Review Charminar Cuisines Of India - Auckland Central

Really good and variety food. Kerala food is amazing. Good staff. Great ambience.

Really good food, so good that I've been to this place more than 3 times in under a fortnight. Every dish out of the kitchen smells savoury and appetizing. Must go if you love Indian Cuisine. Manager was super friendly , and the staff was pleasant too.

The food is authentic kearala style. It's cooked in a home style fashion with fresh ingredients. The spice level is also accurate. Very tasty and delightful experience. The price is economical making this a value for money resturant. The only part that would be require a little bit of improvement/attention would be for better service with a more tidier premises. Definitely will return more often in the future.

Best Kerala food ( South Indian) ever in Auckland, Authentic Kerala home made food taste, great and friendly staff . Family like staff. Yummy food. Loved the chicken Biriyani Kerala style i am in love with it. as it reminds me of the taste how my parents cooks back in my home country. Dint even wait to click a picture as the smell of the Biriyani made me crave and once i started eating i ended up finishing it up all.

I was here to have dinner with a friend of mine. I must say, the staff was very friendly and welcoming. The food was yummy! Their Kerala parotta is a must try. I will be back here to try their Kerala Sadhya. I was not very impressed with the ambience though. It’s a BYOW, so that was a plus point for us. Would recommend these guys if you want to try some good Kerala food :) Cheers

A great option on Ponsonby road for a very tasty meal. This end of Ponsonby road is just not popular, despite over the years there being excellent food available, (Navas was the previous one at this site, great food but few people). Have not had lunch here but have had dinner many times. You don't want to be in a hurry but the food is worth it and very well priced. One of my favourites is the Bindy Fry, Okra dish.

Just back from this restaurant. This is run by a couple. The lady owner Saji hope i spelt it right was honest and upfront. She told us there is always a wait time which is fair. Ambience: is not great and if you walk in off the road, first impression is very average. Service: we were served by the lady. As we were one of the early customers she took the time to chat with us which is a positive. Could have been better, if we were asked if we needed cutlery and extra napkins. Food: This is a plus for sure. Had the mango lassi which was made well. Right level of sugar which brought out the mago flavour. The tamarind chicken was nice for the boney pieces but the fleshy one needed to be done a little more. The Sunday veg platter was nice very different with the rasam and sambar and curd curry also s few different veg which is just a taste portion. The star was the fish coconut curry. This is really well made the flavour and taste is really amazing. I have a many fish curry's and this one is up in my chart. Happy eating.

Best place to eat kerala food. Friendly staff.

Been here a week ago and back again tonight for dinner. We are from Kerala the southern part of India. This is the only place where we felt the taste of authentic Kerala cuisine in Auckland. Definitely recommend...

Real South Indian authentic food. Loved very much, especially tandoori special whole chicken and paratta. My family liked it. Definitely we will visit again also recommend to our friends n family.

I did not had much expectations about this place when i first went there. Food was ok ok, nothing to complaint about the food. It tastes the same as south indian food. The only issue I had during dine in was that it was a bit smokey in the restaurant. Otherwise all good. The location of the restaurant is also good, but not parking wise.

If you are looking for an authentic Kerala food, I would recommend this place, very tasty food. South Indian (Kerala) meals available on weekends. We love the porotta and kerala beef and fish fry..we enjoyed the food.

I love Indian food , the chops tandoori chicken is to die for....I recommend the chicken 65 and the above this is on point!!

The best Indian food in the entire Auckland. Very suitable for vegetarians & healthy and/or spicy food eaters. Big portions, always smiling employees, perfect service, delicious meals, cozy atmosphere.. We've been eating there 3 times per week since February -> have become addicted to that place & food. It reminds me my stay in Hyderabad, India. You'd come & try it by your own! Namaskaram.

The most horrible biryani I have ever had. Absolute disgrace to Hyderabadi cuisine. Ordered lamb biryani and we were served stale 2 day old biryani , the lamb was dry from being reheated several times. The worst part was we got chicken bones from boneless lamb biryani. After a wait of an hour. Would not recommend this place. One would not know what's being served to you. Maybe these joint can get away with people who don't know about biryani or Indian food for that matter.

