Mogul Restaurant Manningtree in Tendring

DO NOT USE!! We emailed this restaurant & called them directly to allow them the opportunity to respond & rectify, so there would be no would be no need to leave a bad review, unfortunately not even the decency of a reply! Terrible customer service!! We ordered (£40) food for delivery at 6.30pm for an 8pm delivery.. 1.5hrs notice and we paid £5.50 delivery charge! The food did not arrive at 8pm, we called, was advised would be 20mins, 30mins later, we called again, apparently the driver left 5mins ago! We received our luke warm food just under 1hr late, ordered food at 6.30pm recieved near to 9pm! 2.5hrs later! Once recieved, we were missing the onion salad which was paid for, the food was extremely oily/greasy, the chicken totally inedible, the masala sauce was disgusting, not like any masala sauce I have seen or tasted before, tasted sour/off! We would like a refund please !

Been going for over 35 years. Won the UK curry club twice. Best Indian IMHO in the UK and that includes Brick Lane, Bradford, Leeds and Glasgow

Great food in an 800 year old building, lovely friendly owner, will be visiting again soon

Bland. Aggressive service and attempted to add 'service charge' to bill before paying

Absolutely amazing Wednesday had a lovely phall spot on perfection lovely hot and beautifully fresh ingredients and freshly made I will definitely come back it’s my number one Indian would never eat anywhere else staff are amazing kind and always polite and accommodating to your needs clean and fresh comfortable cozy environment thank you Minah

Excellent old school curry house with tasty food, and personal service from the proprietor Minar. Much prefer it here than the Italian restaurant in town, just don’t go there.

Had a takeaway and needless to say we were very disappointed. Not only did they get my order wrong but we had to warm it in the microwave because it was cold. The chicken in the curry was rubber and chewy and we ended up cooking our own dinner. Waste of £40.

Excellent food, excellent service, great place to socialise

Disappointed. Two times we have been here and food was great. Yesterday the food was poor. Very probably re-heated from left over. It’s a pity. We have to cancel this place from our list of favourite restaurants in the area.

I want to start off by saying I do not like leaving a bad review but I can only be honest in what I find This is my first Indian takeaway from Manningtree and my first time trying this restaurant I have recently moved from another part of Essex and we had serval Indian and Bangladeshi restaurants to choose from there So tonight I ordered, Chicken balti Tarka dhal Plain Naan Keema naan The restaurant is in a Beautiful building, and has a very recent 5/5 food hygiene rating - GREAT! The service inside was okay Not great but not terrible But it was only a take away so that’s fine Right the food: Tarka dhal is a beautiful dish, rich, creamy and ful of flavour and spice. Unfortunately this was none of those, It has quite obviously been frozen in the past as the lentils go very bitty and watery, And i am not exaggerating when i say there was NO flavour at all! Just bland watery sludge unfortunately No seasoning, no spice, and obviously previous frozen - very very disappointing Chicken balti, smelt and looked good The sauce was very thick and had a very strong smell and also taste, in my opinion it has some kind of flavour enhancing additive added It doesn’t taste fresh, it’s very rich, very salty and very flavourful, but not in the way you expect a curry to be (fresh and spicy) When I say flavourful, I don’t mean in a delicious way, it taste like someone has added lots of beef broth to something for example Very rich and very salty Chicken is horrendously dry! Lots of chicken was in the dish which for the price is great ! Chicken very very dry ( I threw 80% of it away) and I would say previously cooked (reheated) So no freshness in the dish, no spice, no great vibrant flavours, The best part of the dish was a single tinned tomato that was left whole Naan breads: The meat inside of the keema Naan was pink and green (I am not exaggerating) It smelt a little off so I didn’t eat it and it was very very very salty ( the meat) The bread was okay, had a nice crust on it, Some might say burnt but I like that as it adds flavour The plain naan unfortunately totally stunk, It smelt like burning wood, ( maybe their tandoori is wood fired) I commend the restaurant if they do use a wood fired tandoor but unfortunately that particular bread stunk of smoke, not fire but smoke And I love bbq food ! But the chemically part of smoke is what this smelt of. The breads were chewy and fairly flavourless Not bad naans but a LONG way from being as good as what some restaurants make Oh popadoms were okay, but no dips were supplied( I didn’t order any dips or popadoms ) So the free ones are a nice touch But let’s be honest every Indian gives you free popadoms and dips All in all …. Fairly cheap Not great service Beautiful restaurant Fairly poor quality food 3/10 I threw 70% of what I ordered out, And it’s a real shame because it cost £20 and money is hard earnt All in all I would not come back to this restaurant I advise the owners and chefs to travel to Halstead one night, and grab a takeaway from Spice Zone Bangladeshi take away, - I reviewed this restaurant before and the difference is night and day! I think you will All be shocked at how far away you are from serving great food It’s a real shame because the gentleman I spoke to earlier said you had been there 36 years Thank you for your time and allowing me to try your food All the best for the future

