The Kerala in Tandridge

Easily the best restaurant and takeaway in Caterham, with some superb and unique Indian dishes that you won't find anywhere else.

That woman very rude she shouldn't be at the front or she need more training customer service, never go again

We order take aways regularly from the Kerala and have always enjoyed the food. Unfortunately we had a very disappointing experience with our latest order. We placed our order online and waited an hour and a half (we were given a time of 1 hour). I contacted the chat service within the app and was told they had contacted the restaurant and our food was 5 minutes away. After 10 minutes it still hadn't arrived so I called the restaurant myself. The lady who answered was extremely rude and said 'all people are doing tonight are complaining' and said it wasn't her fault that the food hadn't turned up because once it's left the restaurant it's not their problem. I gave her multiple opportunities to offer a discount, we would have been happy if she had, but instead she said if it didn't arrive in 10 minutes (1 hour 50 mins after ordering) she would cancel the order which isn't a solution. After experiencing her rudeness and lack of compensation, I said to cancel the order as we did not want to pay for our meal after our experience speaking to her. About 10 minutes later our food then arrived (clearly a communication issue with the driver). I said if they're willing to give us the food for free we will take it but I refuse to pay after our experience and a wait time of nearly 2 hours. He said he couldn't do that (I appreciate he didn't have the authority to do that though). We then ordered from Pizza Express and received our food within 25 minutes. After reading some reviews after our experience, there seems to be a running theme with customers experiencing rudeness from a lady who works there. It seems the company need to consider some staff training to avoid future issues as this is clearly putting people off. We will not be ordering again, and our friends and family are also aware of our experience so unfortunately they have now missed out on multiple future orders.

Delicious food and great service from Shihal!

This is a wonderful restaurant on all levels. The food is fantastic. Really fantastic. Delicate flavours, wonderfully varied menu, superbly cooked and very high quality ingredients. We’ve eaten here a lot and never had a bad meal. To be honest, I can’t recommend any one dish as everything is delicious. The service is excellent as well. The owner really trains the staff properly and as a result they are perfectly attentive yet respectful, friendly and professional. Why this restaurant is not sold out night after night is beyond me, but I suspect it is probably because of the preposterously obstructive roadworks outside which have been going on for many months. Bit of local knowledge …. Just park in Waitrose, right around the back. But for goodness sake make sure you eat in this wonderful establishment.

Really good food. We will be back

Amazing test and best quality food. Highly recommend to visit for lunch or dinner.

Bit pricey compared to other Indian restaurants. Tried Prawns and chicken Biriyani. Even though the restaurant is named Kerala, the biriyani didn't taste like a Kerala biriyani, maybe north Indian. Average taste only

Authentic Kerala food, superb service, truly Indian hospitality and delicious food ❤️❤️❤️

That manager lady was rude. I felt like she doesn’t know the customer service and Kerala culture. I was with my friends and we decided never again to visit here. 0 ⭐️

The Kerala serves good food with flavors that truly stand out. The dishes are well-prepared, with fresh ingredients and a perfect blend of spices. However, the service needs improvement. Additionally, there's no dedicated parking. You can park for up to 1.5 hours at the Waitrose lot behind the restaurant, which requires some planning. In summary, while the food is exceptional, be prepared for mediocre service and parking challenges. When asked about quantity of chilli cauliflower to the lady who served us just to check whether it will be enough for 4 of us as a starter she said “she don’t count them “ which we felt rude

Had a pre theatre meal here for the fist time Food was tasty and plenty of choice. Excellent service. Really enjoyed the meal only disappointment was that the restaurant is not in Reigate. However owner told us that he is currently fitting out premises in Church Street Reigate ! so will definately look forward to dining there when it opens

Great service and lovely food. I'd definitely go back.

Have visited The Kerala multiple times. Service is top notch. I have had their biriyani, chicken calicut, kerala paratha and many more dishes. They were all delicious. Highly recommend.

