The Spice in Torridge

Went here and reviewed last October 2023. I was in the area again October 2024 so thought I would give it a go. Only a small doorway on Bideford Quay so not easy to find. Steep stairway up to the first floor restaurant so may not suit those with mobility issues. There is an electric lift on the ground floor but it looked very small to me and some may not like getting in it I reckon. Premises quite big inside, quiet on the night I went but it was wet. Toilets of a reasonable standard. I had the Bombay Chicken as a main ( chicken with minced lamb and a boiled egg ), a saag bhaji as a side and a garlic naan. Took a little while to come but it was tasty and I enjoyed it. Not a lot of atmosphere but the place was quiet due to the weather so perhaps it livens up when the seasons improve.

Food was OK. Poppadoms weren't crispy. Delivery time, shocking ordered at 6.15 delivered at 8.15, called twice to see where our order was only to be told 'soon'. Would order again but for collection next time.

Food was very tasty and good quality Easy to order and friendly staff. Food maybe a little pricey but good overall

I last visited this restaurant 8 years ago and it wasn't great then . As you arrive the restaurant name in parts has fallen off the facia and has been like this for 2 years. This tells me zero pride is taken in this place. We're at an event abd this was the only place we could eat after the event finished . You enter up the steepest set of steps ever . Around 30 of them so if you have mobility issues don't bother. The restaurant was run down and tiered . The furnishings were worn out . The food was served warm With cooked chicken just covered in the relevant sauce you ordered. You were given a knife a fork to eat with and when you asked for a spoon you got a tea spoon . They don't don't do any decent after dinner coffee just straight coffee with milk . Staff ( owner ) watching clips on their phones . No hand wipes available after starters was told to Use the toilet !!! This is an absolute dump of a restaurant and you actually don't deserve people's hard earned money for the service you provide . Good to see a new restaurant open in town called the gurka who were jammed packed offering a 5 star service. No I don't work or know anyone at the gurka but I have used them . Unfortunately we couldn't get in after the event. The owners of this restaurant need to do a refit , sort out their service of hot food. And with so many empty shops in Bideford I'd concider moving to ground floor premises. All in all this restaurant is an utter disaster.

Fancied a curry and chose the Spice in Bideford , it’s hard to state how awful this curry house is but here goes . The food was of poor Quality and service was poor also . Both of us choose chicken dishes but alas the chicken was so dry and chewy and not even the sauce helped . The poppadoms were oil soaked and tasted bitter , “maybe old oil “ . The following day I was ill .

Salad was old and brown and just thrown in bag. I'm sure it would not have served in that state in the restaurant.

I am sorry to say this is the first time I did not enjoy my takeaway the sauce did not taste as it usually does so I was very disappointed it just did not taste the same as usual.

Lovely place, staff were friendly with a sense of humor, service was pretty quick and the food was tasty and good portion sizes. Would have liked a bit of music in the background but that’s just me. Overall very happy and we will be back

Superb service and the food was delicious.

Fantastic food. Very nice delivery driver.

This restaurant has greatly improved over the last couple of months. Just beware their medium hot is quite hot 🔥 but the food is extremely tasty. The atmosphere isn't great but a lovely view from a couple of windows. Recommend

Ordered take out and the food was shockingly bad. Dhaal was the only thing edible. Paneer curry was totally bland.

hit the spot perfectly and so tasty! thanks!

I enjoyed my Chicken Tikka Masala but the rice seemed it was not pilau rice as it was all white without the coloured bits of rice that should have.been in there i was disappointed.

Very tasty meal, and very happy it did arrive early 😀

Curry was delicious, meat was a bit chewy for my liking, poppadoms and Nann bread was lovely.

Out of desperation, we thought we’d try this restaurant again. Ordered the mutton curry for a simple change. Unbelievably chewy meat. Absolutely awful. Only four pieces! The keema rice was so bland and lacking in meat also. Clearly not improved their standard. Next time when this is our only choice of restaurant food, we’ll skip and buy a manky steak bake from Morrisons convenience store.

Delicious food we enjoyed it very much! Good service/collection very friendly staff. 😁🥘

Whilst on holiday we ordered a take away for 4 of us. Service was very good, it arrived on time and the price and quantity was fine. Sadly the food had absolutely no taste! Very disappointing.