We come here every week! Amazing food, service, and price. Get there before 7pm M-F and get naan, rice, beer, and curry for $15!

Today my friends and I have tried South Indian Meals with Beef Ularthu. The food was very delicious and mouthwatering. All the curries that have been served with Meals / Thali were delicious.

We really enjoyed the delicious food and the great service in this lovely little restaurant. The service was very friendly, welcoming and courteous! Really good food for a good price. Thank you so much for a great dinner!

Cheap and cheerful and delicious. The happy hour meal is amazing for 15$ (curry, rice, naan and an alcoholic drink)

First time there.... excellent service and taste sensation love the rice too... roti, Tika Masala, Naan bread mmmmmm, and with great company... very busy you will need to reserve a table.

By profession I am a 5star hotel chef. Tried their dish ,it remind my old days cooking. Simply awesome. I wrap few tips as well , when I visited personally. Well done , keep your good work going. All the best

Weekend lunch special awesome. Felt like having an onasadya

Here food is made out of love and passion. Loved it.

Great Kai and Ranjeet doesn't make a big deal about it but let me tell you. They don't use cream or sugar in the meals. And the meals taste fantastic. They'll also deliver. Magic. Fav so far? Fish Masala. Unfortunately the Samosas were cold when delivered. As in still frozen through, nothing a quick zap didn't fix but not ideal.

Been here many times. Yummy food, quickly prepared and delicious. Fab bread too.

Good food , good service, staff is attentive. Will definitely go back again

This is amazing, REAL authentic Indian. The staff are absolutely amazing and accommodating, friendliest staff I have seen in a long time. Food is hot and fresh, AMAZING lamb chops in a very unique style. I have recommended to everyone I know, value for money and delivery too...thank you too all of Charminar for the amazing dinners!

Amazing food!!!

Great food and friendly service as always!!

Wish if there had been negative rating button here.. pathetic service, the food takes ages to get served even if you are the only customer there. The old lady is never pleasant or welcoming. Serves food with a grumpy face and very very very slow. Food is definitely not "authentic" as they claim.

Forst time we went was so good. Service was excellent. Service and food quality has decreased. We wait normally 40-60 minutes to receive our food. Ordered chicken fry, they used all the left over chicken, had hardly and meat on the chicken.... major improvements needed to be a returning customer.

Excellent customer service..<br/>Great food.<br/>Love this place...<br/>100% satisfied as a customer.<br/>Those who wants to experience the real Indian food taste, Charminar is the best option for you<br/>

Nice place to dine in.. Food was delicious and appealing... Another Food joint in the CBD to full fill your South Indian craving ... Had Parotta (Flaky Indian Bread) with Beef Roast, Biriyani and Chicken Roast... Yummy and another outlet to bookmark list... Need to have bit more focus on servicing though... Overall we were happy.. Thanks..

Amazing! Authentic Kerala cuisine! If you are ever craving a South Indian fix I highly recommend visiting this restaurant, nothing fancy but the food is to die for!

Been here for kerala meals and it was so tasty. Quantity and quality was perfect. Only reason iam giving 3 star instead of 5 is service. There was an old lady who was serving food to us. I don’t know we didn’t like the way she was serving food. Guys you are in hospitality field and the main thing you should concentrate is customer service. She was serving without a smile and serving so less. We literally didn’t like the way she was serving us. So please guys appoint a proper wait staff or work on this. Cheers.

The two star is only for the food. Customer service was very poor the lady was too hesitant to serve, was keen on saving her cost rather than satisfying her customers. Hygiene is not a topic to talk at all. Completely not worth the price.

Amazing to find authentic Kerala food in Auckland. Our pallets were instantly transported to South India. We are already planning what to order the next time we go. Great service! Lovely people and mind-blowing food

Charminar is the top pick for me and my wife if we crave to have Chicken Biriyani.It tastes superb and remind me of those authentic chicken biriyani which I used to have back in Kerala.We have tried few other dishes as well, it tastes really good. I would say this is one of the best south Indian restaurants I have ever tried.

A big no,, it was the worst indian food i ever had!! Long wait, bad service!! Even though the place was empty, still the food was taking forever to arrive!!

