We went to Santhi restaurant on our vacation to Oberland area last week and have to say we were very disappointed. Below is what we experienced:
- Owner runs a grocery store inside of the restaurant, so he serves Naan and parathas directly from their frozen section of his grocery store. If you are an Indian (which I am) or have regularly eaten Indian food, you know it is not hard to tell when paratha or naan are being served from the frozen. We mentioned it to the owner's wife who was attending our table regarding the concern. She first got very embarrased that we had figured it out.... and then replied back a few minutes later that her husband had made the dough in the morning which was being used to cook at 7pm in the evening. This was even more concerning to us. When the husband/owner, Kumar, approached us regarding our conment, he got very defensive, argumentative, and rude!
- Entree prices are expensive even by Swiss standards. They charge CHF 16 for a north Indian dish and the quantity is not enough for 1 person. My son ordered a paneer dish and 90% of it was full of onions and bell pepper... hardly any paneer. Btw, taste was horrible with the coconut curry he adds to each dish. We spent close to CHF 90 for our total bill and I can say that the food, service, and Ambiance was not worth more than CHF 20.
- Kumar wouldn't allow our son to drink water from his water bottle, so our son asked if he can get an apple juice from their grocery section from within his store. The owner indicated that he couldn't open the apple juice while we were eating dinner since it was bought from their grocery store. While the apple juice was unopened, my son noticed that it was carbonated, so he asked the owner that we would rather not take the apple juice which was still unopened. Kumar refused to take the bottle back because it was removed from the freezer 5 minutes earlier. Really - it was still very cold and we had not even paid for it yet!! It was very clear to us that this is the only way he has figured out how to make money from his customers. We paid for all of it to avoid further discussion with him.
- Btw, we were the only customer in the whole restaurant at 7pm, so that tells it all!!! read more