Sultan of Keswick in Allerdale

Called twice after we were let down by another place, and were given a reservation and confirmed, in 20 minutes time. Drove into Keswick to be told that actually they had big bookings coming in and so they couldn’t seat us and could we wait for a table to finish. Possibly 30-45 minutes. Seems to me that they possibly just gambled on a table becoming free but didn’t care that we might be let down if not. Ended up wandering around Keswick desperately trying to find a table somewhere else, with two hungry kids and a grandma. Deeply unimpressed.

We had a lovely curry for two, on a rainy night in October 2024. Starter of poppadoms with a small plate of dips. Chicken Rogan Josh was well prepared - tasted delicious. A clean and cosy little place with a friend service.

We have been here so many times , but not been for a few years. It is actually back to its best. Service, food and quality are up there again. Our nosh was tasty, well presented and just lovely. The lads serving were so friendly and happy, a joy to see as some waiting on staff are just there doing their job with no involvement in their role..... All in all in all , a great restaurant.....tasty curries and very nice staff......try it as I am sure you will like it.........

A warm welcome started our evening. The host could not do enough to make sure that we got the meal we hoped for - even though there were adaptations needed to accommodate our needs. The food was really very good indeed, and we are only sad that we were not able to return the following day, as we had hoped. We will go again, though without any doubt.

Legend staff, nice atmosphere, decent vegetarian options

Need to book in advance, tasty well prepped food, pleasant staff.good variety of choices, all went down well with a beer. We’ll certainly be back.

Maz was great. Service and food was top quality

Great food great atmosphere, maz couldn’t have been better

Lovely food. Maz was a great host

Delicious food and lovely staff. Loved shashlik paneer

Food was excellent, portion size was good and the price was very reasonable. Recommended.

I hope their kitchen is cleaner than their loo

After reading some of the reviews on here we where very apprehensive about going but glad we did, could not fault the food or the staff. would recommend and wouldn't hesitate to return.

My husband, toddler and I went for dinner on Saturday night. We had pre-booked thankfully because they were busy. We were running late (toddler issues) all the staff were very accommodating- even went out to buy milk for our toddler to drink. We had poppadom platter, chicken pakora, my husband the chicken pathia and myself chicken tikka masala (we brought food for our toddler). We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and experience with Sultan of Keswick and would highly recommend. Our only disappointment was that we were so full we couldn’t finish our meal.

Fabulous Indian food at a great price. The Chicken Jalfrezi Puri and the Bhuna King Prawn Puri are the best we've had in 40 years...and we've been to many Indian Restaurants. Service is great, decor maybe a little modern for our tastes, but it's exceptionally clean with great service. A gem of a find!@

This Indian restaurant in Keswick, Lake District was a good experience. The food(vegetarian) was good and a reminder of good Indian food. The service was quick and the atmosphere was comfortable. Recommended.

Very Friendly staff, Food and portion size outstanding

So a party of 16! The food was good and the service was good, all the courses came at the same time 👍 We were properly catered for thanks👍

Amazing experience here. Me and my partner came in last night without a booking and they were pretty full but still managed to accommodate us which we are so grateful for! The service was amazing, the pickle tray was so tasty and perfect. Then our mains came out and they were so well balanced, I got the chicken jalfrezi. The staff were all so friendly and especially Mazza who was kind and warm. We will be back. Thankyou for having us !

Very good food and good service from mazin

Great service from Mazim, lovely food too would recommend if you are visiting Keswick with family or friends. Would come back!