I would not recommend this restaurant ever. The service is pathetic, the website displays a number of items, however, when you call and ask them they tell a different types of reasons that this is not available and this we only serve on weekend. Just a suggestion to the restaurant owner, if they do no serve a dish on some days, make it clear in the menu. <br/><br/>The staff is not at all professional and does not have manner and etiquette to behave with customers.

Food is amazing. Service is shit. Took agees for food to arrive and we getbthe dishes get served first .... 30 minutes later comes the plate. Dont understand the logic

The night started off poor by being greeted with "yeah". There were two other diners finishing their meals, and the place was empty otherwise. They had a problem with where we chose to sit, so told us by shouting across the room to sit next to the other diner. It was cramped, and unfortunate as the restaurant was practically empty. We were also seated next to the door, so it was cold. He greeted us with "yeah" took our orders with "yeah" and said goodbye with "yeah". I was convinced this was the only word he knew how to say by now. Rude? Yes, but tried not to let it bother me. Found it unusual that the restaurant manager /employee was using her laptop the entire time sitting adjacent to us, and kept looking over constantly. When the mains were bought out, they were presented well. The butter naan and rice was cooked nicely, and that's as far as the good experience goes. The chicken korma had four small bits of chicken in it, topped with sauce. This was disappointing. The korma sauce itself lacked any sort of flavour, it was completely bland and was bought out luke warm. The rice and naan was also cold. The beef korma also lacked a passable amount of meat. 4 small pieces of chicken is unacceptable. Complete waste of money. The night felt awkward, uncomfortable and unpleasant. Funnily enough after five minutes there, we were the only ones left so I have no idea why we couldn't sit further away from the door. It was cold, we didn't take off our jackets. Very disappointing and won't be bringing friends or family here.

Went for lunch today as this had been recommended for good South Indian food. Every dish was a star and nothing disappointed. Had to wait for a few dishes but only because everything was made from scratch! Highly recommended.

Today my friends and I have tried South Indian Meals with Beef Ularthu. The food was very delicious and mouthwatering. All the curries that have been served with Meals / Thali were delicious.

Wish there was no star or -ve!! Everything is wrong from start..when entered we ordered from the menu on the entrance board..was told that the menu was old!! Then why the hell you still have it there?? Even after we asked for it!! Ordered Hyderabad vegetable dumb biryani..was given some red coloured mixed biryani paste with rice..since I was starving...just ate it!! And then when went to pay asked if it was dum biryani and was shocked to listen that they don't prepare dum biryani anymore!! WTF..I paid and ate for something which I didn't order!! Someone needs to ban this restaurant for not having correct menu and not delivering right food!!

Poor biriyani preparation and chicken malabari seems to be just full of water and liquid format. Service was not good at all as had to repeat my orders three times as front staff has no clue what’s happening in kitchen. It’s a rip off to be honest. Money wasted on something called Food.

We had a really nice time at this restaurant and byo is always a bonus! They give you large rice portions which is great and the nan bread is really yummy! My boyfriend had the korma and I had the madras. His Korma was really tasty, but my madras did not really taste like the madras I'm used to and was extremely salty. However it was really good value for money and the service was really great and attentive, so will be back to give another curry a go!

Went to Charminar last night on a Groupon voucher. I have to say that it has to be one of the best Indian restaurants I have experienced. The food and service was exceptional. Small cosy place with nice relaxed atmosphere. I read the previous negative comments to my astonishment!!! This only made me sign up with Zomato to try a correct some of the feedback as Charminar deserves a 5 star rating. Try the vegetarian platter, samosa's are best I have ever had. The only problem I had was eating too much, we took a doggy bag which was kindly offered by our very polite waiter. We will most certainly return to Charminar - Thanks guys.