Got delivery. As pictured. The two currys were very poor. No vegetables, just a soup consistency of artificial flavouring which just tasted sour like it’s off (both korma and massala). The £3.50 vegetable samosas were tiny two triangles and the Paratha was not the layered bread it’s supposed to be. I confirmed on the phone that the bread comes as two pieces but only one came. Cheekily added £7 delivery I didn’t know about (I live a 6 minute drive away). Very disappointed. I don’t think the picture is worth the £48 we paid

Wonderful speciality meal tonight at the mogul, thanks so much Minar, Shah and all the staff

Beautiful full of flavour just perfect after a long day. Thank you

Very poor not a very big selection, had to pay for poppadoms, thay tried to load my plate with rice, not impressed and will not be going back again.

Sunday's lunch is Amazing,price,Quality,speed of freshly cooked food,and price are Amazing,

Nice food , reasonable pricing and good selection of vegan options though not obvious on the menu. Friendly staff, amazing historic building. Always a lovely time , every visit. Never had anything less than a great fun visit. Another visit and still think this place is great to eat at. Always a pleasure to eat here .

Everything about this place was fanastic . Incredible food that tasted divine and like real Indian food, Not full of grease and salt. So much variety on the menu to choose from - it was hard to choose. Set menu good for a few people and to try lots of different dishes. Good value for money. Great for couples/family/friends. The staff are so welcoming and friendly - a lovely social atmosphere. We have been a few times and will definately be back!!

Great food and service! Had a good meal, very nice curries and vegetable dishes. The Biryani definitely needs some chilli in though, it felt like it was missing something!

Beautiful food and great service! Been here several times when I visit from london. Onion Bhaji is amazing

Visited Mogul for the first time yesterday. Such a lovely restaurant and cannot wait to go back. The staff were super friendly and The food was amazing. Definitely my new favourite restaurant 💕

Now let me start off by saying that Indian cuisine is not my favourite I usually go Chinese or Kebab however that being said the Mogul has changed my entire stance! We had the lobster which was amazing - my partner was incredibly thrilled to see this on the menu and astounded by the taste! He is a lobster connoisseur of sorts (he's basically tried a lot of lobster) the Moguls is currently the best and hard to beat. I had the chicken rogan josh - sweet and sublime, I'm no friend when it comes to spice so this was the perfect dish for my pallette. The chicken was tender and the veg was juicy. But let's get onto my favourite part (other than the lovely lady who delivered the food) the GARLIC RICE!! This is a must try we got two portions and in the end I just ate the rest of the rice as it is served - it was that good! Usually I leave rice from other takeaways as it become dry but not the Moguls garlic rice! So thank you the Mogul for opening my mind and my pallette. Hats off to you....we will definitely be seeing you next time in the resturant as I can imagine the whole experience will be utterly delightful. Don't sleep on the Mogul!!

This is our second online order and delivery from the Mogal. It's took over 1 hour and 20 minutes to Ardleigh. Had to ring up on this occasion and the last to check where our order was. Food did arrive hot and was tasty, but you need to be prepared for a wait.

Friendly staff, food is ok at best, definitely not amazing

My first time in an Indian restaurant and the food was amazing. The staff are all so friendly and welcoming. Thank you Shah for helping me to chose what to eat .. you made my first experience an enjoyable and tasty one I will definitely be back ..

The best Indian/Bangladeshi food around with a guaranteed warm welcome from all the staff. All this set in a historic building.