Good food and good service from Mazin

Great food and service with very friendly staff

The Sultan of Keswick, 5 St. John Street, Keswick CA12 5AP Tel: 017687 722222 Date of Visit 14th August 2024 A rare Stunning sunny afternoon and due to a serious accident on the A590 I found myself in the buzzing town of Keswick in the Lake District, the place was heaving with tourist with the caffes and coffee shops doing a roaring Trade. So, on to the Sultan, this 50 or so seater can be found just on the outskirts of the town. For some reason it only carries a four-star hygiene rating! the place does not open for trade until 17.00pm precisely, I arrived at about 16 45pm and they were just starting to vacuum the place! Anyway, I tried the door, and it was open, so I went in, much to the dismayed look of the staff. “Are you open” I asked, to be told 5 O’clock, 5 O’clock. So, I enquired about a table, and could I wait? So, I was told to choose a place, and I sat and waited. At exactly 1700 hours the waiter came over and asked if I would like to order a drink! So, I order a Pint of Cobra and then my order from a quite busy menu of Poppadom’s and Chutney tray, Shish Kebab, and a South Indian Mustard and Chilli Chicken Tika with Pilau Rice and a Peshwari Naan. Nothing out of the park with the Pops and pickles but the sheek Kebab was quite flavoursome though it could have done with a little more seasoning, it lacked a depth of flavour. Next the Mustard and Chilli Chicken. The Hanndi Dish that it arrived in was overflowing with Chicken, onions Chillies and tomatoes, again quite tasty but just lacked that depth of flavour. There was no salt and pepper on the tables But I was spoilt last week at the Tharavadue in Leeds! Pilau Rice was light and fluffy and quite tasty However I have had much better Peshwari Naans. Keswick is not overrun with Indian restaurants in fact they only have one in competition! I know it was a Wednesday evening, but the place was extremely quiet, even the telephone was quiet! It should have been buzzing. But to be fair, one of the waiters informed me that they had a few tables booked in later in the evening! They did at one time open at lunch time, but that no longer happens. So, all in all, not a bad place at all but if they push that bit harder and improve things it might generate dividends.! Parking quite well catered for though at £6.50 for three hours, quite expensive Overall Fair and worth 8/10 Prices in comparison with other Restaurants in nearby towns I thought a bit steep at £40.81! Including a 10% service charge, Ooooouch!!! Maybe that was why it was quiet.

The BEST Indian food! Came here last night and the food was simply out of this world. Staff were friendly and attentive providing great service, lovely menu with plenty choice. Will be sure to return!

Best Indian food iv ever had. Great staff....great food....great atmosphere....curry was out of this world. We will be back! Best in keswick without a doubt.

Excellent food. Friendly service. I had possibly the best curry I have ever had there. Can't for the life of me remember the name. But it was on the chefs specials bit.

Came to collect a takeaway with the belief that they offered a 20% discount on collected orders. They refused to give us the advertised discount and laughed at us when we enquired about their false advertising. We shall report them to trading standards. Went to the Lakeland Spice down the road, which offered speedy and friendly service. Edit: Thank you for your prompt reply to my review. You will find that Lakeland Spice offer a similar discount on their delicious takeaways. The fact that I have left a review for a meal that I did not even have just shows how appalled I was with the way you spoke to my mother in law on Friday evening. Good luck with all of your future endeavours.

We called into the Sultan on spec and found it pretty empty which was disconcerting for a Friday evening and almost walked out. However we received a very warm welcome and decided to stay. The service was excellent. I absolutely cannot tolerate fat on meat but absolutely love lamb. I was assured my lamb madras would have no fat on it and there was none. It was very tasty. My husband had lamb jalfrezi and demolished the lot. Service charge was automatically included which was fine with us. We will definitely go back

Great Indian restaurant with delicious food and very friendly staff. The interior was welcoming and everything very clean. We were so delighted that we came back again 2 days later.

We were a group of mountain bikers who chose this venue to meet for dinner and a beer. Everything while we were here went well. Nice staff, good menu but a little pricey. All the food was served in a timely manner. Part two was the following day. Out of 8 diners, 4 of us had diarrhoea and another one had an upset stomach. No one was sick but those with diarrhoea visited the toilet on numerous occasions in the morning. This place is the only thing we had in common and it seemed to be those that had chicken dishes. Be interesting to see if anyone else had this experience 19th July

