Holy Cow - Fine Indian Food - Indian Takeaway in Archway, London in Islington

Holy Cow Forever!!!! Been loving these dishes for YEARS!

Absolutely horrible. Ordered a chicken biryani on uber eats. I don't know who cooks but has nothing to do with indian kitchen, no taste, no spices that makes the indian food great. Chicken was also blend and tough, some big pieces hard to broke. Absolutely horrible!

The food here fantastic. Good Indian food has been increasingly difficult to find. All of the dishes are excellent. I only wish they offered dining space to eat there.

Delicious Indian food. Tasty and fresh. Lovely staff. Helpful and efficient A great address for takeaways

I’ve been ordering from here for 5 years and the food and service has been consistent each time. The sag ghost is must try!

I've been coming here for a few years now. The chef is great and the staff is really polite as well! The food is really good and we've enjoyed every meal we've had it from here. I am a person who doesn't trust the reviews and just go there myself to get a feel for it. This place is our go to take away and we just skip eating most evenings to pick a take away and have the comfort of your home to enjoy good food. The quality of ingredients are very high and most better than most of the restaurants that charge 15 pounds for a curry. The quantity can be a bit better but I have no complaints. Thanks chef and rest of the staff for making it a wonderful experience for me and my partner everytime!

Ordered on Uber Eats, and half the items were missing. The lamb was tough as old boots, and the veg samosas were just full of potato. Never again.

Somewhat expensive on some items considering the portions we got. Would not recommend the mixed grill as it has very little taste and noway this would feed 2 people. Doubt very much we would return again.

Bland and tasteless, really disappointing. Eggplant wasn’t cooked and was still rubbery.

Take away and delivery(on apps) only ,good service by the staff always busy in the evenings so I had to wait 15 minutes for my order, bit pricey and good vegetarian option

staff was very rude everyone food was cold please don’t order in this restaurant

Been ordering from here for 10 years and Holy Cow never fails - the most consistent, most fresh, and tastiest Indian in London in my view!

Have been ordering from holy cow (through their website) for some time and their food is one of the best Indian I have had. Amazing quality, quick delivery and very kind service. Definitely recommend 🫶🏽

I order from Holy Cow a couple times a month and the food is always great. Great taste, especially the Bhunas as they're my favourite, timely delivery, you can request extra spice (if you can handle it) free of charge and good customer service! I had the wrong item delivered once and they sent me the right one within the hour. Couldn't ask for more.

Complete rubbish full of salt no rice waste of money look like what see on a pavement

I ordered curry and rice and only the curry was delivered, when I called I was told the rice would be delivered in 25 minutes and there was no apology or even concern that the curry would not stay warm until the rice arrived. I was refused even a part refund and was disappointed at the complete lack of service and careless attitude. Very disappointed in a takeaway service that was once excellent.

Normally they are ok. Though portions are small for the high prices. But ordered lamb bhuna and got chicken bhuna. Thats ok when food was reasonably priced, but When you are paying sky high prices for things. They have to get it right

Poor taste, expensive, small portions...Very disappointed with this takeaway. Better order from elsewhere if you want value for money..I would slso say that the mixed grill is Terrible, tasteless and not for 2 at advertised. NEVER AGAIN.

Top quality food, ignore all the negative reviews, someone with a grudge most probably...

I was really looking forward to a decent curry and I spent nearly 30 pounds for what looks like a tiny microwave ready meal, the portions were tiny... It doesn't taste that great or taste like its fresh I expect that its probably been frozen and heated up. Its a rip off. I could have just bought a microwave ready meal and it would have been better and cheaper. Very disappointing. Avoid.

I call to make an order as I am a customer for years. I asked if the pannier cheese was pasteurised as my wife is pregnant, the staff member hang up the phone on my face. Then I call again in a lady answer, and she didn’t know what pasteurised mean!

Taste is ok but the price… for 16 pounds on their ubereats you get this. Even my tea cup is bigger. Is it made of gold?

Very rude over the phone, I called 30mins before closing and the person on the other side said they were closed and hung up, not the first time it's happened either.

First time ordered from here. Chose mixed tandoori for 2 among other dishes. Not a tandoori I recognised. Disappointed.

One of the worst curries I’ve ever had. Just bland expensive mush. Avoid at all costs.

I ordered from them on the phone and had a really nice experience! The woman who took our order was lovely and helpful. The food itself was really good and they threw in an extra garlic naan for us! Lovey service, great tasting food and quick delivery.