Order was late and the korma taste salty and not creams like usual

Was delivered 45 minutes late even though I ordered 2 hours previously via the app. The food was barely warm. The naan bread was cold and the puri was rock hard. Very disappointed.

Me and my fiance went for a meal last night. The meal overall was good but the floor was disgusting. A family group had come in and looked like they had trashed the place and the staff just overlooked it. So unfortunately only 3 stars.

Absolutely lovely! Very happy! Will be ordering again! 😘

The Spice is our go to Indian! No matter how busy the guys are we are always treated with warmth and a smile. The food is always amazing even when we ask for dishes to be cooked slightly different they will do it! It’s always our go to for a date night or even taking the eldest out for a treat :)

Food was bland, chicken was very pink in the middle, popadoms were oily and tasted awful, parters was quite tasteless.. overall definitely not worth the £36+, used to love this restaurant but wouldn’t recommend

Lovely food as usual. I thought the Madras was quite tame considering. However, I would order again, as the food is always Lovely.

Very tasty food. Service was very friendly and quick. Love the descriptions of each meal. This really helped in deciding to have something different for a change- did not disappoint. Very good value for money.

Take away, narnn was burnt and unediable! Korma was tasteless and watery like it had been frozen and zapped in the microwave. Poppadoms was nice and the rice. 40.00 for a meal while we was on holiday overall disappointed and won’t use this place again.

The food was delivered earlier than stated and it was hot. the food wasn't amazing, unfortunately the lamb was rather chewy and the rice was watery, the curry was OK but I thought it lacked a bit of taste. my partner enjoyed hers but wasn't blown away with it.

Oh dear! Unfortunately we, a party of 5, had a very poor experience at The Spice Restaurant in Bideford. Our background is that we have recently moved to Devon and love to eat Indian/Bangladeshi/Nepalese food so had picked The Spice as our first local experience. Our booking was for 7.30pm on a Saturday night. We arrived about 10 minutes early and were promptly seated in the restaurant which was about 1/4 full (this was as busy as it got). Menus given, drinks were ordered and soon received. Our first disappointment was the house red wine, an average cost but it truly tasted like Ribena, not nasty but if I were the owner it would not be a wine I would choose to represent my restaurant with. So after 10-15 minutes contemplating the menu decisions had been made and our order of 12 dishes + naan breads were placed. This is where the second disappointment came in. We waited, and waited, and waited. A table of two arrived, sat, ordered, ate and paid but still we had no food. Many, many online and take away orders went out the door while we still waited. At no point did any of the staff approach us to apologise for the delay and after 1hr 15mins we asked the staff what the problem was. An apology was received saying that they had been very busy with takeaway orders and a promise that the food would be delivered soon. The third disappointment was when the food eventually arrived. The waiter who delivered our food incorrectly labelled/described 80% of the food he placed on the table. He delivered two Peshwari naan breads and one plain naan where the actual order was for one Peshwari and one garlic naan. These naan breads were also the smallest I have ever seen delivered to a table in a restaurant. A portion of boiled rice was delivered instead of pilau rice. The Paneer Tikka was tasteless and was unlikely to have seen the inside of a tandoor oven as described on the menu. A portion of Chicken Madras was missed and after questioning where it was was finally delivered 10 minutes later. When it did arrive it contained just 5 bite sized pieces of chicken, very disappointing! A portion of Saag Bhaji was never actually received but by this time we were just wanting to draw a line under the whole 'Spice' experience. The manager/owner (Naz?) came to apologise and offered to give our wine for free (which we accepted) but he seemed almost oblivious to the fact that we were there in person, sitting at his table in his restaurant ordering his alcohol (always a good profit margin) and his food preferring instead to prioritise his takeaway orders. Will we be going back... Unlikely, instead we will try the other local Indian restaurants and if they are good we will happily consign our memory of the Spice restaurant to the lessons learned portion of our brain. One final thought, when we arrived we noticed the sign on the outside of the building had the 'S' missing (so it reads 'The pice'). If this were your restaurant would this not be considered an urgent repair? First impressions etc. etc!

Very yummy food! Just was great! Good was still hot too when it arrived.

