Sonali Indian Takeaway in Colchester

The food was quite good and the service quite fast.

I have been here twice now. Definitely found my go to indian. I did wait a long time however they were very busy which is a good thing right? When i got home they had put extra bits in which was lovely. The price is so good and quality of the food is amazing Next time i shall order earlier lol but it was definitely worth the wait. This place would do even better opening a restaurant.😀

I had takeaway few times from sonali excellent food very tasty. Everytime I get takeaway from there the food is spot on I would recommend it to anyone who has not tried their food to order from them.

Ordered a takeout one onion fried rice/mushroom fried rice and a chicken korma, For starter we had the onion Bhaji & a cheese Nann bread this came with poppadum sauce and salad all for £35 money well spent, Highly recommend tho I would like to visit the restaurant for the full experience xx 👍👌

Not much to look at from the outside. However the food is always fantastic and really good value for money. This is the only curry take away we will use in Colchester. Edit :2024 and still our go to take away. Service and food are great.

Bloody lovely, food is hot, tasty and fresh...best indian i have had. Well done...so yummmmmmy

Been using sonali for over a year now, these guys are by far the best in Colchester! Highly recommend the mixed starter generous portions and lots of flavour, always get the green massala it’s one of the best curry’s I have ever had! Delivery time always fast! Big portions and big flavours!

amazing portions!! takes a little while, but that's a GREAT thing in my opinion, because the food was super fresh & hot. some of the best I've had, really great 👍 lamb rogan was flavorful & tender, and the Bombay aloo was top tier.

Food and service here is excellent would highly recommend.

Fantastic flavours, generous portions and speedy delivery, DEF our guilty go to 😊

Sonali Indian Takeaway offers a delightful culinary experience, especially notable for its Chicken Biryani. The dish stands out due to its exquisite blend of spices, tender chicken pieces, and perfectly cooked, fragrant rice. Each bite delivers a harmonious balance of flavors, showcasing the authenticity and skill behind the preparation. The portion size is generous, ensuring a satisfying meal. The service at Sonali is commendable, with orders prepared efficiently and staff demonstrating a welcoming and friendly attitude. While the focus here is on the Chicken Biryani, it's clear that Sonali Indian Takeaway takes pride in all aspects of their food and service, making it a must-try for lovers of Indian cuisine.

100% the best Indian takeaway. Had lamb biryani and it was the perfect amount of flavour and spice. You get enough food to save for later. Worth every penny.

Their biryani is so different🥹 it tastes so good, flavours are so different compared to other restaurants. Live in Ipswich, legit will be coming to Colchester just for their biryani😭

Absolutely wonderful buisness, scrumptious food, the sweetest guy on the phone! Thank you Sonali for my extras tonight so sweet of you! Wouldn't go anywhere else. Wish I could afford to eat here all the time as they really are lovely. Thank you guys.

Ordered food for a time , was spot on, pleasant guy delivered , food was pipeing hot, and very fresh an moist & very tasty , would recommend them for your Indian take away , 10/10

best indian food in colchester, i ordered for takeaway and had the chicken tikka biriyani. amazing food 10/10 recommend will go here more often

After a couple of portions didn’t arrive I spoke to the owner who was very helpful and friendly and sent them out again straight away with compliments . Apart from that the food was lovely and will definitely get it again . Lovely Indian

Since finding sonali haven't tried anywhere else. Great food and great service.

Bunch of idiots. They won't deliver a £60 order to my address (despite me knowing they usually do having made numerous deliveries for them in the past) because they are 'short of drivers' if that is their attitude I'd advise everyone to go elsewhere

Wonderful food for takeaway . Very friendly staff’s

Fantastic food, great service, would not go anywhere else in Colchester 🤙

I've never had a bad order from here. Their chicken is always succulent and never dry. I'm a creature of habit: Chicken Dhansak, pilau rice and a chopati. Dad has butter tikka chicken, pilau rice and a chopati. Delicious!

