It was an hour and 20 minutes late our takeaway. Yes, you read that right, 80 minutes late.

To make matters worse, we had rung and ordered it at 6pm for 9.15pm last Saturday when the dreaded children’s disco party had ended and we knew that by the time we’d got the kids to bed in a haze of sugar and One Direction fantasies, we’d have lost the will to live and cook. That gave The Ovisher three hours and 15 minutes to prepare for our delivery.

And with a curry house war on at the moment, we didn’t doubt that they’d deliver, competition being so high that every customer counts.

Indian restaurants are the fastest growing market at the moment; Witney now boasts six on one street alone, Bicester has a curry stand-off on the Market Square, and our towns, cities and villages are being swamped with chicken tikka masala and Kingfisher lager, which means each and every one of them not only needs to produce delicious food, but also to serve it on time to stay in business.

I like the Ovisher’s food. It’s always consistent and endless Saturday nights spent chatting to the delivery boy on your front doorstep, brown paper carrier bag in hand, means you build up a relationship.

But an hour and 20 minutes late was unforgivable. It meant we didn’t sit down to eat until 10.40pm by which time I could have sprinkled mango chutney on the table legs and eaten them instead.

It also meant of course that by the time it turned up we were decidedly unsteady on our feet, both from hunger and alcohol consumption. Sitting at the kitchen table with our guests we drank the place dry while I frantically rang every 20 minutes to find out where our supper was.

When I made the first call the waiter sounded very surprised that I was querying our supper’s whereabouts at all. It hadn’t even left, but he said they were very busy, thanked me for calling and put the phone down. I rang 20 minutes later, same response.

At 10.30pm I rang and demanded to speak to the owner, but he was on a delivery and a few minutes later turned up at my door very apologetic with a free bottle of wine and a complementary chicken tikka. But we still had to pay the full whack (£40 for three) and by then it was all too late and too much effort.

Never again is my only conclusion, which is a shame because I love the Ovisher, but if you can’t deliver, don’t take the order, or at least keep your customers informed.

The Ovisher, 11 Oxford Rd, Kidlington OX5 2BP. 01865 372827