The Clay Oven

One of many christmas outings, this time a work do, and I was curious to see what the Clay Oven would be like.
Firstly, the food is good and plentiful. It’s like Jenny L said, British Indian rather than completely authentic but we had a brilliant buffet mix that satisfied meat eaters and vegetarians. The meat dishes were packed full of really great quality meat and there was no stringy, fatty bits on the lamb dish we had, which I do usually find can be an issue.
We were in the back of the restaurant and it would be fair that we did bring our own atmosphere. Service was good and staff were helpful, but just a bit slow at removing excess bottles and glasses to make way for food which was a wee niggle.
As this was a buffet, I’m not sure what dishes we had — a chicken korma I think as the cream and coconutty/​almondy sweetness gives this away, sag aloo, a mushroom dish, the lamb dish and all sorts of naan’s and pilau rice. The naan’s went down well — I think we had a selection of all types but as I’m GF, I passed on these, though the poppadoms were amongst some of the best I’ve ever had :-)
So, why not 4 stars. Well, sitting near the store room, I did see prawns in a box, obviously being taken down to the kitchen which made me glad we didn’t get the Christmas set menu, so that put me off a bit. But for a group and as long as you are happy to amuse yourselves with some tasty food, then yep its worth a visit.

This is always my first choice for an Indian take-​away. They really appreciate delicate flavours and enjoyable textures. Considering the excellent quality, it’s pretty reasonable as you get so much in a portion. Definitely recommend trying this place out if you live in the area.

Holy shashlik kebab batman. That was one big plate of food. Seriously, the most noteworthy thing about this restaurant is the portion sizes, and the subsequent (delicious) food baby that ensued.
My friend and I dined here early one Monday evening — restaurant dead hour. As a result it was just us, and one other table. So ambience was lacking. There was also some awful twangy hawaiin inspired Indian music on in the background, and it was loud enough that we kept noticing and commenting. And last little irk, the waiter practically fell over himself insisting we ordered poppadoms. Which we really didn’t want. And had to say NO to several times. Luckily he didn’t bring them, but seriously — I know you make mark up from selling fried air at 40p a pop, but I don’t want them!
Anyway, the better stuff. The food. The menu is more British Indian than traditional. I appreciate good food in its traditional form, and so prefer restaurants that serve up the closest imitation to straight-​from-​the-​country as it can. There are other Indians in Edinburgh that do this better. But for what it was — British Indian — it seemed ok.
We both went for the Chicken Shashlik kebab — chicken tandoori with green peppers, onions and tomato. As we ordered the same thing, when it was brought out we assumed the portion in the waiters hand was for both of us to share. He proceeded to dish it onto my friend’s plate… and continued serving it ALL until it was gone, and reappeared with a fresh sizzling platter of meat for me. I regretted ordering the boiled rice as ‘filler’.
Actually that’s one other wee thing that irked me. I would have preferred if he’d set the sizzler down beside us and we had helped ourselves, rather than putting it *all* on our plates at once, for us. As a result I ate it all, but perhaps wouldn’t have done had it been on the sizzler. A tactic?
Anyway, the chicken itself was a wee bit dry, and the yoghurt tandoori marinade a wee bit chalky, but the vegetables were quite nice — I liked the tomato — and as far as meals go it was finished, and enjoyed. Not outlandishsly wonderful by any stretch, but for ‘filling Indian fare’ it hit the spot.
But the best part was the price. That previously mentioned mountain of sizzling meat set me back £8. The rice and pickles added on bumped it up a wee bit, but I didn’t touch my rice. Value for money it is!
I think I’d rather order takeaway from here than eat in again. We were eating in as we were popping into the Dominion for a film after, and neither of us expected more than we got for 6pm on a Monday. But I think for those nights you need a huge amount of spicy food in front of The Apprentice or Friday night film, this could hit the spot. Just make sure and say NO poppadoms if you’re that way inclined.

A few friends and I ordered takeaway from the Clay Oven recently to accompany wine and theX Factor. It was delicious and authentic in the way that only food from an Indian restaurant is, as opposed to just a stand-​alone takeaway. It took a while to come but was worth the wait and proved to be filling and of excellent quality. We had a range of chicken dishes, prawn dishes, rice and nan breads between us and all were impressive, I’ll definately make it my local go-​to for yummy and reliable indian food.

