Some friends and I popped in for a quick dinner on Saturday night and it was really very nice. The service was very friendly, the food came out quickly and was very tasty, and we found it to be pretty inexpensive.

As far as Indian restaurants go, I would say that Aaina is decent for the price.

It may be worth noting that they have very recently come under new ownership.

Oh if only I had checked the reviews before I bought the deal vouchers!

The food is horrible, the service is unfriendly and when we asked for some more rice to go with the curry they wanted to charge us $4 for it. Funny that their own “lunch deal” offers a whole curry with naan and rice for only $6…

I guess they need to make as much profit from each customer as they can because nobody will come back here.

This place is horrible!

I agree with these reviews below.
I had a deal voucher for Aaina, I rang last Wednesday to book for Thursday at 12.30pm. I turn up on Thursday at 12.30pm to the place being closed. There is a messy handwritten note on the door saying they are closed due to ‘technical difficulties’. I’ve tried calling each day since and the phone number is either busy or just rings and rings.
I wonder if their ‘technical difficulties’ will mysteriously disappear after the deal voucher expiry date ends?!

We had a bad experience with this restaurant! We bought several deal vouchers. First went there on a Saturday at 11:15 am, the restaurant was empty but we were told that they are fully booked. Fine, we just had take-away. Next day, Sunday, we went there around 1:15pm, only 2 tables were occupied but we were again told that they are fully booked and waiting for some guests! This is really a bad bad service. They should have specified take-aways in the voucher if they don’t want to wash dishes and cutleries! Will never ever buy from this restaurant again even if they sell their curries for a dollar!

I had the misfortune to try and get lunch at Aiana a few weeks ago. I arrived on a Saturday at 2.00pm noting that they specify lunch finishes at 2.30pm. I presented my deal voucher and was told that we could only have takeaways as the kitchen was closing early to be cleaned. I pointed out that lunch finished at 2.30pm but the waiter insisted that they were closing the kitchen early. I asked to see the Manager who was the most rude/abrupt person I have ever met and who grabbed my voucher and screwed it up in front of me then told me in a very terse manner to sit down. Assuming they were going to then take our order I was told again that I could only have takeaways. At that point we walked out. This is certainly no way to run a business and I would certainly recommend people to steer clear of this place. I’ve heard the food is not up to much either so I think we had a lucky escape!!!

My friend and I went there last Sunday. I had a coupon to use so I called them in advance but arrived 20mins late. The manager/staff refused to seat us because we arrived late even though all the tables were empty except for one. He didn’t give us a valid reason why we couldn’t be accommodated. To top this he also cooked up some ridiculous story saying that they had to turn-down three other tables because of us!!! You kidding me, the whole restaurant was empty!! Moreover, he lied on the phone by saying that there were two bookings at 2pm and for that reason he couldn’t accommodate us during that time, which was our initial preferred choice. We were there until 2.20pm to collect our food as take away and nobody came during that time. And the food was horrible to say the least.

Unfriendly service. Horrible food. Avoid.

Purchased a deal voucher for this place.. What a waste!
After having made a booking for 4 ppl; we arrived to a practically empty restaurant and was denied service with no valid explanation given. We were simply told sorry we already have a table of 4 coming in (booked for an hour later). Pissed off we decided to leave. At no point was there any mention of our voucher.
A few weeks later I decided to try my luck again, this time with takeaways.
Both curries were bland and had literally 2 bits of meat. The naan was almost too crispy to eat.

Don’t waste your time!

Voucher deal at that Indian restaurant was AWFUL!!
My 2 chicken Kormas to take away today were so disappointing, All I had was 2 tiny pieces of chicken in each and rice for the whole of India, If I asked for a rice curry it would have been the same. I got cheated, I got 2 x 1\2 curries. Do not go there!!!
Aaina Indian Restaurant (255 Cuba Street – Wellington)
$12 for Any Two Curries, Two Rice & Two Naans – Dine-in or Takeaway for Lunch (value $40)…-:(

GOOD: Nice cosy atmosphere, good customer service and good wait time. Good naan bread

BAD: Food was sub-standard- The curries tasted like it was out of a Pataks ready made jar. The middle of the chicken was cold which suggests it’s just been microwaved. All curries lacked flavour and depth, just as well there was a salt pot because I had to pour salt all over the curry. Also I asked for my Chicken Tikka Masala to be medium however I didn’t find it medium at all.