I went there with my family. I have eaten Kerala food at different places. The atmosphere and food taste seemed okay. It was also served quickly. However, I had mentioned to the waiter that my elder daughter is allergic to milk/dairy, eggs and nuts. I asked at least 3 times that the items ordered for her, namely (kerala style) fish curry and (kerala style) chicken curry did not have any of these ingredients. I and my daughter have eaten these above dishes in other kerala restuarants near Croydon, Sutton etc. and know that these dishes generally do not have any of these above allergens. However, despite this I asked the waiter and he assured me that there is no such ingredient. Within about 10 minutes after my daughter had plain rice along with these curries and leaving the restaurant my daughter vomitted twice and also felt very sick and like going to toilet repeatedly. We administered anti-allegen medicines and rushed home. In fact, during the meal my partner had commented that the gravy was unusually thick and I mentioned that might be merely due to addition of coconut milk (which my daughter is not allergic to). But now, after my daughter's reaction, I suspect that some cream (or some other dairy based) or crushed cashewnut was part of the ingredients. The other possibility was that some utensils were used which had been used previously for the allergen ingredients (possible contamination) This shows some degree of callousness on the part of the staff and lack of sensitivity towards allergens. The staff are not well-trained. The restuarant food taste was good for me. The service was also prompt and the staff were friendly, allthough the food was pricier than some of the other Kerala restuarants in Croydon or Sutton. Will I visit this place again? The answer is a firm NO.

Ordered under recommendation and the food was excellent albeit quite expensive. My issue was whilst calling to place an order, the woman taking my order was quite abrupt and rude. When she asked if I wanted poppadums, I casually said they should be free as the bill was £98.00 to which she said “ we don’t do free poppadums” that’s fair enough but won’t be ordering again. It’s their loss as I have a large family and we eat takeaway at least once a week.

They dint have filter coffee and dint even understand what filter coffee is, and with a name like Kerala I expected them to know what it is..

Fantastic service and fantastic food

We travelled 2 hour to experience some authentic Kerala food. But disappointed we ordered 5 different items and non of them taste authentic kerala food.

Great restaurant and excellent for vegetarian too

All round great night out, food top notch, service friendly and attentive, atmosphere spot-on 👌

One of the best curries I've had for a long time. Will definitely be using again.

The food and the service was great

I tried to order some food over the phone on 3/10/23 at approximately 12.20 am for lunch. Unfortunately the person who answered the phone was incredibly rude to me when I asked some questions about their menu as I am looking for some typically Keralite food and not just dishes from a bog standard Indian takeway. She told me she had no knowledge of Keralite food and stated "I do not need to know about Keralite food as it is written in the menu and we are in England anyway". If you insist on employing staff who have no knowledge of your cuisine being served, at least teach them to be polite and not racist when informing customers of their lack of knowledge. I suggest you sack this staff member.

Absolutely stunning and incredible food! Highly recommend! Everything we ate was top notch. We’ll definitely eat here again.

Me & my family decided to try it out yesterday because I’m vegetarian, after my experience today honestly say I don’t know why them google star review takes me to go this restaurant.. What a worst food we had .. we ordered dosa with chutney, awak dosa just rolled up but quality of mixed worst makes loose motions today and chutneys are already made like two or three days before and looks like keeping it in fridge.. lol rice is very fresh … curries are looking colourful but not very tasty.. we wasted our day and Time

The woman who was managing the restaurant was extremely rude when we asked about the menu and very reluctant and uninterested in serving.

The most amazing good ever!!!!! The best restaurant on Caterham high street by far! Polite, great people, they remember you and the food is brilliant!

One of the worst South Indian restaurant I have been to. The kerala curry was too creamy and sweet and had to chuck away. It is definitely not an authentic Indian experience.

First time eating here … food was pretty decent , rather small portions for the price , the menu was basic and the restaurant was quite small / cramped … The starters were ok and the main course was nothing to spectacular. 3 stars

Delicious food and excellent service. We had a really good evening.

Great company and good food, first visit for a while. The Sea Bass was amazing 👍 Very good service from the staff Great to see a good selection of vegetarian food clearly laid out in the menu.

The food was not bad. But expensive.

Ive eaten a lot of Indian in my 57 years on this planet, but this food was far and away the best I've ever had, rich and spicy sauce chicken was perfection and naan bread superb

I come here for the great authentic dosa's, which are huge. I haven't tried much else from the menu except a few veggie sides which have been tasty and fresh. Recommended! Friendly staff. The atmosphere is fine, a little quiet..

This is the best Indian food restaurant in Surrey. The food is fantastic - authentic and very tasty Indian cuisine. I would recommend this real hidden gem.

Very veird restaurant staff seem confused and could be bothered to serve even though we were the only customers. Food tastes like it had been pre made the chicken 65 was over cooked potote bhajia were literally 5 pices which is odd as most places will give a plate worth. The lamb Dosa was poor the lamb it self tastes chewy dont think it wasbfresh the dosa was think and the sambar had an odd taste. Overal very poor quality and expensive for what is on offer here

Great food, & superb value for money.

