03/13/09

Should a cook taste his food?

by seriousfoodie5674

OK, so...Has anyone ever eaten Indian cuisine? Does anyone remember the worst Indian meal they had ever eaten? Now waste $30-40 on Raja Cuisine of India and watch your memory slowly justify that all of them were better than anything here. First, the garlic naan...tasteless, looked like yellow curry powder stained one side, a lot of it, but inedible...

Second, the veggie samosas...greasy, no veggies, all potato, no sauce so you could really taste the grease. I think they at least change the fryer grease a few times a week. Third, (main course) Mattar Paneer.... kind of like a cheap, jared, store-bought vodka sauce. Buttery, flavorless, old peas, one giant piece of super dry paneer. So thin and watery... they didn't even try to cover up that they cut ingredients out of the recipe to save money.

Next, Lamb Saag, three tiny pieces of dry, tough meat. Oily & tasteless, cut with what seemed to be Heinz gravy...plus the rice was overpowering and dry.

If anyone has had the pleasure of eating at Devi or Brick Lane Curry House in NYC, you know how amazing these dishes can be... but quite honestly no food is as bad as Indian food that is poorly prepared.

So just go down Valencia and eat at Dosa, or Maharaja

and pay for something that will leave you satisfied...do it for your palate.

• Pros: They counter online bad reviews with fraudulent positive 1's
• Cons: they call this food...& take your money for it

06/11/08

Great food - but lousy service

by SenorTilo

My wife and I ate here due entirely to the notoriety it has received on Citysearch. It didn't take us long to realize that the reviews that mention the less than spectacular service were not exaggerated. They were not busy, so this appeared to just be a work ethic issue on the part of the staff. Drinks went unfilled and it took around 40 minutes from when we sat down to when the meal came.

So why four stars? Because the food was unbelievably good. Good enough that I would gladly eat there again and put up with the exact same service. I ate until I was quite uncomfortable, and then I ate more. It is easily the best Indian cuisine that I have ever had, but because of the service I could not give five stars with a clear conscience. Also, we found that their beer selection was not quite as plentiful as the menu initially suggested. This is definitely a place where a little extra effort would go a LONG way.

• Pros: Food
• Cons: Parking, Service

04/19/08

Avoid The Restaurant

by AjaySF

STOP! DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS RESTRUANT! Raja never delivers on time and really does not care about you as a customer. I have ordered from them three times and each time my order was over 45 minutes late. Each time I called they treated me very rudely. If you want to eat within at least an hour of ordering your food do not order from Raja.

• Pros: None
• Cons: Service

03/06/08

Worst Service I've ever had

by sf124875904287593

I ordered my meal at 7:45. They said it would be delivered in 1 hour. At 9:15 I called back. They said it would be delivered in ten minutes. at 9:35 I called back. They said 5 minutes. at 9:45 I called back. They said 5 minutes. At 10, I called a dozen times and they didn't answer.

At 10:10 the delivery guy arrived. I gave him 5 dollars. He said it was $30. I told him to keep the food or take it for $5. He took the food.

My night was ruined.

• Pros: They exist.
• Cons: They don't deliver on time or care. Their online menu doesn't work

02/13/08

indian experiance

by alice108

we wanted to try out some Indian food so we went to this place...well i for one am glad that we came here..the food here was good...i really like their samosas and thought their dal makhani , naan tasted really good....will recommend this place for you ,if you want to try indian food and also for those of you who have time in their hands?but will guarantee that the wait is worthwhile ?.

12/26/07

Worst Service Ever, Great Food

by thotpolice

Don?t go to this restaurant if you are in any sort of hurry. The service was the worst! Thirty minutes after being seated a waiter finally approached our table and asked if we were ready to order. We answered in the affirmative and he then proceeded to walk away (it should be noted that we were one of two customers dining in the restaurant at the time. They were not busy). He returned twenty minutes later (after taking one phone call and a taking a second personal call on his cell phone) to take our order. Over the course of the evening we had to choose several different meals because they kept running out of food. However, the food was great once we eventually received it.

10/11/07

Horrible

by andrew123

Avoid ordering delivery at all costs. This was my worst experience with delivery ever (and I am not young any more). I ordered food and was told that delivery will take 45 min. An hour and a half later no food was delivered. I called the restaurant and was told that the driver left 10 min ago. After an hour of waiting (makes it 2.5 hrs after I ordered) I called again to express my dismay. The response was: May be the driver is stuck in traffic. What traffic at 8 pm on Thursday betwee Haight street and West Portal? I can tolerate bad food and bad service but have difficulty tokerating lying.

• Pros: No
• Cons: Horrible service

03/19/07

Changing my review-Bad food!

by rml244

I have previously given this place a high rating and often ordered from here even though I often felt the portions were too small and the price a little steep. But after two recent bad experiences I do not feel this is a good place to get Indian food.

Delivery took an hour plus, they left out a dish from my order at one time, food was hard and dry and felt leftover. I am Indian and know what good and bad Indian food tastes like. Most bad cooks try and mask the dryness and staleness of the meat/veg by adding more spices etc. but that is not how good Indian food is made.

You can do better than this, it really does not deserve such a high rating.

• Pros: None
• Cons: Stale left over food, do you need anything else?

02/25/07

9.9? Are you kidding me?

by stormin2005

Seriously, how do they have this rating? We ordered delivery, so I can't speak for the service in the restaurant, but it did take 1 hour 30 mins to get here. Granted, it is Oscar Night, but is everyone in the city ordering from here? Anyway, the food was extremely lacking. The Chicken Tikka Masala was some kind of orange sauce that was so devoid of any flavor, we assumed it was food coloring. The Chicken Korma, was equally lacking in flavor. Both dishes served up over-cooked chicken. The rice was dry, the bread, so-so. I am simply flabergasted with this places rating, and disappointed that I didn't look at the reviews before ordering, because I would have thought better of it...

• Pros: The food was warm
• Cons: Just about everything else

02/23/07

Yuck.

by joe1234568

I don't understand the 9.9 rating here. This place received an 86 on their last San Francisco Department of Public Health inspection -- a marked improvement over their previous score of ~55! I'm all for tasty indian food, but a place that seems to oscillate between terrible and not so terrible health scores isn't the kind of place I'd trust my health to, especially when there's two other Indian restaurants to choose from -right across the street-.