Ashoka

Our first visit to this smart Indian restaurant in Glasgow.
It doesn’t look like the usual Indian restaurants you may see and I suspect it had a former life with a different cuisine. That doesn’t really matter in the scheme of things as the décor is clean, sleek and modern with a big colourful mural on the back wall.
The menu was slightly different too and there are plenty of things you may not have seen before which is always a nice surprise. The menu on their website is an old one so check it out with a visit to get an updated one. The staff are great — attentive and happy which always makes a huge difference to your dining experience.
I had lamb cooked on the bone which was fantastic — deeply flavoured and well cooked. My wife had an unusual sweet and sour type chicken dish which was really unusual and delicious.
My only niggle was the temperature in the restaurant — someone turned the thermostat up to 11 as it was really warm.

We’ve been here three times now (I swear, I thought I’d reviewed before now), each time with an Itison deal which consisted of a three course meal for two for 8 quid. To be honest, for that deal, we’ll keep coming back again and again.
Ashoka recently had an upgrade of it’s interior, so it’s now bright and inviting. Before it was a little drab and dark, so it’s nice to enjoy a meal in cozy surroundings.
My guy and I stopped in for a meal here just as we were heading out of town and it was a nice start to our weekend away. With this deal, we were able to choose off of their lunch menu, which has a good amount of options to choose from. Also, Ashoka seat the itison diners at 12, 2 and 4pm and every time we’ve been, they’ve been absolutely slammed. It’s such a great deal.
This time around, I went for something different. I usually always order the veg samosas, the chickpea and lentil dal and the ice cream, but this time, I went for the spicy chicken wings (which set my mouth on fire), the spinach and onion curry with lamb and ice cream. My guy went for the spicy mushrooms, the garlic chili chicken and the ice cream. Our meals also came with rice and the most delicious naan bread you will ever have.
The waitstaff have been the same since we started coming here and very nice to boot. the service the first time we came was a bit slow, but this time, we were sat right away and our meals came out pretty quickly. It was a great experience.
What’s also great, is that we both ordered diet pepsis, which I’m usually weary of when it’s coming from the tap at the bar because it’s usually quite flat, but their bar pepsi is great and fizzy, which I love.
This is a great wee place down the start of Ashton Lane as we love this deal we’ve scored and hopefully will continue to score as long as they keep posting it.

The food was fantastic, same as the fast service and great price.
You can have lunch for 5,95£ and you can have a menu like in my pic with a nibble a main dish and the sauces.
It was super tasty, definatelly I will go back!

This is an Indian restaurant where I have most frequently been to and would highly recommend it due to its location, environment, taste and price.
Ashoka located in the most beautiful lane on Byers Road, just behind the HillHead Station, on the opposite of Ubiquitous Chips. Make an reservation first to make sure a place if you are going to have dinner.
The sweet Nan (forgot the real name.:(…) with flavor of coconut is the best Nan I’ve ever tried. And there are rich sources can be chosen to make with shrimp, lamb or chicken.
Ashoka also accept Taste Card and can give 241 discount if you reminder them before you order your meal.
They also do take away!

Hadn’t eaten from here for a while so ordered take out on a Sunday.
Really bad decision as we waited 1 hour 45 mins for it to arrive. Now, I don’t stay more than quarter a mile away but somehow after being told that my food would be with me «within the hour» I had to call for an update. Surprise, surprise I was told it would be delivered right away.
When it arrived coincidentally 10 mins later the driver said he had been stuck in traffic !
Strange given that Byres road was silent at 8pm on a Sunday night. Needless to say the food was as cold and congealed as something very cold and congealed. Naan bread was just a mass of soggy garlic dough. Curry was a chilled coconut milk, overly spiced, sludge. The carrier bag it was delivered in actually had a puddle of water at the bottom of it.
So, I probably won’t bother this «classic» curry house again.

