we all really enjoyed our meal. We have also treated ourselves to takeaway there on a few occasions and have never had any complaints about the quality or price of the food.

Very tasty enjoyable meal both tried new dishes and we was very pleased. Also had onion bajee poppadoms mango chutney garlic nan and a pesh nam so tasty my favourite indian restaurant

I ordered 3 starters, 4main courses, some rices and side dishes, to takeaway. The man who took the order had very poor English, I kept saying "Starters" and he kept saying "Did I want Sauce on it?. When I collected they had done 7 mains and would not admit to their mistake. rather than have a large argument, I paid, very expensive.

We used to eat here often but our last few visits have not been great, I had lamb which was very chewy I didn’t eat my meal and told the waiter right away, nothing was done will not be returning.

This place is lovely. Great service and really delicious curry. Highly recommend heading here for a curry if you’re in Swanage area.

It's our wedding anniversary and I'm working late. We're looking for somewhere open as we're starving. They're about to close but make an exception for us. Two quick and scrumptious meals, a chicken korma and a chicken biryani, as quick as you like, and they knocked off 10% for takeaway. £15, plus they gave us a veg dish for good measure.

Very disappointing chicken dansak neither sweet, sour or hot. Also the bhuna was tasteless. Chicken & Prawns were both good quality shame they were in a tasteless sauce.

Really shocked by some of the reviews here as we have planned our days out and weekends away around travelling 70 miles just for our chicken tikka jalfrezi fix, this is the best we have ever had anywhere, we bring a cool bag pop it in and 1hr 45 mins later at home its still hot enough to eat - heaven

We visited Swanage and wanted to have a takeaway so we chose the Golden Bengal. We were very disappointed as like a number of reviewers have mentioned the curries lacked depth and any flavour. The Dhansak sauce was like gravy with no heat and it seemed like all the bases were the same. Whilst the prawns & chicken were good quality the curry itself was tasteless. A real shame.

We ordered a takeaway here and we were very disappointed with the food . It was bland and tasteless , the madras was mild and the masala was tasteless I will not be using this venue again .

Firstly let me say I'm astonished at some of the negative reviews here, I first discovered the Golden Bengal more than 20 years ago whist on holiday and have always viewed it as one of the best. I visit Swanage yearly and the food here has always been delicious, the service friendly and the prices reasonable. But the best thing is the choice, if the idea of a menu that offers never before heard of dishes excites you then this is the place to go, in actual fact there's probably too much choice, I always have a decision crisis closely followed by 'plate envy'.

Was in swanage so decided to go for a curry somebody had recommened the place so off we went when we went in there were 2 other dinners which we found a little odd but we ordered our food when it came with the amazing nan bread my main was very nice but the wife who had ordered a lamb dish was tough and grisly she told the waiter but he did nothing so when we had finished another waiter came to take our plates ask if everything was ok told him about the tough lamb he said nothing and walked off. wouldnt go again

We have been eating meals here for about 10 years and still havent found better. We dont like 'hot' flavours but we find the Kormas and Makhni here are perfect for our taste and because they are available everywhere it is easy to compare!

Yet again another great visit to this place, great food, great service. Andy and Family Lovely food and very clean

Pretty average Indian all round in terms of menu, food quality and price. Nothing special but nothing really wrong either (although service not the most cheerful). NB: don't be put off by the exterior - it's much nicer inside than the rather shabby outside would indicate.

Ten of us went there last night. We were a bit apprehensive ,as visitors to Swanage, we had only TripAdvisor reviews to go on.

Had a prawn biryani with a vegetable side dish. Although there is no doubt it was cooked nicely there was little spice or depth to the flavour. Very disappointed with the popadum as it was microwaved not fried so was not crispy but rubbery. I have had a few takeaways from here and find it really hard to choose a dish that I would recommend. Our friends rate this place highly and when they come to stay love to have a takeaway. However I cannot agree with them and just find the dishes bland and often oily and like last night dish the prawns where hard to distinguish from the other ingredients and they should of been the star of the show.

if you like flavour in your food do not go here! if you have food allergies DO NOT go here! if you want to OVER PAY for pigs swill carry on .. The Manager is rude to your face takes the P out of you and sits and reads the sun newspaper whilst your trying to eat AVOID!!!!!!!!!

We came to Swanage for a short break and had a takeaway. I can honestly say it’s the best curry I have ever tasted, there was plenty of meat and the flavours were amazing. Well worth a visit.

Taken by some friends, lovely food. Dated decor but that didn't matter. The food was delicious and reasonable. We will be going again!

Quite a walk from town centre but Swanage taxis reasonable rates. Nothing fancy decor wise but tasty Indian classics well prepared and favoured to your requirements by request. Great for group of friends

We decided to try this curry house on the edge of town, as a change from the one we usually go to in the centre of Swanage.

Had a good curry, tasty and reasonably priced. We went on the bank holiday weekend and the staff were clearly struggling to cope with the full restaurant...

The service was good - and the poppadoms were crisp with nice dips. Unfortunately the main courses were the worst curries we have had in the last few years. The were lacking in taste except a heavy flavour of tinned tomatoes and far too much sweetness (it seemed like sugar had been added instead of salt and spices).

My partner and I love curry so decided to have our last meal of the holiday at The Golden Bengal. Big mistake. The food did not resemble curry and the chicken did not resemble meat. We ate what we could and left with a horrible taste in the mouth.

As I expected the service was impeccable the restaurant itself was clean and laid out well the food was beautiful I had chicken biryani which was one of the best I’ve tried n my hubby had chicken tikka really impressed

Ordered takeaway, took arpund 30 minutes. Varied menu - don't often see dishes like lamb in lemon sauce - however we ordered more traditional dishes such as biryani and balti. It was very tasty, unusual appearance as most of the food was a red/orange sort of colour.

