Bengal Spice in Islington

Good 👍 -food was warm -food tasted good (flavours) -delivery man was very friendly and kind Bad 👎 -dark black hair in my garlic naan ? Things happen but still has to be mentioned -chicken was dry - the man who took my call gave me a rant about food cooking times when all I was asking for was an estimated delivery time

Fantastic staff, work really hard to ensure you get what you need. Bit pricy but food is clean and tastes like authentic Bangladeshi food.

Just discovered this place despite it being around the corner. I noticed their ‘home cooking’ sign outside and decided to try it. This place is great. The manager and family take great care when making the food and it’s super delicious. The price is good. With all that, I would say this is the best byob Indian place in Islington, IMO.

Great food best curry's in London 👌👌👌👌👌☺☺☺☺☺☺

We are regulars at Ali's and have taken many friends and groups. Food is always excellent, extensive menu. He will adapt spiciness to your taste and if you are not sure what you want will help you choose. Plenty of vegetarian and vegan options. Still unparalleled value for money. Owner provides personal service and takes great pride in his cooking. I've been to many Indian restaurants in London but always come back to Bengal Spice.

Never again the place was empty and no heating on the food was Lukewarm and awful never again dont have the tikka chicken as it was like a blood bath thick red horrible and very expensive had a coffee and that was even warm and instant rubbish steer clear

Good very good starter didn’t disappoint and the main course was as good, staff very professional and knowledgeable about the menu. Will definitely be back.

Very kind and great service. Outstanding Indian Bangladeshi cuisine, shaktora, staff lamb curry are delightful.

Solo comida increíble. La comida más sabrosa, fresca y deliciosa. No podía culparlo. Somos de Liverpool y estamos pensando en maneras de volver lo antes posible.

A busy Saturday night after an Arsenal game (as a visiting Evertonian) and they fitted 3 of us in. The food is exceptional. My 13yr old son is a fussy eater and he polished the plate clean as did his mate. Service was excellent, so friendly and made us feel very welcome. Honestly, we've found a real gem of a place and will be back. Our bill was paid for by regular customers of the restaurant Steve and Parm (excuse my spelling of that), two proper Arsenal fans who where more than happy to chat about today's game and make football rivalry dissappear after the final whistle. Respect to you both. I'd love to repay your hospitality. This place is a must visit for stunning Indian food - ill never forget it.

Best curry I have ever had and the best team!!

Great food, lovely staff. Very knowledgeable about the curries and advised us on some delicious curry’s we’d never tried before!

Birthday, family Meal of pleasure and great taste Welcomed but not cheap

Best curry in the area. Service was incredible and I loved that we were asked exactly what flavours and tastes we liked before being served something that perfectly matched that. Such a lovely friendly neighbourhood feel where we befriended people on other tables and shared stories over truly delicious curry. They also went the extra mile and refrigerated our wine for us on the byob offer

Okay, I know I said the Indian restaurant in Glyfada Greece is one of the best I ever had and it is, but this place… OMG it’s all the familiar spices you know with new and extra levels. It’s like going from an old 1080p to 4 or even 8k. Every dish has so much more depth. I highly highly recommend this place!

Had a great experience! Chicken was perfectly cooked, curry was spiced just right, food tasted fresh, and my server was kind enough to help me find a dish that fit was I was in the mood for. There is lots of variety to return to try!

Possibly the best curry in north London. I’ve never had a bad meal here and the staff really know what they are talking about. Every dish is made to order and they are keen to make sure you’re happy with your order. Which I always am. 10/10 recommend

The begal spice is one the best experiences I have had. Ali asked me how I wanted my food to taste and did it just as I said. Couldn't fault how amazing it tastes. Definitely don't miss this place

Really tasty food with the perfect mix of all kind of flavors!! Greetings from Germany

I brought a group of about 20 people for a birthday celebration. Our group got personal service from the owner and we were very well looked after. There was lots of positive feedback from the group. I recommend everything on the menu. Dishes are prepared individually with much care and attention. The arrangement here is that you purchase your own alcoholic drinks from the well-stocked corner shop two doors away, and as a result get a cheaper than usual drinks bill. The restaurant will keep your drinks in its fridge if you ask. If you book for a group on a quiet night you can get excellent cuisine and an almost private dinning experience with very attentive service, not to mention the lower than usual drinks bill. Details can be arranged with the restaurant owner who goes out of his way to do what the customer wants.

