Review Indian Sapphire Restaurant & Bar - Auckland Central

The staff is extremely friendly! We ordered three different curries, and all three were delicious. I particularly enjoyed the cheese garlic naan, super soft. Highly recommended to everyone!

Finallly authentic momo chutney Delhi style… Loved every bite of food❤️❤️❤️

We googled for Indian curry restaurant close by and chose Indian Sapphire Restaurant as their prices were reasonable compared to other Indian Restaurants we usually support. Wow we enjoyed 3 amazing curries. We ordered Beef Vindaloo, Tikka Chicken and Lamb Madras. All freshly prepared full of flavour. The garlic and cheese naan was the best we had in a very long time. Please do support this restaurant.

Had a dinner with my family. It was first time to hav one there. Staff was kind and polite! The food we ordered was shahi panner, prawn butter masala, Tandoori chicken and garlic&cheese naan and plain one. All meal served was well prepared and lassi was also yummy. Will visit agin.

I came across this place late on a Thursday night friendly staff more than happy to look after you. Food was very good cheese and garlic naan and a Sapphires special chicken curry good flavours. The restaurant was small but functional.

Seriously the best butter chicken I've had. Can't wait to try the tandoori platter could be in for a real treat. Parking is good.

We’ve only just left the restaurant and the food was so good I had to do a review in the car on the way home! I cannot fault a thing, my favourite was the samosas. My four year old loved the rice best (lol), husband ordered the noodles which he thoroughly enjoyed. We will definitely be back!!

Amazing indian. We use to go Ravis but after trying indian sapphire have to say they are very good. Currys are nice and think with so much flavour

Absolutely stunning food 😍 compliments to the chef and wonderful best service. Highly recommended 👌

We visit twice 30 minutes before closing staff were very friendly and happy they served us food was very tasty i just wanna say thanks to all the staff who working there we love it 😊😊

Indian sapphire restaurant and bar is in Auckland near highland park. There are so many restaurants doing the Indian curry this Ambience was just perfect.

Food was good enough, fair portions and friendly prices.<br/>This was our second visit and everything was ok until we spotted a cockroach walking across the seat. If there is one in the eating area then I can imagine the kitchen.<br/>We have kindly evacuate from there leaving most of the food on table. Giving 2 for the taste otherwise 1 is well deserved!

overall food was very average,<br/>prices were OK but curry was disappointing<br/>and naan was sad<br/>lack of vegan options<br/>should have listened to the reviews<br/>would not rush to order again

We have been coming to Indian Sapphire for quite a few years (takeaways) and they consistently produce the best in the area. The food is if a very good quality using a good range of herbs and spices for flavour, not just paste like many other places. Highly recommend the Chicken Do Pyaza.

Worst zomato gold experience ever. Toilets were disgusting asssss and had to battle with them over zomato gold membership. Lucky the team at zomato sorted stuff out pretty quickly but probably won’t be going back here again. We got the lamb sheesh kebab which was nice , service was just disappointing

This place is a hidden gem for sure. Truly best Indian curries. Booked a table for 8, although they were busy but we were still well looked after.<br/><br/>Their malai tikka and achari tikka is a must to try item. Along with we ordered rahra lamb, vindaloo lamb, Indian sapphire special chicken. No words enough to express my joy for their food. Definitely going back for sure

We went to this restaurant as we wanted something spicy and this restaurant has good reviews on google and Zomato. My friends beaming face tells its own story that how much he loved their Lamb Seekh kebab curry with all of us enjoying our meals and wine. Service was great with very pleasant staff. We would go again. Thanks

If you're going here for the 1 + 1 Zomato gold experience, please don't. The waiter said we would have to purchase 2 starters and 2 drinks for the Zomato gold deal to be valid, we obliged. Howver, this is not a part of Zomato's policy wording on their website.<br/><br/>During dinner, we also were in contact with Zomato's support team who advised the restaurant to only charge us for the one meal, feeling generous, my wife and I said we would pay for 50% of the total bill instead as we did get more than just one meal. The owner persisted that we had to pay even more than that and we left paying a total of about $27 more than we should have. It would have been $49 extra, but the owner reluctantly discounted the bill a little further.<br/><br/>A note to the owner: Don't advertise yourself on Zomato Gold if you're not prepared to honour their discount.

