The School of Spice in Spelthorne

Let's be honest, someone only makes the time to write a review of something was really good or if something needs to be addressed. We went to this restaurant about a year ago and yes the food was very good. I did have one issue. We had friends who wanted to try it out. I was hesitant but I said ok. The problem I mention, was when I went to pay for the meal. They make me feel really uncomfortable by shoving the card reader in my face and saying tip? I found this rude the first time, we went. I clicked the button and the tip was quite large. For £60 meal it was like an extra £20. Which yes for great service that could be justified. So this time round,I was like I hope they don't do that again. Can you guess what happened? The same again, you say? Yep. Just shoved the card reader in my face and said tip. If people want to give a tip. They should do that on their on accord and not feel pressurised into it. I would definitely not go back, just because of this one aspect. Is this petty. I don't think so. As it's obviously what they do. As twice now the exact same thing has happened. The food was pretty good, but mostly irrelevant. It was because the food was good that this got a 3/5. If they didn't do this annoying thing with the tip, this score would definitely be higher. I sadly cannot go any higher. As I was rating the meal on the overall experience and this aspect really let it down for me.

First class from the moment you walk through the door. Greeted with open arms.. The food is beyond a high standard and myself and girlfriend always leave full and very happy. *Edit* We returned to this awesome restaurant on Wednesday night the 20/11/24 and it was like visiting family. Food excellent. Manager and staff so friendly.. We love it there. THE best currie house there is.. Gmae Over to everywhere else.. Thank you.

Me and my boyfriend have came here a few times now, our favourite starter is Chaat and it is AMAZING! Its seasoned so beautifully and so tender, the bread melts in your mouth. We love to get madras as its the perfect spice level and so tasty! 😁 my boyfriend left his wallet on the seat and the man came looking for us 10 minutes later (luckily we was just in the pub next door grabbing a drink). The staff are very welcoming and atmosphere is very calm and comfy❤️ deffo recommend this place.

Super service and fantastic food. Methi gosht was my wife's choice and mine the Lamb Bhuna. Lovely flavours. Staff very attentive. It was our wedding anniversary and they surprised us with a scrumptious ice cream dessert. A wonderful touch! Well worth a visit!

Ordered a takeaway chicken madras and chicken tikka masala wth rice and bombay potatoes Great food, really enjoyed it, definitely recommend

We popped in for diner after being at Thorpe park and not knowing the area at all we just googled Indian restaurants. The service was great , very friendly and attentive staff so 10 out of 10 there … but unfortunately the food was absolutely terrible .Probably one of the most bland and flavourless curries I have ever had . We ordered 3 different curries and when they arrived all looked pretty much same colour and texture and no surprises there they tasted the same : bland. The chicken in the curry were thin slices , normally get big chunks of chicken in a curry . Not a lot of sauce either . Ordered a portion of onion bhajis , 2 very small ones , usually we get 4 big chunky onion bhajis when we order . The chapatti was literally just one in the portion, we obviously go to very generous curry houses because we always get 2 in a portion. Curry portions were small too, we normally feel stuffed after a curry , not this time . The bill was handwritten and difficult to read but it came to £78 , that was for 3 different chicken curries ( in the menu they were around £12.95 each ) , 1 side of onion bhaji, 1 roti , 2 pilau rice , 1 large beer and 1 coke . It seems quite pricey for what we had . We regularly go to dishom and pay not much more than that ( food not drinks , obviously drinks are much more expensive in dishom, just comparing the food bill tho ) for a much better curry experience. Nevertheless we still left a £10 tip as like I said the staff were incredibly hard working and friendly and very attentive such a shame the food let it down . I ll go somewhere else next time we are in the area

Great meal tonight. Lovely staff and great service

Probably the worst Indian takeaway I've ever had. Biriyani tasted like nothing, more reminiscent of Mexican rice than biriyani. The curries were ordered were very bland, but the chat another member of our party ordered was inedibly spicy (which is fair enough, it is marked as spicy). Honestly, very disappointed, Hope others had a better experience.