A nice place with some great dishes at quite high prices. My wife and I came here for dinner out and had a generally okay time. The service was pretty quick. The staff were polite and helpful. The poppadoms and chutneys were lovely, the rice was good and the naan was good. I actually thought my curry was really nice, one of the best I've had, but neither me nor my wife were a big fan of her curry. It didn't have much texture to it, and the flavour just wasn't all that nice. She didn't finish her meal which is very unlike her. I also think it was quite expensive. We recently had a great curry form our local for £21. Here we spent almost £50. I also really don't like the "service charge". Ours was nearly £5. I look at a menu and see a price, and that's the price I expect to pay. If its actually 10% more than that because of a service charge, just write that correct price on the menu. I'm amazing it's allowed and for that one reason I won't be going back here. It feels sneaky and sly. If you go here, don't trust the price on the menu. They will charge you 10% on top of that as if that's okay. The decor was nice and everything was clean. The portion size was just right. This place has great potential.

The food was quite oily and we were told that the food portions were good enough for one person when in reality they were extremely large. Also the quality was bad and in the end the bill was ridiculously overpriced.

Staying in a glamping pod close by , after a day hiking we stumbled across sultan in Keswick Town centre . Food was absolutely incredible , and the staff were lovely as we waited for our order . We will definitely be ordering again on our next visit to Keswick!

We always used to visit this restaurant every year on holiday and loved it, but no more. The waiter came over to us, both hands in his pockets and said ‘do you want a drink’ clearly didn’t want to be there, just so rude. The Chicken Tikka Masala was tasteless, really bland. The staff just hung around the bar chatting, just looked so unprofessional. Once we had finished eating the waiter came to clear our plates away. He literally started scraping and piling them up in front of my friend, she said excuse me watch you don’t slop on me, so he then started to do it in front of me, pressing all the food down. It was absolutely disgusting. We even said to him, would you not be better just taking them to the kitchen, he just smirked. He was so rude. Watch out for the service charge too. Sadly after many years of visiting, we will never return.

Delicious and afforable Indian restaurant with a generous discount for takeaway. We recommend the Pathia and Madras dishes especially. We'd definitely go again!

A good, solid Indian/bangla restaurant. Good tasty food.

Walked in last minute, unfortunately they could not accommodate as we hadn’t pre booked, so we opted for a takeaway. The veg biryani was delicious and they provided generous portion sizes knowing we had a long drive back. Enjoyed the biryani in my car before 5 hr drive back to Northamptonshire

Fabulous food. Coming up from the Midlands we are spoiled for choice for quality Indian restaurants, but this place really stood out for us. The quality of the ingredients was outstanding, great flavours, superb customer service from friendly staff.

Had a really good curry here, really nice atmosphere, efficient service and a real friendly waiter. Good value for money for large portions. Delicious.

This was our second visit to the Sultan, first time was 3 years ago! We remembered the food being delicious, so gave it another go earlier today! The young lads serving us couldn't have been more friendly! Thank you guys!🙏🙏🙏 Starters were really good, although the garlic chicken puri wasn't very garlicky! The prawns were top notch mind!👌🏽😋😋 Mains were ok but not much meat in the Lamb Tikka Makhani and not a great deal of flavour in the Gurka curry! Loved the texture of the mince in the Gurka curry though!👌🏽 NB. Prices have shot up since we last visited! Suppose it's the same everywhere but over in the Lakes!! It's seriously expensive for everything!

Normally I am hesitant to leave a bad review esp in the current economic times for restaurants but our experience was v poor ! We had to ask for our drinks 3 times , then the poppadums and starters came all at once and could hardly fit on the table in was so small and The onion bahjis were not fresh . Then they brought me the wrong curry ! My husbands meal was terrible - the lamb had obviously been cooked and reheated and was v tough he left must of it . When we nicely mentioned it to the waiter he said you chose it and that’s how it’s cooked . I wrote this review to warn tourists visiting as we were at this restaurant 2 yrs ago and enjoyed it but we certsinly pull t recommend it now .

Carryout for 6 including pakora and onion bhaji. We paid £7 for 4 small chicken pakoras and £6 for 4 small veg pakora, appalling portions for the price. £15 for chicken tikka tandoori which can only be described as a half portion. The quality was OK, Not the best I have ever had but not the worse. All in all it was simply not worth the money. The Rohan Josh was very nice but thats not great when we spent over £100. We will likely not go here again.

