Visited this restaurant/ take-away yesterday with my mother. Although my mother and I are both vegetarians we found the choice of cuisine minimal. We both ordered the thali and were very disappointed with the food that arrived. It was very bland and dull. For vegetarian meals it was too expensive. Also the owners of the restaurant were constantly watching as we ate. We were then shoked to see two rats come out of the outside door to the kitchen as we left the premises. Avoid at all costs!
Arwin Mahindrakar
great thali at £6.99 mon - fri. It has a cafe atmosphere and parking in front. Great range of savoury and sweets to take out. One of the few places in Manchester to do quality Indian vegetarian food at a good price. I would highly recommend this place.
Rasmalai Arv
fantastic quality and variety of food.pricing is very reasonable, service is excellent.we go every weekend that we can.We prefer to have a relaxed family atmosphere and that's what Lily's is about, quality family dining.
Cooco
This is an over hyped restaurant. We reached there about half past seven in evening through public transport. First we were asked eat in or take away. We obviously wanted to eat in as we have come a long way. Then the owner told he can do take away for us as he is busy with outdoor catering. If he was too busy to take more customers he should put a note of Take away only. We were annoyed as he was still serving another family who came little before us for eat in. Well we waited for 20-25 minutes for our take away, and ate it after 2 hours of our journey as we were doing bus journeys.
In the end after reaching home, when we re-heated the food, it was full of oil, and we used serving spoon to take the oil out. The naan bread was too hard to eat. I must say there are better restaurants for Vegetarians/Vegans for Indian cuisine in Manchester itself.
Should never had listened to this recommendation.
Nicola
This place is an absolute gem, hidden away in Ashton. The staff are friendly, helpful and welcoming, the atmosphere is relaxed and informal, and the food is absolutely fantastic - by far the best Indian food I've had in the North West, with the possible exception of Sanmini's in Ramsbottom (which is considerably more expensive than Lily's).
There's a fabulous selection on the menu, including authentic home-made starters/snacks like idli and sambar; and a delicious lentil pancake. The main courses are varied and authentic, and all vegetarian. Paneer features frequently, and all of the four main courses I've tried so far have been delicious. Portions are very generous, and at around £4 for a main course it's extremely cheap. The salted lassi is fantastic, the perfect way to wash down a curry - salty and acidic with a smattering of fresh green herbs.
The Indian sweets are beautiful, home-made, delicious and very reasonably priced.
With substantial starters, poppadoms, drinks, main courses and accompaniments, my meals usually come to around £12 a head - and that's invariably left me stuffed to the gills. They also have a very cheap take-away menu with things like vegetable thali and chapatis for under £4.
There's parking at the front and an Indian food emporium next door.
All in all, the perfect cafe experience! I've been going back regularly since I discovered it on Sugarvine, and can't recommend it highly enough.
Em
The food at Lily's is great - completely different from the boring curries oozing in oil you get at virtually every other Indian restaurant in Manchester. It's more of a takeaway/cafe than a restaurant so don't go if you're planning a romantic date! But the food is worth the trip out - their speciality is street food like fried paneer and spicy potatoes, chaat, bhelpuri, dosas. Delicious.
Customer
The restaurant has a calm feel to it. The furniture is simple and cafe-like. There is wide selection of sweet and savoury snacks.
The menu contains starters, very good vegetarian Indian and Chinese dishes, desserts and non-alcoholic drinks. The food tastes just right and is quite palatable and digestible. The staff are pleasant and helpful. Car parking is not a problem.