Really poor. Ordered a chicken massala, rice and sagaloo. The food was watery and luke warm. Awful. Never again.

They post too many leaflets through my door! Literally one a week! Will never go here cus they too pushy and annoying, do 1!

best takeaway in this area. food is delicious and customers service is excellent. My favourite takeaway.

Caught the man digging out his nose and serving food when walking past. It's gross! 😳😷🤢🤮☣️ They think we don't notice! Can you imagine what goes on behind the kitchen doors?! You'd think that in a pandemic they would be wearing gloves but picking your nose WTH?! Reims.

Terrible, rude customer service and bad quality food. I ordered a single curry and naan bread which came to £18 including delivery. You would think the food would be of high quality for this price . When I received my order it was no where near good quality. The bread was stale and the curry was cold and tasteless and the portion was tiny. When I called the restaurant to tell them, they put the phone down on me. Absolutely disgusting. Avoid!

Ordered family dinner and a double rice. Turned up in same container as a single rice. Called them and guy said yes it’s correct, there double rice you pay more for is the same as a single 🤷‍♂️. Ordered spiced popadom’s that didn’t arrive either. Really unhelpful guy just argued about all and dinner was poor. Guy delivering was nice though so extra star for him 😊

Best Takeaway in London. Hygenic and unique taste.

Best Indian in town, no doubt!!! The kormas are so creamy, it feels light and so delicious. The naan bread was to die for. Great mint sauce. We just love this restaurant and hate to see bad reviews about such a good place which actually puts care in their food.

I got my takeaway and the nan bread was as if it had been used as a dish cloth. It was soggy and wet. Come on nan bred shod be cooked in a tandoori oven it supposed to be served crisp on base and fluffy inside with slight scorched bits witch gives it it's tandoor flavour. Then the chicken curry had a strange taste a bit like as if the chicken has been cooked for something else. The taste was like it was chicken nuggets with southern seasoning it's been stripped off with it southern crumb then thrown into some butter chicken curry sauce. Given it that weird taste. I could not eat it so guess the FOX will get to eat it instead of me (WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY)

Dreadful, slow takeaway service. Don't bother, there are much better Indian takeaways in this part of London!

Perfect! I ordered the ‘Wada Chole Chat’ blew my head off but my gosh the flavours/ texture were amazing! Second time ordering from here, packaged well and beautifully presented for a take away! My new favourite!

As a regular customer I am very disappointed, recently all my orders have had a missing item. Today when I called to complain, they tried to tell me I was lying. Not happy with the service I have received. Food is good but customer service is poorly.

Ordered via Deliveroo. Incredibly underwhelming. Mug Masala was a dry chicken floating on an insipid sauce. Lamb wasn’t much better. Portions were fine, but who cares when you don’t like the food anyway

Fantastic Indian dishes, fresh flavors and mouthwatering Indian food!Highly recommended!

Our all time favourite takeaway in London! The paneer nawabi is absolutely delicious, with the perfectly cooked rice and tasty paratha. We get a curry from Holy Cow about once a month and we're never disappointed.

Best Indian take away I have had.

The place used to be absolutely amazing... now very inconsistent... not sure what happened. Hope it gets better again, was my go to Indian before.

Fast delivery (via Deliveroo), food was okay, but packaging and portion sizes disappointing. I ordered from Deliveroo and the food arrived quickly, early in fact. I had added an order note on Deliveroo not to include any extras like dips, since places sometimes do this and it's wasteful and leaves me with more rubbish to dispose of. When the food arrived it did include a free poppadum and tub of what I guess is mango chutney - I did not order this and while the poppadum okay, the chutney is just waste and extra plastic. Also I ordered 1 main (mattar paneer) and 2 sides (mushrooms, potatoes). I was surprised to find that they were all the same size container despite the main being 4 or 5 pounds more expensive. Maybe the food was more packed in but wasn't what I expected. Finally the packaging was plastic tubs with a sealed film on top, like a ready meal. This made me wonder if the food was freshly cooked (and sealed with a packing machine) or pre-portioned and heated in the microwave. But mostly it means the containers aren't even really reusable like normal plastic takeout containers, and the lids not recyclable. I usually prefer foil containers as it's more widely recyclable and makes reheating leftovers in the oven much easier.

Absolutely horrible - bland, boring, tasteless low-quality curries done in a hurry with subpar ingredients. Never again.

