Lake Spice in Cardiff

I think this must be one of the only places where all of the staff were miserable. Absolutely no pleasantries, and gave and took dishes without talking.

The last visit was in October 2023 and we visited this restaurant with our neighbours from up the road. We were in a group of 12 people and were shown to our table upstairs straight away. The drinks were served quickly but as the restaurant was busy there was a slight delay in our food orders being taken. I was impressed by one of the staff who came to me after some time having drawn his attention to ask me what I wanted. We all ordered from the extensive menu. Have visited this restaurant quite often in the past and have had excellent service from the previous owners maybe because I knew them. Had a chat with the current management and have offered to speak about how the service could be improved.

The Best Indian in Cardiff, Booked a table for Four for 7-30pm on a Saturday night and We arrived around 7pm, we ordered drinks by the bar and waited about 20 minutes and were taken to our table by a very polite gentleman, who took our papadams order as we already had our drinks, when he arrived with the pappadams we asked him if we could order our foods which he politely took the order, the food was so delicious and the service was outstanding, I did ask him for a recommendation of beef or lamb dish and he recommended a Beef Satkora which was so delicious, this waiter was outstanding and I had to ask the waiter his name which i think is tipi (might be im wrong but starts with a t), me and my friends enjoyed our nights at Lake Spice and would highly recommend this place to anyone who is looking for some real Indian flavoured curry. We will be definitely going back to this place when we want to have a curry.

Phoned up at 6.30 and put in an order. Told it would be 45 minutes. My husband has just walked through the door at 8.25! I’m just tried my chicken tikka which was NOT COOKED! All now in the bin and I’m FURIOUS! What an absolute *hit show we will never EVER go there again! APPALLING service!

We had a very warm welcome from staff on entering this lovely venue. Orders were taken quickly and starters were delicious. Some main dishes however lacked any real flavour especially the mild dishes. Service was friendly and good but we did notice that around 7.30pm a big amount of people for tables all turned up at the same time and staff struggled to serve quickly all at once and we had a long wait for our bill to arrive. It would be a good idea if tables were booked at different times rather than everyone arriving all at once as this seems to be a theme for poor comments. Having said that I would go again as venue, hygiene rating ,food, price and service were great. Just needs a little more spice.

This was my second visit to Lake Spice - I had recently been with a group of mates and had been really impressed with the food and atmosphere of the place. My daughter had got me an Escape Room experience in town and I suggested we go for food at the Lake Spice. On arrival we were greeted by a friendly face and take to our table. Our drinks and food order were taken and poppadoms and chutneys were brought to us very quickly. The plates (hot) and food were served soon afterwards and I have to say they were very well presented and thoroughly delicious..we also had great banter with the staff. All in all a fantastic experience, well done to the team of Lake Spice…this will be my go to restaurant for a curry…!!

Called in for lunch after a walk around the lake.We were the only customers in the restaurant which is in a nice spacious building close to Roath Park Lake.We ordered from the lunch menu and the food was varied and very good quality.The portions of the Mains were large,in fact we could not finish and the staff packed the remainder for us to take home.The staff Abdul was very friendly,attentive and efficient.This was our fist visit but we will come again.

Lovely evening catching up with friends The staff were very helpful and extremely friendly the food was very good and meal and drinks very reasonably priced . It was our first visit as we live in The Vale but we will definitely be returning.

Second time at this restaurant with the neighbours. The service needs to be improved in my opinion. The waiters could not remember what each individual had ordered. Probably the whole restaurant heard what you had when the waiters shouted the dishes they had brought out. The orders were mixed up and being in a group of 12 people some of us ended with a completely different one. We ordered Poppadum each and three Chutney trays. The menu states it consists of Tomato and Onion salad, Mint sauce, Mango & Coconut chutney. The chutney tray we had for the four who were together had two onion salads and no mint chutney. All the hotel manager could say was "sorry" when this was brought to their attention. As for the food, I must admit that the dish (Shatkora) my wife ordered was nice and spicy. However, there was hardly any difference between my Makhani chicken and my friend's Chicken Tikka Masala.On the whole, I am glad I was amongst good neighbours and we had fun and I wish I could same about the general food and the service. Will think twice before going back.

Our first choice when deciding to go out for a meal. Never disappointed with the quality and generous portions Customer service is top of their agenda

Came with my family and the staff were amazing at giving recommendations for my family who are picky eaters. Food was tasty and amazing proportions ended up taking some home. 10/10 Service and food.

After dropping a car off at a nearby garage for service, my wife suggested dinner at Lake Spice with me, our daughter and granddaughter (age 12). Arrived at 1730 and shown to a nice window table. Drinks and popadoms were most enjoyable and plentiful variety on the chutney tray. Far better than in most other restaurants. Starters: Chicken Chat - Lamb Samosas - Chicken Tikka - Lake Spice Special King Prawns (and they are King Size!) Mains: Lake Spice Special King Prawns - Chicken Captain Pathila - Chicken Tikka Masala - Lamb Kalia (Soft Lamb) Sides: Aloo Chana - 1 x Plain Naan - 3 x Rice This was far from being our first visit and we eat here on a regular basis - highly recommended!!!

The comments regarding awful service in the previous two reviews is almost identical to our experience this evening. We had to wait in the ‘reception’ area with the takeaway queue whilst our two guests arrived (instead of waiting whilst seated….. overheard conversations between the staff suggested that they didn’t actually have tables available even though they were pre-booked) , then waited an age to have our drinks order. Then a further wait for our food order to be taken, and an even longer wait for food to be served. Unfortunately the food, whilst OK was more or less thrown onto the table and the dishes were shouted out so loudly none of us understood what had been said. Our table was booked for 7:30…. Our food arrived at 9:10 (mains only, no starter) we left around 10:15. Won’t be returning.

Good food but was ruined by awful service. We arrived after having booked, waited 35 minutes to order anything. Waited another approx 40 minutes for the food. They then attempted to over charge us by a substantial amount (someone else said the same thing had happened to them). Was well between 65-80 minutes before any food was presented. When we asked for a slight discount or compensation for the huge wait, they refused to offer anything as a gesture of good will and instead argued with us making the whole experience worse. Won't be returning !

Terrible customer service spoilt our evening. Booked a table for 7.30pm. Waited 40 mins for our order to be taken and then waited another 40 mins for the food to arrive. Food was good but we were so ravenous we would have eaten anything. When the bill came we noticed we had been overcharged by £15.00. So check your bill carefully and approach this place with caution!

Always great food and attentive service. I’ve come many times and have never had a bad experience. Keep up the excellent work!

Was always aware of this place when under a different name. Noticed it has now a new name and decided to try it. Lovely location in Cardiff, first of all, right by Roath park lake and plenty of parking which is always a good thing. Nice high roofed main restaurant on the ground floor. Service was excellent throughout so no waiting around to get your drinks served or food brought out. The food was plentiful and delicious and enough of a portion given to take home! Reasonably priced also. Can always walk the meal off after by doing a lap of Roath Park Lake! Have been back a couple of times already.

Simply outstanding food. Ordered a takeaway this evening. Walked the dog around the park and popped back to collect it. Service was excellent and our meal was ready for collection on time. The quality of our dishes plus portion size were spot on and delicious. So much so we just had to leave this review