Shikara in North Tyneside

Six of us went there for a birthday meal and had the special menu, which included pops and pickle tray, choice of starters and main courses with rice and / or nann and finished off with a coffee or ice cream. The food was delicious and plentiful and the staff were first class. They made a special fuss of the birthday boy and we all felt that it was an extra special occasion. Well done all

Went to a family members birthday meal a couple of weeks ago, food was amazing, and they catered for us amazingly! Also went with the husband tonight and again food was outstanding! Great value for money too! Staff are great too!

Meal booked as part of of a surprise birthday celebration and food as always was amazing. The staff went above and beyond to make sure everything flowed smoothly. I have came to the Shikara for many years for takeaways and food and service is always outstanding. I wouldn't go anywhere else. This is the first time I have sat down in the restaurant and it was fantastic. Thank you to all the staff for all your hard work and amazing food. I would highly recommend for both takeaway and sitting in.

Chose this restaurant for my wifes 40th birthday after being impressed with the food previously. I managed to keep it a secret despite having 47 guests, upon getting there unbeknown to me, the staff hatched a plan to dim the lights which was actually really effective as i couldn't see any of the guests waiting to surprise us despite knowing they would be there. Then the lights came on and we had the best surprise. A special mention to the front of desk shaz he took all the pressure of me by buying all the balloons and decorations in and organising for my cake to be delivered so i literally had nothing to do. We had the banquet meal which i thought would be difficult serving 47 guests however the staff worked there socks off from start to finish, they hit every order on time as if they have done this a million times. The quality and presentation did not drop either the food was delicious!! Every single guest commented on how good the food was. The owner az was also very accommodating and hands on and made sure everything was on time. I would not hestitate to have another party at this fantastic restaurant.

Here as part of a large party and the staff managed well, food served hot and fresh and no big wait time even though the restaurant was jam packed. Service with a smile and fantastic food will definately be back

Took the wife out for a meal and this place didnt disappoint. The look of the restaurant, the food, the service overall it was incredible. Never tasted indian food like it, the service was next level and the prices are so reasonable. If you love Indian food this is the place to go.

First class restaurant food is amazing and service always top rated 😋 👌

Been here many times and this place never disapoints. The food is outstanding. Took our friends here and they also loved it. Staff are great, friendly and always make you feel very welcome. This has become my favourite over the years.

Went for curry on the 12th Oct wat can I say excellent great service

Great food and friendly staff, returned to the Shikara again this year and as always it didn’t disappoint, amazing food and atmosphere. Highly recommend to anyone visiting Whitley Bay! Thanks again :-)

Excellent food great service and resteraunt was beautiful.Well worth a visit just for the food alone.

I can't recommend this place more. 16 of us went for a meal after running/supporting The Great North Run. We were look after so so well. And the food was pretty amazing. Thank you so much

Great customer service great food very friendly would recommend

Great restaurant to visit, have been there many times and always a nice welcome with friendly staff. The food is first class always and they cater for special dietary requirements as well. Our first choice Indian restaurant when in Whitley Bay.

Absolutely amazing food and staff, they make you feel so special, we always go here when in the area. Always busy and rightly so. Always spot on.

Fantastic staff, so friendly, amazing food and great atmosphere, always go here when in Whitley Bay, our favourite for food, atmosphere and friendliness, would give more than 5* if I could.

Live in Leeds but love visiting Tynemouth. No trip is complete without going to the Shikara in Whitley Bay. The food is fantastic along with the service and the exceptional welcome from AZ. We always take away servers dishes to freeze at home and SAZ was the man to make it all happen. Carry on with the great service guys my wife and I look forward to our next visit. Nigel

Lovely staff, efficient but always up for a friendly chat. Very clean and food excellent too. Will be back when next up in the North East. Thank you

Visited with a group of friends. A great place - lovely decor, friendly and helpful staff, and super food! What a big menu - plenty of choice! Great service too

Have done both dine-in and take-out over the years, and it has never disappointed. Excellent appetizers and main dishes that have just the right amount of heat and spice. Staff are amazing and always make me feel welcome. Definitely can recommend if in the area

Very friendly and accommodating, let us store our bikes safely and we had a delicious meal after a long ride. Many thanks 👍🙏

Went for my birthday and the went above and beyond to make my night which was a huge bonus on the fantastic food,we took food home for my father who said its the best he's tasted too,and he's ate many over the years as he's 79 years old soon,,so I would highly recommend Shikara to everybody you won't be disappointed thankyou to SHIKARA

Very good Indian restaurant. Always makes you welcome and we keep going back for more

Best Indians in the North East! Food is always fresh and tasty and the service is second to none.