This used to be a step above other Indian takeaways but is rapidly becoming below par. Delivery has taken up to two hours on multiple occasions and the quality of food is now quite inconsistent.

I used to like their food albeit a bit expensive but I just saw on Justeat that they increased their prices with 25 percent overnight so I guess I will be taking my business elsewhere.

Had a veg birany, murg massala, a peshwari nan and 3 pappadums. £36.00 Far too expensive, pappadums were stale, peppers in the curry were still hard and the vegetable curry that came with the birany was more like spinach floating in a watery curry sauce. Rice was okay, but would not eat there again.

I love Holy Cow (Archway). The food is wonderful and the portions generous. It’s the only place I’d order from. My only criticism is that the menu could be a little clearer about what comes free with the poppadoms; sometimes I’ve had onion salad and mango chutney, sometimes one or the other, so I’m never sure what to order so I have both.

I have been ordering from holy cow for several years, and I think your food is the best around. Delivery can take a little while but it’s worth the wait :-)

A huge god-like bovine creature.

Excellent authentic Indian food. We have tried a few other restaurants in the Kentish and Archway area and this is by far the best and it’s a takeaway! The food is freshly cooked and always delicious. Only once have they delivered late (just 20 minutes) and they rang me first to point out the problem and gave me a free dish. We probably use them twice a month and would highly recommend. Yum

Very disappointed the delivery person for our meal in Archway brand , first thing I heard from him is , why you not come down to pick up your meal, need me go up . Well last time for me order from you

I have ordered from the Hammersmith branch many times but this was my first (and last) experience with the Archway store. I originally tried to place my order online but the payment wouldn't go through. Ended up calling the shop and again attempted to pay - using two cards - but payment wasn't accepted. I was told that I would be able to pay by cash instead, which was fine by me. When the order (totalling £32.80) arrived an hour later, the driver did not have any coins or note smaller than £10 (despite it saying on the menu that they carry change up to £10). Having rushed around the house to gather coins, I was still 70p short. The driver offered no solution so I suggested that I try to pay using a third card. The driver insisted I use my own phone to call the shop to explain the situation. This time the payment thankfully went through. The food was fine, but nothing special. Did not match the quality of the Hammersmith store.

We have ordered from Holy Cow many times in the past but after this order and their horrific customer service, we will not be ordering from them again. We were given one incorrect dish, the rice and naan bread were both stone cold and it looked like the prawn korma had been watered down. After paying £40.00 and calling them they refused to refund my money. We not be ordering from them again. Had to grudgingly rate one star however that is way to generous.

Very poor, my partner ordered here, the food was bland and luke warm, the naan was cold, portions small and the prawns were poor quality and overcooked. Driver turned up without enough change and decided to award himself a tip to make up for it, Not worth the high prices, there's lots of much cheaper places to get Indian food in Archway, use them instead.

Ive been a customer of holy cow for years, so when a branch opened locally i couldnt wait to start using them. Hampstead isn’t blessed with great Indian take always. SO why only two stars? The food is good - when it arrives. The customer service is terrible and absolutely terrible delivery service. Give them an hour they take 2. No apologies, not even a free starter. Really - really - terrible. I haven’t ordered from them since December because of this, tonight i though I’d try them again, 8pm order..it 9:45 and still waiting... .. new management needed to save this branch.

While the food was reasonably tasty (lamb samosa, keema naan, mixed grill), there were a few key fails that are unacceptable: 1. Food was ordered at 20:38 on a Wednesday evening. It turned up at 22:06, after I chased at 21:45. Delivery time was accepted as 21:30 when ordered. No proactive communications about the lateness. The driver was apolgetic, but it wasn’t enough. Unacceptable. 2. While the delivery was late, the food was clearly prepared by the kitchen on time, meaning that it was stone cold by the time it arrived. Naan was soggy and wet, and was worse still after I microwaved it. Cold food from a hot food delivery service. Unacceptable. 3. Having ordered samosas and mixed grill, I was expecting some salad. At least a bag of limp wet iceberg lettuce, a warm chunk of lemon and a piece of tomato. But there was nothing. No raita and no salad. Very disappointing. I have to say that all these things together mean that I will never be ordering from the holy cow again. I hope the holy cow is humanely slaughtered, and made into burgers or something tastier...