Very attentive staff and great food. Easily accomodated a large group of us with no fuss.

Excellent restaurant very friendly helpful staff serving very good food

Ordered two chicken pakora and 1 veg pakora. Was charged £17. I received 8 pieces of chicken pakora and 4 pieces of veg. Total rip off. Ended up complaining as I could of got a main course for the same amount. Got £5 and two poppadoms. Still unhappy but was refused a refund for the food. Edit: So glad you took the time to reply back to my review as you have let people know it would be more for 8 pieces of chicken pakora and 4 pieces of veg pakora if I didn't get a discount. I don't think there would be many people want to pay what I did or more. If I went to McD of KFC and wasn't pleased with the quality I would also request a refund. You may not be happy with my review but I was equally unhappy about the quality and quantity of your pakora. The person I spoke to on the night, also agreed that they wouldn't be happy paying what I did. That's the reason I got money back and poppadoms. Always happy to leave a rubbish review when it's needed.

Food ok but not the best curry for flavours. Very noisy which I understand is normal with a large party of men opposite us,but rather ruined it.

Very pleasant experience. Staff were very accommodating. Met the owner and had a lovely chat with him. The food was good, the portions were huge!! Definitely worth what you’re paying for. We ordered the lamb biryani to share between the two of us and we still ended up taking some home in a takeaway box as we couldn’t finish it. Atmosphere was ok, the area has a specific demographic which the restaurant caters too. They tried to target a younger demographic but found it difficult. Hence their reasoning for serving alcohol. Overall pleasant experience, taking into account that there is not a lot of halal options at the Lake District area.

Had a take away, chicken pakora tasted like cheap chicken nuggets the vegetable pakora was grated vegetables and burnt, the chips where colourless . The main meals very disappointing too. It's gone down hill as it used to be quite a nice place.

After booking a table, we ordered meals with a pleasant and friendly waiter. The food was fairly quick to arrive and very well enjoyed. Service charge was automatically added to the bill. and the bill sent to us without request. After payment, we were quickly asked to leave the table despite having almost a full bottle of wine left and other drinks.

Eaten here each time we visited Borrowdale in 2023. Booked for Christmas eve and once again an epic meal. Tasty and hot food with great portions. Staff are always warm and welcoming with a family vibe. Keep up the great work guys.

This is a really good Indian Restaurant. The food is fantastic and reasonably priced. There are not many restaurants to choose from in town but this is our goto place when we visit for the weekend.

Brilliant restaurant, this is our second visit and we'll be back again when we visit the Lakes. The restaurant is very clean and the service is excellent. I had the chicken shashlik which is big enough for two. Delicious!!! Thank you.

Food was lovely and service was very quick

I went for a meal last night with 3 friends, the food & service was 1st class, will definitely be back

Really nice food and great service from the staff.

Lovely curry that hits the spot after a long hike. The staff are friendly and helpful. Classic curry house done very well.

The overall food quality at Sultan of Keswick was the worst. I would give MINUS rating for all the below reasons - 1. Naan was burnt 2. Food was TOO MUCH OILY 3. Smell of Kheema Naan was like a raw Lamb. 4. We had ordered Chicken Tikka Jalfrezi and Chicken Tikka Kurhai but we couldn't distinguish between 2 dishes as both dishes felt the same. 5. There was too much onion, tomato and capsicum in the main dish which didn't feel like eating 6. The food was costly. 7. Every food item price was more than the price mentioned in their menu card on Google. 8. Food was NOT AT ALL worth it. 9. We had also ordered Garlic Naan and Cheese Garlic Naan but couldn't see Garlic in both of them. Hope the owner of Sultan of Keswick sees this honest feedback and works on it. Thanks.

Wow amazing food, staff so friendly and so efficient and quick. They all work well under pressure. We were sitting in the two seaters by the window, and just felt very much like we couldn't talk privately, being so close to the other dining guests. That was the only thing that wasn't great. But we would definitely come again.