I went to shikara for a takeaway and the food was excellent Best indian resturant in whitley Bay i have been to and i will always go there again.

Great food. Lots of choices from huge menu. Food arrived on time and was very tasteful. Would definitely recommend and come back again.

Still the benchmark for me for authentic Indian food...the best food brilliant service..like a visit to the family always a warm welcome.. Its just levels above some other places....and!...its prices are great..a family favourite we spend most birthdays and fathers days at Shikari...Simply the best.

Great place to eat. Food always great.

Faultless other than so busy meals are often a little late for collection - the Cobra on the house makes up for it though :-)

The food was very nice and the staff were very helpful with helping us choose our food

Simply the best. Very friendly staff and amazing food.

Beautiful food good service happy but relaxed atmosphere. Nice and clean and very reasonable prices. Staff were very helpful

Just had a lovely meal here ,really lovely restaurants food and everything was excellent , Shaz served us and was very friendly and cannot recommend enough , even my 13 year old said “ best Indian ever , great tasting , service was great , decor was great , overall fantastic experience and he would recommend to anyone !” Thankyou 😘

We love this restaurant. We are regulars and brought our friends this evening after some debate about the region's best Madras! The curries were as good as it gets, as usual, and the service really is fantastic. My friend was given a free pint after accidentally spilling one. Very much appreciated. Thanks for a lovely evening and we will be back in a couple of weeks!

Very tasty food, excellent service from the staff, very reasonable prices on their Thursday/Sunday set menu.

Brilliant place. I highly recommend

We ate at Shikara twice during our visit to Whitley Bay. Both times were excellent. The food was great, the service was great. Would gladly eat there again.

Lovely food with friendly service. We are a local Whitley Bay couple who went with two friends and we all enjoyed it. We will return.

Very good food and good service friendly staff. They have given good value for 💰.

As a regular here, the food is always first class, and the staff are always welcoming and friendly.

Delicious food, very good service, I live a few miles away but would definitely make an effort to come back to this restaurant.

One of Monkseaton Curry Clubs' favourite restaurants

Ordered take out and unfortunately, it was delivered over an hour late and cold. I had to heat everything back up. There was little apology for this. Food was good but service let them down and I couldn't enjoy elements such as nan bread or rice as they intended due to having to heat everything back up.

My family have been visiting Az’s restaurant’s for over 30 years, firstly when he owned the Kismet and now the Shikara. Food is consistently excellent and the welcome always friendly.

First time here and WOW. First of all the place is amazing. Staff are very friendly and helpful. Spacious sitting area and comfortable seats. Food is top notch. Massive portions and at a fantastic price. Can't wait to return.

Went for New Year’s Eve with a group of friends. Had never visited before but we were so impressed with the food quality, the efforts of all the staff and the atmosphere of the night. Everyone enjoyed their meals. I had the king prawn bhuna which was full of chunky prawns and a delicious fresh naan to soak up the sauce. We were a table of 11 and everyone was served at the same time. One of our group had a nut allergy and a member of staff came to talk through their ingredients. The staff went above and beyond to ensure everyone had a fabulous evening - party poppers, streamers, free shots, champers at midnight and a great disco. A cracking night!

So much choice of fine Indian restaurants in Whitley Bay, and Shikara is one of the best. Very friendly and attentive staff (shoutout in particular to Mooshat, excuse the spelling). Food lovely, as always and reasonably priced with a nice selection of beers and wines to accompany your meal, followed by a complimentary shot of lovely Baby Guinness. So nice was our meal, we tucked in and forgot to take photos. Seriously considering going New Year’s Eve 2024 after seeing the posts on social media and hearing the reviews👍🏻

The nicest Indian restaurant around. Only problem is parking.

Hadn’t booked a table and it was bush but they fit us in with no problem. Had the set menu at £25 which was popadoms and chutney, starter, main, rice or naan and a desert. Service wasn’t the quickest but they were busy. Took a while for our order to be taken but the food was delicious, there was plenty of it. Would return.

First time, the food was great as was the service, well worth a visit

Great introduction to northern indian dishes ,staff where suberb at explaining the different dishes to our party ,which made our dining experience great , we will return with friends to spread the word !!!

Always a great evening. The food is amazing with a wide variety. Staff are very polite and attentive.

Ordered a take out tonight. My chicken Pasanda was virtually inedible. The chicken was absolutely disgusting, so tough I couldn’t get a knive through it and it tasted awful, like it had been heated up. I actually spat it out!!! My sisters Pathia was not much better. It was watery and had no flavour. We will not be ordering again!!!