Awesome food, staff couldn’t do enough for us. Definitely will come back! Recommend to everyone 🙌🏻

Ordered a lot of food online, delivery in an hour. Cold food delivered 1 hour 40 minutes late. One star for the ok tasting food due to it being cold.

Great tasting food, love it here.

Over an hour late for delivery, driver had no idea where they were and food wasn’t what we order

Popped in for a quick meal before a show. The food was amazing along with the way they looked after us. Hospitality was first class.

Just ordered from Mogul for the first time. I ordered for 2 people and have to say that the food was excellent 👌. We will definitely order again in the future. Thank you.

India cusine has moved on and this place hasn't, the menu is 30 years out of date, bland food and bland decor with overbearing lighting, it's like sitting in a village hall with chandeliers, service is also poor,lack of attention at the table, the locals seemed to get the attention, I had to go to the bar to pay for the worst Indian meal I've ever had and not even a thank you!

I don't know what they do to the chicken 'tikka' here, in the sauce dishes (bhuna), but it becomes solid, dry and utterly inedible. I've never seen anything like it before. This is the most basic part to get right. Horrible main dishes, and a generally cold and stressy environment. It probably gets walk-ins through its position but I wish I'd gone with my instincts to try another place just off the main road.

Went here After being recommended but have to say will not be going back. Tbh the prawn puree starter was really nice so had great hopes for our main but boy what a disappointment. I had a ckn dhansak which had far too much garlic and lemon; also huge chunks of ckn which I thought at first were potatoes and were just not nice. My sister had a ckn dopiaza that tasted like the salt pot had fallen in. It never got eaten, however the owner/manager did take it off the bill and apologise. My neice had a lamb bhuna which tasted of nothing at all and was definitely mutton not lamb and was extremely bland..my partner had a ckn tikka masala which was surprisingly good and definitely the best out of four. We also had some onion bhagges which were far too overlooked and too hard to eat. We had 2 parathas which was also overcooked and burnt. We had 3 mushroom rice which was OK but had to leave most of it because we had no curry to enjoy it with. Our bill was £108 which would be OK if the curry was decent. We drove 12 miles from clacton after it was recommended however I'm sorry to say we will not be returning. Manager did apologise and gave us our money back for the dopiaza but I'm sorry to say the overall quality and taste of the food has left us all with a bad taste in the mouth.

We ordered a takeaway service it took nearly 2 hours to be delivered?After numerous calls to locate our dinner it was shocking service food was cold we have use these before with same complaint but gave it the benefit of doubt never again a waste of time&money awful.

Had a take away delivered. Food was great and delivered on time. I had the Salmon...very generous portion! Loved it . Thank you!

I’ve been enjoying Indian cuisine for 50+ years. So obviously I’ve had a few dishes. This is a absolute standout restaurant for me.

First time visiting and new to the area Amazing food and service we will be back and great gluten free options

Mogul was recommened to us by friends and its crystal clear why. The food was absolutely bursting with flavour. Staff were warm and friendly, interacted with the children and included them in all conversations. The manager/owner told me about the buildings history and all the different businesses that it used to be. We will most definitely be back. Thank you.

A wonderful place with very friendly staff and great food as always .

Excellent very polite service. Booking process was very straightforward and easy. Food is excellent and served promptly This is not at all your average Indian restaurant. It is by far the best we have been to in Essex. Shukria Mogul Restaurant 🙏 Five star service

Birthday dinner, good food, good company owner great "mine host"

My husband and I were really happy with the service and food, here. The atmosphere is relaxed and charming, staff very friendly and attentive with the premises very clean. The food was excellent. Very tasty chicken tikka korai and lamb madras both fantastic. The owner very charming. He gave us a free starter,out of the blue. We highly reccomend treating yourself and eating here.

Food ordered online. Delivery time has come and gone with no sign of food

Excellent food. Friendly and efficient staff. Nice atmosphere lovely place to go. Had a lovely evening.

recently went to the mogul last time was 15 years ago still very good indeed food was very nice chicken narga excellent along with the onion bhaji. would of scored 5 stars if the drinks order wasn't messed up a few times. that said looking forward to going back and to see the very friendly owner. recently returned and sorry to say my main dish very very oily was very disappointed with this and a very poor keema nan bread the lady that works here is amazing very likeable but sadly wont be returning

Fantastic food great staff and a beautiful building

Really good quality curry with decent menu choice. Visited on a very busy Saturday evening, good atmosphere in the restaurant. Service was friendly but very slow, think just overwhelmed by the number of people / takeaway orders, that’s the only thing that stops me giving it 5 stars

Generally the food is good but I ordered a delivery and it took two hours and was cold. £40+ for cold food isn't acceptable.

