IF I had a penny for every time someone said ‘you’re so lucky eating out for a living’, I’d be... well I wouldn’t be working here anymore I can tell you.

And while it is an enormous privilege, you all assume eating out is a nice experience, worth the time and money.

But when it’s not, it’s hard to raise a wry smile while driving back at midnight after another lacklustre meal, wondering where all the good restaurants have gone.

It’s National Curry Week from Saturday by the way, a gentle reminder that it’s time to think about lumbering back into our caves and eating spicy comfort food again. Hence my trip to The Spice Lounge in Summertown, which I’ve passed a million times and always wanted to try, especially as it has numerous awards tucked under its contemporary Indian belt.

Manager Ali Aktar was delighted to see us and made a charming host, proud of his restaurant, which has become a Summertown landmark since opening six years ago. The interior is deceptively deep and the busy seating area right at the back pretty busy for a Monday night.

But would the food match up to the expectation? The menu certainly did, and Ali was delighted when we ordered the fabulously named ‘Leave It To Us’ five-course meal for about £20 a head, presumably because he was relishing the chance to show us what his chefs were made of. And as a concept, the ‘surprise me’ option is enormous progress – a pick and mix of a restaurant’s best dishes, designed to impress.

Dazzle us, we implored, show us what you’re made of, take our taste buds to heaven and back. But sadly the cracks began to show fairly swiftly.

Although the staff were friendly, efficient they weren’t. We were presented with papadoms but then waited an eternity for someone to take our drinks order.

There was an even longer wait between courses, when our dirty plates were left in front of us, made even more irritating by waiters laying the tables around us rather than offering us dessert, coffee, the bill and the possibility of going home.

But back to the food. To give the chefs even greater scope to show off we ordered the Leave It To Us vegetarian and non-vegetarian versions.

First up was the mixed starter – laid out on a platter and comprising of your standard onion bhaji, a lamb samosa, and two cubes of meat, (chicken and lamb tikka). A dish of Chingri Aur Poori (sweet and sour king prawns, served with thin fried bread) was served separately, and provided an element of glamour, but while it was all nice enough, it didn’t excite me and I was disappointed not to be trying something more original.

Then a long wait, followed by more inspiring dishes. A Goan-style fish dish Maacli Tenga and some shredded spicy chicken Naga Torkari as mains, some Bhadda Gobi (fried cabbage), Khudo Saag (pumpkin with spinach, onions, tomatoes) as sides, neither of which which I’d ever tried before, a delicious garlic naan, a chapatti and pilau rice.

The fish was probably the most adventurous dish, soaking in its delicately flavoured cooking juices, but the rest were indistinguishable from any other Indian meal I’ve ever had. And when you consider that three of the dishes were either naan or rice, it wasn’t the large selection we’d been hoping for.

We declined dessert because by then three hours had passed, had a quick coffee, once we’d managed to grab their attention, and bolted.

But to be honest I’d rather have been at home watching Downton Abbey reruns. If you go out, it needs to be special and rather than blowing us away, The Spice Lounge left me lukewarm at best.