Wonderful food. Great staff who were very attentive and helpful. Lovely restaurant with a good atmosphere. Highly recommended.

Booked a table 3 mths earlier and was so looking forward to it, arrived just before 8pm which was when the table was booked for, on arrival the man on reception was on the phone and just pointed to the sofa to wait, when he ended his call he never came to see us , or anyone come to that, people was coming in and asking for table and was show to them but we just was forgot about, eventually someone came to us and said the table wasn't ready. 8-30 we were shown to our table. Took our order and went, 9.15pm still no food, got up and walked out. Given not explanation for the wait, went next door to shampan and was greeted and served like vips. Later they phoned me asking why we left was told that they was short staffed and offered a free meal, but we were only there for the night and home was 350miles away, not impressed

Great take away one item missing but was delivered in 10 mins so cracking service highly recommend the place

My first visit to this wonderful restaurant and it did not disappoint. Fabulous food and great service from the dedicated staff.

Great value and deal on a Thursday!

Great night with friends. Food was amazing and the staff really friendly. Had a good laugh with them and got extras as well.

Great food. My favourite curry house. Staff are very friendly and polite. Service is quick.

food was fantastic. service was great.

Cannot knock this place for anything apart from being a little cramped inside upstairs. First class service, delicious food and drinks. A reasonably priced bill was rounded off with a lovely mini guiness shot. Not our first visit and definitely not our last!!!

Pleasant surroundings, friendly and efficient service. We both had starters -- onion bhaji, which were generous though a little doughy so needed longer cooking in hotter fat and meat samosas, which were tiny. The mains -- lamb/minced lamb balti and a fish dish were fine, but undistinguished. The chapattis were excellent. The bill was reasonable. All in all, a pleasant enough meal, but not one that would draw us back.

Walked in to be greeted with a Welcoming smile and hello by all staff. Seated in a lovely booth and waited upon by Mushy, lovely friendly guy who couldn’t do enough for us. Changed dishes to suit our preference, advised us on what he thought we’d go for based on what we would normally have, but all round a fab experience. Will definitely return again soon. Excellent evening with excellent professional people. Thank you

Excellent for a Sunday night curry. Probably very good on other days of the week too!

Came for mine and my niece’s birthday, food was absolutely amazing and the service was fantastic. Will definitely be back!

Fantastic restaurant very welcoming and lovely food staff great cheers

Brilliant night for my birthday. Food and service was excellent. A big thankyou to Mushy who really looked after us and made my night special. We will definitely return soon to this excellent restaurant.

The food was very tasty but the whole evening& experience was ruined by the service ,we visited on Monday 25th September and we're looking forward to a nice meal,but from the moment we say down we were made to feel like an unwelcome inconvenience by one of the waiting staff.It was a shame as the other waiters were friendly but based on our experience of this 0aricular waiter we won't be going back and I think he'll be quite happy to know this as that was definitely the impression he gave !

Excellent food 😋 Fantastic service Friendly staff

Our first time at Shikara last night was not disappointing. The food was delicious and staff were friendly and attentive. Will definitely be recommending to friends and family.

The best curry house I have ever visited. Does an amazing standard of Indian food - we had a Biryani which asked to be spicier and it was perfect and also the South Indian Garlic Chili Chicken. The family naan was huge and well presented - love a challenge! The attentiveness of the staff and the little touches on a busy Friday evening were really the icing on the cake. Shame we live so far away but will make sure we visit again

Amazing food and great service, will definitely be going back. I would book as it's pretty busy even on a Wednesday, but prices very fair and portion size very good. Flavour the best

I was so disappointed. Had a hair in my food which I know can’t always be avoided but I ordered a Bhuna and rather the being thick and dry it was watered down and flavourless

If you are thinking of going here, please do!! The staff are super friendly and helpful but not at you disturbing your meal, asking if everything is okay, while your month is full. Food is fantastic!! Omg I'm drooling thinking of it. This was my 2nd visit and will be going again, and again, and again! Only able to put 5 stars but it's defo 10/5 for me. Love this place.

Eaten here a few times over the years. Always great service and food.

We booked a table here for 10 people at short notice. The staff could not have been more accommodating. An extensive menu and we were giving plenty time to choose, not pushed like other restaurants. When the food arrived everyone on our table were well satisfied. Everyone has expressed their pleasure at the food and service. Exceptional food. Service second to none. Thank you very much. *****

Food is excellent- it was so busy the service let it down but the manager made up for that with free drinks 😁

Lovely meal only spoilt by being seated near the stairs by the serving hatch & toilets so whenever customers or staff used them the floor vibrated fiund it quite off putting

Best curry anywhere! Staff are awesome, service great. Never disappoints!