Very tasty biriyani from Colchester, always great food and very good service.

Always excellent food and good service and their chicken biriyani was so delicious & must try.

Best service and curry in Cholchester by far %100

Excellent take away. Quick service and nice and hot on arrival of the food. All dishes were lovely. The South Indian chilli chicken is well flavoured and succulent.

Claims to be the number one Indian takeaway in Colchester but rarely gets your order right always things missing or can’t follow requirement instructions and then when you call up they accuse you of trying to get freebies, No I just want the food I ordered it’s not hard. Ended up waiting over 2 hours for our complete meal last night and it wasn’t even that nice. Management is a shambles and they won’t accept fault very rude and try and blame you as the customer, once or twice every now and then is fine but when it’s every other order it gets a bit tedious but they don’t like being picked up on it. Gone down hill massively over the last 6 months needs new management and new chef to get back to where they once were

Best Indian in Essex! And we've tried a lot. Fabulous quality food highly recommended.

Really lovely food. Consistently good. We love the lamb biriani which has the best vegetable sauce ever. Very friendly staff and excellent customer service. Our favourite in Colchester.

Ordered from this indian for first time. All was good and arrived on time. Plated myself the food and found an electrical fuse in my food. Went to justeat to complain and they would only offer my £8 for this, despite playing £35 for this whole order. Could not et anything as was not unsure what else could be in it. Absolutely disgusting

Ordered last night, delivery on time, amazing food, good value, have been looking for a new Indian locally and have now found my go too.

Excellent food, delivered on time and piping hot. Really decent portion sizes and everything was cooked to perfection.

DO NOT USE. We ordered food which had not arrived an hour later. Rang the restaurant and were told ours was being packed and would be with us within 15 mins. When hadn’t arrived 30 mins later we called back to find we couldn’t get through (presume the restaurant had taken the phone off the hook). Ended up having to order through another restaurant and our food from here never arrived

Great tasting Indian takeaway food. Good customer service-friendly and accommodating. Delivery was timely, as it was Friday night. Menu offers lots of choices and variety. Free 'poppadom' with minty sauce. It was our 2nd time around and certainly won't be our last. 👍

Food was amazing ( as usual I might add ! ), the service is impeccable, staff so friendly and polite, they really make you feel like a valued customer!! The food arrived hot and looked and tasted delicious. Thank you to the chef and ALL the staff.

Have been ordering from here fore years and love that every time it’s so consistent. They never get the order wrong and the food is always so good. Quick delivery also.

This is the first time we have eaten here since the new owners moved in at the start of the year. We were told that there is a new young Bangladeshi chef and that he is very good, so we thought we would try it . EVERYTHING was bang on all 5 of us said so , the heat was perfect in every dish. Nothing was too sweet or too over coloured or too crazy hot. The meat dishes were all tender and the king prawns were not overcooked, definitely one of the best Tarka Dahl I have had in a while. The popadoms were fresh and the nans were perfect to. Well done Sonali keep it up, we will definitely be ordering again.

So fresh tasty and great portions best in colchester pls do try this restaurant u won't be disappointed and staff are lovely

Very consistent with the preparation and delicious food.. have been eating for the last 5 years!! The best!!

Recently ordered and went to collect. The staff are really friendly and the food is amazing !! Naga king prawn was delicious and the mushroom rice has to be the best in town. Lovely hot, fresh, Indian food. Perfect.

