The Pink Turban

Great buffet, worth the money, good choice of starters mains and deserts, new owners and new name

This place is TERRIBLE.

We'd heard good things about this place and living about a 20 minute drive away, in the wild of North Lanarkshire where good Indian food is hard to come by, we decided to give it a try.

Parking is an issue from the start - there is very limited space around and no car park. We were lucky and got a space on the street outside someone's house, as someone else was leaving.

Upon arrival, we were greeted and shown to a table squeezed in next to the drinks cabinet. The whole ambience of the place is 1980s social club. The tables are very close together and if it had been busy, which it wasn't, it would have been pretty uncomfortable being cheek by jowl with the table next door.

The service was atrocious. We were asked by a very young girl what drinks we wanted, and off she went to fetch them. After about 10 minutes, she came back with a tray with our two drinks, and two other drinks, both pints of soft drinks with ice. After depositing our drinks on table, she then dropped the tray, depositing a further two drinks all over our legs and feet. Although she muttered an apology as she wiped it up, there was no attempt made to ask if we needed towels to mop ourselves up, nor did the management seem to be interested.

To add insult to injury, we waited at least 15 minutes before we eventually flagged someone down to ask for a menu. A gormless young chap then handed us two paper take-away flyers. At this point, I was thinking about getting up and leaving, but a girl then came over to give us the correct menus and tell us about the buffet. Sadly, we didn't see this girl again during our visit - she seemed to be the only person in the building with more than one brain cell, so she was obviously in high demand. This is also the only time I've ever been to an Indian restaurant and they have clearly been AGAINST you ordering from the a la carte menu!

With no further assistance in sight, we eventually just helped ourselves to the buffet - clearly, ordering anything else was not an option, and I was ravenous by this point. The starters were all dried up and lukewarm - if it wasn't for the crudely printed signs, I wouldn't have even been able to identify some of the items. Hats off though for pushing the boundaries of "Indian cuisine" by including fish fingers and chicken nuggets, truly a global experience.

The curries themselves were fine - a wide selection was on offer, though mostly chicken based. There were a couple of lamb curries, but as the printed menu only offered mutton, I'm unsure of the veracity of that. There was one dish with prawns in, too. The three curries I sampled were just OK - nothing special at all. The chicken garlic masala was clearly just the garlic mushroom starter with chicken instead of mushrooms - thrifty!

Poppadoms, condiments and naan breads were fine and in plentiful supply. We didn't sample the dessert options - we were so thoroughly demoralised by that point, that we couldn't wait to leave. We had to wait what felt like an ice age for our bill to arrive and then someone to find the card machine and the wherewithal to bring it to our table. I would only return here under duress, possibly at knife point.

I enjoyed a delicious buffet meal here before lockdown.
The food was hot and fresh and there was a decent selection of starters and mains.
My complaints though were that the cutlery and plates didn't appear to be too clean and the manager had a horrible attitude.
As there was no obvious pricing in the restaurant and we weren't given menus, my partner asked the manager if we could use the meerkat 2 for 1 deal on the menu. His reply was rude and abrupt as he shouted at her repeatedly "not for buffet not for buffet" - she hadn't even asked about the buffet!
When it came to payment, I told the manager as I was settling up that I had my NHS card as they advertise a 10% discount for NHS staff. I was then shouted at by the same manager in front of many others "I told your friend before, no discount on buffet, no discount on buffet!!"
His attitude was incredibly rude and I was very embarrassed.
Overall, nice meal, lacks basic cleanliness though and the managers attitude has put me off going back again.

The Pink Turban offers Indian cuisine in a buffet format. There is always ample food and it is really well priced. It doesn't really cater for people who do not enjoy Indian food so if you have someone of that ilk in your company they will struggle.
The tables are set quite close together and people are always popping up to the buffet so not the place for a quiet romantic meal for two.
Great for a group of friends and they welcome families and children.
My advice would be... limit the volume of your starters so that you can sample more of the mains. Enjoy. Xx

Big change since the last time we were there. I believe It has new owners, has been redecorated and a previous chef has returned. It is looking fresh and pleasant, although the music was a trifle loud. There were 8 of us and it was difficult to hear everyone. However, when we asked for it to be turned down, it was done immediately.
We were given a free taster of chili chicken. I do not like chili usually but this was sweet and went down a treat.
Food was excellent and loads of choice with dishes being topped up frequently. I loved the starters and stuffed myself. I even found something other than korma to eat. Unfortunately I cannot remember the name but it was lovely.
A choccy with our coffees was a night touch.
Staff were great and although we didn't realise they were waiting to close, there was no hassle to leave.
The price for 8 of us with a fair amount of wine partaken as well as soft drinks was £135.80 which we considered very good value for money
We will be back for another great evening

We certainly had an excellent experience at The Pink Turban last night and I have to review it before I forget to!

We went to the Pink Turban at the recommendation of our B&B host. My husband and his co-worker were both Indian food virgins and were both a little nervous. The restaurant has a buffet or a la carte option, and we all opted for the buffet. A good choice for the virgins, I think.

First of all, I though there was ample selection for vegetarians. I did have a question about one of the dishes for one of the workers about whether or not something was veg (that particular dish was not). Later, while I was sitting and eating, one of the employees came out from the back with two small dishes of vegetarian sides for me! This was completely unexpected an unnecessary, as I had a full plate, but incredibly appreciated. I enjoyed both dishes he brought out, and my husband enjoyed one as well (too much food at this point and he had to help me finish!).

The dessert table was also overwhelming. I had to stop myself from trying everything, but the few small things I did try were very good.

As we were getting ready to leave, the employees brought us some small candies, and then also offered us complimentary drinks (we declined because at this point we were too full)! I'm pretty sure we only got this super amazing service because we were Americans and they probably knew we would tip well... which we did. The funny thing is that of all of the places we have eaten so far in Scotland, a buffet, where you would normally get no service at all, had the best service!

It's too bad we are towards the end of our trip and have dinner plans for our remaining couple of days, otherwise we would definitely have returned to The Pink Turban.

I loved the buffet in the pink turban. By far the best Indian buffet I've had. The selection of different dishes was fantastic and all tasted superb. They did have a menu you could order from if you didn't fancy the buffet. Only Negatives: i seem to remember they only had one beer (I don't drink the stuff, so can't remember what it was) and the tables are very close together.

Buffet Food was tasty and fresh but overall decor tired and in need of major upgrade. Staff friendly but not attentive and you had to go and find someone for a drink. The lady serving had a ponytail longer than her waist , swinging over the food... Not very hygienic

Totally love the Pink Turban , been there many times and never disappointed. It is smaller than a lot of other Indian buffets but the quality makes up for that . Staff are friendly and always polite . Best to go through the week as weekends can get busy . Defo my favourite Indian buffet . Steven Harvie .

I can't believe no-one has reviewed this place yet! it is by far the best Indian buffet I've ever been to (much better than the koh-I-noor in Glasgow) the main let down however is the size of the place. It can get really busy and can be quite annoying going up to the buffet itself as it's quite cramped, but the food itself is amazing 5*.