What a great little gem of a place to eat. Took a party of 8, had a fantastic meal and great service. We were recommended by friends, and now we are recommending!!

Great freshly cooked food.good cold beer.staff very friendly. Highly recommended.

Wonderful food and exceptionally nice and helpful staff & management. A delight to go there every time. They make us so welcome.

Amazing food, beautiful family run business, most of all, I always feel welcome here.

If you want a really good curry that don't cost the earth. This is the place.

Visit there for a great curry every time we visit Shepperton. Easy to book, happy staff greet you , food and drink excellent

Chicken tikka masala arrived in a bright red sauce with NO flavour .Madras sauce was ok but meat was better.Naan bread appalling - doughy and dry,Dahl not spicy at all .Very very disappointing meal .

If it's Indian curry, definitely come here!!

Not the best madras I've had. The sauce seemed to be blended to a pulp. Not what I'm used to with a madras. There are no chunks of onion or anything else that I normally get in a madras. Poppadoms nice and fresh but mint sauce lacking flavour. It's wasn't bad but wasn't great either.

Always an amazing service and delicious food. We’ve had many takeaways from School of Spice and we’ve never been disappointed. Tonight we ordered with family and part of our order was missing, after a quick call, the rest of delivered within 10 minutes with an apology. The food is always hot, fresh and very tasty.

The best curry by far! Amazing service and amazing food. So fresh and full of flavour and not greasy. I usually have a take away and collect it and it's amazing. Highly recommend!

Insanely delicious food, this is love

Great service lovely food fantastic atmosphere

Let’s start with the positives - food is superb, good choice - plenty of chefs specials - portions are managed but I think appropriate. The staffing team are polite. Attentive and do their best to oblige. Now the hiccups - obscure rule that you can’t order popadoms without ordering your meal - so daft ! - only one individual trying to service a full floor of dinners - wait to receive courses. But with any quality feedback we end on a high - concerns addressed by management - extremely polite and receptive to dinner feedback - quality of food balances out disappointment in service.

Really tasty Madras, could have been a little hotter but the flavour was lovely. Nice staff and nice little venue.

Nice curry house worth a visit.

Very tasty food and very friendly staff

One of the best Indian restaurants around. Service is great, very friendly staff and lovely premises

They have amazing pizza. I'm coming this place often. I recommend.

Lamb meat dry. Staff were very loud throughout evening. Alcohol free beers not available. Hand written bill difficult to read.

Arrived at 19:20 for a 19:30 reservation. After waiting at the table for 15 mins had to ask a staff member if we could order food - albeit we had ordered and received drinks by now. 15 mins later the one small starter we ordered came out. After asking for our mains 3 or 4 times (staff apologised for the delay) we then waited until 20:55 before deciding we couldn’t wait any longer and walked to the till to pay for drinks and the one starter - amazingly at that point our food came out of the kitchen….1hr and 20 minutes after we ordered. We now had to eat the food very quickly as we needed to leave to collect our son. The waiter then arrived with the bill and asked if we would like to leave a tip!!!! No offer of recompense or even a free drink whilst we were waiting . Shocking service levels. The only reason I’ve given 2 stars rather then 1, is that when the food finally arrived it was good.

We haven t been here for a while and we went for a friends birthday. Food was excellent service very attentive and friendly and a really nice atmosphere of a busy restaurant. Always better to book , just in case they are busy. You will have a very relaxed experience, as you are not hurried away, well done Raj and team

We used school of spice every Saturday evening for a takeaway always lovely 5 star. Me and my wife pop in for a lovely meal last night very friendly stuff thank you

Had a takeaway from here on 29 June taste was okay but both ended up with upset stomachs so be warned