The kitchens were closed for covid refit when they reopened we ordered a delivery as we have done for years. one crumpled up popdom no dips the rice tin had been reduced to a smaller portion I called to complain was told they are not giving free popodoms with meals & smaller portions due to covid. food has got more expensive I couldn't belive what they were telling me. But I still get prawn crackers & popodoms free with our meal from all other take always we order we spent alot here but not anymore

My husband and I weren't big takeaway eaters but since lockdown it's become a regular treat. A friend recommended Sonali and we've never looked back. We've had about 6 takeaways in the last 6 months, each time ordering through Uber. They've always arrived on time but more often than not early. We love the mint sauce and they always provide extra if you ask. Unfortunately tonight they forgot one of our naan bread. By the time we realised we were just about to call (simply to ask them to take it off our bill) but before we got the chance they had called us, informed us of the error, apologised and told us it was on the way. You can't argue with that service. By the time we'd dished up it had arrived and with an extra naan by way of apology. Everyone makes mistakes but we were so impressed with how they dealt with it and the fact they'd contacted us rather than it needing to be the other way round. The delivery drivers are always polite. They knock and stand back and follow any instructions provided, we always ask for it to be left on the doorstep. The food itself has always been piping hot despite us living the other side of town. It tastes as good as you'd get in a restaurant but all from the comfort of your own home which given the current circumstances is the sort of small pleasures we all need right now. The price is reasonable for the quantity of food you get (you definitely won't starve) and because we go through Uber we often get a deal. All in all we highly recommend Sonali.

You cannot beat the food here. We usually collect but we had a discount with uber so thought we would have it delivered. The food was delivered 5 mins early and was piping hot! The food did not disappoint, it never does! I cannot understand how some people have decided to rate them 2 stars when they haven't even ordered, seems incredibly unfair and unjust. How can you rate something you havent actually tried??? I'm a vegetarian and have no issues with their menu, it's the same as any other Indian restaurant - most of it quite self explaintory... If you are unsure, surely call the restaurant? We would always recommend this restaurant! Not had one bad meal!

Did not have the heart to give one star - so one star + .... We have used many Indian takeaways around the Colchester area - sadly this is the worst so far. Chicken tikka starter sitting in a very oily tray. Both Madras & Korma were in very watery sauces - no depth at all - very unpleasant . A thimble full of mint sauce & poppadoms unpleasant too .... Won’t be using this restaurant again.

What a shame that a dreadful menu let this place down. I was looking to place a large order but the munu was unclear as many items have no description, and unfortunately, being a vegetarian this is something that I am not prepared to take a risk on. A simple "V" next to each item suitable for vegetarians seems to be the standard for most restaurants and would make things so much easier, but as things stand I have to rate this as poor.

To try to cheer our Mum up as we can't be with her to celebrate her 80th birthday I ordered a delivery from Sonali (as I had done this in the past and the food was fantastic). They didn't disappoint. Incredibly tasty food and delivered quickly and was piping hot. The driver followed my delivery instructions perfectly and the ordering process was incredibly quick and efficient. In a time when everyone is quick to post complaints and bad news, I wanted to make a point of celebrating a business that is doing a great job. Thank you so much.

Delivery was really late, part of the order was missing but they made up with it with the three grey hairs in my dish. Because we ordered on just eat, pointless asking for money back as there is always a reason why it can’t be refunded so will never use this restaurant again. Have pictures of hairs if required.

The best Indian we've had locally! We only order from Sonali now and have always had amazing meals. The food is always hot and tasty. The sag aloo and King prawn masala is delish - plus the masala comes with free pilau rice so a bargain. Not greasy at all and the guys in there are always lovely and friendly. Wouldn't go anywhere else.

Ordered twice in the last couple of months and thoroughly impressed with the food and service. The online ordering system is easy to use and it updates you on the delivery time. Prices are reasonable. Food is tasty, hot and very good portions (apart from the meat samosas, but you can’t have everything). The Sonali is now our go to Indian. Recommended!

Spot on curry, delivery can be slower at peak times, as to be expected, never had any problems collecting.

First time ordering from Sonali and very pleasantly surprised. Easy to order on the website with a lot of choice, and a tracker to see how long the food will take! Food arrived under the suggested time which was a bonus and was delicious with it!

We live in Wales and visit Colchester around 3 times each year. We found this takeaway a couple of years ago and was very impressed. The food is excellent they have never failed to impress us. Highly recommended.

Amazing food, you won't find better that's for sure. Free bombay potatoes when you spend over £20.