I feel this place gets a harsh view. We paid under £60 for two mains, breads , rice , two drinks an abundance of poppadoms and dips. Service was pleasant albeit a little slow but being a busy bank holiday with lots of takeaway orders I think you need to let somethings slide. Staff all really pleasant , food really tasty . No complaints!

Missing salad from order was not acceptable

That was the worst flavourless curry I have ever had. I think I could have bought a supermarket curry sauce and had more enjoyment. The popadoms were the only good thing. Very watered down curries and burnt over cooked bhajis.

The main elements of the dish were cold and as our cooker had broken (hence why we ordered take away) we had no facilities to reheat and ruined our meals Very disappointed as we were really looking forward to it but won’t be using them again I found a horrid burnt black strip of something in the bottom of the rice which I threw in the bin as I didn’t know what it was Kind regards Jayson

Visited this establishment recently with a group of friends. Conveniently located in the centre of Bideford with a view of the river. We were promptly seated and orders were taken soon after. A member of staff (I'm assuming she was a member of staff) wearing a hoody with her hood up took our order. I've not worked in hospitality but I'm assuming the attire needs to be smart? Food was good with the only downside being portion sizes and cold rice. Overall, a nice place to visit just a shame about the portion sizes.

Had a takeaway and to be honest very bland food, No flavour at all, I note the S in Spice is missing on the building signage but the whole of Spice is missing in their meals , The chicken was a little chewy, Everything was edible but only just, Sorry can’t recommend

You can tell that all the food is prepared from scratch on the premises rather than bought in, even down to naans, bhajis and dips, and it makes such a difference. Unpretentious but comfortable, and with friendly and efficient staff, I have no hesitation in recommending The Spice.

Had a lovely meal, prompt service and polite waiters! Excellent table position with views of the river and the food was nicely presented, piping hot and full of flavours! Only minor criticism that there was no deserts although I know that for many people, a starter and mains course with extras would probably be adequate if honest? Overall, Well done to The Spice!! Nick, Paul and Jon

Was down at Bideford on holiday and went in. Place clean and staff polite but the food not great. Poppadoms seemed stale and chewy. Chicken tikka starter ok chicken biryani had no flavour and sauce very runny. Chicken pathia had no flavour and the keema naan was small. Had bitter on the drinks menu but the young girl taking drinks order didn't know what it was so settled for a cobra. Not worth the money paid Vaulted ceiling so on the chilly side

Do not give full discretion of what you have ordered , chips and rice cold

Always a good meal, delivered on time, good sized portions, definitely recommend. 👌

Take away Well below average expectations for a curry. Chicken madras was tasteless! Vegetable curry was basically cabbage and potato. Very disappointing!

Food arrived cold. Not impressed. Worst we've had.

Really enjoyed the meal, very attentive staff and a good selection. Table slightly too small, the food we had barely fit, but they are doing a great job of working with what they have.

Have been ordering from the spice for years now and have always enjoyed the food but tonight I was extremely dissatisfied. paid 85 pounds for 3 people and our tubs were half empty, food was cold and just feels like a real slap in the face after ordering all this years. would have give 2 stars but the price of the food has knocked it down to a 1. Very disappointing :(

Very good service and the food was very good ,The best Indian we have had whilst on holiday in Appledore , Will definitely use again next time here

The food was absolutely shocking we oder from here alot but after last night never again bland, cold completely gone down hill for £40 expect a bit more

Easy to order and good choice , food ready on time for collection , very tasty! Staff friendly to !

Food was good but the place was cold had keep putting my coat on to keep warm. No music so you could chat without shouting

Great service, all food was delivered correctly and hot. Was staying in a b&b in the middle of nowhere and the driver still found us, perfect.

shocking couldn't believe it. no interest from staff, didn't stay long enough to get my full order, forgot our drinks korma and passanda taste the same which is like nothing minimal taste what do ever never had such a bad meal in my life. which is a shame as it's me and my aethers first meal out in over 10 years. not going back

Great little restaurant, really busy when we went so would recommend booking, the service was friendly and given how busy it was attentive. Best bits for us: peshwari naan, mixed starter, passanda curry.

We didn’t receive the onion bahji as ordered. Instead we had some potato side dish. Also the chicken meat was a little tough. Appeared not as fresh as it could have been. In saying that the rest of the meal was for me enjoyable.

