The long bar has gone and now a smaller, smarter silver one is the welcoming point in a two-tiered room bathed in orange walls and glitzy lighting. Stylish half curtains laced with tasteful bling, orange and white lighting over each table, salmon-pink tablecloths, modern cutlery and glass all add up to smartsville, the whole Bollywood package.
Parking in the packed car park and walking around the building to the entrance, I expected to enter a restaurant heaving with customers. But apart from one couple, Spice Village was empty.
Despite clamping signs, inconsiderate drivers were simply driving in and walking off.
'I'll have to put in a barrier,' the manager sighed. What incenses me – on behalf of Spice Village – is that these senseless drivers deter genuine customers from parking. If bona fide ones can't find a space they may go elsewhere.
It's hard enough trying to run a restaurant these days without handicapping the business. When I went, the number of staff outweighed customers by six to three. But was it worth finding a car space? Follow me to find out.
The extensive menu goes down the modern route with 'favourite regional dishes,' including Gujeratie chicken or lamb, Assam king prawn, Goan, Karala or Shahi duck representing parts of India including the Himalayas.
Chef's recommendations cover Aloo Kata Massala (chicken stuffed with potato and egg with a mild sauce); a Murgh one with minced chicken, Passanda with almonds, sultanas and cream.
Or come for the Persian, seafood, biriani, tandoori, vegetarian or the many fish dishes on offer. The chef sources ayre and boal, freshwater Indian fish, swordfish, koi (a coastal Indian fish) and salmon and all are given the spice treatment.
Start with perhaps an onion bhaji; sheek kebab; shami kebab (spiced minced meat); king prawn butterfly or lamb tikka, my choice. It was divine. Smothered in beautifully-cooked, tiny, sliced, lightly caramelised onions, the tender meat was served just on the side of pink. A superfluous salad came with it.
Bete noir number two – after the selfish car parking debacle – is modern restaurant cutlery. Here, very large cutlery resists the urge to be handled by human hands, the shape at odds with these hands anyway. I nearly did away with the knife and fork, the spoon looking like an attractive alternative.
But I was soothed by my next dish, ayre dignonto, a freshwater fish cooked with Bangladeshi marshland lemons plus a heck of a lot of unmentioned chillies, coriander, ginger and other spices.
Although my waiter described the fish as similar to salmon, it was mercifully not this overrated mostly farmed fish, the chunky white fish more like a dense yet light haddock. The dish was delectable and moreish. The accompanying sag bhaji, spinach with onion and garlic, had far too much ghee however.
A tandoori roti could have stood a tad more heat to cook it through.
Prices are reasonable per dish but those vegetable asides and sundries will bump up the cost of a meal. Mine, with a decent glass of white, was around the £23 mark without a well-deserved tip.
Spice Village, part of Portsmouth's Indian Cottage empire, is a highly welcome addition to Emsworth. Just keep out of the car park unless you're a bona fide diner!

Spice Village, 47 High Street, Emsworth: 01243 379222.
Open Sun-Thurs 12pm-2.30pm and 6pm-11.30pm. Fri and Sat 12pm-2.30pm and 5.30pm to midnight.
Food: ****
Service: ****
Atmosphere: *****
How to get there: Take the A27 going east and exit at Emsworth. Follow the signs to the town centre, turning right at the roundabout with the anchor. The restaurant is on the right. The car park is at the back of the restaurant. If the car park is full, park in the public car park a short distance away on South Street.

Diners' View
Judith and Alan Renshaw, from Havant: 'We have nothing like this lovely restaurant in Havant, the comfort and food are second to none,' Judith said.
'My only complaint is the use of too much butter in some of the dishes,' she added.
'It's great to see Indian restaurants becoming elegant, the food also smartening up. My Goan chicken and samosa were very pleasantly presented,' Alan added.