Glasgow is good at curry. I think that’s pretty much a given. Ashoka is a chain of very well established Indian curry restaurants in Glasgow and surrounding areas. I dropped into the Ashton Lane branch on Friday with some friends because we were hungry and wanted something that would reliably go well with beer. Curry was definitely the answer.
Foolishly, we didn’t call ahead. Nevertheless they managed to squeeze us in but warned us that they’d need the table back within an hour. That’s no problem, we eat quickly enough and in the end we were out within 45 minutes, but that didn’t stop them hovering. Nevermind — I understand their concern on a busy Friday night.
My companions ordered vegetable, chicken and haggis pakora to start, respectively, while I opted for the garlic mushroom bhatura. I admit to being tempted by the haggis pakora but I can never resist a mushroom starter and I was relieved when mine was perfect whilst my friend’s pakora was «good but definitely on the overly greasy side.» Perhaps that’s the be expected.
For mains we got a South Indian garlic chilli chicken, a lamb on the bone dish whose name escapes me, a lamb Ashoka Malwa and a mushroom dish. It’s a testament to how well balanced Ashoka’s menu is that it was only at this point that I remembered one of our friends is vegetarian. He hadn’t struggled to find delicious options at all. I think everyone was fairly happy with their orders, with especial praise being called on the garlic chilli chicken. I thought mine was good but perhaps lacking in heat, I’d definitely expected stronger, spicier flavours, so perhaps I’ll go for the garlic chilli chicken myself next time. The Peshwari naan was also a bit middling. As I mentioned above, Glasgow is good at curry and I have strong feelings about Peshwari naan; sure, not everyone can be the best but I’d definitely been spoiled by having had better.
For what we paid (around £25 each including drinks) I think this was pretty fair, especially for an impromptu night out. I’m not certain I’d rush back but that’s more because there are so many amazing curry restaurants in Glasgow than because there’s anything particularly wrong with Ashoka. I definitely see the advantage of it as a place to take groups and if you’re around the Byres Road area it’s a good choice.

Myself and 3 friends had lunch here yesterday as part of a Groupon deal (2 dine for £8). Given that this was so cheap for 3 courses, I didn’t hold out much hope. How wrong was I?! The food was delicious, the portions generous and the service was excellent. The dishes available were the usual suspects including chasni, korma, masala with the option of additions for a very reasonable supplement. I had the vegetable pakora to start, then chicken chasni with boiled rice. The sauce was lovely and rich without being overly creamy or sweet. The chicken was cooked perfectly and melted in the mouth. Even the rice was light and fluffy allowing it to soak up the sauce brilliantly. Although busy, the staff were very friendly and attentive. They gave great tips regarding what was best on the lunch deal menu and offered suggestions to keep everyone happy in terms of nans and rice. The portion sizes left us all full without feeling like we had over indulged and stuffed our faces! The usual lunch deal is 2 courses for £7.95 p/​p which is still an excellent offer that I will definitely do again. Only advice would be to book as it was very popular. Including drinks, the bill was still under £30 which is brilliant in my view.

Visiting Ashoka in Aston Lane last week with some friends was actually my first foray into Indian food! «At your age?», I hear you say! Well, yes and no! Coming from a long line of fussy eaters and «is that spicy, I don’t do spicy» eaters, I’ve always been unsure what my taste buds feel about Indian food. Now, I’ve eaten a curry before — ever since it became the fashion to make a generic sweet potato curry the veggie option of choice in pubs and restaurants — but I’ve never had an authentic curry.
What can I say, I’m a convert! I loved my visit to Ashoka and I will no doubt be back. I was first to spot the amazing 2 courses for £9.95 deal on our menu and none of us could quite believe it! So cheap, so much food! With a nice glass of the house rosé I tucked into the chilli paneer starter, little cubes of paneer cheese coated in a spicy chilli seasoning. I’m a sucker for meals that are mostly cheese based so I loved it! It was mild enough for my beginner palate, but had the right about of kick to it.
For my main I had the Indian vegetable Pasanda (one chilli rated on the menu). Pasanda is described as «peanut, cashew and almond powder, cooked in cream
and yoghurt with the addition of korma sauce». First off, the bowl my Pasanda came in was more like a sink! The portion size was huge! It was beautiful and creamy, again with the right amount of spice, and the mixture of veggies was perfect. We ordered a plain and Peshwari naan to share between us as well as a mixture of boiled and fried rice, all fab!
I would really recommend Ashoka for curry lovers and newbies alike! The staff were polite and friendly, and the atmosphere was pleasant. There’s a great choice of food for veggies, items are listed separately on the menu which I always appreciate. The £9.95 2 course deal covers 1 started, 1 main and either a rice or a naan, with supplements for some dishes.
The only thing that held back a 5 star review was, very picky of me, the toilet. While clean I felt it was a bit dingy and I felt like I was walking into a staff area to get to it.