Food was average tonight! Korma instead of a tikka and under cooked naan, the samosas lacked flavour! Gutted as its our usual indian takeaway!!

To be honest, not even average quality Indian. Garlic chilli chicken had little flavour or heat. Pilau rice OK. Tarka daal little flavour. Small flavourless naan. No atmosphere, little interest from the staff. I won't be back.

Food was lovely driver was quick everyone was perfect

The delivery driver was polite, courteous and friendly, the foods aroma beautiful and the flavours exceptional. A most enjoyable meal after a challenging few days. Thank you kindly. 😊🙏🏻

Went here on the 10/10/23 in the early evening. Had as a main the Chicken Bombay. very good it was, chicken in quite a rich but not hot sauce with minced lamb and a hard boiled egg. Very tasty. Had a sag paneer as a side dish and a chapati. Decent meal I thought. Place doesnt stick out when you are looking for it on Bideford Quay, just a narrow doorway with a small glass panel to the side so its easily missed. The premises are on the first floor up steep stairs but there is a small electric lift at street level so I think a person with mobility issues would be OK. Premises seemed clean and tidy with reasonable toilets. I can recommend this place.

Seemed v expensive for a mediocre meal. Everything was okay but nothing more.

Tasty hot food ready on time. Thank you

Delivery was poor, they went to the wrong address, then phoned me up to say the order would be left on the doorstep cause the address they went to didn't open the door. When i finally got the food it was average at best, and thats a generous review.

Always use Spice food is always lovely and hot driver is usually always early which is another bonus the only thing is I never seem to get the 10% discount they do with Just eat with other restaurants.

Lovely tasty food. Great for chatting as no loud background music. Will be back. 😊

Ordered on recommendation but don’t bother! This was the worst food ever, completely inedible. Chicken Tikka was small dry hard chicken leg and the chicken jalfresie a brown soup and foul. Really disgusting,

Good food, and hot. Thank you.

Great food excellent service happy friendly staff the food came out warm and tasty

Regular customer. Delicious every time!

Excellent food, really tasty, friendly driver and delivered on time.

Lovely food! Really enjoyed it .. came early which was a bonus! 😊

Seems to have gone downhill. Jalfrezi with only 3 onions and a couple of peppers. Only 3 chillis. Used to be amazing.

Best indian meal since my visit to Kerala. The guy front of house was so busy, very professional & handled the customers with respect.

Always have a great food! Thankyou

I've known Nas, the owner, for over twenty years. I do love a meal from the Spice when I can afford to splash out.

No complaints, good quality curry's Mrs had korma , I had madras, nice sized pieces of chicken , very tasty ,driver was on time ,food was hot on arrival. Had it delivered to the camp site ultimate camping Abbotsham ... no complaints.

Simply the worst food, all the curries tastes similar and this is not indian food, some cheap Bangladeshi cuisine. Stop calling yourself indian restaurant.

Excellent food excellent service always a pleasure to eat out here would recommend

Food was well cooked and worth it enjoyed every mouth full I'm a chef will be back again loved it

Bang average. One waiter serving and rushed off his feet although it wasn't too busy. Food was very ordinary!

Meal was lovely but very disappointed that the chicken tikka starter was just 4 small pieces of chicken with no salad at all like it used to. Giving a poor rating as expected much more for the price of a chicken tikka starter alone

Great service and food as always

The best Indian restaurant around it catered for all our requests, meat eaters, vegetarian and vegan

The chicken was burnt, black bits in the sauce also and the nann bread masted burnt and no taste of garlic

Relatively tasteless with no sign of fresh herbs

There really is no decent Indian takeaway in Bideford, and The Spice is no exception. The chicken tikka madras was dark brown and the tiny pieces of chicken (paid extra for chicken tikka but it was just ordinary chicken) fell apart like it had been slow-cooked. The pilau rice was just ordinary white rice. The peshwari naan was quite nice, but tiny; Where most naan breads would be folded in their little paper-foil packet, this naan was just a flat circle of bread, it is certainly not the naan depicted in the photos on the menu. The onion bhahji's were terrible, dense and doughy with no discernable crispy strands of onion, they were like the sort you get in supermarket mock "takeaway" boxes, in fact that pretty much describes the whole meal. Kudos to the delivery driver for delivering it about 30 minutes earlier than estimated though.