Call me superficial, call this trivial, but there’s just something a little bit special about having a takeaway delivered by a man in a three piece suit. This has nothing to do with the quality of the food (which is excellent), but it definitely brightens up my day.
I’ve been getting take-​aways from the Clay Oven for years. We (as a flat) used to get the banquet for two between four of us. You get (wait for it): Chicken Tikka Massallam; Lamb Bhuna; Mixed Vegetable Bhaji; Alo Gobi Massallam; Pilau Rice (2 portions); Sultana Nan; Kulfi. Yeah, that’s for two people. So unless you’ve a huge appetite, this works out at just shy of £6 per person for four (£22.95), which makes it really good value. Otherwise it is one of the more expensive take-​aways.
Top tip: Ask them to swap the kulfi (a sort of weird Indian frozen dessert) for another naan. We’ve never had a problem doing that. Unless you really like kulfi, you weirdo.

The Clay Oven is a delightful Indian restaurant on the busy and bustling Morningside Road in Edinburgh, so it is in a great location for students to go to for their lunch or dinner. It is quite small inside, but instead of it feeling cramped, it feels warm and cosy. The décor inside is authentically Indian with Indian music playing in the background.
The Clay Oven offers a wide selection of authentic Indian cuisine on its menu, with a good vegetarian choice as well. I had the Chicken Pasanda which was on their specialities menu and it was absolutely delicious as it was cooked fresh and the chicken was full of flavour — yum! It was very well priced too at under eight pounds, and it was a decent size with lots of rice which was also cooked perfectly. The Clay Oven also offers set menus which cost around £15 per person and include kebabs, nan, rice and a desert. I found the staff very friendly and accommodating.
The Clay Oven also serves takeaways which are always cooked very quickly, and they now do home deliveries which is incredibly handy if you want a delicious curry an don’t want to walk for it. Definitely The Clay Oven is the place I am going to when I next fancy a curry.

The Clay Oven is an ‘authentic Indian restaurant’ which serves a fully halal menu. The décor inside is nice and has a kind of enclosed feel which adds to the atmosphere and makes you feel like you’re having a proper South Asian experience. The service, however, is pretty bad.
I came here with two mates a few months ago and the waiters basically ignored us for for about two minutes when we first came in and then seemed indifferent when were giving them our order for takeaway. I ordered the lamb ramaya (one of their specialities apparantly) with rice and a naan. The food seemed to take an eternity to arrive and when it did they just dumped it on the counter and walked off without even acknowledging that it was ours.
When we got it back to the flat the food was actually a stark contrast to the service and it tasted pretty good. I’m fairly sure I didn’t actually get what I ordered, but it was still a good meal.
The Clay Oven would be an excellent restaurant were it not for the poor service which lets down the whole experience of the place.

Located in the rather genteel Morningside are, The Clay Oven is a rather fantastic Indian restaurant and takeaway. The staff are courteous and more than obliged to fulfil all of your culinary needs, not to mention that you will be served one of the best curries in town for a mere pittance.
The takeaway service is also excellent, and you can also order online and pay by card. So now even the most reclusive of us can get a takeaway with minimal social
interaction.

I had a meal here with a few friends and it was a pleasant evening. The service was good and the food was nice enough but I think there are a few indian restaurants in Edinburgh, even in the Morningside area, that are better than here.
The food was fairly standard fare and one of my friends has a gluten intoloerance and asked what she could eat that was safe. She was told that she could have a chana puri — which she couldn’t as the puri is a bread, so we had to step in and tell her to get something else instead. I know that wasn’t really a big deal but it would have been better to get the correct information in the first place.

This place isn’t far from me and I enjoyed my meal here. I was a little surprised to see prawn cocktail on the menu but my boyfriend said it was great. It was dimly lit and I found it quite romantic.

This is a lovely, sweet little restaurant located on busy Morningside Road. It’s very small and homely inside, with traditional Indian décor and music, and extremely polite and friendly waiters.
The menu is great too. Really inventive dishes, not just the average Indian restaurant choices. I’m a vegetarian and was really pleased to see a separate section of veggie meals (and not just carnivore dishes with the meat cut out!) I had a great curry made with paneer (yummy Indian cottage cheese). The service was very quick, and the waiters were very attentive.
All in all, I loved eating here and have been dying to go back! The intimate nature of the restaurant means its great for couples, or smaller groups but, as I was leaving a big group came in (who obviously had been in before and knew the waiters) and they were made to feel at home, with lots of chat with the waiters (even the chef came out to speak to them!)
The only down side when I visited was that it was very quiet while I was eating which meant the waiters were perhaps a little over-​attentive but this didnt spoil the meal at all.
A great restaurant, lovely food, excellent service! I loved it.