Thira Restaurant

Someone from this business manages this listing.

421 reviews

#3 of 250 Restaurants in Blackburn££ - £££, Indian, Asian, Vegetarian friendly

+44 1254 485641+ Add website

Hours

Sun

13:00 - 22:00

Mon

11:30 - 14:3017:00 - 22:00

Wed

11:30 - 14:3017:00 - 22:00

Thu

11:30 - 14:3017:00 - 22:00

Fri

11:30 - 14:3017:00 - 23:00

Sat

13:00 - 22:00

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What is Travellers’ Choice?

Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.

Ratings and reviews

5.0

421 reviews

#3 of 250 Restaurants in Blackburn

Travellers' Choice 2024

RATINGS

Food

Service

Value

Atmosphere

Food and ambience

Indian, Asian, Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options, Halal, Gluten free options

“Excellent South Indian cuisine to the door in double quick time.”

“We shared an excellent dosa with chutneys followed by chicken 65 and lamb chops.”

“Fabulous food, especially the sea bass and lemon rice.”

“For main courses we had a kerala prawn masala, sea bass grilled in banana lea...”

Location and contact

32 Darwen Street, Blackburn BB2 2BY England

+44 1254 485641

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Can a vegan person get a good meal at this restaurant?

Yes

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Details

Manage this business?

About

Authentic Kerala Cuisine

PRICE RANGE

£4.00 – £10.00

CUISINES

Indian, Asian

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options, Halal, Gluten free options

Meals

Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

FEATURES

Delivery, Takeout, Reservations, Seating, Highchairs Available, Wheelchair Accessible, Serves Alcohol, Full Bar, Accepts Credit Cards, Table Service

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5.0

421 reviews

Excellent

363

Very good

Average

Poor

Terrible

Rixy09

Blackburn263 contributions

Liked the "different" menu - worth a visit.

Mar 2020 • couples

We are creatures of habit and usually go to our favourite Indian in Darwen, but visited Thira as it is rated as #1 in Blackburn and we fancied a change. Booked in advance, which as it turns out was a good idea as the restaurant was very busy with some large parties. This resulted in quite a slow service and there were only 2 waiters doing everything. The food was nice. Others in the party enjoyed how "different" the menu was and really enjoyed the food. Staff were friendly despite how busy they were. There was additional "entertainment" from those patronising the pub opposite ... Friday night in a town centre; we should have perhaps tried a weekday night! Glad we tried it though.

Written 6 March 2020

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Thelawman999

3 contributions

Lovely Vegan experience on a cold Sunday afternoon....

Feb 2020 • none

After seeing the positive reviews on Trip Advisor, I decided to try this place - and got a very friendly reception on a Sunday afternoon. The gentleman remembered I’d phoned earlier specifically to ask about the vegan options for my wife (I’m veggie). He then spent five minutes explaining what they could ‘veganise’ i asked if they could veganise the ‘thali’ (he could) and we then started with the best Masala Dosa Ive ever eaten, big and filled, but light and tasty without being over spiced. Served with fresh coconut and a sauce, absolutely delicious. Then came the 2 mains of 5 smaller portions (nice to taste decent okra, a lovely daal and some lovely simple creations - eg. carrot, cabbage, coconut and turmeric stir fried i think) some plain rice and a small bread, couple of poppadoms and a 660ml bottle of kingfisher for £30 total. I’ve left very happy and realising that I’d just found my new curry place :-)

Written 16 February 2020

Kanarath B

Clitheroe18 contributions

Delicious Keralan Cuisine

Mar 2020 • none

Who would have ever thought that Blackburn, an old industrial town in Lancashire, England will have one of the best Indian restaurants serving Keralan cuisine in the UK. My origins are from Kerala in South India and I can immediately say whether a restaurant serves authentic cuisine or not. Thira certainly does. It is a feast and every dish (we have been several times and tried various combinations) is superb. The aapams, kerala parotta, dosas, vadas, chilly chicken, chicken 65, naadan chicken curry, chicken varatharicha curry, kerala fish curry, fried mussels etc are simply delicious. In fact my mouth waters as I type and reminds me of home. The decor is simple and everything is understated. The prices are very reasonable and a family of four adults can have an excellent meal for around £50 What a great place and kudos to the all at Thira. I look forward to visiting them as soon as the lock down is lifted

Written 17 May 2020

bigpt781

Evesham76 contributions

Microwave mayhem ( ping ping )

Aug 2020 • friends

Four of us had dinner here on Sunday 30th of August. We were all male adults on a lads weekend and really fancied an Indian dinner. Well very disappointing, now we were all under the impression this was a restaurant ! No tablecloth or cutlery laid out the menu were what seemed to be a takeaway menu, hardly any choice but we found something and made our orders.. four bottles of Cobra beer for drinks popadoms four main meals and all naan breads. Dinner is served.. firstly all the bread was cold two of the meals were cold the waiter was asked to come over and was explained to and took one of the meal bowls and a bread to warm up ! This came back and again we had to say the other meal and bread were cold, this was then taken away and warmed. My friend wasn’t happy with his dinner and asked for it to be taken away and the waiter replied I can put it in the microwave ( really you ask a customer that ) another issue was kids they were out the back to start but very loud and then blow me they were then playing hide and seek in the restaurant, running around the tables I did say something and they went back out the back. Lastly the bill came they tried to charge extra for a different beer we didn’t have and wanted us to pay for a inedible meal which we didn’t when we got the new correct bill we left it a couple of pound short and to be honest they didn’t deserve that. In all two nice meals, two shocking meals, very basic unattractive restaurant and I don’t know what they were doing with the bill but we were really not happy.

