Terrible service, waiter very grumpy and not helpful. Food bland and poor quality.

inedible peshwari naan bread and tasteless chicken jalfrezi. won’t go again.

Food was pretty awful (bahji that was too floury with no sauce, dry and strangely-constructed pakoras, overpriced and poor chips), atmosphere was quite non-existent. Some nice music then interrupted by sounds on the speaker like sounded like phone notifications or a game being played.

Lacks the atmosphere it once had sadly. After 4 years I’m not sure we’ll return

Essential atmosphere, excellent service and very tasty food. The true flavors of India

Good food, helpful and friendly service, good value for money

The restaurant was very busy. The food was served quickly and the staff were very polite.

I work in India sometimes and this is the most authentic Indian restaurant in Durham. Really good

Food was just OK. Bit bland, no depth of flavour. Tables very close together so little privacy. Service fine. Prices seemed high for the experience.

One of my favourites in this area if the north east. Lovely the food and the staff are really friendly and helpful if you’re unsure of any dishes.

Always lovely to come here. Great food and service. Would recommend!!

Excellent food and very good service from the lady. Will definitely go back.

We were sat at our table for half an hour and received no service so we left!

Absolutely awful cold undercooked nan bread chicken tikka worse then a supermarket curry lamb madras like dog food bland and mushy rice awful service and miserable waiter we were only ones in there i now know why would never return

The meal was delicious with good, attentive and friendly service

Lovely food, excellent service. Large portions and very garlicy nan!

Really disappointing, after seeing very good reviews !?? The place was cold and it lacked any atmosphere, almost empty on a Saturday night Although the food was ok the portions were really small, the serving dishes were half full. Two different types of naan breads just piled on a plate The waiter appeared uninterested and wasn’t helpful, two of the sides didn’t appear and he just said he’d told us they didn’t do that dish ,which he hadn’t . We left cold and still hungry

Tasty food & drink especially for gluten free vegetarian. Needed to book.

We didn’t rate our choice of food , it was very bland. We left almost all of our meal. The restaurant lacked any atmosphere and it wasn’t welcoming.

Friendly staff but food very average. Not a very relaxing atmosphere.

Enjoyed my meal again in pleasant surroundings with friendly staff who will look after you if you have any question on dishes or spice level.

While nothing was wrong with either the meal or the service there was just nothing stand out about the meal. If you are looking for a quick meal before a show then I would recommend, for anything beyond this maybe go elsewhere.

Great food friendly staff would recommend a visit to this place

The waiter was curt and unfriendly, table was tiny - hardly big enough for two plates let alone anything else. Food was okay, except for the onion bhaji which was inedible, which was a shame as onion bhajis are normally my favourite. There was no desert menu and they didn’t offer coffees or complimentary drinks like other Indian restaurants do. Altogether unremarkable. Would not recommend.

Worst food and service we have had in a long time and it was expensive

excellent food, and the service was ok, but there didn't seem to be any recognition of our booking, and the starters arrived with the main meal

Horrible place. Tasteless food and not cheap. Food looked like it was just straight off the microwave. Tandoori chicken was made of some chicken cubes (suspicious) in a weird colour and no spices. Rest was greasy and odd. Service wasn’t pleasant, almost had to set our own table, lucky we didn’t have to do the dishes. Very expensive meal as well. Do avoid this place and ignore average score.

As a general rule, the spicier the food, the more it needs to cool a bit before eating, other wise the heat of the cooked food interferes with the heat of the spiciness. We found that the medium spiciness needed to cool a bit before eating, and when we did so, it was delicious.

Great service and food was lovely. We will be back

Best onion bhaji ever! Super nice staff, great food. Easy to find.

Lovely staff with generous welcome and delicious wide range of food!

We have been here before and it has always been very busy with a great atmosphere and excellent food. However on this occasion the place was just about empty, very quiet and I sensed straight away that something was wrong. We decided to stay and eat anyway and ordered our food. The food that arrived was absolutely disgusting. It was like the worst, most tasteless ready meal you could ever imagine. The sauce was runny and completely lacking in any flavour, absolutely terrible. We did not eat it, refused to pay for it as it was completely inedible and not of any kind of restaurant standard and we went to get pizza instead. Very, very bad unfortunately.