Peters was amazing! Appreciate the great service😁

The worst resteurant experience ever! I usually don't write reviews but todays night was just unbelievable! They sat us nex to group of people 15-20 for birthday party which was ok they were loud but could handle until one guest starts shouting she needs more prosseco ( instead of ordering with their waiter ) I did ask for them to keep the noise a bit down due to also having a dinner and wanted to speak to my family. The situation escalated to a point where two people from the group came over to my table interrupting me during my dinner to have an argument. Raj the waiter or resteurant manager came over to us clearly explaining that they booked table 3 weeks ago and we walked in without booking so we should just accept the fact after being rude and unprofessional he gone over to other table and hug the guest cleary showing they were mates so why showing respect to ' walk in guests '. ofc by end of night we paid around £90 for a dinner with shocking customer service by Raj and average food , shouting for 2 hours to be able to talk to my family ! Oh and forgot to mentioned as they will reply that they offered us different table to move to ,but guess when - when we were half way through our main course :) to avoid disappointment on your visit better pop in to Mumbai square down the road !

I've called in a few times when visiting & never been dissapointed. friendly staff, good food & plenty of choise. i had vegtable biriani, there was not muchbof a vegtable sauce, but the potatoes were delicious.. cooked to perfection & really tasty.

Lovely place, great food just a touch cold - the place not the food! Great service

Its a shame the website/Tripadvisor pictures of the Restaurant have not been updated since the refurbishment

School of Spice is one of the best restaurants around. The place itself is very nicely done and the food is absolutely delicious.

Regularly order a Saturday evening takeaway and never disappointed. Food is spot on, well priced and the most friendliest of staff and owners. Will continue to visit regularly.

Wow, thank you what an amazing meal, delivered on time and such a lovely friendly man who delivered it to us 😀 We have had a few takeaways recently and each one has been 100% thank you so much, we will be back.

The food was first class and a great selection. The service and waiters were very good.will definitely return to this venue.

I've now been to School of Spice 5 or 6 times over a period of a couple of years. I cannot rate them high enough. The food is amazing and the service always first class. I've now been there often enough to be able to say the standard of food and service is consistently good. Plus, the restaurant itself is spot on. Intimate and nice enough for a first date or an important anniversary. But, not too intimidating that you can't just pop in for a great meal. In, my opinion, they've got it completely right and just about the best Indian restaurant I've ever had the pleasure to frequent. Thank you School of Spice.

Lovely meal, we were a BIG group but the service and food was second to none.

I travel to visit this restaurant for over 40 mins it’s that good. Food is beautiful and of good quality. My favourite dish is the Haldi Chicken. Staff are so friendly and make you feel very welcome. I really look forward to bringing my family to see the team at the School of Spice!

ridiculous place....only indian ive ever been in where you cant order popadums til you ordered a main course....why?....portions small, meat was indifferent...not going back

If you are a member of the LGBTQ community, and are looking for a place to eat with your partner. DO NOT dine here. The whole experience at this restaurant was odd and subpar. Not to mention the discrimination that my partner and I faced while we dined here, by the WORKER. First, they did not allow us to order any food until we had ordered drinks, and received them… We had never experienced this before, anywhere, so it was a bit awkward to start with. Not to mention the workers here don’t seem to have a sense of customer service orientation, and it felt like they were doing us a favour. My mother-in-law was not hungry, and did not want to eat. They told us that even if she didn’t eat, there was a £15 fee just for sitting, so she was forced to order something from the menu. I am not sure if this is normal in England and the UK since we are from Canada. The food is okay, and could honestly improve in taste, and portion size. The WORST part of this experience was at the end of our meal. The waiter asked how my partner and I know each other. Not sure how this is any of his business to begin with. I told him that he is my boyfriend, the waiter corrected my answer to “friend” I once again stated the word to make it clear. The waiter laughed in our faces. When I asked him what was so funny, he told me that since he is muslim it is not allowed for two men to be together, and that it may not be funny for us, but it is for him… I immediately defended my lifestyle, the same way he was defending his. And to laugh at a paying customer, just because of their lifestyle is NOT OKAY, ANYWHERE. I asked him to please respect us, the same way we respect his beliefs, and he did not seem to care about his actions, and did not offer an apology for his rude and disrespectful manner of behaving, not just because we are customers, but to two ordinary people.