Such a delicious food!!! One of the best I've eaten in the UK, living here for 15 years... Both starters (fried aubergine, lamb tikka) and mains (prawn methi, chicken mushroom curry, beetroot &peas) were soooo tasty. And a chocolate cake massive. I'm looking forward to the next dinner there.

Delicious food and friendly staff

Fantastic food, fresh, tasty. Would certainly recommend dining in as the restaurant has a nice vibe

Stopped by randomly for lunch on the way back from East Grinstead. This restaurant was awesome - great, quick service and all of the food was delicious. We had the Kerala parathas, Appam, beetroot thoran, and the okra ullippoo. The wife had a vegetarian thali. Very filling, good portions, and reasonably priced.

One of my favourite Indian restaurants, always excellent food

This food was so bad that I had a really terrible horrible horrifying experience in the toilet and my toilet had ended up flooding with the amount of diarrhoea due to food poisoning and I was devastated never ever going there again also terrible and rude service please tell your staff and manager to fix up

As usual the food was excellent and the service great.

Total waste of time and rude service staff need to learn some manners

Superb food for lunchtime 🙂 Vegetable samoas and prawn dosa were both lovely, as was the vada and Keralan fish curry. Inviting restaurant, friendly staff. We'll definitely be coming again.

Easy to order, one of the best Indian takeaways around, can’t wait to eat in!

I went to The kerala restaurant for dinner recently .I felt the food was tasty and the service was good but the quantity of the food served is very less which is not at all worthy for the price.I thought the quantity they give is very less and also few of the dishes were not warm enough.I also think they should improve in their presentation.

Was told 40 mins was a hour and 15 mins

Best Indian food we have had in years and years. And handsdown the best paratha of my life! Friendly, attentive staff, good atmosphere and well priced too.

A very nice restaurant serving authentic food.

We visited Kerala for the first time at their new location. The meal was excellent as usual and our waiter Zac looked after us very well. It was lovely to be served by such an enthusiastic young man considering the last couple of years when their opportunities to work have been so restricted. Great food and excellent service. The menu is varied and some dishes are more spicy that others. Recommend you ask which are the more spicy to suit your own taste.

Oh my goodness, best Indian food I’ve had outside of India! Highly recommend 🙌🏼

Excellent food, service, ambiance and value - highly recommended. Lunchtime thali is an especially good introduction!

A family favourite. The masala dosas are great. Only a few tables so worth booking if you want to be sure to not miss on you south Indian delicacies.

This place is one of those neat cosy restaurants, able to seat maybe 4/5 tables? That's when you know the food is good, and man is it good. If you really want heat? They can oblige, but I suggest not blasting your tastebuds for the sake of it. The complex, tangy, fruity, savoury flavours in the curries are gorgeous and individual. The service is very friendly and patient, I was happy to see this, our young waiter took his time to be certain he understood our order and read back to us. I would recommend anything on this menu, especially if you wanted to try something new, I would trust them to give me an authentic first try. Recommended sharing starter, the fried cauliflower (assuming you each get your own starter too obvs). Recommended rice, has to be the traditional lemon rice. It's Gorgeous. Everything else, you'll have to go figure yourself ;) Go eat, be happy.

Really disappointed don’t bother going they won’t be open!!! called them up at 7:40 on a Tuesday night, asked for a table then got there 10 minutes after speaking to them. They had shut the doors and went home they can’t even be bothered to be open waste my time…

Lovely food, great price and excellent customer service 👍 Recommended!!

Delicious Food and very nice and friendly staffs. If you looking for a real south Indian food. Here we go this is the place for that "The Kerala".

Great food and service, will visit again

Do not be put off by its appearance. This restaurant is not a swanky, designer, modernist place to eat. But it is a really good place to eat. The fresh food is full of flavour, well prepared and different to most main stream "Indian" restaurants. If you are looking for authentic south Indian food you will not be disappointed.

Awesome food, coupled with surprisingly good service, particularly from the younger members of staff. It's a tiny place with only a handful of tables, but I'd strongly recommend a visit if you fancy a refreshing change from your bog standard Indian menu, the dishes we had here were all great, yet vastly different

This is the first time I have been to this restaurant. The staff were welcoming and friendly. We were seated quickly. After I had looked at the menu and didn't see the usual Indian fare, I was told that this is a dosa restaurant. Having never tried a dosa I thought "why not?". I had a calamari starter that was beautifully cooked, the batter was light and the squid had just the right amount of bite without being rubbery. The highlight though was the chicken dosa. The batter was light and the filling had nice pieces of chicken. The three accompanying dips added an extra dimension. I tried the dips first and thought the middle one (see photo) was a bit spicy for my palette, but on the dosa . . . I loved it. Would I go again? Absolutely!