Excellent restaurant. Never been here before. Food was excellent. The special fried rice was spot on. Despite a quiet mid week evening the staff were attentive and made polite conversation which is often missed. Would go back. High praise ! 🥘🍛👌🏼

First time visit after a recommendation and the service and food was such an enjoyable experience. Mushi our waiter was very helpful and attentive and our meals were excellent - my paneer was cooked to perfection and tasted divine. My husband really enjoyed his Pathia too. We will certainly be returning and thankyou Mushi for an enjoyable experience.

Excellent value, good quality food served by friendly staff. Very good sized portions too. Quite busy so I would recommend booking if you can.

Excellent value, good quality food served by friendly staff. Very good sized portions too. Quite busy so I would recommend booking if you can.

As a regular visitor to Shikara I felt I had to write to say how disappointed I was when I last visited. We placed our order and then waited over an hour for the food to arrive. Usually the waiters serve the food to each person, this time it was all dropped onto the table with a quick explanation as to what each dish was. We then had to sort out the different dishes ourselves. One of our party ordered Shaslik, which comes on a really hot, metal plate with a wooden board underneath. As this is a "sizzler" it is normally served from the hot metal plate onto the customer's plate by the waiter, this time it was just put on the table and my friend had to serve it on to her plate herself. My chosen dish, which I usually thoroughly enjoy, contained chicken, which was so tough I couldn't eat it. The restaurant was extremely busy; there were obviously a lot of "take-away" orders also being filled and there appeared to be a lack of waiting staff. I don't go out in the evenings a great deal and had really looked forward to this night out. It was a total disappointment. I think the restaurant is a casualty of its own success. Too many orders and not enough staff!

Excellent food and service second to none.

Ordered for delivery - arrived within 40 minutes, all the food was hot and well packaged. Order was; Chicken Honey Special Dish Rice Peshwari naan Butter Sauce Cheese Naan Popadoms Food was great and travelled extremely well.

Delicious poppadum with pickles. Best butter chicken tikka ever tasted. Everyone loved their meals.

Lovely food and the staff are amazing, very chatty and friendly.

Shikara unfortunately is not what it used to be. Me and my fiancée visited on a Saturday evening and when entering the restaurant were told our seats were upstairs and given table numbers (as if we knew the numbers of the tables) I would usually have expected to be shown to my table, so this just left a little bit of a sour taste in our mouths. The food was nice, especially the starters, though the yogurt dip had no flavour or taste at all, which was a big let down. I took my fiancée to Shikara expecting a flashy and extravagant Indian experience but it was just all a bit samey and boring. I doubt we will return in the future.

I went here with my two sisters. We had a lovely evening with unbelievable food and amazing services. We got tikka masala, chef’s special balti lamb and a tandoori grill. Every bite was so delicious. I’d highly recommend. Been to this restaurant a few times now and I’ve never been disappointed. Can’t wait to visit again. The staff were so lovely!!!

We called in late on a Bank Holiday Sunday night, being strangers to the area, and were delighted to get a table. A really fabulous meal, best Indian food we’ve had in ages. The banquet offer special was fantastic value and so beautifully cooked Superb friendly staff

This restaurant has improved since my review some time ago. However, to start with the poor bits, we booked a table for 7pm on a mid-week evening. We had to wait 35 minutes for another table to finish, a concept which I really don’t understand. If the restaurant accepts a prior booking it should make it clear then that the table should be vacated by 7pm. After that things got better. We were served double pickles and poppadoms as a goodwill gesture. Started and main courses were hot and flavourful and my sylheti was as good as ever. Meal finished with a pleasant “baby Guinness.” Had they got the front end process right, a five star review might have followed.

Food was not good that’s all I have to say on that but service was spot on

Had my annual birthday meal at Shikaras last night with a table of 10 and as always it did not dissapoint. The staff were friendly and attentive, the food was amazing and a brilliant atmosphere.

Not my first order, not the last one. Always great food. As well eat in couple times. Friendly staff.

We fancied an Indian meal while on holiday in Whitley Bay. Our hotel owner recommended Shakara. The food was excellent and the staff very attentive. It was excellent value for money.

Excellent very tasty dishes served with a smile, eaten with relish on the hot dinner plates that were placed in front of us.

A fantastic meal for my sons Birthday. We were made to feel so welcome and even came out with a sparkling mini dessert . The curries were lovely .

We have just started going to Shikara and I dont think we would try any other Indian restaurant. The food is the nicest we've tried, the place is lovely and all staff are friendly.