Similar to the last reviewer, the reason for the 1 star rating is because my partner and I were forced to order a starter and 2 drinks to avail the Zomato Gold 1+1 food offering. We presented the Zomato gold voucher before ordering and trusted the restaurant that that was the policy. During our meal we checked with Zomato support and despite Zomato conveying to the restaurant manager that they are not allowed to force us to buy the extras, the restaurant still insisted we pay the full bill. They did offer to give us a free drink and free meal (as expected with the 1+1 offer) but in the end we had to pay for everything else. Such a disappointing experience. Food was good and service was slow. We definitely won’t be back again.

Such lovely service! Very welcoming employees and yummy food! Will definitely come back. We had the butter chicken which was cheap and so worth it

Now let me make this clear. The 1 is not for the food, the food was great. The issue I have was to do with a disagreement. I have bought a Zomato gold membership. Part of this membership let’s you avail of 1 on 1 free for main dishes. Ideally I would have only shown My membership at the end when I was paying but thank the lord I didn’t. When I told the manager he continued on to say I needed to not only buy 2 mains but also 2 drinks and a starter to avail of the Zomato membership!!!! He said it was the in-house rule????? That’s false advertising but why am I not surprised that an Indian resturant would be dodgy!!!! Maybe if your going to try and fleece customers like that it probably shouldn’t be via an app cause people will talk and I will make sure I let everyone know.........

Great place to come for some lovely indian food. Been coming here fortnightly for quite some time and has always been great tasty food! Thanks alot

Fantastic place, have been here countless times and have always had a fantastic meal and great service. I look forward to dining here for years to come!

Food was nice and tasty. Their staff are friendly. The place is nice and cozy. One of the best Indian food we have tasted. We will definitely come back here... thumbs up... I highly recommend this place. <br/>

Great ambience, very delicious food & fantastic friendly, efficient service,  choice of private comfortable booth seating too, looking forward to dining there again.

We have visited here a few times and have had good food & good service. Location not ideal but overall definitely worth a visit. Thanks for a nice restaurant nearby!<br/>

I really enjoyed my food here, great taste. The chef was very kind to accommodate to my diet requirements, I had mushroom curry and a modified rogn Josh.

Absolutely stunning food. The best Indian food I’ve eaten. Would highly recommend. The service and ambiance great. If I could give more than 5 stars I would.

Food is nice enough and came quickly enough.  Had the special beef and the samosa. Ordered  an extra meal to take home and was charged $1 for the takeaway container. Would not order extra in future to help them out and will be trying the other Indian restaurants in the area.

Came in last night for dinner and were really impressed.<br/>Started off with the mango lassi and premium platter. The mango lassi was delicious. Not overly sweet like others which was great.<br/>The premium platter was also delicious and for $10.00 was a great bargain. The meat was tender and well packed with flavour.<br/>Next we ordered the lamb vindaloo and chicken tikka with cheese and garlic naans. Both curries were extremely delicious and the meat was tender and omg the naans were sooooooo GOOOOD! The cheese was oozing out with every bite and im one big fan of cheese so i was highly impressed.<br/>Will definately be back<br/>

We wanted to try a new Indian restaurant and chose the Sapphire by the strength of their photos. The food was great and those who prefer the spicy were loving the heat of the saagwala and Sapphire special. We loved the coconut fish and aloo gobhi. My rogan josh was great but not sure about the Indo Chinese Manchurian which was too strange for our Chinese pallet. Butter chicken went down a treat. The American in the group loved it as it was the time he tried it. He will look out for it when back home. We were surprised to find a green glowing emerald light behind the counter instead of using a blue which is the colour of sapphire. It must have been deliberate and it was a good conversation starter. That said, it was worth the drive to the eastern suburb. We also wondered about the public safety of having a broken wine glass left on the floor.

We went for a meal tonight and had a fantastic meal. Great service, great food and great value for money. Taste of food is amazing and good hospitality services. We recommend Longfellows to people.

This is great Indian Food, it is consistently good quality. I love the Sapphire Special Curry. Monday to Wednesday is $10.99 Curry Night and this is amazing value for money. My partner and I dine here weekly with family and friends and it is awesome.

Have had many meals from this outlet over the years and they've been pretty average at best,recently they changed ownership to become indian sapphire,its a bit early to judge but the takeaway dishes we got were tasty and had good flavors,Will try again,maybe different dishes next time....<br/>

Food is not bad, but we were literally the only table dining in for the entire evening and yet we waited a hour for the food. It seems take away orders were treated as priority and was much faster.