Overall disappointed that I went out for a meal I could have made at home.

i normally eat in great india but last Friday me and my friends eat food at aaina restaurant India, food was tremendous and delicious food was just like we want….service was excellent handle everything and chef gave complimentary dish to us which is out of the menu which is mouth watering curry….all i need to say everyone shud vist you will get great experience.

Happened upon this restaurant when we couldn’t get a table at Rasa. I had the Vindaloo and my partner had the Jalfrezi. Really fresh food, which is difficult to get from Indian restaurants. We even got a card for 20% reduction on our next visit when we told the chef how much we enjoyed the meal. It’s a small place with limited facilities, but the food more than makes up for that in my opinion

Went on a Tuesday evening with deal voucher in hand. The menu is very extensive (perhaps a little too big, too hard to choose!) and I went for the Badam Pasand and my partner had the Saagwala. Both curries were delicious! Such delicious spice combinations, and the naan was delightfully fluffy.

We were the only ones in the restaurant at the time, so service was excellent. Will return, although the restaurant is a little way off the beaten track.

Recently as group of 8 we dined at this restaurant. We notified them in advance that we had a Groupy voucher.
We were told that we could not order the fish, Chilli chicken or any of the chef’s specials. So a rethink and we placed our orders.
The meals came out with two bowls of rice for the group of 8.
I had four pieces of meat in my dish, my wife’s dish was the same, the meal was bland and despite asking for medium hot it was very mild. Needless to say there was a lot of gravy!!!!
A week later when I discussed the meal with one of the others who attended, they had two pieces of meat in their bowl and the meal was average, they went home hungry.
This was a sub standard meal and not a place I would recommend.

We have been very impressed with this place. The food was great and we have always had veryfriendly service.

We have been there a few times and are always greeted with a smile and we have enjoyed our food. Lots of options to chose from and nice authentic flavors. Highly recommended

We went to Aaina in a large group this week and we were really pleased with the way the staff managed our table and the food they delivered.

I’d never heard of them before, but apparently they are under new management and were recommended by a friend who had dined there recently. I’m usually a bit wary of small ethnic food places and usually try somewhere new based on word of mouth. I’ll definitely be telling my friends about this place the next time we want to do a BYO dinner.

The waiter suggested that our large group go for the banquet option, which gave us popadoms, 2 entrees, and 4 mains to choose from, plus rice and naan. You can choose whichever mains you like, which is great, especially if you a catering for vegetarian or people that don’t like certain meats. They bring out the dishes for everyone and you can keep requesting additional rice or naan and as many top-ups of the main dishes you want.

The food was absolutely amazing! Beautiful curries that didn’t taste like they’d just come out of a big ol’ vat of sauce and had the meat added like you get with some of the bigger curry places. The chef even came out to personally check on how we were finding the food, and brought out a couple of chef’s specials for the organiser of our group. It was a really personal touch.

The restaurant itelf is quite small but could fit our table of 20 plus three other tables for two. They also do take-away, and have loyalty cards which are buy 6 get one free, which is pretty sweet, considering our household would probably order 4-5 different dishes in one sitting. So definitely worth it.

As I said, I will definitely be telling other people about this little gem and returning myself.

I think Aaina must be under new management. We went there Saturday night (21/4/12) and they rocked our socks off.
The service was faultless. We honestly felt like we were not just valued customers, but like we were treasured customers. It was really nice. Normally the only time we get service like that is when we’re spending like kings at silver service places.
For a long time now I thought I had found the best Indian food in Wellington, but I won’t be going anywhere else for Indian now.
Complimentary poppadums were quick to come out to once we were seated. We ordered a nice bottle of red which was quickly delivered. We shared the tikka chicken starter and it was tender, moist and flavoursome. I followed the recommendation of the waiter for the main and I was so glad I did. I had tender lamb pieces in a cashew and almond paste gravy. I think I actually groaned out loud at one point with pleasure. We had garlic naan, masala poppadums and raita to accompany the mains. The masala poppadums were an unexpected treat. They came out with a salad of finely chopped marinaded tomato & onions on top and were to die for.
We wanted to prolong our pleasant experience here so we ordered the desserts available. Milk dumplings and mango ice cream. The dumplings were served cold in light syrup. They had an unusual texture and were nicely balanced by the sweetness of the syrup. The ice cream though was insanely good. Even though we were totally chocka block already, we wolfed it down.
There was a moments accidental levity when my partner managed to set fire to the paper serviette in the naan basket from the candle on the table. Nearly the whole serviette went up before we were able to put it out but the serving staff was very good about it.
The 3 things I liked most about Aaina:
1. The staff – so polite and attentive. The chef came out and spoke to us personally about the meals.
2. The food – MoreI can’t wait to go back and try more from the menu.
3. The prices – about 20% less than comparative restaurants.