I travel to visit this restaurant for over 40 mins it’s that good. Food is beautiful and of good quality. My favourite dish is the Haldi Chicken. Staff are so friendly and make you feel very welcome. I really look forward to bringing my family to see the team at the School of Spice!

Yet another lovely evening spent in this friendly and welcoming restaurant. As always the staff were efficient professional and friendly . The food is always of the highest quality and we had the most wonderful evening. The restaurant is always spotlessly clean and we would never consider going anywhere else Thank you for such a superb evening - we'll be back again soon. .

Very disappointed, I visited this evening with 14 of my work colleagues for a leaving do. Is this restaurant trying to loose customers. No poppadoms until you have ordered your main meal is not a usual practice. On the plus side the food was good. Perhaps we had overwhelmed the staff, maybe they are not used to dealing with such a large group. Closing time of 11 pm for a restaurant on a Friday night also seems strange.

Our group had a very warm welcome as usual and wonderful food. We cannot speak too highly of this establishment. Thank you so much to Raj and the team for another great evening.

Excellent food and service that makes you smile ☺ Really some of the best curry I've had, good portions, perfect poppadoms and dips etc etc. We enjoy coming back here when we can. Definitely one of the highlights of Shepperton.

I visit the restaurant very often, eat in and take away as well. The food is amazing and the staff it’s aways extremely friendly and helpful. Highly recommend it! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Raj and team for another great evening. A happy start to the new year, hope it is a good one for you. A group of us visit this restaurant every few weeks and we love it. There is always a warm welcome and wonderful food. What could be better?

Visited with my family and parents early on a Saturday evening. Wonderful friendly staff who were amazing with the kids. The food was superb and we had a fantastic time. Highly recommended.

Simply the best! Impeccable service, friendly staff, wonderful food. Why would you go anywhere else?

As usual food was amazing, however having sat down at just before 7pm we didn’t get our food until gone 8.15!! 8pm I asked how long food would be and was told a few minutes as kitchen was busy although restaurant wasn’t. Take aways seemed to be flying out the door.. 15 minutes later I was told another 5 minutes by a different waiter who seemed to think it funny, I wasn’t laughing though. Had it not been for the fact that we’ve been here before and knew the food would be good, we’d have walked out!! It seems we can sit and wait, drinking more while we are, while the Uber eats or Just Eat orders are prioritised so they don’t get penalised. Will think twice before returning. Bill came out very quickly though!!!

Great food great staff Still the best curry house in the area. Still the best curry house in the area

Really good curry good service always very helpful

Visited with a group of mates. Below average visit. As experienced by a previous reviewer, we sat down, got some drinks, asked for poppadoms whilst we browsed the menu and got the following response: “we take the poppadom order with the rest of the order”. We questioned it, but they stuck to this strange stance. We even asked a different waiter and got the same response. Very odd and never experienced this in an Indian before - as most people do, we love to munch on some whilst browsing the menu. Starters were good. Main course - I ordered ‘Methi Ghost’ I think they mean ‘Gosht’. Menu stated it was ‘fairly hot’. It was not hot in the slightest. Definitely mild. Lamb was fatty. Small chunks and a small portion. Lacked flavour too. Rice was a small portion. Naan was decent, but small. Onion bhajis were oily. Was very average service and below average food. Still can’t get over the poppadom rule. Will not be returning.