A very good curry, lots of flavour and great range of dishes.

Order was delivered the wrong address, then took 2.5 hours to be re delivered. When we called to find out where the food was we were met with threats and horrendous insults on the phone. Requested a refund but refused and insisted to cook and re deliver. Food was cold and tasted “old” as if it had been sat for a while. No apologies for their mistake and was instead blamed as a customer despite inputting my address correctly. Ordered at 6:05 and sat to eat at 8:50. Will not order from this place ever again, unorganised, rude, lacking basic customer service and the food is way below standard.

Great food, service was friendly but slow.

The service food and atmosphere was really good I would definitely go there again

I honestly have to say this is the worst Indian I have ever eaten. We regularly have Indian each week and thought we would try this one as we have just moved to the area. I could go on and on but the food was half edible

As always, excellent evening. Everything 100%. Loved every minute ❤️

Love this place. Great food, great atmosphere and attentive staff..

Horrible food, service was just as bad.

Great service & lovely food. Couldn’t fault it. Even the music was pleasant.

Super! Nothing is too much trouble. Lovely vegan options.

Outstanding food, definitely coming back

Use this as my local Indian, very good service, very good food, would recommend.

Fantastic food and good service however had to wait quite a while to order and get the bill. Will definitely come back.

Went for the Sunday buffet. Superb quality. Far too much to finish! Great value and inexpensive. We use this restaurant a lot and it never fails to deliver food of the highest quality and a very warm welcome.

Spicy Madras. Reasonably priced.

I can only describe the food from Mogul as exquisite, the staff are polite and friendly, the prices are very good indeed, I fully recommend you visit Mogul!

We've been 4 times..it gets worse every visit. You expect chutney in the chutney pot right? It was the consistency of watered down baby food. One of the waiters actually moved the plates around while we were eating - one of those 'Did that actually happen'? moments. Won't be going back..and i'd like my money back please. I should add that the onion bhaji are fantastic..but thats not enough to make me return.

Lovely meal here. Great food and attentive staff. Thank you.

Friendly staff, delicious food and reasonable prices what more could you want

Really nice , lovely food great personal service family run business ( the best type) hope to be back again soon.

Delicious food and friendly service. Couldn't fault it.

Took over 2 hours to deliver, the drivers attitude was rude and the food was burnt, dry & lacking in quantity.

The food is ok, the takeaway service is awful. We called at 5pm to book a delivery for 7pm, by 7:30pm there was still nothing so we rang up and they said they were waiting for a delivery driver to show up for a shift? So my husband ended up driving down there to get it, which defeats the purpose of ordering a takeaway at all. They offered us a bottle of Cobra as an apology which isn't much use when you're pregnant. Poorly organised business.

Very nice meal celebrating my Brother in law’s birthday, very quiet but was a Monday! Very friendly place

Ordered online for a delivery was told on app that it would be delivered at 8pm, at 8.17 rang the mogal to see where our order was and was assured it was 2 minutes away, at 8.37pm recieved a call from resturant telling us we needed to collect as he was short on drivers i explained that we were drinking a bottle of wine and was unable to collect( why we opted for delivery in first place) he then said our meal would be with us in 20 minutes, at 9.23 driver rang and practically argued that she was knocking on my door! ...clearly not, put coat on and went down road to find her, paid and set about eating our awaited curry to which was cold, not just a little cold it was cold enough to store in fridge such a shame disgusting customer service from start to finish.

Excellent food, very large menu, you will always find something to suit your taste, pleasant decoration of the room, friendly staff

First time ever visiting the Mogul with my boyfriend was amazing and great service throughout the evening. Food was very hot and delicious, drinks were flowing perfectly. Second time we ordered delivery, food was good and warm but unfortunately it was very late and we was waiting over an hour baring in mind it was a sunday (shouldn't be busy) would've been quicker to collect.