Unilocal lunch at the Ashoka Ashton Lane! Well kinda, I think we’re all Unilocalers. We went on a GroupOn voucher deal, back to the place we’ve known for more years than many people who frequent it have lived. To be honest I’ve never absolutely loved it, but I was happy enough to visit a bit of an old friend.
They pack em in here, but it’s airy enough. It’s lighting is perfect, not too bright, just relaxing and we got to sit at a booth. Yeayyy! Obviously on our deal we were on the lunch menu, but it wasn’t hard to pick our three courses for £3.50. It quickly became apparent that everyone else in the place was restricted to the same options as us too.
We mostly had the Lal Toofan, it’s on tap, while we were deciding on our courses. I went for the Chicken Chaat, the South Indian Garlic Chilli (lamb) and the Gulab Jamun. No supplement for the lamb either, how fair is that?
Everything came quickly and the service was very professional. The chicken chaat was not bad at all, the gulab jamun was not bad at all, but the Garlic Chilli curry was a thing of exquisite beauty, hot, but not too hot, tomatoey and flavoursome with tender melt-​in-​the-​mouth chunks of lamb… and then it was gone. An all-​too-​fleeting experience that’ll teach me to go for the dinner portion next time!
For the money it’s easily a 5!

Great Indian food. Very authentic. Veggie pakoras are my favorite thing! They have a great lunch/​dinner deal during the week, an app, entrée, and side dish for £9.95!

Ashoka is one of the best Indian restaurants in Glasgow and provides the best deal I’ve seen yet!
Pros:
— The dinner special that runs Monday through Thursday – offering an appetizer, rice or naan, and a curry for £9.99 – is amazing. Yes, it comes with restrictions, but you really can’t beat that when you have a hankering for Indian and not much money.
— Curry is always on point. I went for the ceylonian curry with lamb on this last visit and it was creamy, spiceful and totally satisfying.
— Naan portions are pretty sizeable.
Cons:
— Waitstaff can be a little awkward.
Clearly, the pros outweigh the cons. I make a point to come here every time I’m in Glasgow and highly recommend a stroll down Ashton Lane while you’re here too — it’s busy and always appears to be a beautiful little Glaswegian secret (even if it’s not).

It’s coupon deal city at the moment for Ashoka Ashton Lane and it has been for quite a while. One coupon co. offers 3 courses for £3.50! That’s cheaper than a Sainsbury’s sandwich meal deal. It’s blinkin’ ridiculous! How can the quality of food be maintained? We decided to find out.
Service is usually pretty good here and I’m glad to say it’s still pretty high up the menu. Our booking for an intimate ‘couples’ booth was pretty early — Saturday at Noon. That’s all they had and the restaurant was soon 2/​3rds full (mostly with a voucher of some sort). This vibrancy, along with lighting dimmed to a decent radiance and the colourful subcontinent wall mural helped create a lovely dining atmosphere. But enough of this blah, how was the food?
Well, our voucher entitled us to the £9.95 3 course «lunch in a hurry» menu. So Pakora, Chicken Chaat, South Indian Garlic Chicken, Lamb Pardesi (Spinach and Mushrooms), Rice, Naan and Ice Cream were ordered. All were fantastic with the exception of the Garlic Chicken, which was ketchup sweet and over cooked, oh and the rice was cold :-\ However, pakora was crisp, chaat was SweetandSourTastic and the lamb dish was silky, melt in the mouth. So looking at the whole luncheon experience, it was pretty positive. Quality? Well, on the whole I can’t tell the difference in quality between The Ashoka and other recognised Curry Shops in Glasgow. And quantity? We were both stuffed! :-)

The Ashoka Ashton Lane is the best place for a relaxed curry in a city full of the country’s best curries.
It’s set on the edge of the world famous Ashton Lane and though from the outside it may not look much, the curried delight withing will have you soon hankering for more.