An Ok curry house Very strange that none of the staff would let us have poppadoms until we had ordered our main meal. Never experience this before and was very odd and a shame to start the meal that way. My bottle of beer wasn’t chilled enough My starter, mixed tandoori was quite nice and a good portion but the main meal was let down a bit with smaller portions, including the rice. It was quite tasty but wasn’t medium spice level. The bread was good though, packed with flavour and crispy. It was an ok curry, unfortunately nothing special

Ate here recently with a friend and the food is great but the customer service is simply odd. Our server, an older chap, repeatedly said we were not allowed to order any popadoms or wine until we had ordered the main food which was strange, we had never come across this before. He then only took a wine order from one of us after we asked to have the wine menu returned to order some wine, and then he constantly focused on how long we had to eat the popadoms before our main food and even gave us a time limit?!? We asked to keep the popadoms to enjoy with our mains but apparently that is not allowed? We were not doing anything wrong, just two 50+ Mums enjoying a nice evening catchup, but we both felt like small children in trouble for something. It was really very strange and spoiled the experience for us. I doubt we will return which is a shame as the food was great.

A friend and I visited yesterday for dinner and we were told repeatedly no popadoms or drinks until we had ordered our mains; how bizarre..! Then the same server kept checking on the popadoms and told us we were not allowed to keep them to enjoy with our main dish and even gave us a time limit to finish them?!? We were not being slow in any way at all and we were both speechless by the approach of the server. The same server only took a wine order from one of us after having already removed the wine menu and didn't even think to ask to see if I wanted a glass, he just walked away. This experience spoiled our evening and I doubt very much we will return. Neither of us have ever experienced service like that before.

Wonderful evening once again. Lovely staff, excellent service, terrific food, good atmosphere. A group of us visit regularly and no longer go anywhere else. How is this no. 2 restaurant for the area? It should be 1!

Had a couple of nights stop over in Shepperton & liked the look of this restaurant. We weren't disappointed. Cosy atmosphere, amazing food & great service even though they were extremely busy. Definitely go back if we visit the area again. & the building was amazing, being an old school.

Very authentic, good food but don't expect it to be mild! Less commercial than the other Indian restaurants in Shepperton which is a big plus.

From the welcome greeting to a fond farewell, this restaurant is 5⭐️ all the way. Excellent food and service cannot fault a thing. The restaurant is set in an old school house, but you ain't eating school dinners. The meals are exquisitely cooked, full of...

A group of us meet here regularly for a meal. As stated before in previous reviews, we used to try a different Indian restaurant each time we got together, but now it is always here. Why try different places when you have found the best!...

I've never dined in the restaurant so cant comment on that, but have ordered takeaway countless times. The food is always hot and cooked excellently. We did move outside of their delivery area so I now collect it myself, that's how much better it is...

Nice flavoursome food, shall go again.

We love this place. The best food, wonderful service, lovely people. A group of us visit regularly. We used to go to different places but now do not want to go anywhere else.

After rugby rang up to book at a moment’s notice.said busy but would get us in It was busy and we had to sit at bar for 20 mins. Turn no problem Seated and service excellent as was the food Chat with hard working owner...

I went to School of Spice, Shepperton on 03/02/2022 as part of a work meal out and I would never return for a few reasons. The chicken in the korma was dry, overcooked and had a funny texture. The rice and chapati was good, but overall the meal was disappointing. What I found the most difficult was the attitude of the older man who took our payments. I can’t say if he took an instant dislike to me specifically, but it certainly felt like that. From the start, he was dismissive, ignored me as I attempted to ask for water yet he chatted away with my colleague. I asked for a receipt, which he ignored and when I politely asked for a VAT receipt again, he was obviously irritated and gave me a hand written one. In fairness, his colleague gave me the receipt I asked for, but I won’t be returning and wouldn’t recommend. However, this is just one persons opinion, so decide for yourself.

They do not disappoint. I have been going here for 15 years. Will never go anywhere else. Curry is amazing and Raj is a great guy too!

Dinner with friends, were recommended to visit School of Spice and so pleased we did! Given a warm welcome when we arrived. The food was really good and beautifully presented. Service is excellent. Highly recommend 5* experience.

Delicious food and great service. There were lots of vegetarian and vegan options and the food was out quickly! Would definitely come back again!