It takes a lot for me to complain about Indian food, you've got to go a long way to do it badly.<br/>It's Sunday night, we're too hungover to cook dinner or leave the house for that matter, so it's no Paradise in Sandringham for us tonight.  We jumped on Zomato to scour Ponsonby for good Indian eats, if Zomato ratings are anything to go by, the options on this side of town for good medium priced Indian are limited. <br/><br/>Charminar it was, I phoned, 1x Butter Chicken, 1x Lamb Korma, 2x Garlic Naan, 1x Onion Bahajiya.  It's the Big Mac Combo of Indian orders, no points for originality here.  A 30 min wait was their reply.  Well over an hour later, the food was delivered.  I live 1.3km's from Charminar.  Once I step out of my font door, if I fall over I'm half way to the restaurant.  <br/><br/>- Butter Chicken was sweet, candy shop sweet.  Meat count, 8 frugal pieces of chicken.  This was reminiscent of the butter chicken you find in Westfield shopping mall food courts, full of sugar and food colouring.<br/>- The Lamb Korma was not much better, lacking character and the chef too heavy handed with the salt. Meat count, 7 pieces of "don't eat it all at once" lamb.<br/>- The Naan's felt like they'd been cooked 2 hours prior and left under heat lamps to keep warm.<br/>- The Onion Bhajiya were not too bad, served with a tamarind sauce.<br/>I feel bad for saying this but there were no redeeming features of this meal at all, I truly felt like I had been taken for a ride.  If this is an example of 'dumbing down' flavours to suit western palettes, you're doing it wrong.<br/><br/>The name of the restaurant is Charminar - Cuisines of India.  Although I've not traveled to India myself yet, I'll put good money on the fact that you will not find a curry in India that's even remotely like what's served here.

My experience is at odds with other recent reviewers. We went this evening on a Grabone deal. Often, merchants serve smaller portions when told that the customer is redeeming a Grabone voucher. But at Charminar, even after the waiter was informed of the Grabone deal, the servings were very generous. The meal was of exceptional value and great-tasting. The service was superb as well. We really enjoyed ourselves and we shall go back again. Highly recommended.

Worst indian food...ordered tandoori which was super dry and tasteless. Palangtod biryani as they claim was horrible and could hardly find meat in it. Worst experience

Well No offense but we had ordered a food and I would like to inform the owner that as I belongs to India, according to that lovely Indian test your food is just below 👎👇the level. Specially veg.manchurian and Palak paneer and chicken Tikka Masala. All curries were sweet like added sugar which is supposed to be well spiced with all Indian spices. Come on u guys fooling customers by serving them a worst tested food ever, i respect my indian food which is known as amazing food all over the world. So please don't just cook and serve...I hope before serving customers you tried all.

Worst experience ever. We have ordered Paneer tikka masala, balti chicken and malai kofta and all of them were extremely bad and full of salt.  You cant taste anything else apart from SALT. Worst part was the customer service, store manager was not apologetic at all and ignored our complaint.

**NEVER AGAIN** I had biryani with my friend which is very POOR in taste-- To start with it is not at all a Dhum style, hyderabad biryani and please do not fool your customers stating that you provide Hyderabadi biryani. We served normal Bagara/biryani rice with meat in the bottom which was terribly disappointing.. The only good thing was reception from the guy who served but when it comes to food its the WORST Biryani i have ever tasted....

I have tried their food multiple times now, and usually always excellent. However, I ordered the family pack mutton biryani yesterday and it was terrible. No flavour and a horrible ratio of rice to meat. I suggest the chef try the same dish from Paradise in Sandringham and learn what a decent mutton biryani tastes like for the same price.

We had our team dinner here a few weeks back and it was my first time to try Indian cuisine. I had Butter Prawns which as a seafood lover was immediately within the top 5 seafood dishes I've ever had. My wife had Lamb Madras which tasted like S. Ramanujan was sitting beside us! The ambience was amazing with lounge Indian music and it truly felt like for a couple of hours, we were in India enjoying the best Indian food. Service was spot on, our waiter was patient to help us understand each dish and recommended house specialties. The price is really affordable and worth the serving portion which was actually larger than what I had expected. A good place for a family dinner or a special date. For me, Charminar set the standard, a high one at that, of the finest Indian cuisine. If you haven't had, you haven't lived.

Enjoyed a special they have on at the moment on grabone but their prices are really affordable so will definitely be back without the coupon. Had a delicious Paneer Kadhi and my friend a chicken Korma. We were both really impressed with the flavours and serving size. Service was very helpful and friendly and not pushy at all. Really hope this place survives in the competitive indian restaurant scene. Nice to not have to always trek to Sandringham for an authentic delicious curry!