Superb establishment, great food & attentive staff.

Had a takeaway, and was very disappointed with the food. There were 4 of us eating, and we all tasted each others food and sides. All the food was very bland. Would NOT reccomend

Our son visited this restaurant whilst on holiday several weeks ago and raved about it, so we decided to give it a go. We weren't disappointed, lovely atmosphere attentative staff and great food.

Lovely meal , great location and atmosphere , the owner is a nice guy he made time to come to our table for a chat, we have been there a couple of times now and we will be back next year

Lovey meal served quickly. Waiters friendly and excellent interactions with all their customers.

Brilliant, everything. Staff, food everything lush. If you don't go when you're in Keswick you're missing out. Absolutely fantastic. Staff, food, service was excellent. Amazing.

Foods halal, so they say. Problem they serve drinks and alcohol seemed like same glasses. I didnt like that as I'm Muslim. Guy in charge was a brilliant host. Down side £10 service charge added onto bill (I like to decide my tip). Food was hot but nothing special, nan £3.50 was told would serve 2 it wouldn't do 1 and I'm not a big eater. Atmosphere was brilliant nice and busy. All in all was okay bait over priced won't go again but didn't regret it either. Thank you.

Love this restaurant. The food is amazing and the staff are so friendly and attentive.

Lovely meal attentive service without being intrusive. Lovely relaxed atmosphere.

Don't bother. We walked in and after some serious consideration were told since we didn't have a booking we would only have 15/20 minutes to eat. We went someplace else but walked by 45 minutes later to plenty of tables empty. By the way, I did look for a way to book yesterday but there is no apparent way to do so online and their site doesn't say anything to suggest booking otherwise.

Had a nice meal, I could've done with a tad more spice, but my wife was more than happy. Staff attentive without being over the top, service was good and prices were average by Lake District standards. Only thing I didn't notice, after reading the reviews, was any mention of service charge on the menu. I did leave a tip, as I do if I enjoy a meal, but wouldn't have done if I'd seen there was a service charge.

Dined here on Saturday 15th July after a team build day with colleagues at GAP Group. Its the second time weve dined here after a fabulous meal the year before. Highly recommended and we will be back next year! Great service and excellent food. Looking forward to our next visit 😀

Only had a takeaway but the place is nice. Food is good definitely recommend

Pretty below average in every aspect tbh

Absolutely excellent food and service - staff couldn't be more helpful. The food was superb - really great - I would totally recommend it!

Lovely meal and we will definitely be back! Staff amazing too, made sure we were both happy and had everything we needed.

If you're going for proper (OG) Indian/Pakistani food then it's an utter disappointment. The food (chicken dopiyaza, chicken makhni, daal) was absolutely bland. We had to ask the waiter to check if the chef forgot to put salt in the daal. The pulao rice was probably just boiled rice and had no flavour at all. The only thing that was considerably edible was the starter (garlic chicken puri). The ambience wasn't great either especially because the place was extremely noisy (not sure why). The service and the staff attitude is the only thing I can appreciate.

Proper "old school" traditional curry restaurant. Nothing trendy, just really nice food that hits the spot and friendly welcoming staff.

Very tasty food, and pleased to see a few vegan options. However, they need far more vegan food on the menu, and ideally remove all non-vegan items so that they become a 100% plant-based restaurant.

Good service. Food was a little bland for an Indian.

The Food and the service at this restaurant is absolutely amazing, We stayed in Keswick for 5days and we ended up going twice during that time, On both occasions we were blown away by the super tasting food and the fantastic service by all the staff members. Highly recommended !!

I was part of a group of 40, they coped amazingly. The food was great and the service friendly.

Very friendly staff and food brilliant. Well done lads from the Walton Booking

21.5.2023.. amazing!! The lamb saga was out of this world. They changed a dish to manage my allergy. The hosts were friendly and welcoming. Highly recommended.