We have been using Sonali for a while now as the food and service is excellent. They are very helpful over the phone and friendly when you visit to collect. This is a takeaway only , they do not have a Restauraunt.

My partner and I order form Sonali quite regularly, the food is always on point and hot and fresh. I’ve never had a bad curry from here. The only negative is how slow the service is - we waited over 2 hours for a curry once, so I would suggest putting your order in before you want to eat or prepare yourself for a wait at the weekends! The customer service is generally quite good.

Food was pre ordered hours in advance, then was over 30 minutes late.I called and was told the driver was'just leaving', this was after being put on hold so he could chat with another customer, who he told their order would take '20 minutes.' Delivery driver rang to say he couldn't find us, accused us of giving wrong postcode when we clearly hadn't. Food was full of long dark hair and was binned immediately!Sickening!It occurred on: 29/09/2018Full refund immediately.Absolutely ruined the evening.Will not use Sonali again.Disgusting.

Absolutely delicious! We had a lamb laziz and Sathkora which were both lovely. Not sugary or salty, just very tasty! We have been looking for a good curry for a long time in town and finally we have found a new local. Thanks very much and keep up the good work!

We phone through our order which was ready awaiting for us. The meal was tasty, hot and plentiful. I would recommend this takeaway and will definitely use it ongoing.

A great variety of flavours, and very good sized portions with plenty of meat. Will definitely order from here again. Thank you.

We order from here at least once a month or if not fairly regularly and we are never disappointed. We enjoy the food and particularly for me as not enjoying too spicy food the Bangladeshi menu is wonderful and there is a great range of food!

Avoid this is not asian food if you enjoy 10 pints of beer and want to fill your belly good luck this is not indian food but bangladeshi english food ie muslim food

Best takeaway I had in a long time most defently will be going here again

we haven't been living in colchester long but this is our go to indian we always collect our food and haven't been disappointed yet

Keep meaning to write a review but after tonight’s food I just had to.

Ordered for the first time on a Saturday night , delivery was reasonably quick, and the food was all hot and seemed fresh .

Since our first experience we have used Sonali on a few occasions, never fails to please, delivery times within the quoted time. Food quality excellent, as always, to be honest have mainly had Biryanis but i will try some of the other dishes on offer. If the Biryanis are anything to go by it will be top notch...

Always delicious food & prompt delivery

Comida realmente fantástico. La primera vez pedí anoche y utilizado sus consejos para pedir algunas cosas alergeno vegetariano. Me llamaron para informarme de un par de artículos que perder y amablemente les cambió para mí sin problemas. La comida en sí es genial, pero no les puedo agradecer lo suficiente por el esfuerzo extra para garantizar la comida no tienen ningún producto animal. Gracias!

Half empty dishes 20 minutes late again! I have used Sonali many times and they are always late but there is no excuse to only half fill the dishes. They are not exactly cheap. Sorry Sonali but Ill be going elsewhere from now on.

Just had our very first takeaway from Sonali. Food arrived well within the given delivery time, it was hit and absolutely delicious. Sonali is well up there among the best Indian Food we have had, will definately be eating from there again....top notch!

We had the Mixed meat byriany ( with amazing vegetable curry) , saag paneer and peshwari naan. It was really nice and not greasy. Food has Beautiful flavour and I specially recommend this selection. Looking forward to order again and maybe also try other dishes.

very good food and excellent service best off the colchester town defiantly order again from sonali xxx

Decidimos darle una oportunidad como el Océano Índico donde normalmente vamos sonali, aumentó sus precios en alrededor de 30% y ya no te dan gratis poppadoms.

Mi única queja es la entrega de nuestra comida. La primera vez que usamos Sonali pedimos en línea. El sistema funcionó bien y era fácil de nuestra orden. Conseguimos un correo electrónico confirmando un minuto más tarde de nuestra orden y un tiempo de entrega indicado. Nuestra comida llegó 8 minutos más tarde de lo indicado, no hay problema con que el viernes por la noche y la comida era la de llevar más deliciosa cocina India que hemos tenido. Así que el siguiente viernes nos fuimos para otra vez y ordenados en línea y recibimos un correo electrónico con tiempo de entrega indicados como antes.

