Maharaja Spice Express at the Kings Head is a new tasty Indian restaurant that also has a built-in pizza oven to accommodate those who aren’t keen on Indian dishes.
The first door into the Maharaja Spice Express was open and had flat access into the restaurant. There was also a second set of doors that had to be pushed or pulled open which I couldn’t have done independently. In this case, I was with my dad, so it was fine as he opened the door for me. There is a bell to press if you are on your own and want to get inside but are unable to open the door. To get inside fully there is a lip which my wheelchair could get over, but the bump took me by surprise.
I didn’t have to use it on my visit, but there is a standard sized disabled toilet within this restaurant. As this doesn’t offer hoist facilities it only caters for a small number of disabled customers.
The bar was level access however it took a few attempts to move through due to the number of people in there at one time. I had to manoeuvre around carefully to make sure I didn’t disturb many people. Once at the bar there was a lot of space around us. The bar itself was too high for me to place my drinks order over it independently, especially with a large number of customers. Fortunately, I was with my dad and he placed our drinks order before we moved into the main restaurant and had table service
In the restaurant, the tables were very cramped together so as to sit as many as they could at one time. The staff members were very nice though and cleared a path for us to get to the table and this made it much better. I made sure to stick to the path to get in and around the restaurant. Sitting at our table I felt conscious of the people sitting behind us, so I felt I couldn’t move so didn’t risk nudging them by accident. The tables themselves were too low; I tilted my wheelchair down as far as it would go and my legs just skimmed the underside of the table so I had to use my tray to eat off.
As a whole, the staff members were very smiley, kind and patient throughout the dining experience and I admire them for it. I don’t envy them as it was very busy on this Friday night and the popularity of this restaurant was shown. The atmosphere just felt compressed and it was hard to speak and be heard by family members due to how full the restaurant was.
I found my diet coke and lemonade flat and this annoyed me as it was both soft drinks that were flat. I enjoyed the poppadum starter with dips but it was a quite small portion of poppadum which I was disappointed by. I really, really enjoyed my lamb biryani which was a decent sized position. It had a lot of tender pieces of lamb which paired with the right level of spices and rice made for a delicious dish. I would actually say it was one of my favourite lamb biryani that I have ever tasted. I cannot speak as to the quality of the pizza, but the Indian dishes all looked delicious.
Maharaja Spice Express at the Kings Head is a new restaurant with fantastic tasting food and I would definitely recommend it to others.
The Life of Sophie 