Estábamos en Londres para una boda familiar y buscando un lugar para comer la noche anterior, pero tuvimos un bebé de 3 meses con nosotros. Nos habían rechazado de un bar gastronómico The Tollington Arms ya que no dejan entrar a los niños después de las 7 pm, , , incluido un bebé? Su pérdida fue nuestra ganancia ya que encontramos “Bengal Spice” restaurante indio y honestamente no podría haber tenido un mejor tiempo, una mejor comida o conocer gente más amable. La comida era increíble e hicieron lo que todos los grandes restauranteros hacen y nos dieron sugerencias alternativas sobre qué probar basado en cómo dijimos que nos gustaba la comida - en sus palabras “por favor, no pidas lo que siempre pides déjame ayudarte a descubrir la India” , , , , , , , , ¿y lo hizo? ¡Wow! Este lugar es maravilloso, les encantan los niños, las familias y la diversión, pero sobre todo les encanta que sus clientes salgan felices del restaurante. No sirven alcohol pero puedes BYO y hay una tienda Off Licence al lado (que ahorra dinero), pero tienen un montón de refrescos. Si estás en algún lugar de Finsbury Park o Holloway me dirijo fuertemente (y quiero decir fuertemente) a Bengal Spice y tener una de las mejores experiencias culinarias al curry en cualquier lugar Disfruta!

Absolutely one of the best curries in town

Best local curry house by a mile

Une cuisine très goutue avec des herbes et des épices fraîches, un délice ! Un cran au-dessus des autres restaurants indiens dont j'ai pu avoir l'expérience

Bengal Spice is an excellent restaurant with very attentive staff. The food is all very well prepared and tastes so fresh. Highly recommend.

such a cute little restaurant with lovely staff! really appreciate the curry recommendations - delicious. will defo be back!

Overall I liked this quirky small restaurant. Marvellous food, wide ranging menu. There were 20 of us and after more than hour's wait we were all served at the same time, a feat of organisation in itself. I personally had mixed prawns medium hot, but I wish now I had ordered them 🔥. My fellow guests were all impressed with the portions and freshly prepared dishes. Will come again. I would have liked linen napkins instead of paper ones. But the value was in the food, not the trimmings. Bring your own booze was a compelling selling point! Easy parking locally as well. NH.

We had a great meal We were asked what we were ordering Then advised to try certain dishes based on what we liked, The Manager was incredibly helpful and knowledgeable of the ingredients and dishes! We were very satisfied and the bill was very reasonable Highly recommended 👌 Only gave 3 for atmosphere as it was a quiet Thursday night

Great food great service top curries

This is a fantastic curry house, the owner personally has so much passion, helps you choose what you should order and makes the experience really fun. The food itself is really delicious, really enjoy coming to this place!

Had a great meal at Bengal Spice. The food and service were excellent. Will definitely come again.

What a fantastic find! The owner went out of his way to describe the dishes and their constituents. We could also specify the level of spiciness we desired. When the dishes arrived, we were encouraged to taste each one and if we weren't happy we were able to return the dish and order a different sauce-we didn't need to do this as everything was delicious! We particularly enjoyed the onion bhajis and the Shatkora. Another fantastic plus of this restaurant is that you can BYOB and no corkage is charged! The whole menu is very reasonably priced considering the excellent quality of the food. This will definitely be our go to place when we're in London.

It has been 15 months since we last visited Bengal Spice and it is just as good as it was on our last visit. Whenever we come to London we will visit Bengal Spice it is absolutely great. 5 + Star. I can't recommend highly enough.

Amazing food, great service, and great atmosphere. The (BYOB) is hardly a highlight when the food is this good. 5/5 would recommend

Incredible flavours and really knowledgeable owner, truly a hidden gem!

Fantastic food and great personal service, would definitely recommend.

The tastes are fine, the atmosphere too; but one of the waiting staff wouldn't even let us ask a question about the menu. He kept silencing our questions with lectures with an added attitude. I had to kindly tell him to instead let me understand the menu in my own way and that I need answers to a few questions first. I felt a bit overwhelmed after this encounter and got the rest of the order takeaway. I think the food is genuinely good, but they should time down the attitude.