Amazing food, lovely service + lovely staff, I always go here i love it

First time visit with friends. The room was very noisy due to high ceiling and no soft furnishings. The food was generally good although my three chilli curry that I asked for extra spicy was rather mild and dry. If any of the staff had bothered asking I would have let them know. The foot was served sporadically, like tapas. Our starters arrived before we had finished the poppadoms. The staff were removing plates whilst we were eating. We had to ask for everything. Didn't pay the 10% service charge they automatically added to the bill.

Food was terrible worse than that, starters came with the main 65 minutes after we ordered. Forgot half the stuff Aswell,

Lovely place, friendly staff and the food is excellent. Highly recommend.

Great food and service.. They fitted us last minute. Captains Patia is just the best version I’ve ever tasted.

Excellent food and service 5 star

Beautiful food and staff were friendly and lovely. Would definitely go again. Husband said it was one of the best Indians he has had.

Très bonne cuisine et service agréable. Un très bon moment en famille. Nous reviendrons.

I like a ruby ,but stay away fr Gurkha masala,gash,actually got food poisoning from this gaff!

Easily in my top 5! Great food, good quantity and attentive service. Highly recommended.

Lovely meal at Sultan tonight. Lovely light naan bread and my chicken balti was lovely.

Excellent. Great service and really tasty food. Chicken Madras and Jal Frazie with Mushroom Pillau all fresh with good wholesome flavours. Highly recommended.

First time at this restaurant absolutely gorgeous Greeted by lovely staff felt so welcome. Felt so comfortable were we sat The best curry we've had So fresh and tasty. Would recommend 100% Staff so friendly Will definitely be back Thanks so much xx

Absolutely lovely , the food is damn good and our waiting staff Mansur made my day. Excellent staff service , excellent food. Would visit again

Its a must visit cuisine for all desi food lovers, all i can all is you will get the best quality without any doubt.

Food is spot-on here. Not had any complaints. Always head for The Sultan when visiting Keswick.

Tasteless, bland, expensive. It's coming to something when the best part of a meal for two costing change short of £60 is the pickle tray. We both ordered lamb tikka karahi with rice and i had a garlic naan. I had one beer. My partner had a cup of tea. £60!! First the good points. The pickle tray was OK. The rice was OK. Now the bad. The main dishes had more pepper and onion in them than lamb. What lamb was in there was tough. Karahi is a medium curry (2 chilli's on the menu). It had zero spice in it. Bland. It was also just tasteless. Zero spice, zero flavour. When the waiter asked how our meals were I was honest but polite and told him we were a little disappointed in how bland and tasteless it was. He went away and returned with the menu pointing out our curry was only a medium and not supposed to be spicy. OK. Its not meant to blow your head off but the least you expect is to be able to taste some spice. Or an actual flavour! My garlic naan was tiny to be frank, and not very garlicky. The size of a side plate at best. This place obviously survives on tourist trade that only ever visit once. I can't imagine anyone being impressed enough to return. Having come from West Yorkshire (the curry capital of the UK so we know a good curry when we have one) I would say that this was the worst curry we've ever had and the worst meal we have had the misfortune to have together as a couple. When the food was brought out to the table it did not smell of anything and as it turned out tasted just how it smelled. Bland and lifeless, certainly not to the standard we are used to. We were hungry and did not want to waste the food so we ate it but i must say that it had to be forced down. The staff were too busy watching football (Wales v USA in the world Cup) and it took a long time to get their attention. Despite passing them feedback at the end of this meal they have still had the cheek to charge us a £5.45 service fee ! It's been not just a waste of a lot of money but such a great disappointment to end what had otherwise been a lovely day ! ). I would love to save somebody from the disappointment we had. Very poor. Very bland. Very expensive. In fact now that I've scrutinised the bill Ifurther i feel I need to share it. 1 x Cobra £4.90 1 x tea £2.00 2 x poppadoms £1.80 1 x pickle tray £3.10!!! No wonder this was the best bit of the meal!!! Who charges separately for poppadoms and the pickles that go with them??? And £4.90 at that!!!?? 2 x lamb tikka karahi £31.90! 2 x pilau rice £7.00 1 x garlic naan £3.80 Service charge (even after a complaint) £5.45!!! Avoid avoid avoid.