My food didn't turn up and I was lied to and fobbed off never using again and advise others to avoid avoid avoid. Nothing more I can say really

Quick delivery and good quality.

I have used this takeaway ( among others ) for my Indian spice fix for approx 20 years now and the guys at Sonali never disappoint. Great food, good portion size for a reasonable price. I don't know if it's because I'm a regular but even on a busy Saturday night, we never have to wait any longer than 45 mins for delivery and it's normally quicker. Thanks guys

Expensive and rank - chucked most in the bin. 3 starters and a main lamb tikka advertised with salad. The salad for the entire meal - a little 75ml pot with watery raita. Tikka dry and tough. Pasanda simply chicken in sweet slop. Last time I used Sonali the salad was generous and in a bag. Chicken murgh massala floating in oil. Not having eaten a curry in the UK for ten years, and then I did use Sonali, the experience was so bad I threw most of the meal away. A truly disgusting, over priced meal. Worse, when I ordered the same menu from another local (Khushbu, Alresford) the results were almost replicated. Clearly, Indian takeaways seem to be using third parties for sauces and starters, the shape, taste, colour are all alike.Please tell me there are still decent cury takeways in the UK or has curry, like everything else been dumbed down, subject to aggressive cost cutting and lack of customer care. Basically, expensive and horrible. The worst curry I've ever eaten in the UK.

Only lived in Colchester for a few months and slowly making our way through the takeaway restaurants. I and my partner firmly agree that this is our favourite Indian so far!! So fresh and free poppadoms, happy days!

This is the best Indian food we have ever had. The curry was great and the owner took time to explain to us that the curry dishes we ordered were made by cooking the ingredients slowly, which took a little bit longer. It was well worth the wait.

The good folks behind Sonali Indian take their inspiration seriously. They have somehow managed to put their name on the curry they serve. the takeaway got my vote. Had a great time enjoying all their curries. specially the jalfreizi...it was out of the world. thanks to my brother who suggested it. definitely ordering again!!

The food was good as never expected. Just moved in the area and Served perfectly on time. The food was hot, and was exactly what i wanted. will definitely want it again!!!

This was the first time I've used Sonali. I went for the set menu for one and found the portions generous and tasty. All parts of the meal were well done and were hot and fresh and it was served quickly and curteously, well packed and reasonably priced.Will use again.

It's very good food. There service was excellent. I give to them 10/10.when i order food there give send to me only half an hour later.

Recently moved to Colchester and I'm a massive fan of Indian cuisine. I always search through the local areas to find the best curry house.On this occasion I was not happy. Naan bread was over cooked and crispy, onion bhaji's were small, burnt and inedible. I had the Naga dish, and my Mrs had tikka masala, the chicken was tough, and the flavours were not great from the sauces. Mine was over cooked and clearly wasn't fresh.My main concern was how quickly all the food turned up. We expect around 45 mins to an hour, and this turned up within half hour. It shows it's not cooked fresh, and most of the food is probably left cooking or just reheated.So far the Raj in Colchester is the best I've found, but expensive. If you really love curry don't buy from here.

We've just had our first takeaway from Sonali after hearing lots of good things about it. We were impressed with it. Food arrived within an hour of ordering. I ordered chicken balti jalfrezi, there were huge chunks of chicken and the sauce was perfectly spiced. Husband had tandoori mixed grill, as a true carnivore he was very happy with the amount of meat. Kids had special honey chicken. It was perfect for them, lots of chicken and a creamy sweet sauce. We got a few free extras such as mint sauce and nan bread and salad. It was full tummies all round. We'll be ordering from Sonali again.

I have only had delivery food ordered from Sonali. However, all my experiences so far have been really good. Great Indian food, delivered quickly!