DISAPPOINTING This was the second time we have ordered a takeaway for delivery. The first time was about 4 weeks ago. When the food arrived we realised one of dishes was completely wrong, not what we had ordered! We phoned up and complained and was asked if we could come and pick it up. We couldn’t as we had been drinking. The man said he would refund it, but never did! Afterwards we thought we would give them another try as mistakes happen but after tonight’s dinner we wish we hadn’t! The order arrived about 25 minutes late, it was barely warm. We we opened the trays of vegetable curry (ordered Biryani’s) they were only half full and the dishes tasted bland, no taste. Actually not spicy at all which is really weird for Indian food! Will not be ordering from here again.

Food was delightful and plentiful. Drink costs a little exuberant however £11 for a beer and a diet coke. Service was odd, certain servers were chatty, laughing and approachable. Others were grumpy and abrubt. Eaten here twice now, not recently though and themes remain the same. On the whole a nice evening and they did accommodate us without a booking. Also offered end of meal drinks on the house. Worth a visit.

I just visited the Mogul with my partners family and it was honestly the best experience I've had in a restaurant from start to finish! The staff were great and very knowledgeable about the dishes and drinks. The owner made the night for me he was an outstanding man with great people skills and made us all feels at home. The food was delicious with generous but not huge portions. I would definitely recommend anyone (even if you're not into spicy food) to try this place. I think it helps that it's a relatively small venue as the service is that much better! Thanks everyone at the Mogul!

Expensive, Very poor quality,. Tesco ready meal would have been nicer. There is much better quality to be found down the road in Fox street.

Lovely meal…. I found the service to be strange though

Lovely meal and delivered before time expected

Shockingly the worst Indian I've ever had. No taste, no sauce just thin watery substance. Absolutely foul, how they stay in business is anyones guess. AVOID AT ALL COST!!!

Best curry house around! Try the chilli tikka.

An hour and a half wait for an incredibly bland meal. Tikka masala tasted weirdly like barbecue sauce. Bahjis greasy. Mutta paneer was weirdly sweet. Would not get takeaway from here again.

Its been a few years since I visited the Mogul, due to COVID. It's clearly back to it's best. All our food was of a very high quality. The madras curry here is superior to any I've tasted elsewhere - a darker, more flavoursome sauce than they typical curry house takeaway. Service is excellent, as always.

Poor food. Chicken Tikka that tasted like grilled chicken with no spices. Bland side dishes and greasy onion bhaji.

Slightly over priced, food was average

Fish Rogan so fresh and delicious. Bangladeshi home made chicken superb. Whole experience so so good. Staff really attentive and friendly. Will be back.

Beautiful food and excellent service!

Lovley food & the service was excellent, If your looking for a curry that can blow your mind than this is the place, Try the cheesy nann. ♥️👍

Excellent food, delightful atmosphere & attentive staff

Was great to go out had a lovely meal At the mogul and their onion bhajis are The best I have ever tasted very nicely put together not loads of garem flour

Food was good...eventually , service needs improvement though

Fantastic to be able to go out for a curry with mates post lockdown. Curry was very good which made it even better

The online menu isn't very good, ordered a chicken tikka dopiaza, which is supposed to be in a sauce according to the menu, when it turned up it was a few bits of extremely dry chicken with some pepper and onion, all for the price of £8.50! Won't be ordering here again, rest of the meal was pretty rubbish too. Sort your menu out mogul, very disappointed.

Absolutely amazing food tonight. Staff are always so friendly. Can't wait for after lockdown to eat in. Thanks as always!

Before lockdown i really enjoyed going here but after tonight they have lost my custom, due to one of the staff shouting at me down the phone telling me I was wrong about the price he was charging me. Turns out they charged me for delivery even though it states on their website free delivery up to 3 miles. The staff also need to know any deals they are offering for valentines day. Due to the staff hanging up on me, I went into the restaurant where the staff member continued to argue with me and told me I was inpatient. He couldn't understand where his mistake was.

Biryani tonight was awful. Clearly used re heated chicken as it was dry over cooked & tasted like a reheated dish! Very disappointed as it’s usually very good. The Nan bread was soggy & undercooked.

A solid curry. Price for popadums is outrageous and Nirala is just a little bit better in terms of quality and price.