First time at this lovely Indian restaurant, what a little gem of a place food was fabulous as was the service really friendly would definitely recommend

Food was fine , no atmosphere restaurant was empty and waiter/ owner not very happy

Excellent food and nice service in a nice environment. Perfect!

Ready meals. Sent all the food back. It was horrible

Really disappointed after reading raving reviews for this restaurant it was our first visit and we wouldn’t return, we arrived at 5:30 waiter wasn’t very friendly, we ordered poppadoms and pickles, these tasted like they’d been reheated and definitely not fresh then for our mains we had lamb madras, cha a balti and chicken tikka masala, rice, spicy chips, saag aloo and a garlic naan, none of it tasted fresh all very bland, the balti tasted powdery and the madras wasn’t even like a curry, the rice was like sticky buttery microwave rice certainly not fresh pilau rice, the saag aloo tasted off and was inedible and the naan didn’t look full cooked and the garlic butter had just been added on at the end, the spicy chips were just frozen crinkle chips with a spice added on. We didn’t eat much of our food at all and we then sat from 6:20 until 6:50 before our plates were removed and that was 5 mins after I went and complained, it took a further 5 mins for the bill to come of which they did take 50% off the main meals price but still wasn’t worth what I paid, hopefully it’s not like this all the time but we wouldn’t go back and try!

Staff extremely informative friendly and sociable food was exceptional and good value

Booked for 7.30 and the restaurant was full to the brim of groups of school/college students. The young waiter suggested we came back at 8 pm as the students were running late (or eating late) which was quite OK. We went to eat somewhere else which was a shame as Shaheens has a good reputation and I was looking forward to eating here. The restaurant needs to be more realistic in timings and should have advised us accordingly as because Durham is full of young people this kind of experience will not be uncommon.

great food , great service , as it always is .

I've really liked this restaurant every time I've been in the past but this time was disappointing. Not only was all of our food noted on the receipt as medium spice despite requesting different spice levels (which was reflected in the taste) they also charged us 12 pounds for 6 popadoms by adding a bill for pickles alongside the popadoms(ie the sauces and 3 spiced pickles) which we did not request, and they refused to remove. I'll add that these pickles are charged per person despite the fact that all sizes of parties are given the same amount of sauces, and it is not obvious on the menu that this random charge will be applied.

Food was excellent, service was excellent. Our new favourite restaurant will definitely return

Very authentic fabulous food Lovely friendly family run restaurant We thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.

There didn’t appear to be any sign of our reservation. We had poppodoms, starters and for mains a dansak, pathia and a couple of chicken tikka’s - bland, bland, bland. Also wanted a pilau and several plain boiled rice. Apparently we were served all pilau - just tasted of rice with a bit of butter!! The poppodoms are very expensive - £1 each plus a £1 per person for the pickle tray. This cost us £11 for

Bon accueil mais qualité des plats très médiocre voire mauvaise. Riz pulao très basique sans aucun légumes, viande coupée en très petits morceaux noyés dans plein de sauce. Les nans n’étaient pas bons. Rien à voir avec des restaurants indiens fréquentés en France ou en Inde. Aucun plus ! Je n’y retournerais pas.

we had an early booking at 6pm so it was quiet. Lovely food. Currently my favourite Indian in Durham.

We visited on my wife’s birthday with high hopes given the glowing reviews. However nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve been eating curry for the last thirty five years and the chicken tikka, saag bhaji and tarka dahl were the worst examples I’ve had. The food is not freshly cooked. We left the meal and no payment was taken but for the benefit of other people who might choose to dine here, please beware.

For the first time in approx 25 years I was disappointed with our dinner. We felt sorry for the one waiter who was working - he tried his best but it wasn’t what we’re used to. My husband was told not to have his Jalfrezi any more than medium - he said it was tasty but bland which was a shame. Our dhal was forgotten and definitely not worth waiting for. My son got a garlic naan rather than the plain one he ordered. When we were done eating we had to wait a significant amount of time to pay & leave. We’re not giving up though and will be back as I’m sure this was merely a bad night which even the best of restaurants have.

Enjoyed my meal here and there was a good selection of mains to choose from so you should find a dish you like to eat.

Had a lovely meal tonight of chicken tikka balti which was really good. The staff are friendly and helpful. It’s well priced in a good location but most of all the food is good.