One of the best Indian places I have eaten at. The portions are large and great value, the waiter is super friendly and the naan bread is divine. I would recommend the Paneer Kadai (even if you aren't vegetarian)

Thanks for making the evening special for us. very happy with the service and food. It was very delightful, ambience, service, food was excellent and team was very supportive😄<br/><br/>thanks will be there again.

Excellent food and very quick service..... I live in Auckland CBD and ordered calling them on their number .... The person who answered phone was very professional and polite... Order arrived on agreed time and must say the curries very with full of authentic flavours and naan bread was yumm<br/><br/>Would highly recommend and was also informed that they are doing buffet on Saturdays and Sunday's for lunch.... Looking forward to it..<br/><br/>Keep up the good work.. Cheers

Terrible service and the worst naan bread I have ever eaten.  <br/><br/>I live within 1 min drive but was told that delivery would only take 15mins so decided to order delivery.  After 30mins it wasn't there so I rang them and was told that sorry they had other deliveries come in and the driver was delivering them first and then would be at my place- not good enough. Ended up taking them 1 hour and 25 minutes to deliver my food when I was told 15! Not good enough. I was hosting a group of friends and it ruined our evening we were all so hungry. <br/><br/>When the food arrived it was cold. The Naan was literally the worst naan I have ever had. Burnt and stodgy. Hard to even pull apart.  I used to work at an indian restaurant and have never seen anything like it. Curries were delicious but stone cold and reheated not so much.<br/><br/>I wish this was a one off but I have also dined in their restaurant and the naan was terrible then too and there was also another group in there complaining about their naan too. Food took so long to come out and once again we were starving.<br/><br/>Curries are good but unfortunately the naan and the terrible service far outweigh this. Do not recommend

Disappointing.<br/><br/>On booking, we were told that there was parking out the back, but on arrival, when we asked the manager if it was ok to park out the back, he was extremely hesitant to confirm this.  Given that parking is a premium in Ponsonby, the staff should inspire confidence in their diners that their car won't be towed, whereas we felt like there was no guarantee.  The staff should know for sure if parking out back is ok or not.<br/><br/>The food was of a generally good standard, but the piece of gravel I found in my onion bhaji was not only very off-putting, but had the potential to damage my teeth!  I mentioned this to the waiter who took the piece of gravel (which was about 3-4 mm in diameter, so we're not talking tiny) to the manager - and it was never mentioned again.  Not even an apology from the manager for foreign bodies in their food.<br/><br/>Later, as we left the restaurant via the back door, we passed the kitchen which was quite dirty and messy - no wonder it was easy for a piece of gravel to get into the food!<br/><br/>The service started off ok, but then it tapered off and despite sitting there for well over 30 minutes with dirty plates in front of us, the service had all but disappeared.  Some of our group wanted another drink, and some also wanted dessert but we left without spending another cent due to the extreme lack of service.  Sure, we were on a voucher deal, but we'd already made it clear to the staff that we had no problems spending extra on drinks etc, so it was a disappointing end to the meal and a loss of sales to the restaurant.<br/><br/>All up, there are plenty of better Indian restaurants in Auckland.  Charminar did a mediocre job with ok food.

Awesome food!! Get them to help you choose and get something from Hyrabad! Chicken 65 very hot but yummy! Mushrooms great! Lamb chops divine!!! Can't wait to go back and try some other dishes not available at other Indian restaurants. Indo Chinese looks interesting. Awesome flavours! Felt really authentic. Nice decor and lovely staff!!

Very average tasting Indian food. Well if the food isn't very great it kind of over shadows the rest. Lovely staff, good ambiance and nice service. I am looking forward to trying more dishes here and hope to my review changes.

The worst food we had in our life.We purchased a coupon from grab one for 6 people and we ordered 6 curries and all of them was a disaster.I am not going there again.Please do not waste your money.