Visited about a week ago and the food was incredible! The menu is vast, with so many options, but thankfully the owner was super friendly and knowledgeable about the menu, and gave really good recommendations. We tried more authentic dishes that were similar to popular tikka masala/butter chicken. While it is slightly away from the main hub of the highstreet, it is so worth the tiny extra distance! Note: At the time that we went, the card machine was not working and so they were taking cash only. There are cash machines in the near vicinity, about a 2 minutes walk away.

The food was delicious! The owner took our order and gave us recommendations to try something different from our usual chicken tikka masala and butter chicken orders. The dishes were excellent (I would definitely recommend trying the Borfi sauce - reminiscent of a tikka masala with very similar sweet and coconut-iness but with more depth of flavour). We will be back to try more dishes!

Extensive and delicious menu, knowledgeable and friendly staff, lovely food and great value. BYOB.

Best curry I've ever had! They were so accommodating to everybody's particular taste and what they wanted in terms of spice, flavours... and they have so many options beyond your typical masala or korma. Even I, who cannot deal with spicy food, was able to choose between a good few items on the menu, and the vegetarian and vegan options are amazing as well. Everybody was so kind and helpful and we had the best time. Would definitely recommend!

Am absolutely stoked to have discovered this local gem. Possibly the friendliest service I've ever had - I'm not kidding, the owner helped us select the perfect curries even down to taste-tests to get the right spice level! The food is delicious; the lamb especially was melt-in-the-mouth tender. Cannot recommend this place enough! We'll definitely be back.

Fantastic dishes, great service, a really good restaurant for locals. BYOB which is nice too!

This place is very special. There are few Indian restaurants around London nowadays that take pride in the food they serve as much as this place. Every morsel of food was so fresh - you can tell that everything is made from scratch and to order. The lovely waiter went to the trouble of quizzing us on our preferred tastes and making recommendations for each of us, teaching us a real lesson in how they should be prepared. He steered us away from our tradition tikka masala orders and made us try something new! It was to die for. We ordered three curries and we did not leave a drop behind us. The garlic naan deserves a special mention as it was piping hot and so fluffy and fresh. There was also a nice community feeling in the air as locals dropped in to pick up their orders. I feel very happy to have stumbled upon it and plan on becoming a regular patron! BYOB and good value too.

Very nice and authentic food. Lots of original flavours and will recommend to friends and family and will be back again. Ali was very attentive and gave lots of interesting cooking tips and caters for individual tastes. You won't be disappointed. Thank you for a delicious meal

Muy buena comida y auténtica. Un montón de sabores originales y lo recomendaré a amigos y familiares y volveremos de nuevo. Ali fue muy atento y dio un montón de consejos de cocina interesantes y atiende a los gustos individuales. No te decepcionarás. Gracias por una deliciosa comida

Came to bengal spice for the first time and thought the restaurant looked nice and cosy. Bringing your own drinks was a nice touch to keep the cost down too. Unfortunately after eating the food we had the worst tummy pain from it , messed our sleep up because the food was definitely not right. I think it was something to do with the sauce. Tasted good but this wasn’t something I experienced in a long time

Second time here and equally impressed. The food is great, the owner is lovely and very helpful when deciding the best choice for your taste. Also very reasonable in price, and BYOB available. One of the better Indians I've been to in London

Phenomenally good food with some standout unusual dishes in and a really welcoming owner. This place is indeed a gem. Worth heading to Holloway Road for a meal here with friends. BYOB.

The best Indian restaurant in every way and at affordable prices. The menu is varied and it is authentic cuisine. The staff gave good advice, which allowed us to discover a dish that we had never tried before. We will come back!

Nice menu, but I found the constant interruption by the proprietor regarding the problems with card payments and all manner of other issues uncomfortable.

A dear friend introduced me to this wonderful restaurant while I was staying with him nearby. Ali asked a few questions and then developed a personalised meal for us. What a place! Food was excellent and very good value. Highly recommended!

Only ok item was the rice. The Onion bhaji was so greasy, the paper bag was soaked, then had zero flavour. Both the chicken madras and king prawn dupiaza were bland, both in a bland watery sauce. Never again. Deffo would not recommend.

