Mela in Christchurch

I've been going to Mela since I was young and the staff are brilliant. Food is great and never have any problems. Thanks Mela

Absolutely Devine very much enjoyed the food and the service was great.

Good service from the staff and impressed by the food

We had a really good curry at a reasonable price. Went on a Saturday evening and had not booked but they fitted us in withouy any fuss. I had the chicken jalfrezi that was really tasty and had a nice amount of heat 🌶️ in the dish. There was a good amount of rice in a portion and the garlic Naam was fresh and fluffy. Overall really good food and friendly staff.

The food was OK, I've had alot better

An immaculate and top quality decor of Indian restaurants you will find anywhere, so already a good start. The food was really excellent and staff equally all very smart and attentive. Was a quiet Monday evening, normally we find that's when service slips, but not here, also pricing very fair for such quality, would fully recommend.

A good quality Indian restaurant. Busy on a weeknight which tells you something. Excellent food and a wide choice. Group of 8 of us were well looked after and served together!

Been looking for a good Indian for a while and found the place. I Definitely recommend this place. Service excellent and the staff are friendly. Will definitely be coming back. Delicious!!! Well done guys

Delicious food at reasonable prices. Friendly staff

Lovely curry house, super clean and attentive staff. Definitely recommend

From West Yorkshire visiting family. We came to the restaurant with no booking. They were very busy but accommodated us. We love our curries and this is possibly one of the best we have had. Friendly welcoming staff, pleasant atmosphere, the food was delicious. They only had 3 staff on as they had no booking but were inundated with walk in people to dine. They handled everything amazingly. Thank you so much for lovely meal, lovely service and a nice evening 🤩

Food was way too oily and tasted of nothing but fat/grease, portions were tiny. I’m only giving this a 2 star because the food was at least hot and arrived on time.

Had 2 chilli chicken Currys there was no flavour and sauce very runny and loaded up with onions.

Great food and atmosphere. Friendly staff

Worst takeaway I've ever had - horrible! Ordered chicken jalfrezi and Chicken and mushroom balti, plain rice and a plain naan. Jalfrezi consisted of dreadful, watery, flavourless "sauce" and processed chicken the colour of a tikka. The naan was obviously reheated as rock hard on the underside. Balti didn't fare any better, same processed tikka coloured chicken. Avoid !

Ok if your taste buds have been removed, very bland food, curries watery after a few minutes the curries separates to it component parts, would have been good to see an oil slick rather than a hydro flood.

Service was amazing. Modern interior. The food was incredible.

Modern restaurant But with old style service absolutely first class I've been here before and it's excellent

We just had a lovely dinner. The food was delicious and the service impeccable! We will retun very soon. 🙂

We consistently get good food from this place and I think it genuinely is the best in Christchurch.

Visited 3 or 4 times with work, always a nice welcome, speedy but not rushed service and best Indian food in the area!

Regular haunt of mine in Christchurch, excellent food as always. Lamb shank curry and soft garlic Naan is my go to dish…

Fantastic food and speedy delivery Would recommend this place

Very clean, smart premises, super food and excellent service.

A last minute decision to pop in for a curry. Good food and service. Will go again.

Friendly staff, great atmosphere. Delicious food! Definitely going back.

Last time I visited this excellent restaurant was the week before lock down, so a return was long overdue. Pleased to say, that the food and the service were excellent. The menu is simple and has all the old favourites plus a few house specialities. I had the tandoori mixed grill which was excellent. It's all reasonably priced as well. Four stars for atmosphere was only because it was an early mid week night and therefore quiet.

Visited this restaurant tonight, food absolutely delicious, staff and service was excellent. Will definitely be visiting again. Highly recommend xx

Never got the 10% discount offered on the website for collection & even if we had still very disappointed in the quality, first & last time we will eat here ! 4 different meals, 4 poo meals 👎

Good service, good curry and good prices.

Delicious food with polite and prompt service.

Charges are different from menu very disappointing menu says curries 6.99 and they charge 10.99

Great food and a great experience Highly recommended

Always Good Food and Excellent Service.

Great food and cosy atmosphere..

Worst indian food I ever had, stay away, very bad.

Lovely food and attentive service despite it being very busy

Good food, as always and prompt service

I strongly urge you to try the meal from this restaurant if you visit Bournemouth since I'm really happy with the service, the food, and the atmosphere.

Really tasty food, quick attentive service. We had a vindaloo which wasn’t too hot which was nice.

Really disappointed, the meat was cheap, source was bland best. Was on time, warm, won’t go back.

Poor service and missing food. Disappointed as this has happened before

Great food great service thanks

Love this place. It's not the cheapest but the food is great and the service is always good. It's usually very busy so it's a good idea to book.