Really enjoyed our meals here tonight. Very good menu and the food was delicious,full of flavour with really good service as well. I felt the prices were reasonable as well especially considering how good the meals tasted, not huge portions but enough. Would highly recommend to anyone and I will be back whenever in the area again. Thank you.

Always good service and always amazing food.

Delicious food, excellent service, charming staff. We are a group of friends who meet regularly and used to visit a variety of Indian restaurants in the area but since finding School of Spice we have not looked anywhere else.

Very slow service spoilt the evening waited 30 mins for starters and even then got them only after reminding the waiter that we hadn’t had them Main course arrived another 45 mins later and although it’s wasn’t as ordered we didn’t have the will to...

We are so fussy with Indian, and this restaurant is absolutely delicious. I have ibs and can’t eat so many random things. They took so much special care in the meal to make sure it was perfect. It’s so safe if you have an intolerance. Nevermind that it was one of the most delicious meals Iv ever tasted! Will recommend to everyone!

I have passed this place so many times and not tried it. Won't be making same mistake. Delicious good quality food. With fantastic friendly staff.

Lovely food and service. Not my favourite but of course this is up there as an Indian restaurant that must be visited to alternate if like me you like a change now and then.

Excellent Madras and all the trimmings here.

Been here tonight, always been a loyal customer but feels as though they just take as many people as possible for money and when you say your not happy with portion sizes, service etc they just say oh. Bad customer service. Chicken was hard and gristly. Didn’t take any money off!! Not happy one bit. Wouldn’t even give one star for tonight very sad!

Very delicious food, good attentive service, nice atmosphere. Would definitely recommend.

Great food and very good service. Highly recommend

Have just come back from a really lovely meal with family and friends. The food was delicious, with options for vegans. We were met with a warm friendly welcome. Would definitely recommend.

Very tasty curry!! Would definitely go back! Plus we wasn't rushed, which was good!

Usual top quality food, others should aspire to their quality food.

Great east Indian food and friendly service!

I thought I was going to a restaurant not a 'school dining hall'. Perhaps the clue is in the name... It may be my expectations but when I go to a restaurant I like to be treated as a valued customer not an annoyance. To...

We thought we would give this restaurant a try after many years of avoiding due to past bad experience but if anything it is worse ! The restaurant looks tatty and unclean but in fairness probably isn’t but there is no care, no etiquette,no pleasantries...

I’m really sorry to have to complain. I’ve been a customer for more than 20 years. The last couple of times Ive ordered , I was told delivery would be within the hour. One hour twenty the first time, second time an hour 15! When...

5/5 We were recommended school of spice by our airbnb host. It did not disappoint! Perfect, fresh popadoms with plenty of chutney. Tasty sheek kebab Beautiful biryani with sweet spicy madras sauce. The garlic naan was crispy yet soft - perfect! If we didnt live...

Fantastic service, fantastic food. Couldn't say more good things. Stop reading this review and order.

We booked a table for 2 for an evening meal - Saturday night. The service was very friendly and prompt and the food was excellent. The chicken Nawabi was particularly good. Also the bill at the end was a pleasant surprise as it was really...

This restaurant always over-charges and the food gave me a bad tummy although it was mild. The cream must have been off. Never again

Best curry we've had in years. Service was excellent. Would definitely recommend

I live in South Manchester where we have some amazing fantastic Indian restaurants. Whenever I come to Shepperton to see my mate we always eat at the School of Spice and it NEVER fails to serve up the most gorgeous food. I had Chicken Nawabi this time which I haven't had before and boy what a treat that was! Raj and his team were super friendly and attentive without being obtrusive and the whole dining experience was a joy. Keep up the great work Raj, you've got a truly brilliant restaurant.

This restaurant was one of the first we visited once places were allowed to re-open. On that occasion we went with our daughter for her birthday with her husband and little son and it was wonderful to be able to eat out together in such...