Excellent and quick service. Very tasty food.<br/>The staff informed us that there is a 45 minute wait which we were fine with as they looked very, very busy. <br/>Will go again.

This little restaurant has changed a few times over the years but now as Indian Sapphire, it's very easy to give a great review.  The food is fantastic - fresh ingredients, excellent quality meats/veges and a perfect range of yummy & spicy flavours.  The staff are great, too - friendly and fun.  We're very happy to be regular customers.  Try the Chicken 65 entree and Kadahi or Saagwala mains.

Was impressed from start to finish by Indian Sapphire Restaurant. Service and atmosphere was friendly and relaxed with excellent food to match. Loved the fresh and tasty on trays, mains and naan. <br/>Recommend it to anyone in the East Auckland area looking for a new and tasty Indian dining experience!

I was really surprised at what I experienced today at Swad - a small family Indian restaurant on the lower storey of Highland Park's iconic Mandarin Palace.  We were served with complimentary poppadoms before ordering. We picked Rogan josh Lamb & a chef special chicken, with some plain naan bread. Food was amazingly good - tender meat, juicy chicken & hot to our liking. <br/>(Food - 4/5; Service - 3.5/5; Ambience - 3/5)<br/>P.S. My photos didn't reflect the true colour of the food, as there was a green light above us.

2 thumbs up to the chef. I love mango lassi, masala fish and garlic naan. Mango lassi is creamy, tasty and full of mango fragrance. The taste of curry sauce is awesome!!!!<br/>Staff are friendly and considerate.

Ordered takeaway from here for the first time last night and I'll definitely be going back! The meals were great and had a decent amount of meat in them and the flavours were awesome! Friendly staff too!

The worst north Indian food i would i ever had till date , why o don't know they just make their gravy so sweet. And honestly i am chef , and yes a Indian that is a shitty Indian food they are serving in Nz , giving a wrong taste of Indian food to all blacks. Never gonna try food here , total waste of money . there is no 0 rating unless i would have given that to them.

I've tried many Indian restaurants in east Auckland and I'm happy to say that this one is now my favourite. They have the standard $10 curry and rice deal that most competitors offer, however you also get poppadoms with your order which is a nice something extra! <br/><br/>I ordered the chicken tikka masala and I must say swad does it the best! Perfect balance of flavors and a very generous amount of chicken! The chicken is so good and not dry at all. Reason for 4.5 stars is I'm yet to find out how good the dine in service is :-) <br/><br/>Highly recommend to all!

Ok so we have frequented this place for about the last 6-9 months. Initially having takeaways and more recently sitting in for a $10 special Mon-Wed. The standard and quality of the food both dine-in and takeaway is superb. The main thing for me is that the quality of the ingredients, the spices and flavours surpasses anything else I have had anywhere in East Auckland. The restaurant has had a recent fit-out and is clean, tidy and welcoming. The service is friendly and food is made in good time. I have noticed that this place is getting more and more popular, so if you are ordering a take-out ring ahead and place your order to avoid sitting around and waiting. Prices are very good and if my teenage daughter likes it then it must be good!

We had takeaway from here for the first time. I had the chicken Jalfrezi and my husband had the Chili chicken. Both dishes were super tasty, full of flavour and had greater variety and quantity of ingredient than what we have experienced previously from other Indian takeaways. We will defiantly be going back and may have found our new favourite India takeout 👍

Visited this restaurant a few times off & on, loved the tidy interior, welcoming hosts, great location, comfy seating & excellent food & service. Cant believe I said it all, in just one sentence.  There are so many restaurants doing the Indian curry thing. Swad stands firmly & truly strong on my list of favourite Indian food places. I loved their delightful Tandoori chicken & kebab & prawn platters. They serve a very good variety of yummy finger licking good North Indian food & their rotis & naans are very nicely prepared, quite fluffy & smell delicious; to  accompany their tasty dishes, the spice is really excellent & they look after the taste buds quite well, not burning with too hot a spice nor too mild but just perfect heat/hot to bring out the exact flavours of the meats in their variety of excellent dishes. Quite often most of the curried dishes taste very similar; as though they are made from the same basic stock - just different colours. Not so here, their food is varied in tastes from Palak Paneer to Chicken Tikka to the ever popular Tandoori grilled meats & delectable rice dishes & Biryani included. Well recommended for small groups & they serve very attentively & are great hosts. Real pleasure to visit them again & again. Yet another visit & I sampled a lovely Indian Beer named Kingfisher & it was recommended by the owner to go with the Tandoori Chicken. Full marks to this great combination & I loved it chicken beer & all. The service was again most delightful, staff attended most promptly, served in a timely manner & the entire dining experience was a real delight. They have updated their decor & the bar has some great lighting which I wish I to do for the man cave someday. Ambience was just perfect. Hope to visit sometime soon again. Thank You to Swad & staff for an enjoyable evening. Cheers!