Great service , excellent meal , great all round experience,

Had a take away recently took a little longer to get here than was said but it was worth the wait the food was really very nice.

Amazing food great atmosphere and friendly staff well worth the visit

Absolutely superb! Very polite, excellent service, the food was just perfect, lovely blend of Indian spices, not swimming in oil like a lot of restaurants! Would highly recommend and can’t wait to revisit. Thank you

Have never left a review before, but I am prompted to do so, as our experience at Mela was so enjoyable. The food, the service and the atmosphere all brilliant. Thank you

Rice was nice, korma and madras were tasteless. Onion bargies were small and not crisp at all, and narn breads large but not the best. Overall I wouldn't use the restaurant again.

Very typical curry house staff were great food was ok

Dinner with friends - we had the best meal. I chose a fish curry Sylheti which was less spicy than I expected but very tasty. My friends had birianis which were huge! Highly recommend.

Excellent food & pleasant helpful staff.

Just got back from a spontaneous trip to Mela. The first time since their recent makeover. Absolutely superb decor and feels much bigger. Still great choice of food and drink, with great quality and prices to match!

Amazing food and staff really nice

Excellent choice on the menu. Good, friendly service and the food was great. We will definitely go back next time we are in Christchurch.

The restaurant decor is modern and immaculate and lighting and music just perfectly pitched, staff very attentive and professional and food was superb, not very often you find all the elements are this good so would fully recommend.

Great meal at a reasonable price. Good service.

Good food and great service. Would definitely recommend

I’ve eaten at the Mela a number of times and have always recommended it as the best Indian restaurant in town. However, on my last visit, last night, I was less impressed. The restaurant has been refurbished and looks amazing, the staff were helpful and polite, so no concerns there. The issue I had was with the dish I ordered - Garlic Chilli Chicken - and this has influenced the 4* review. I have had this dish several times and it has always been stunning, bursting with flavour and with a rich sauce. Last night, it arrived in a watery sauce and had clearly lost much of its flavour. I have never had to do this before anywhere, but I had to send the dish back. It’s replacement was quite quick and less watery, but still didn’t match the quality of dishes from my previous visits. Two of us had the same dish and both had the same opinion - although, to be fair, the rest of our party were pleased with their dishes. I will eat here again, but perhaps I may try an alternative dish.

Fantastic place!! Very clean can't wait to come back!! Beautiful!! Oh Draught Kingfisher what more can I say!

We like the service and atmosphere of this restaurant, but the vegetable kurma seemed as though it was made from frozen vegetables. No potato or mushroom, just appeared to be peas and green beans. This is quite disappointing and doesn’t seem good value for money. However, the sauce was very nice

Fantastic food, as always but decided to take the kids to eat in, and they loved it. Great service and we had not been in there since their refurb, and it really looks smart. Highly recommended, thank you.

Best Indian, food excellent, staff nice and friendly and very helpful

I'm visiting from Surrey and my parents took me here for a meal. The food is really lovely and fresh very well presented it's a pretty place and the staff are friendly. Would definitely go back again.

Had a takeaway this evening, the starter was not nice and very greasy, chicken tikka masala sauce was runny, chicken overcooked and tough! The saag aloo potato were not cooked properly, felt it had all been rushed, disappointed ! Was expecting better!

Friendly service and great food . Fined with friends from out the area and they were very impressed too.

Food was decent enough and atmosphere was good considering we were there before peak time. But there was no rapport with the staff who were very straight faced and lacking in the personal touch, which meant the experience was sub par.

Food OK but price is 30% higher than advertised and not worth the premium price

We had a takeaway tonight with high expectations as we visited a number of years ago and loved it. Tonight, the staff were rude, unfriendly, refused to refund parking charge via the pay back scheme for saxon square customers and the food was bland.

Well flavored food well presented. A bit disappointed with the amount of prawns in my dish only 3 for £13.00 Decore excellent. Had a noisy group of 14 lads arrive I had to tell them to be quite through a staff member as dinners had to move because of the volume.

Fabulous food, great service, spotlessly clean, and covid friendly aware. Definitely recommend!!

Called in for a takeaway after checking out a long list of favourable reviews. Despite high expectations, the food was just bad. I am less concerned about wasting my money, but more about the shear disappointment of a ruined Saturday night family treat. By any standards, it was so poor we ended up ordering an entire meal from another Indian restaurant. TBH a supermarket jarred sauce would have been more rewarding. How in the world can this poor excuse for an authentic Indian restaurant achieve 4.8 out of 5.0, I wonder! The main dishes were tasteless, small in volume, exceptionally poor meat quality and minimal content and to say there was no consistency to the curry’s, I wacked them both back on the hob to reduce, only to find after simmering off all the water, they ended up like a couple of child’s portions. I have eaten traditional Indian food in some of the UK’s best respected curry regions, and I know the difference between this abomination and the real thing. If you are going there for the first time and expect good food, keep on driving, this is NOT worth your time or money.

