Woodlands Restaurant

I love the woodland chain, even went there on a trip to Oman. The food is more traditional and the restaurants are often a bit more special. The one near Leicester Square doesn’t have a fantastic atmosphere though but the food is amazing regardless

Netter Inder, gut gelegen, sauber, leckeres Essen, freundlich.
Klar zu empfehlen.

Superlative meal of various veggie dishes. We did not have dessert, but what we had was the best Indian veggie meal, perhaps ever.
A noisy party of five left soon after we arrived, which was lucky. Good service.

Came here for lunch earlier this week because our dining companion wanted a vegetarian option. The menu had some standard S. Indian options but some unexpected options as well. Had the poppadums & chutney, medu vada, tandoori cauliflower, saag paneer, dal malkhani, lemon rice, zeera rice, poori and chapati.
on the plus side: the medu vada, saag, and breads were all very good. on the negative side, the cauliflower was too heavily spiced, the dal was too soupy, and the portions were very small (particularly the rice), and the service was slow. It was also particularly expensive for Indian food, especially since it was vegetarian.
I would not return here.

What a shame!
Woodlands used to be my favourite S. Indian restaurant outside of S. India. I went there recently for lunch and ordered the thali selection, which contains various standard items from S. Indian cuisine. Sadly, the ootapam and masala dosa, which should have a slightly sour flavour, tasted seriously over-​fermented.
The waiter tasted both and agreed with me and brought a rava dosa instead, explaining this was thinner and cooked at a higher temperature and thus should not taste fermented. He was right.
Unfortunately, the potato filling tasted as badly fermented as the previous offering. The portions in the thali were excessively small and over-​filled up with the sambar (sauce) and coconut chutney.
Sad that they should rely on their excellent reputation and cut corners to lose at least this person’s custom.

The food was very good and not too spicy. The place is nice and quiet. Some of the plates were not clean enough, but they switched them for us. Bottom line, the food was nice.

Very pleasant place for a delicious Indian lunch. We had two thali platters which were just perfect and the mango lassi was a perfect match. Super place and great service right near the theater district too.

Came here on a friend’s recommendation. While it was a bit pricey (considering you’re not even paying for meat!), the food was delicious.
This place serves up South Indian-​style vegetarian food. We had some paneer tikka, dosas, and baingan ka bartha (eggplant, ahem, aubergine, cooked with onions and tomatoes). Everything was spiced really well, and definitely more similar to the Indian food I’ve had in India — a far cry from the dumbed down Indian food I’ve been having in the U.S.
The atmosphere of the restaurant is pretty laid back, although everyone still talked in a hushed voice (note to self: don’t be that loud tourist). Service was a bit lacking at times, but I sort of expected it. It is in a convenient location though, being walkable from Picadilly circus — probably explains the price?

Für jeden Vegetarier und vernünftige Fleischesser, die auch mal ohne können, ein absolutes must! Original indische Küche. Ich kann mich nur wiederhohlen: Ein Muss, in London isst man kaum besser und dies direkt neben dem Piccadily Circus.

Wonderful. Was it veg? I didn’t notice. Great food and service but it seemed they were rushing us out of there. Highly appreciated the attention to detail on the chaat.
Bathrooms need a bit of help.
Worth a visit, but reserve a table.

My family and I just came back from having lunch here. The service was exceptionally slow. The place wasnt packed when we sat down at 115pm on a Thursday. The bhelpuri was good. Then we had a variety of Dosas, vada etc. They were all pretty average. May be my bar for south indian food is high. The sambar was a disappointment.
Also we felt this place was a bit pricey. A thali meal should not be 19 GBP.

South India food is subtle in its flavouring and gentle on the tummy. We had dhosas and a tandoori platter to share, and I had a tandoori pineapple for dessert with coconut ice cream. Lovely! All politely and discreetly served and modestly priced. £61 for two including a bottle of wine excellent value for central London.

My boyfriend and I came here on a Nectar voucher deal, so I wasn’t totally sure what to expect. But WOW, the food here is good. I was really happy to find a totally veggie restaurant as it meant more choice than usual, and I was impressed to see that they even label which wines are vegan!
The deal we had was a set menu so we just sat back and let the food roll in… and roll in it did. Standard poppadoms to start, followed by the tandoori platter — a large plate of the most delicious tandoori vegetables and paneer. So flavoursome, I could happily have eaten that again for mains! Then came a selection of curries (daal, some kind of creamy okra curry and paneer masala), potato-​stuffed dosa, lemon rice and hot fresh wholemeal puri (I think?). The curries were all delicious and the dosa was amazing. Never had it before but I definitely want to again.
Just when we thought there was no way we could eat any more, they brought us dessert. It was quite small, but that was a blessing really. I’m not sure what it was called, but it was sort of like carrot rice pudding. That sounds weird I know, but it was really lovely.
The service was perhaps a tiny bit off — prompt enough, but the waiter had this weird thing where he sort of repeated everything we said back in mildly incredulous tones. But the food was so delicious, I just don’t care. This was last week, and I’m going back tomorrow!