There really is no decent Indian takeaway in Bideford, and The Spice is no exception. The chicken tikka madras was dark brown and the tiny pieces of chicken (paid extra for chicken tikka but it was just ordinary chicken) fell apart like it had been slow-cooked. The pilau rice was just ordinary white rice. The peshwari naan was quite nice, but tiny; Where most naan breads would be folded in their little paper-foil packet, this naan was just a flat circle of bread, it is certainly not the naan depicted in the photos on the menu. The onion bhahji's were terrible, dense and doughy with no discernable crispy strands of onion, they were like the sort you get in supermarket mock "takeaway" boxes, in fact that pretty much describes the whole meal. Kudos to the delivery driver for delivering it about 30 minutes earlier than estimated though.

I have been to The Spice exactly 3 times, once when I first moved to Devon several years ago, I came with my family and we sat in the restaurant, it wasn't good, so we moved on and tried Prince of India, Taj Mahal and Sagor, all of which disappointed in their own ways also, but not quite as much as The Spice. The second time I was with friends and our go-to Indian, the distinctly average Prince of India, was shut, so we ordered takeaway from The Spice, it was awful once again and I always said I wouldn't give them another chance. Fast forward another few years and I fell victim to the same rationalisation. Fool me twice. This time was probably the worst I've had, the chicken tikka madras was dark brown and the tiny pieces of chicken (paid extra for chicken tikka but it was just ordinary chicken) fell apart like it had been slow-cooked, or more likely hot-held simmering on the hob all night. The pilau rice was just ordinary white rice. The peshwari naan was quite nice, but tiny; Where most naan breads would be oval shaped and folded in their little paper-foil packet, this naan was just a flat circle of bread, it is certainly not the naan depicted in the photos on the menu. The onion bhahji's were really bad, dense and doughy with no discernable crispy strands of onion, they were like the sort you get in supermarket mock "takeaway" boxes, in fact that pretty much describes the whole meal. Kudos to the delivery driver for delivering it about 30 minutes earlier than estimated though.

Can’t rate the atmosphere as we had a takeaway but the quality of food and quick service here was exceptional. Particular praise for the tandoori mixed grill which had really generous portions of beautifully marinaded lamb and chicken. The Naan breads were fresh and soft the onion Bhaji’s were tasty and crisp and not too oily .The main jalfarezi curries were spot on with plenty of fresh green chilli. Very very high standards for takeaway food .The management and staff really know their business and their care and professionalism shows in the food they produce. Well done !

Saturday is takeaway night for us and mostly Indian so we have sampled a vast amount over the years. The Spice was very nice with easy online ordering and ready in under half an hour. Food very tasty and piping hot despite a 5 mile journey back to our holiday accommodation.

The food was fantastic and service was excellent. Will definitely be using the spice more often.

Chicken was tuff to cut and eat Nan bread was cold it was a disappointment for us this time and the driver was late as well

Delicious food. Visited quite frequently. Service not overly fast but you kind of need that in. Between courses as Indian food really filling!!

The chicken was lovely, not reformed rubbish, but sadly we weren’t fans of the curry sauce. Naan & rice were nice though.

Super good again, so tasty. Nice & hot !

Could not recommend this place more! All of the food was delicious, it arrived right on time and they threw in a poppadom and dips for free! They do not skimp on portion sizes or the quality of the ingredients. I ordered peshwari lamb, the mixed starter and the vegetable samosa (a big dinner for one person but I needed to reach the min. order price and the samosas sounded great to my hungry self) and was blown away. Perfect for cravings, you have one very full and very happy customer!

Our chicken Tikka was lovely the only complaint was the sauce was too watery and it was late arriving

Lovely food and great service. We had a slight issue with our order but called them up and they more than made up for it, super speedy too. Deffo recommend:-)

Awful chicken was still pink in the middle after waiting 30mins, they didn't care. Needs to be shut down, reporting to EHO

Amazing quality food, nice & early ! 👍🏻

Very poor service the waiter (s) clearly did not want to be there. Food arrived quickly and both of us very disappointed with what we ordered, just bland. Welfare facilities shocking and no means to dry your hands.