Written 1 September 2020

Daddy D J

4 contributions

The Best Indian Food in Blackburn by Far!

Sept 2020 • friends

We visited during the Eat out Help out period in August and enjoyed it so much, we went again the week after and even though we paid full price this time, it was worth every penny. The food is beyond delicious and quality and quantity of the portion sizes were just right. There are options on the menu that you won't find at any other Indian restaurant in Blackburn, which makes it even more of a reason to visit again. Service was spot on too, with social distanced serving and hygiene measures in place. Highly recommended.

Written 6 September 2020

raymond910

Blackburn232 contributions

A let down

May 2020 • none

I was really looking forward to trying thira, unfortunately I was very let down. Due to covid we ordered a delivery, at 6pm asked for it to be delivered at 7.30pm. It’s finally came a 8.15pm 45 minutes late! We had no contact from them, try ringing lots of times but phone was constantly engaged, we wasn’t even sure if the order was coming or not! It finally arrive n we started dishing it up only to find the poppodom set had been missed off our order. We ordered 2 starters which were good and 3 curries which to b honest were quite plain n tasteless. At over £50 it wasn’t cheap and nothing about thira lived up to expectations I’m afraid

Written 24 May 2020

Phil H

Lancashire434 contributions

Amazing authentic food, poor service however

Aug 2020 • none

5 star food all day long for this place. However we visited during the eat out to help out time and even though booking a table, the management of people entering was very poor. Seemed like they had no idea about who was turning up so had given tables away to walk ins meaning people queueing inside and outside. Even when we were sat down the poor service continued with not receiving a drink for 30 mins. Thankfully it did get better and more organised and the food was truly excellent. Recommend the masala dosa. The place in the UK for authentic south indian cuisine I've only experienced before in India.

Written 6 September 2020

NKBLACKBURN

20 contributions

Great food terrible service

Aug 2021 • family

We came for a family meal, the starters took 1 hr to come out, they were really nice and the food was delicious. Mains then took another 1 hour 15 mins to come out. The mains were ok, but at this point it felt the chef was likely exhausted and all the various curries tasted quite similar. The food here is good and staff are nice but it is simply understaffed at the front of house and it’s likely a one man band in the kitchen. The issue is they shouldn’t take on so many bookings and fill tables when they have no ability to serve in a timely manner. I would suggest getting more staff.

Written 19 August 2021

StevefromWashington

Washington92 contributions

Delicious Keralan food. Excellent

Mar 2020 • solo

Delicious Keralan food. Excellent service. Great value. I ordered the vegetarian special selection. The very helpful waiter asked whether I liked mild, spicy or very hot dishes and I went for spicy. Just look at the picture!!

Written 4 March 2020

John R

Blackburn10 contributions

Meal with friends

Dec 2019 • friends

We have had meals on a number of occasions at the Thira Indian restaurant with friends, each time the food and service has been excellent. The menu has all the normal Indian meals you expect but also there are a lot of dishes you don't see elsewhere, this I'm guessing is because they are southern Indian cuisine. We will definitely be going again and would recommend people to try it.

Written 11 February 2020

Freya W

4 contributions

Highly recommended

Aug 2020 • none

The food will most certainly not disappoint - would recommend the mirchi paneer as a starter. There was a great atmosphere last time we went - with the eat out to help out offer on - would recommend booking a table. Great independent business, will be back again very soon!

Written 17 August 2020

linda

80 contributions

Takeaway not very good

Aug 2020 • family

I was extremely disappointed having had a really good takeaway last time. Stuff was missing restaurant didn't pick up the phone to rectify. Poppadoms were stale and soft. A few of the dips tasted like sour milk unsure if this was supposed to be yogurt but definitely instructed partner to throw away as they tasted like they had been left out of the fridge and gone off. Korma was soo thick it set into one big lump in the tray. Starter was dry and flavourless like eating a piece of cardboard. Not at all what I expected from somewhere that had rave reviews. Considering this cost just under £40 for two people it was expensive for a takeaway especially seeing as it ended up in the bin.

Written 10 August 2020

Amin M

Rawtenstall1 contribution

Good Indian food

Sept 2020 • family

Nice atmosphere, friendly staff and halal good food. Would highly recommend the Kerala fish curry for those who are fond of fish. Chicken jalfrezi and lamb biryani were also nice. Saag chicken could've been better. Portions of boiled rice were quite stingy. All in all a good experience and would dine here again.

Written 6 September 2020

RobnLondon

London68 contributions

Super food but very slow service

Jul 2021 • none

lovely restaurant with friendly staff. We placed a small order for the two of us, it took over an hour to arrive. If we'd been told it wold take so long when ordering we might have decided to leave. Maybe it was worth the wait as the Rasam was delicious, probably the best I've ever tasted. Then there was a very long wait for the modest main course, the food was good though the fish dish skimped on fish. Maybe the dishes are cooked from scratch rather than constructed using ready prepared sauces etc? If I'm in Blackburn again I'll definitely give it another try and make sure I have no other plans for the evening, Great to see such a place in Blackburn.

Written 9 July 2021

Andrew M

4 contributions

Try this restaurant.

Jul 2021 • none

I've been on business for a week in Blackburn, and what's made it special is this extraordinary, unassuming restaurant in the city-centre. Parking is easy. Service is a little slow, not because nobody cares: quite the opposite. The chef is working hard to slow-cook the most exquisite dishes, and the waiting staff fit in with that. This is a truly friendly place where various languages are spoken and the diners come to enjoy themselves....it has been a privilege eating here and my only fear is that one day I will arrive and it will be full. Come to Blackburn for this wonderful restaurant.

Written 28 July 2021

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