It saddens me to slap India Palace with 2 stars. I've been there many, many times over the years and, overall, good to fair experiences outweigh the bad. However, the good experiences have been mysteriously missing for quite some time. Where have they gone?!
If I were reviewing based on my experience last night, they would score only 1/2 a star. What's worse, the prices have steadily increased as the quality has marched 180 degrees the other direction. Here's the lowdown on last night's dining demons:
-IP management feels, for some reason, that they need 4 or 5 fewer staff members than they actually do. The poor souls that pick up the slack find themselves running around like mad (usually away from the table as you try to wave them down). Side note: I learned from a previous employee a few years ago that six 10 or 12 hour days were not uncommon.
-Our table had a few crusty little morsels left from the previous party.
-B/c of the 1st bullet above, we waited for an extended time to place our order (meanwhile taking stock of the raised prices).
-The food took an inordinate amount of time to emerge from the kitchen. I couldn't see back there, but wouldn't be surprised to learn that the kitchen staff suffers from the same lack of representation that plagues the front of the house.
-When the order was finally delivered, two items were missing: a tray of chutneys and a mango lassi. The former was delivered after two subsequent requests. It was quite a chore to flag down staff each time. Note that cooking is not required for the chutneys as they are pre-prepared! The lassi was forgotten in the throws of our disappointment, but, rest assured, we were reminded of it when we received our bill! They did take it off after I reminded them it was absent from the meal. Speaking of the bill (skipping ahead for a moment), the guy at the register handed us the wrong one when we walked up there. No doubt he was so overworked that every bill looked the same to him!
-The food? Oh yes, the food. Papadums were stale. Vggie korma was bland (yes, bland!). They used to add raisins to the korma. It was a nice sweet touch, but they were unfortunately absent last night. It may be an economy thing, I don't know. Shrimp jalfrezi was pretty good. Rice was OK. Nan was nothing spectacular. The water was Lawrence tap, so that's about the best I can say for it. The lassi sounded good.
-There has always been confusion about how to pay at IP. Do you wait at the table or walk up to the register? No one really knows. Don't listen if someone tries to act learned in this department. They are fakers. The confusion is real, and you must deal with it.
-My wife was disappointed to find the women's restroom out of order. She used the men's and came out practically screaming. I'm told the dirt and grime was something to behold. Apparently the faucet handles were long broken and had been replaced with wine bottle corks (not in a cute, clever designer sort of way).
Sigh.
The days of India Palace standing as a desired Lawrence restaurant are gone. I wish it weren't so. RIP. read more