Small vegetarian Indian restaurant in the heart of London. They squeezed us in without a booking. The menu is quite extensive and varied, and not the usual run of the mill anglicised Indian. Service was quick and excluding the wine three of us ate for £51, including starters. I thought it was good value especially for its location and would definitely return.

Umm… wow… all vegetarian menu which was a surprise when we sat down. I booked the table with Top Table and there was no mention of this which I found odd. Had I done a little web search and looked at their website I would have known but that’s ok. Everything we had was good, actually very good. Given the restaurants close proximity to «touristy» places I was a bit skeptical and pleasantly surprised by the quality. We took a friend who was staying nearby. Our order consisted of TANDOORI CAULIFLOWER and MUSHROOM TIKKA starters. Both were quite spicy but nice. I ordered a MUSHROOM MASALA DOSA and enjoyed it quite a bit. Another person at the table got the PANEER TIKKA MASALA which I tasted and immediately added to my «must order next time» list. They have a wine list which is ok and the space is decently decorated. One of my peeves is light fixtures with burned out lightbulbs… there were way too many lights that were burned out. Yes, I’m being picky however attention to detail is important when you entertain guests. If you invite guests to your home you clean and make sure everything is in proper working order, right?
So to recap, it’s a good restaurant with some pretty darn good food. The interior is okay but they just need to do some simple maintenance like change bulbs. Oh and the washrooms were «ok» — sort of clean and tiny. Nothing to keep me from returning because this American Southerner wants to try the Paneer Tikka Masala again, it was damn tasty y’all.

A friend chose this place as it is located across the street from the Harold Pinter theatre, where we due to watch a play.
The all vegetarian menu was simple, tasty and well presented. I found it a touch expensive, but then I do generally eat Indian in Tooting, where it’s delicious and cheap.
I did inform staff at the beginning of the meal that we had tickets for the theatre, and though it’s a small restaurant, I was reduced to standing up with my coat before staff noticed us.
Apart from that I was happy with my meal, but convenient, rather than memorable.

With so much on offer in the centre of London… this place had better pull its socks up.
I’m vegetarian and very keen on South Indian food. I have been considerably underwhelmed by the standard of food here. And by the service. I hope it has improved, but I won’t be going back… far too many good places worth frequenting.
I’d rather eat at The Stockpot than at this place. Or, if I want to eat South Indian, venture to one of the two really decent places off Oxford Street.

Good Indian vegetarian place serving varied dishes which one won’t get in regular tandoori joints. We had a platter of tandoor roasted vegetables and paneer to start with which was a nice change; then a creamy coconutty veg curry and masala mushrooms dosa to follow. All freshly made and the dosa pancake was crispy and chewy.
It came to £50 for two including sundries (nan, poppadoms, mango lassi, mineral water and 12.5% service charge). A little pricey but the location is too. Was not prompted to tip again on credit card machine so that was encouraging.
Recommend this place for a great vegetarian meal out.

Lovely food and good service, watch out when it comes to paying the bill, they are one of those places that may add an automatic tip and have the credit card machine asking you for another, I wasn’t paying attention and ended up tipping twice.
The place itself has nice décor and is well place for access from leciester square, trafalger square and picadilly circus

Situated in the heart of the West End, just a minute from Piccadilly Circus, Woodlands specialises in vegetarian South Indian cuisine. This means that, although they have a limited selection of curries, the focus is on dosas (large lentil-​flour pancakes stuffed with various fillings) and Uthappams (pancakes with the filling on top — a sort of Indian pizza).
I’ve been going there for over 15 years, and the food is always consistently reasonable, and very different from the general run of Indian (and vegetarian) food. If you are not familiar with South Indian food, be warned that some dishes can be very spicy indeed — especially the soups.
A 2-​course meal for two with drinks and service (NB they add 12.5%) is about £25-£30 a head, which is not bad for this part of London. The service can be a bit variable, but overall this is a good place to know in what is otherwise a bit of a food desert for me.
They also do a take-​away service.