Very bad customer service food arrived late

Perfect Indian food, best one in the local area, great and quick service from friendly staff members

Great service and kind staff members

Fell for the small small portions food. When me and my boyfriend got the food here. we were expecting to get rice with the curry because it cost to much but instead we got a small curry and no rice!!!!!😠😡 What ever you do don't buy from here!!! It's a rip off!!!😠😡

1) really small portions 2) expensive for what you pay 3) Please avoid this restaurant 4) On deliveroo the review is 93% ---- dont trust it

Used them more times than I can count. Tasty food, good packaging and consistent delivery times. Our favourite delivery for Indian!!

Quick and good service, nice and warm people. The Holy Cow food is also fresh and delicious, highly recommended

Is definitely up there with the best Indian food money can buy but they do have a tendency to always get your order wrong and miss things out, make sure you check your delivery

It took an hour and food arrived cold

Total sh it show . The first driver took over 2 hours to arrive . Then the food was damaged in transit and he actually left the trash and wasted food on the pavement in front of my house . Disgusting . The second driver turned up about half hour later , so almost 3 hours since I placed the order , and they didn't even knock anything off the bill . Hadn't ordered from these guys in a while because they take so long but this was just a fu cking joke . Laters .

Ordered told delivery within an hour took two hours to deliver when we called to ask if it had left (seemed perfectly reasonable) they hung up dreadful customer service

Food has gone downhill over the years and tonight has proved that it's now at its lowest. Food arrived Luke warm, overly creamy although menu didn't suggest it was anything more than vegetable based. Now suffering with a blinding headache so have no idea what additives they are using in the food. This is the last time I will give them my money.

The food was not good at all, quite low quality

Only delivered part of the order & then stole my credit card details and spent £600 on the internet. The manager simply claimed he was not on duty at that time and offered a free meal! Crooks offering poor food.

Excellent Indian home delivery. Everything is cooked from scratch and you can taste it. Dishes taste individual. Highly recommended. Wish they had a website to order through!

Although delivery takes a while because it is all made fresh, the food is consistently better than most Indian takeaways. If you want a standard dansak or tikka masala order from somewhere else.

A very unfunny joke. Used them tonight after not using them for a while as my last order took two hours instead of the promised one. We have been using The Tiffin Tin since and now will continue to do so. I ordered thinking it may have been a one-off last time, although the reason I stopped using them before was because of the lateness of their deliveries, the last delivery being the last straw. I made my order at 7pm and was given at eta of 45 mins. At 8pm I called to see if there was a problem and was told the delivery was on it's way. At 8.20pm i called again and was advised the rider would be there in a couple of minutes. Three further calls after that and with no offer of a refund my order arrived at 9.40pm, nearly 2 hours after the time given for delivery. I am not sure what their problem is but I will never be using them again. This is the first time I have given a review of this sort, but I felt I had to due to treatment I received tonight. I would give them 0 of of 5 if I could.

Solid takeaway. A cut adove other Indians

Been ordering from them for 5 years or so, used to do a great Murgh Madurai but it has gone consistently downhill lately. The last couple were so hot they were inedible and had to bin them. Emailed them a few weeks back to see what's going on, didn't even merit a reply. They have lost a customer, avoid!

Hands down the worst customer service and unprofessional operation. This used to be a reliable go to Indian delivery restaurant but clearly their service and attention to detail has fallen off a cliff. It has been over an hour and forty minutes ago and still no delivery in site. Don't waste your money or time.

I adore this place. The Bulsari Salmon is amazing. I am so blown away every time we order from here! I can't believe it is a takeaway!!! You pay the price for the food, but to me this is extremely good value! They do take a while to order so I would order your food in good time, but the meal is worth is. Absolutely delicious! They take debit/credit cards over the phone which always helps as well!

My reasons that you should choose another takeaway service 1. She had an awful phone manner, from the word "hello" she sounded like i was wasting her time. I would prefer an automated service than this. 2. They said it would take 45 mins , which is a very long time - it took over 1 and a half hours. The delivery doorman didn't even ring my doorbell! THey left voicemail messages on my phone instead of ringing the door bell ? I questioned them on this logic, and they didn't have a logical answer. 3. They didn't offer an apology 4. My phone was as cold as my fridge, they didn't even reheat it.

Ordered takeaway from Holy Cow and it took a little over 45 minutes. Unfortunately the food wasn't really worth the wait. The portions are average, but it's more expensive than your average takeaway so I was expecting a bit more on my plate. It was also a bit bland - I shouldn't have to add more salt and pepper to a takeaway curry.