The curries here are fragrant and aromatic, served with lovely fresh naan and a honourable mention to the bhajis which were crisp and flavoursome. Took a recommendation from the boss and wasn’t disappointed, beautifully tender lamb. Left feeling really very satisfied and planning my return already. Great spot!

Excellent meal every time we eat here. An independent restaurant and local gem. Recommendations from the chef are always on point; ask for them and for help navigating the authentic menu. It is byob. We will be back! Delicious and generous.

Amazing local restaurant! I’ve rarely had such fresh and delicate food, everything is delicious. Please ask the owner for this expert recommendation. Such a great authentic and friendly experience. We come again and again! Always amazing.

Very very sweet and oily food unnecessarily.

Delicious food good service, Nothing to complain about! Would come back again!

This place promises discount offers and does not fulfill them. This is the second time I am being offered a certain discount when ordering food on the phone and am charged full price when collecting it. When the bill is challenged, the tone of the staff gets very unpleasant.

Amazing local curry house. Asked the waiter for a recommendation and he really worked hard to find out our taste preferences before offering us an ‘off menu’ dish which was incredible. Would highly recommend.

Ordered for delivery and had to be one of the best Indian meals we have had for a very long time. Tandoori chicken was perfect and the lamb Madras was so tender you certainly didn't need a knife! Gentleman on the phone was very helpful as originally ordered through Just Eat and for some reason they had cancelled the order!! He rectified that and food was delivered in under an hour. Would definitely recommend and will use again .

Went there with 2 of my discerning offsprings. Like me, they were delighted. Happy to have this in my neighbourhood.

Absolutely the best Indian food I’ve ever had! The owner is very nice and gave my friends and I a mini Indian cooking lesson. If I could order overseas to New York I would. I definitely recommend.

I so sorry being spice but your oil is foul could taste it on everything. Poppadoms orange with it and foul taste, same as half other food I ordered. U used to be good now it needs going in bin. I'm not even being horrible it's just foul.

Hands down the best indian restaurant I've ever visited. Superior taste. Excellent service. Can't recommend more!!!

Delicious food, lovely people running the place! Thanks for dinner :)

Comida súper deliciosa y un gran servicio! inicialmente pedí un masala, ya que es lo que suelo ir por, pero el camarero recomendó otro plato dulce en su lugar y valió la pena.

Absolutely amazing! Definitely worth to go and to try these delicious food. Great staff!

Such an amazing dinner! Our host was brilliant, advising us on the exact curry to meet our tastes, and the curry itself certainly didn't disappoint - delicious food and a great evening all round!

Great good and such warm service. We are all very happy

A hidden away gem of a place. No need to be overwhelmed by the menu because our lovely waiter asked each of us a few leading questions to understand what we wanted and then told us the perfect curry for us. 6 of us shared our plates and that’s the way to go here. Highly Recommend the tasty food and warm welcome you receive here!

Really fun and delicious meal - the host knows his stuff and guides you through the menu to help you perfect your order, and the result was fantastic! Very pleased, would definitely recommend.

Amazing food, and delicious fresh mango lassi. Lots of curries I'd not heard of before, and tasted delicious and unique. The manager talked us through different options based on what we wanted. Massively recommend if you want South Asian / Indian food in North London.

The menu was diverse and contained all sorts of dishes with all sorts of variations. Excellent! The service was also splendid: exquisitely friendly, ensuring we had the very best experience. The gentleman was on hand to explain anything and provided interesting context about our food. Thank you!

Food was an Indian chicken tikka in masala sauce. The first few chunks were definitely lamb and the rest chicken. The lamb was minced kofta and I imagine it was leftovers from someone else’s meal. This is shockingly bad. The sauce was also too runny and certainly didn’t appear to have any cream in it. Also very spicy when I asked for normal. Absolutely would not recommend. Terrible quality food, charged £4 delivery when it’s nine mins (google) from my house, there was a ‘bag charge’ to

Our family loves Indian cuisine and we do not miss the opportunity to visit an indian restaurant when in London. We have visited good number of places here and this one will rank amongst the best Indian restaurants.Versatile dishes, full of flavour and very very tasteful. Warm and friendly staff and great service

We love this place!! It has become our new local. Best tasting Indian we have had in a while and the staff are lovely. 10/10

Delicious authentic food at lovely family owned business. The owner will help you figure out what sauce you will enjoy and provides amazing advice on all the dishes. Cannot recommend this restaurant enough - never eating Indian anywhere else!