Great southern Indian food in a small cosy restaurant. Very enjoyable.

Absolute gem! The food is authentic and prepared with TLC. Top marks!

Dinner here on17/07/2021 - easy to book, great service and the food was very good. 4 of us shared dishes - Dosa is great, really liked those as were the lamb and prawn ones - the chicken jalfrezi and Lamb Ularthiyathu dishes were a firm favorites the parathi breads were so good. With drinks was great value at just over £100 for 4 with tip. Highly recommend

Excellent food and service! Recommended highly.

Great Indian restaurant, eat here regularly

As a South Indian restaurant I expected the food to be very spicy and flavoursome and I was underwhelmed, it was in fact slightly bland. I was also disappointed the chicken in the curry was dry and overcooked. Staff were very polite and friendly however I wouldn't recommend.

The food is not authentic. Taste was awful. The non veg curries tasted very bad and stale. Biriyanis had an unpleasant smell and had no taste. Food is not fresh. This is not how Kerala food tastes. Waste of money. Do not recommend to anyone!

Ordered from here last night. Food arrived on time and it was delicious. This is the best takeaway we have had in Caterham. Definitely order from here again. Moving on had another takeaway from here last night, 7th May. Food was outstanding. All dishes arrived piping hot and oh my so tasty. Loved it. Definitely the best takeaway around for miles.

My partner and I order from here all the time, as vegetarians this is our favourite Indian restaurant, such good quality and authentic South Indian cuisine. Staff are always lovely and have never been disappointed.

Delicious south indian cuisine with many interesting vegetarian options - and they deliver locally - such a treat! Delightful!

We did take away from this place. We ordered on phone and it was ready before committed time. We had Prawn biryani, fish curry and Kerala prantha. Everything was very authentic and amazing. Staff was good and helpful as we asked for recommendations. Must try place.

The food is always amazing, staff are lovely

Food good but 1 hour 40 mins delay on delivery, though was new years eve.

We like... really good food, friendly staff and time just flies there. They do takeaways so good time to support a one off business

Great food, service and ambiance. Will definitely be back. Still not sure of the etiquette for eating a dosa.

Excellent Keralan food... Thali is superb & succulent...

Great Indian takeaway! Way better than the other Indian restaurants near by 👌

Genuinely something different and I believe very authentic for the region. Outstanding food in the restaurant and take out has been good as can be.

It was a wonderful place when it was The Cochin and it's just as wonderful as The Kerala. Excellent and interesting food. South Indian dishes make it far more interesting than your average curry house (appam to go with a meal is a must), but they do the old favourites too (and very well too). They don't deliver (edit: they do now, at least during the lockdown), which is a shame, but it's worth the round trip for a takeaway (we've tried nearly everyone in delivery range but keep coming back here) and it's a lovely place to eat in too. Couldn't recommend it any higher!

Have eaten takeaway a couple of times and tastes freshly made

Food was very good and as a bonus the service was just as good. Nice and clean. Would definitely recommend.

Service very good, food amazing such lovely flavours defiantly recommend

Delicious food, lovely staff. So glad we didn’t go across the road- the menu has more variety than just the usual classics and the food was so full of flavour. We will be back very soon! Thank you.

Went to a friend's 40th birthday the food was great we had the whole basement area

Absolutely fantastic little restaurant, if you love Indian food you must give them a visit!

Great food , different and fresh .

Disappointed, Food was good but portions were very small. there was an extra charge for the pickles and very little if any atmosphere. Expensive for this area and although service was excellent the bill was far too much for the meal. The starters were really small and the coffee was very weak. We seemed to be tucked away downstairs. Would not be suitable for disabled. All portions including rice and bread were really small and needed to be much more like the photos on the menu.

Amazing food, great staff and owners

Found this place by chance, an absolute gem. I shall return.

The best Indian ever! Flawless cuisine served with a great attitude.

The only authentic Kerala restaurant in the area. Friendly staff and ambience. Decent tasting food. Porottas and curries were excellent and the lemon juices. Biryanis needs improvement.

Along with the Raj the best in Caterham

Unique Indian food different from the usual Indian restaurant s

Original menu with great vegetarian options I love the Dosa

Interesting South Indian cuisine, well cooked and presented

Authentic, Indian cuisine. I love this place. There's something wonderfully honest about the food, the service, and the general vibe there. Always a good choice for a meal out!