Bought a takeaway while on holiday , very nice worth a try. Waiting time about 40 minutes and prices on par with most others. You can dine in but spaces are limited.

The restaurant is on the edge of the town and is very unassuming inside with some curious pictures. That said the dining area is perfectly accetable and my wife and I were pleased to see some different dishes on the otherwise standard menu.

Stayed in Swanage last week in June when it was very busy and called in here on the Friday night. They do a vegi tali here which they don't do in most places and is one of my favourite meal as it is a taster type meal for a lot of dishes (also do a meat one). Food was very good and not that bad cost wise as most of the restaurants in Swanage are over priced as they know you don't have a choice. Highly recommended.

Makes nice food with a wide variery of currys and in large portions, they give small nibbles for free before and after the main meal and serve food at a good speed after ordering

Went on a fairly busy Saturday evening. The service was incredibly slow. Having been given popodums we then waited nearly half an hour for a waiter to take our main order. The main, once ordered, was another half hour in arriving, and once cleared up, we had to ask twice for the bill, which took ages to arrive.

Four of us went for a meal and we all enjoyed our meals. The sizzling tikka was lovely and the rice was really tasty. Staff our friendly and Can’t do enough for you.

I ate here with my family. The staff are friendly but I would say the restaurant is in need of refurbishment and the food, which was fine, is overpriced compared to other Indian restaurants.

We booked on-line. We went to collect the meal and the it was already in preparation. We were offered some nibbles while we waited. Twenty minutes later we were enjoying our meal. Good job!

Excellent friendly local Indian restaurant with delicious food provided amidst a friendly engaging helpful ambiance. Highly recommended

We had a tapeli ghost and prawn chingree jhingra both tasted exactly the same but different meats. Even the keema Nan was rank. So disappointed 😞

We arrived soon after opening time on a very cold evening. It was distinctly chilly in the restaurant but fan heaters were brought out whilst the central heating caught up.

My partner and I found this accidentally as we left it too late to eat closer to where we were staying (although this was only about 3 minutes in the car). Luckily this restaurant was still open and when we pulled up that we wasn't quite sure what to think as we couldn't really see inside. However, as soon as you enter the restaurant is lovely and has a wonderful feel you can definitely dress up as well as keep it more casual.

Not what I expected. Got our order wrong, including missing items. After calling up we were advised that we had not ordered the items even though they were reiterated over the phone. Actual food was pretty poor. Dhansak was missing lentils (a given for the dish) and the chicken was rubbery at best, more likely a little undercooked. Tikka dishes were ordered, again reiterated, but not delivered for all dishes. Very expensive, yet customer service was poor and generally unaccommodating. Dhansak did not come with rice (common across Indian restaurants), and no free poppadoms for a large takeaway, which while not essential if an overall good experience, is appreciated. Very disappointed as the title suggests and will neither be returning or recommending

This is not one of your modern avant-garde new Indians.

Always use this Indian for takeaways since moving to the area. The order is always correct, the food is fresh and hot and reasonably priced. No complaints.

This ia about a mile from.the seafront and town center. Offering a full range of curries including the infamous phal for those in need of a challenge. The staff were friendly and attentive giving us thinking time on request. Kingfisher and cobra available. Furnishing showing signs of wear. We had a great time at restruarant on the back of drinks in the town. Restruarant organised taxi for us as well. Reasonably priced.

Service was very attentive and food arrived quite quickly. However it was not the best Indian food I've ever tasted. Fairly bland and the onion bhajees were not pleasant at all.

Ordered a vegetable curry, a dang sag, a chicken curry, rice, aloo sag, thought the food was no fresh. Had the look of re-cooked food. Tasted average and not fresh.

We ordered a takeaway and it was delicious! It was a large order and it was correct when it came. I really enjoyed it! Thanks

Very slow service, some delicious some very average meals. Then 12% service added which was undeserved.

We've both had a wonderful Indian takeaway meal from the Golden Bengal.My wife had the Chicken Korma which she scored 8.5/10. She would have preferred the chicken pieces to be a bit smaller, as they were rather large, but otherwise found the meal really enjoyable.I had the King Prawn with Mushroom Madras, which was full of flavour and just the right spice heat. Excellent!

Come here regularly to sit in or take away. Staff are always friendly and polite with a smile and happy to help. Food is always good quality. I enjoy eating here with all age ranges.

most of food was ok we had chicken lucknow and chicken passanda which was good and we had onion bhajee bit dry over cooked and had sag aloo the potato tasted like they were potato that had been cooked a few times before very dry . rice was nice and papadom were very good and had with mango chutney which was lovely

Not being in the centre of town, the Golden Bengal was a real find. A bright, clean and inviting restaurant, it had a good atmosphere when we arrived. The staff were attentive and helpful. The food was excellent and arrived quickly after ordering. We will visit again.

Was recommended this place by a friend and it was very nice.Good friendly service and nice atmosphere.Food was yum and company amazing. Really nice Indian on the outskirts of Swanage would recommend.

We've just returned from a last-minute decision to try this restaurant whilst staying in Swanage for a sunny but chilly week (we live relatively nearby). Our two chicken Dhansaks were really tip-top (and we are fussy...), as were all the accompaniments.There restaurant was clean and stylish, whilst thankfully still retaining a respectful link to their proud Bangladeshi origins. The staff were most attentive and the price most reasonable, so a big 'ধন্যবাদ' to everyone, especially the manager.