Me and my partner went in with a yazoom voucher, $18 for 2 curries rice and Naan saving over %50… well first the guy tries to rip us of by making us choose from the lunch menu $10 for small curry rice and naan, so I would save $2, so I challenged this and he seemed a little devious about being caught.

The curry came out with about 3 pieces of meat in each like the lunch special, mine was so runny and bland and my partners rogan josh had diced tomato consistency with the acidity of the tomato making it ‘barfable’ and microwaved rice only just enough to fit a ladle for each plate, the naan was ok.
Ask for a coke and the guy offered a can for $3 but he forgot, had the last patrons meal stuck table and the salt and pepper shakers blocked.

These guy had the opportunity to impress and generate new clientele with yazoom but they turned out to be a cheap ass bottom class outfit.

Never again way to shit for my liking though I was about to puke just thinking about my partners Rogan Josh

The aloo gobi (sp?) here is absolutely fantastic. At $15 the vege tali is a real bargain: two wonderful curries of your own choice(I also had the saag paneer, which was delicious), a naan (we replaced ours with roti), gulub jaman, rice and yoghurt. Generous portions, too.

The young man who was front of house, and sole waiter, was charming. All the food was delicious.

BUT: these guys really do not understand a nut allergy. I can’t bear to give them a low rating because of this incident, but I do hope they learn from it. We debriefed them thoroughly at the end of the night, and I wouldn’t write about it on here except for the fact that they didn’t take us seriously the first time.

My son has a semi-strong allergic reaction to nuts: throat gets sore and itchy. As we’ve been warned that nut allergies can suddenly escalate, we are as careful as possible to keep him away from them. So when his daal makhani came out with peanuts sprinkled on top (not listed on the menu), we explained this carefully to the waiter and said specifically that the chef must not simply remove the nuts from the top and send it back out: it must be a new daal. The new daal duly arrived at the table (albeit in nuch less time than the waiter had said it would take, which should have warned me).

My son tucked in and immediately said that his throat was sore and itchy. The daal was mild, and he’s had curries before, so we knew it wasn’t just a complaint about the chilli. We gave him Phenergan, which we always carry, and the itchiness went. There were definitely nut remnants left in that daal, and I was upset that the chef hadn’t taken our request seriously. We explained that someone else might have had a much more significant reaction.

This seems like the act of people who just aren’t used to catering. Fantastic, hospitable cooks, absolutely delightful waiter, but they need to get aware of this kind of issue.

The food isMore delicious, though, and we will definitely go back, perhaps only when we’ve got babysitters.

To be fair, I will be going to this restaurant with my regular monthly curry club cronies next month and we’ll give the restaurant a more vigorous appraisal. The only reason I popped in was to get the contact details, but while there I decided to try their lunch menu. I ordered an extra hot Lamb Jafrezi. The meal was delivered in quick time. There was more vegetable to meat, by about a factor of 3:1 but I was expected the meatiness balance to be more even. To be sure, it was fairly nice and hot enough but it lacked any other discernable flavours. And they had added some orange colouring to the sauce. It did come with a roti and papadom. I also had a Mango Lassi which quite sweet and very thick. Most of the flavour was stirred through but there was a little syrup on the top and also some almond slivers (which I haven’t had on a lassi before). The decor could do with a touch f paint. it wasn’t very Indian, apart for a couple of pictures but these were dominated by a large Talbot photo of a whale. The plates used were white but unheated. It will be interesting to see how the restaurant goes with a dozen or so curry connoisseurs next month. I have had a take-out vindaloo a few months earlier which was more flavoursome than the jalfrezi. But I ended up eating it on the street outside a nearby pub, after being told I couldn’t eat it inside.