This was worst restaurant i have ever been to! The service was terrible the waiter was apathetic at best, massively rude at worst. We waited a ridiculous amount of time for every course. I was given the wrong starter and it took ten minutes to attract the attention of a waiter to take it back. The original waiter then cam back and accused me of ordering the wrong starter. From there it went downhill and the price by no means matched the quality of the food which was poor.

I will never go back there and would not recommend it.

Good food, good service was worth then money spent.

Booked a table for 4 at Mela for a friend's birthday. We were shown to a small table in the middle of the restaurant – we asked to move to a more private table in the back but we were told "no, you can't" even though it was not busy. After a frustrated wait had to ask someone for a drinks menu. We were not offered popadoms, in fact we didn't know they did any until we saw another table with some! We ordered: starter: chicken tikka (good, & hot), whitebait (bad, avoid, flavours did not work at all); main: jalrezi (perhaps above you average curry house standard, but nothing special), lamb rogan (very good, thick, flavoursome), kozi vertha (very good flavours but avoid if you don't like scrawny chicken legs in your curry); sides: stay away from spinach and corn masala! It doesn't work and it was weird. Daal was OK. Bombay potato very good. Naan was burned but nice. Lights were off in the toilets. Service was OK, but overall we were let down. Mela is overrated by far. And overpriced.

went there with a friend today and will not go back again. Ordered a salad which loOKed a day old.Lettuce leaves were brown and limp.the excuse we got was that they had been marinated in lemon juice,yet there was no taste of lemon. The bhajiyas were very overdone-literally chocolate brown in colour. Spinach corn mushroom subzi was actually ok but found a strand of hair in it. They kindly got me a fresh dish later,but by then my roti and rest of food had gone cold.the korma looked like it had curdled milk in it,was bland....wasn't impressed with the quality of food but the service provided was good and our waiter was very polite and helpful.they made fresh bhajiyas to account for the almost charred ones which we hadn't asked for and after we paid the bill,they gave us complimentary dessert as we were 'co-operative' customers despite the low quality of food provided and we got a 20% voucher for the nest visit,not that we will be going again!sorry!

Mela proves that poor, over-priced restaurants can (sadly) do a brisk trade given a prime central London location. Bless those one-time-only tourists!
The food we had here really did plumb new depths of blandness; a navratan korma (think unimaginative veg mix swimming in warm milk) was almost totally devoid of flavour, and if there was any paneer present, I certainly didn't find it. Elaichi gosht korma was almost as bad - note to chef: "mild" and "flavourless" are two very different concepts.
A side of palak and corn mushroom masala tasted horribly processed, the overriding flavour being salt, not spice. And if "baby spinach" was the chief ingredient, it was either of the tinned variety, or had been simmered into a slimy, algae-esque pulp. The fact Mela have the nerve to charge nearly seven quid for this slop (even for a side dish, the serving was seriously mean) is little short of insulting.
Although the first offender was removed from our bill after we sent it back, handing over the cash at the end of the evening was a painful experience - and one that won't be repeated. Avoid.

Excellent food one of the best in the west end of London. The portions were large and price very reasonable. The Lamb chop was amazing. Its easily one of the best in West end without having to break the bank to eat in.

Mela does decent indian food its got really nice atmosphere and the decor is great. I had the meat with spinach dish and tandoori chicken.

The portions were small but taste was nice. Maybe they should increase portion size because meal was slightly steep in price. Service was ok.

Went to mela with my other half and enjoyed a meal for two. Curries were good but the deserts was simply gorgeous.

It was some hot indian dumplings with home made vanilla ice cream. Yummy. One downside its bit expensive but worth a visit.

Went to Mela in Covent Garden last night and thought the food was exceptional. Portion size generous and reasonable for west end.

I mean where can you find a three course meal for 10 quid. I've been to India numerous times and the food there is fantastic even in the cheapest restaurant, mela reminded me of that.

There were fresh spices used in the cooking and you can taste the difference. The food was full of flavor and you can even smell the assorted spices used. The naan was just out of this world

Decor very nice and service excellent. BUzzing atmosphere.I would go back there again and recommend this restaurant or any of their chains to my friends. Well done guys !!!

My brother and I went to Mela last night for the first time. I had seen mention of their 50% off (a la carte ex drinks) January sale elsewhere on Viewlondon and thought it worth checking out. We found Mela a few doors along from the re-opened fopp (yeah! Bargains galore!).

The manager was very helpful and made a couple of suggestions for our order. We shared papadum, gilafi seekh kebab, bhalla papdi chaat, murgh jalfrezi, lamb chop korma achari, plain rice, mixed vegetable paulo, peshawari naan and kulcha (stuffed with Lamb).

Everyting seemed cooked to perfection but, if I were to nit-pick, my only comment would be that the peshawari naan was a little sweet for my liking and, if I had a do-over, I would order a plain naan next time.

Having arrived at around 7:00 pm (on a Friday evening), the restaurant was just starting to fill up but service was quite quick and efficient. All the staff were pretty friendly also. I can't comment about the deserts (too full to try) or the drinks menu (on the wagon, so just drinking water).

The bottom line is that the bill came to approximately £30.00 which I thought was excellect value for money. I expect we will return before the end of January to sample more dishes, whilst the 50% discount applies, and would certainly be happy to recommend Mela to anyone who wants to sample some finer Indian cuisine.

Acceptable food - lamb shanks good - chicken overcooked. The manager went out of his way to make my wife and I feel uneasy, with some very clumsy comments.

I regularly visit Mela. It has very good food and service, although when the restaurant is busy it takes a bit more time. I'd recommend Mela if you really want to have delecious Indian food. I just love the quality and taste of the food there.

I was disappointed with Mela. The service wasn't brilliant. Although the starter was good we had a main vegetarian dish which was incredibly salty.

Mela is a classy place for sure and it's reflected in the prices. You may well have a shock when the bill comes in. Food wise some of the dishes don't live up to the verbose descriptions on the menu.

I also have to say that I have never had such terrible wind after an 'Indian' meal. It really was quite alarming and lasted until the next morning. And I wasn't drinking before, during or after the meal...

Of course that might just be my digestive quirks, but you never know!