Best Indian in Christchurch. Just had a total refit. Food and staff always great.

Really nice food and great service really recommend it

Had a take away delivery and we really wish we hadn't done it. The curry was watery, no flavour, hardly any meat. I wonder from the reviews on here if they were just having a bad night. But I can honestly say it was the worse £30 I have ever spent. I don't normally do bad reviews as I don't think its fair unless it's constructive. Normally after a curry I feel full and very satisfied, I am sad to say this will probably put me off having another one anywhere for quite a while. My only mistake I didn't take photos to upload them.

I cannot thank Mela enough for the order I placed. Stag do. 16 people. Ordered for the wrong day. I called them up an hour before the order was due and not only did they change the date, make 16 dishes in an hour, but the food was delicious. Fantastic service, fantastic food. Cannot recommend highly enough. Thank you!

First visit with friends after lockdown to be met with bright new decor, smart and polite staff and lovely meal; recomend superb lamb shank dish😋

Excellent Indian food, full of flavours. All dishes, including starters were amazing. Very friendly staff. Can highly recommend this place.

Another lovely meal with friends in this lovley restaurant offering great food and friendly staff

Disappointed. Ceylon and Pathia had zero taste. Such a shame when you buy food and it doesn't meet expectations. Unfortunately we won't be ordering from here again.

Restaurant had refurbishment done and it looks stunning. Perfect for large events. Polite staff. Really tasty food.

Nice clean modern decor, excellent service, big menu and lovely food 👍

The place has a whole new look and is stunning. Glad to visit and dine in again after lockdown. The staff are always very kind and welcoming whether on the phone or in person. As always the curries were delicious. Top stuff all round Mela. Keep it up

We use Mela regularly and it’s always great. On New Year’s Eve we decided to opt for a takeaway and again, they did not disappoint. Takeaway service was great as was the food - completely delicious and nicely spiced. I wholeheartedly recommend.

Fantastic flavours with a great choice of dishes.

Very polite service, tasty food.

Good value, great food, linen table cloths and serviettes. Good service too. Always pleasant. Some folks might think it's a bit retro (late 80’s) but we think it's great and my 19 year old doesn't remember the 80's so she just thinks it lovely. Could do without the weirdly intriguing colour changing lights but that's the only negative. Overall. Good clean and safely distanced. Free parking just around the corner too.

Food was as ok but it gave me the runs. That's not spice either I can handle way more spice it must be germs in the food preparation ...

Was recommended this place by a couple of friends and decided to give it a go. Really wish I hadn’t.... two of our party have been laid up with food poisoning for a whole day now.

Restaurant very clean, staff very polite and helpful, menu had lots of choice. I had Mol - Mol-E-Chicken as a main dish, it was absolutely delicious. I would highly recommend 😋

The best curry I have had in a very long time Very well priced for the quality of the food. Staff very attentive and friendly. Highly recommended

Fantastic tasting food, polite and friendly staff, would recommend to all a Very pleasant evening out with a nice atmosphere.

Last night we had a fabulous meal at this restaurant. The staff were very friendly & attentive. Great night, thank you. We would highly recommend this restaurant 👌

Absolutely wonderful food! A special treat for my birthday! Really delicious, thank you!

Fabulous meal and great service at the Mela, enjoyed a break in Christchurch last weekend after travelling from South Wales.

Really disappointing. Been here before and it was incredible but went there Saturday night and it was awful. The staff were so miserable. Not a single smile. Really horrible atmosphere, which was such a shame. Then we move on to the food. Firstly, asked for a meat samosa and got a vegetable, but as I was with my family, we didn’t bother saying anything because it would have just been hassle. The poppadoms came out with the chutneys, they added extra money for the chutneys on the bill at the end, despite not being listed on the menu. The main meals took FOREVER to come out, when it did come out - the standard was very low. I thought they ran out of food and had to order from another curry house in the area! The rice came out cold. Zero flavour. The portions were tiny and most of the meat in the dishes looked like scraps - bearing in mind - this was only 8pm! We asked for the Sag to be made with extra spice - one with extra, one just normal. They both came out exactly the same. The prices on the receipt, don’t reflect the prices on the menu, but it’s too late to say anything now - but this group definitely won’t be returning. Very disappointing because it used to be one of the best in the area. Shame.

The food is very good, the service is excellent. For a night out it's well worth a try. Also there is no nasties when the bill arrives at the end of the meal.

Nice food, very quick, good service. Was quiet but we did go early on a Tuesday night :)

Been there for the X’mas lunch....food is over priced and quantity is less. Lamb Balti was a massive failure...biriyani ok...staff is really cooperative...stay away