The best restaurants serving Indian food in South Lakeland North West

We have bought food there twice. The guys are kind and serve generous portions. Really friendly, and I would go back again and again. Thanks for being authentic 🤗

The spice Essence 48-50 Main Street, Kirby Lonsdale. LA6 2AJ Tel: 01524 272725 Date of Visit 21st May 2023. No. 164 A pleasant warm early summers evening and you could be in far worse places than Kirby Lonsdale in Cumbria. A stroll over to a very busy Devils Bridge with its usual array of bikers and people swimming in the river. I strolled back to the village and made my way to an Indian restaurant by the Name of SPICE ESSENCE. A busy little place with seating for around 60 people. A warm friendly greeting on my arrival. Decked out in warm neutral colours situated on the first floor of a small building tucked away down a little side street. I decided on my usual bench-mark stuff to begin with, Poppadom’s with the pickle tray, there was a yogurt dip on the tray which I found to be absolutely delicious, I enquired what was in it and was told, Yogurt, cream, fresh garden mint, chillies and mango, it was superb. Next up was Sheek Kebabs, perfectly spiced minced Lamb on a bed of fried onions and a fresh crispy salad. I asked the waiter to recommend a main for me he suggested the special mixed Masala. A dish of Lamb, chicken wings and king prawns, in a rich creamed coconut and ground almond sauce, it had a delicious sweetness and extremely tasty. Accompanied by pilau rice and a delicious peshwari naan. Guess what’s for my evening meal tomorrow? The cost of this little extravaganza was £ 35.35 which included a pint of COBRA for the decent price of £5.20. Parking I would guess to be a problem during busy times. I’m going to give this place a solid 8.5 Well worth searching out, opens a 5.30 pm.

Rude waitress at the front Rubbish service One nice lady try to be helpful but seemingly advised not to help. They served the food extremely late almost an hour, despite us being the only people in the shop. Ketchup base curries need to change. One to avoid 👍 Chips were ok and the best thing about place👍

My partner and I ate here on 4-5-25. Service was initially great, food selection was good and generally tasty. We were having a really pleasant evening. The toilets downstairs unfortunately were a bit unclean and the area smelled of stale cigarette smoke, but this did not detract from our experience so far. HOWEVER my partner then found a long black curly hair embedded and cooked within an onion bhaji, which instantly put us off from eating further. I complained very discretely to the manager, away from the eating area and other diners, and asked for a goodwill discount but was met with a dismissive and flippant attitude and the response of "well it's not like we did it on purpose" and "these things happen". Eventually the manager agreed to a 20% discount off our bill, which was acceptable but hard fought! When we left the premises we were made to feel unwelcomed and as if we had done something wrong. Any return to Ambleside will surely omit a visit to this place in the future.