Nipped in here with my Daughter for a quick bite to eat before going to Gallery of Glasgow. we were the only people in the restaurant and we felt like fish in a bowl with all the staff watching our every move.
They had a deal on two courses for £9.95, we ordered some popadums & spiced onions & one meal mixed pakora, then chicken bhoona with fried rice & garlic nan.
When the bill came we were surprised £32.00, I questioned it and explained that it was only one meal we had ordered, I was told it was £9.95 per person and as we had both eaten the meal we did not qualify for the deal a bit harsh, I thought had we known this we would have been cheaper to order two meals and take one home.
They did however relent and reduced our bill, common sense prevails.
Like Arnie I will return.

Not a bad looking restaurant. great location and the food was pretty decent. I am not a huge fan of curry and the staff seem to have a problem with females. Bit rude not sure what that is all about. but that aside not bad for a curry. Not too cheap though. I was going to give it a 3 star but just took it down to a 2 star as i reminded the issue with the waiter, or it would of being a 3 star.

Best curry in Town… enough said!
A little too cosy for some but its charm is unmissable.

I’m a big fan of places whose name give me an opportunity to make a terrible joke.
Sat by the fire in the Ubiquitous Chip with a few close pals, we were informed that there would be some changes to the menu.(they were really busy, it’s understandable.) With the Steak & Ale pie gone we were forced to make alternate dining arrangements.
«Ashoka?» My friend said.
«You did what!?» I replied.
You have to say it out loud to get it, but I really enjoyed the wordplay. I’m here all week, try the veal, don’t forget to tip your waitress etc etc.
Anyway, Ashoka then. It was terrific. Just such good food. If you’re a curry fan in Glasgow you’re kind of spoiled for choice, but the Ashoka is always a safe bet.
The menu has enough favourites on it that you want’t be disappointed if you’re just looking for a Masala or a Korma, but also a large number of much more interesting and unique takes for the Curry Connoisseur.
The service was great too, almost too great. I think because the Ashoka is usually so busy, on a quiet night the staff find it hard to adjust. Seconds after somebody took our drinks order another waiter approached to make sure we had made our drinks order, same for the main.
I’ve never been asked so many times if everything was okay with our meal.
Nevertheless, I answered each time, and always meant it.
«Yeah, thank you, it’s really good.»

On account of its plain, instantly-​satisfying yet ultimately forgettable fare, this chain was once regarded as the McDonald’s of Glasgow curry houses. Generally consumed when all others avenues had been exhausted, dining with the Ashoka was more about quantity rather than quality.
Remarkably, however, just as the city took its curry scene to the next level, something changed with Charan Gil’s Ashton Lane restaurant. Suddenly the staff got slicker, more knowledgeable and charismatic, remembering your name each time you returned and offering educated opinions on meal choices; the ambiance changed from that of a last resort to being genuinely suitable for all occasions, from informal nights out to graduations; and most importantly the menu improved beyond belief, offering a wider variety of far tastier Indian dishes as opposed to the same old tired and predictable fare.
Having looked a lost cause, in the past four years the Ashoka has come roaring back to stake a genuine claim for its old curry king crown. Competition is fierce, but in terms of value for money, quality of food and atmosphere, this place is back to its best and may even have the edge over its rivals thanks to its truly wonderful fish pakora.
I’m lovin’ it.

Located right near the Hillhead subway entrance and close to tourists staying at the Grosvenor Hilton, this gem of a restaurant is hidden down an alleyway. However, it is worth the hunt as the food here is absolutely terrific.
The restaurant was crowded, (always a good sign) and although we did not have reservations, the manager kindly managed to find us a booth. Reservations are advisable.
Definitely try the chicken tikka masala — -yummo! The portions are very generous, the price is right and the food is excellent. What else could you ask for?

This restaurant is a long established fixture on Ashton Lane. While smaller than other the Ashokas, it upholds Sanjay Majhu’s tradition of decent food at reasonable prices.
Despite the size, I have never had a problem getting a table or found the service slow even during busy times.
Book ahead if you want to be sure of getting a table. If you try to grab a quick post-​pub Indian on a Saturday night after walking out of Jintys you may have to wait.
Don’t be upset, since there are several really good Indian takeaways on Byres Road.