Swad was my go-to indian takeaway while I lived in Highland Park, but having moved further away, unfortunately I have been going less. I did manage to grab a couple of dishes on my way to a friend’s and I can definitely say it’s still as good as it was. <br/><br/>We had the chicken korma, chicken saagwala and butter prawns. All were very very good, the saagwala is a spinach puree curry and its delicious! A very deep green colour and very good if you’re wanting to try something different. <br/><br/>Similar mon- wed deals to competitors. Not complaining though ;-)

Best Indian food for miles! Great service too. I take my family to Swad regularly and we've never been disappointed. It's so good that I have English friends coming from West Auckland to stay just so they can get some tasty, authentic curry.

Last night we had dinner at Swad. best Indian food i have tasted in Auckland. love the Chilli chicken dish. my son absolutely loved the butter chicken. we had birthday celebration so ordered quite a few dishes., saag panner, saag lamb were amazing. my brother ordered lamb Vindaloo and i must say it was best vindaloo  he had in auckland. it was hot and spicy as written on menu.  customer service was remarkable. even though it is small joint, it was busy as. but chef doesn't compromise on quality and quantity of meal size.  finally found awesome joint for us.

Update 2019: Overhaul of the restaurant ruined <br/>the quality of the food. The food was average and it’s not worth price increase. <br/><br/><br/>2015: Food was excellent. I have tried the cheese naan, tandoori chicken and butter chicken. Love every bit of it. I never tried to dine in so I can't comment on costumer service.<br/><br/><br/>

OMG!!!! This has to be one of the best Indian restaurants in the country! Came up to Auckland from North Canterbury, where there are quite a few damn fine Indian restaurants, but the food and service here were absolutely amazing. The best onion bhaji I have ever had (wish all Indian restaurants did it the same!) and the garlic naan very generous portion size. Fabulous Beef biryani and my fellow diners enjoyed the prawn sawadee (far better than the usual choice of korma). Totally recommend this restaurant so go and enjoy the lovely service and wonderful food. Do it, right now... Right here... At Swad!!!!

At the start of 2014 we went  to this place just to try it out .Service is great, quantity and quality of the food is amazing. We recommend Swad Indian restaurant to  everyone. <br/>SB Sumeet

Have been with my family three times and everytime we have enjoyed the experience and the food is great.The prices on par with most ,but more generous portions of rice,naan bread and drinking glasses.The staff are friendly ,efficent and helpful.My only let down is space in the resturant ,not enough room between tables or leg room .Invest in some more space and i am sure you will still be able to fill the resturant.

Delicious meals, by far the best indian food I've ever tasted. The service was fantastic. The only criticism I have is the decor is a bit dated and it was quite cold however with delcious food I can over look this!

We went with our friends on a voucher deal, 2 mains, rice, mixed entree and drink each per couple for $35 so we were blown away at the amount of food, the rich flavoursome taste and the excellent friendly service that we were afforded. We were full just after the mixed starter! The curries were yummy with plenty of meat/chicken and delicious tasting sauces. Loved the serving dishes. Yes the place is small and being the rugby that night the place was empty but they were doing a roaring trade in takeaways. Swad is definitely a place not to miss. Thank you for a wonderful meal.

Place is small. Was cold inside. There was a heat pump but not switched on! We ordered onion bhaji for starters. It was nice but not hot. We suspect was premade and not fried on spot. It came in small crumbs. Wife ordered khadhai paneer as mains. It was very nice. she ordered garlic naan but was not edible as it was layered with garlic. I ordered malai kofta medium hot. Came mild. The kofta balls where hard and not edible. Very disappointed! We had a voucher deal and its not nice to knock someone but hope they improve.

Pretty good place. The naan was average I got the lunch special and that was really average. The service is good! I guess I have to try the other things.

Went here on a all you can eat voucher and all i can say is WOW! Food was amazing!! Service was fantastic and fast. I would definatly eat here again and wouldn't mind paying full price its totally worth it .

Four of us went to Swad on 26th April on "eat as much" voucher deal. Serving size were good, food was nice, service from the Indian girl was superb-just so pleasant and friendly. We had a fantastic dinner. Thank you Swad team!