Indian tonight in Ponsonby! I've seen their reviews and couldn't wait to try it.<br/>Upon entering it took a while to be seated. Seemed busy which is aways a good sign that food must be delicious :)<br/>Waiter seated us and apologised that tonight they were short of staff and also chef was unwell ..so one man down in the kitchen. He took our order and was such a friendly hospitable guy. We ordered Lamb madras, vegetable korma, balti chicken, fish masala with garlic and butter naan and basmatic rice. We waited a while but understood the situation. They even served us complimentary spinach fried appetiser with mint yoghurt while waiting. I thought that was very thoughtful.<br/><br/>All the mains was medium spicy but wow the lamb madras was super spicy nearly sweated from the heat 😥. However it was so tasty with their spices. .loved the fresh cinnamon and cardamon sticks. Could tell they used quality spices and not the powdered version. Fish dish and balti chicken was good. Although for the fish dish i wished there was more fish in the curry sauce. However both of those dishes still tasted full of flavour from all those spices. My favourite was the vegetable korma. I liked the chunky vegetables and the spicy sauce was so good. Also felt lighter to have vegetables as part of the meal. In general portion sizes was generous. Rice was fluffy and light. Naan was sooo good. Loved the garlic naan the best :)<br/><br/>Staff was very nice and apologetic for the slow service. We appreciated their efforts to try make our visit memorable. If service wasn't slow I would give it 5/5. We still thoroughly enjoyed our dinner experience and will be back again to try out more of their tasty food.

One of the nicest indian restaurant I have been to in recent times. Had been there with a grab one deal. Very happy with the food. Delicious and big portions. Recommend their chicken tikka(mains) and gajar ka halwa(dessert).

The best Indian restaurant I have been to in a long time. Big portions and amazing food! Very reasonably priced for what you get. Can't wait to come back again!

We started with samosas (which were huge and very yummy) as well as a chicken sizzling dish which was also very nice! We then had a mixture of different curries (butter chicken, chicken korma and the spinach chicken) along with naan and rice all of which were amazing!! High recommend this place. Very decent sized portions and extremely cheap!! Lovely staff and friendly service. Great atmosphere. Will definitely be back. Thank you!

Service: 4/5Atmosphere: 3/5Food: 2/5<br/><br/>Tried the Butter Chicken and Lamb Kadai.Great service, nice atmosphere but the food is lacking.Butter Chicken had no depth, it was 2 dimensional, tomato and cream.Lamb Kadai was tomato'y and onion'y and that's about it.Both meats weren't marinated or tender.<br/>Butter Naan was delicious. Wine was good.

Came here with a grabone voucher with my partner.Great service, amazing butter nann and tasty curry. Will return, especially for the happy hour deal!

I fell in love with their veg manchurian and hara bara kebab. They are simply amazing. I usually like very spicy food and the chef was so good in right amount of spicyness I wanted for my food. Make sure you mention the level of spicyness precisely to have a very good experience. I will definitely visit this place again for their warm hospitality and the unique taste in their food.

We ate the food bought from charminar resturant  in my firends son bday party ..... <br/>The food was total bad ... Chicken was smelly and it was spoiled by the time we open the boxes ...<br/><br/>Its very bad experience

I always look forward to eateries offering good vegetarian food.  And i must say Vegetarian food at Charminar was above my expectations. Be it snacks or main course, their delicacy and presentation will make me go there again and again.

I've tried their Pepper Chicken, and it was well-seasoned, not too spicy but not too mild either, so it was just how I wanted it to be.  I enjoyed their butter chicken, freshly made and steaming hot, as well as the madras curry. Their Mutton Biryani was a hit during a party I attended. I would definitely recommend this place!

Probably the best Indian I have in a long time the favours were amazing and the place was so friendly looking forward to taking the whole family there soon.

One of the best authentic Indian taste I experienced in Auckland. Entrees and mains have variety of dishes. One of my favourites is Lamb Chops highly recommended.

Best Indian restaurant in Auckland. Really tasty food and the service is really good . I am a regular visitor to this restaurant and I and my family are very satisfied .

Went several times in this restaurant and it was probably the best authentic indian food I had in Auckland. The prices were surprisingly low for the quality of the food. I highly recommend this restaurant!

Good food n tasty too with good n friendly service. Paneer was fresh n soft. Over all it was a good experiance. Definately visit this place again.