We just got back from Bengal Spice Holloway. The staff were helpful with recommendations as this was our first time. After the mixed starter dish (a very generous portion) we shared the Borfi and the Nariyal Curry which were delicious. Overall, the food and service were excellent. We will definitely be dining here more frequently.

Came here tonight for my boyfriends birthday. Best Indian we've found close to finsbury park. Service was incredible. Owner is lovely. Will definitely be coming back and can't wait to try more of the menu. Love it 🧡

Hole-in-the-wall Indian place in north London. Very nice staff and a decent atmosphere. The food wasn’t exactly spicy upto my taste, but the they were kind enough to match it when I mentioned. Definitely better than many indian places in London.

Best curry I've had in London and its not close! Everything from the dips to main dishes was exceptional. Staff were incredibly helpful and nice throughout our dinner as well. Would recommend to anyone visiting or living locally.

great food and quality again. thanks boys

Great food for the price. Very generous portions. Thank you

Went here for the first time yesterday with my partner and his dad, couldn't have asked for a better experience! The food was beyond tasty, the servers informed us in depth on the dishes we picked making sure we knew what we were getting ourselves into and not to mention so reasonably priced. It's safe to say we will be back regularly

Amazing food and wonderful service. Highly recommend! Great deal.

Visited with 8 colleagues for a great meal out. Food was amazing, really tasty and wonderful service.

I like BYOB restaurants. If you have to rely on the food, rather than booze, to pull the punters in that's a good thing. And the Bengal Spice is an excellent example of this. The food is superb. All the standards are on the menu. But there are lots of lesser known dishes, hat tip to my chicken Dallsha, and the staff encourage you to taste the sauce before you eat. It's a little bit in the dead space between Archway and Holloway Road station but do yourself a favour. Grab a few tins and treat yourself to dinner at Bengal Spice.

If you have to rely on the food, rather than booze, to pull the punters in that's a good thing. And the Bengal Spice is an excellent example of this. The food is superb. All the standards are on the menu. But there are lots of lesser known dishes, hat tip to my chicken Dallsha, and the staff encourage you to taste the sauce before you eat. It's a little bit in the dead space between Archway and Holloway Road station but do yourself a favour. Grab a few tins and treat yourself to dinner at Bengal Spice.

Staff super friendly and great food. They advised us what to take it worked. Home-made dishes

Authentic Bengali dishes bursting with flavor. The welcoming staff offer great recommendations, ensuring a delightful culinary experience. Don't miss out on this flavorful gem in the heart of London! A keeper

Food was ok. Wrong sauces delivered with poppadoms.

Great food with suggestions given for our party by the waiter. He knew the menu very well and each of our party was very pleased with the recommendation.

This must be the only restaurant that charges for the spice! Everyone who eat Bangladeshi or Indian food surely like their food being spicy! Ok no one didn’t force me to order but it’s ridiculous that you end up paying £9 for the side dish because they charge £1 for spicy and £1 for Balti?! My side dish was shockingly small and still lacked flavour even after additionally paying for it! Atmosphere in the restaurant was so tense, there is no music and it’s weirdly quiet. P.S. At least customers are warned that food is cooked in GMO soya oil 😆

Great meal at Bengal Spice, food was fantastic and so was service. The person who served us was knowledgeable and recommended dishes for us which we all enjoyed. Plenty of vegan options including rices, breads, mains and sides.

Quality of food doesn’t justify the price. I ordered spicy and received bland food in small portions. Chef maybe had a bad day but that’s not my problem.

Great value local restaurant. The food is great and the staff are always friendly and helpful. I'm lactose intolerant and they are really good at helping me choose diary free options. Bonus is that they are BYO which helps keep the cost very reasonable.

Popped in here the other night for the first time with friends and had a great time. The owner was incredibly helpful and made sure we had a meal that was to our liking, would highly recommend and look forward to coming back soon

What a little gem this place is. I was working near Upper Holloway the service and food was 1st class. We was asked what we liked, spice, flavour and it did not disappoint we all had something that we would not normally go for and I we all said it was the best curry we had had. Top class meal would 100% recommend

Simply amazing. Fresh ingredients wonderful staff great atmosphere. Nice portions size.