Pretty good Indian food, more like a 3.5. Serving sizes were large and very filling and service was pretty good. Atmosphere of restaurant wasn't that great, but expected on a weeknight. The naan bread was quite delectable and had more pieces than a usual serving, rice was average and of the curries we tried; the palak paneer was yum and standard while I didn't enjoy the butter chicken as much as it was a tad sweet.

Firstly, I'm not sure where reviewer Mignonette (below) ate but I doubt if it was at Swad, Highland Park. My wife and I have eaten here a number of times over the last couple of months and we have nothing at all to fault - quite the opposite in fact. The food (starters and garlic naan are especially good) is always fresh tasty and served promptly and with courtesy from all the staff involved. An excellent value for money experience, to be recommended.

This place is absolutely fantastic. The curry is delicious, divine even. The service is friendly and the staff are always attentive and helpful, and they remember me when I come in. It's so nice to have a friendly local place to go and get the best curry around.<br/><br/>I always recommend this place to all my friends.<br/><br/>Regards, Janna Jansen

This place is absolutely fantastic. The food is excellent, really super-tasty! The décor isn't the best but let's not be distracted by trivialities. The staff is extremely friendly and helpful, always happy to accommodate. The food comes out in record time and is beautifully fresh. We are regulars, this is down to several important factors: 1) brilliant value for money, 2) the quality of the food and 3) (most importantly) it's BYOB with no cork-age!!!<br/><br/>My wife and I ate out here a week ago and for two starters (naan bread) and two mains, it cost us just $36! It was easily worth way more than that. Our kids love it as well - makes a change for the fussy eaters they are!<br/><br/>Highly recommended. We'll continue to support these guys.

We moved out of the area to Ellerslie; we tried many other Indian restaurants but in the end we had no choice but to make the journey back for the best Indian food around. The "Family" are always pleased to see their customers and nothing is too much trouble

This is one of the best Indian restaurants I have been hunting so far! Their dishes are nice, right amount of portion size and seeing the owner himself rolling the naan freshly on the spot just proves that they are serious about their quality! My girlfriend and I go there around 1-2 every week, just cant get enough of Swad's goodness!

It's not often I'm easily impressed having eaten in many restaurants around the world. Tonight I took my family to the most charming rustic establishment. <br/>The food is exquisite and volumous.<br/>The people friendly and professional.<br/>What a fine experience of real food , real people and happy patrons.<br/>No frills.<br/>Wish it was in Hamilton.

Based on the reviews, we ordered takeaways for the first time tonight and we were not disappointed.<br/>We fed a family of four with an entree, naan and three mains, delivered, for under $60, in about 30 minutes. I was completely impressed.<br/>The butter chicken was awesome. We ordered medium spice and probably could have gone to hot. The chicken inside the dish had grill marks and was perfectly cooked. The mains had plenty of meat and came with heaps of rice. The kids said the garlic naan was the best they've had in Auckland. <br/>We look forward to trying new dishes in the future as Swad will be our go to place for Indian. <br/>Really good value and service for the dollar. Can't recommend it highly enough.

We eat here almost every week which in itself is a great value for money indicator. As good as most and better than many and you can't beat the great pricing three nights weekly! Allways<br/>plenty of beautifully cooked rice and the mains are generous for one despite the low prices. My personal favourite is Rogan Josh, my partner likes the lanb or beef korma. All in all a great choice for a casual meal with polite and attentive service.

Have had takeaways from here - free delivery which was awesome. The staff are very obliging and the food excellent, their butter chicken was the best.

The $10 mains 3 nights a week are a bonus but this little restaurant produces consistently high quality food, great service, and a very obliging, friendly Maitre'd who does his best to ensure your meal is up to the high standard we have come to expect from here. Cooking done so you can see what is going on and we have found the food is always tasty. Well done.Keep it up

Very very good food!

Really yummy Indian food the Chicken tikka masala is out of this world, it's my favourite Indian dish and they do a spectacular job!!!

Swad is a small place in the middle of Highland Park located near the shops and the chinese restaurant. They have dine-in and takeaway options. The staff here are really friendly and always strike up a conversation with you whilst you wait on your takeaway. They are usually very attentive when dining in. If you are just after something standard like a Butter Chicken then you won’t be disappointed but they also offer some more experimental dishes which are well worth going for if you like to be a bit more adventurous. My favourite Curry in the Howick area.