Punjab Pavilion Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in Newcastle-Maitland

Response to the Owner: Clearly you didn't take the criticism in a good way. Well, the frustration clearly wasn't for the less food ordered because we came there only so that our parents could eat Indian food. So, to be clear whatever we ordered was for us to 'taste' & for our parents to dine in there. But obviously, you DO NOT have your facts right. If you think review was to defame you, check my profile, it clearly isn't a fake one & am a VERIFIED Google guide. But obviously, everyone reading this review will clearly be able to see that you haven't taken criticism in the right way. Rather than saying visit us again & we will try to not disappoint you, which mind you every restuarant always do, you rather like to criticise honest customers who weren't happy with the service or the food that you guys have there. Anyway, to cut it short, below is a summary to have your fact right: We ordered just the right amount of food that we wanted. When you say about Dal & Curry, didn't you forget to mention the Chaat that we had...oh yes, obviously you need to sound that you are the best restuarant around etc etc. So yeah, food ordered was of right quantity so stop questioning what & how much to order to a customer. Yes, we have found plenty of other places which are way better than yours, so no need to wish us luck there, we are just fine. No, should I wanted to defame your resturant, it wouldn't be a long review & definately wouldn't be from a VERIFIED profile. But, rather from a fake profile. So yeah, food was awful so please take that seriously. Yes I agree you asked about the food when I came at the counter to pay, totally agree. But, if you say you came to the table to ask how was the food 3 times...NO that's totally your misconsecption. Please get your facts right before you try fool other customers by posting a response like that. If someone posts a negative review, as a business try & take criticism in the right way to make yourself better, rather than going after the customer blaming them for visiting your restuarant. Check my profile a little better & you would find positive reviews who actually deserve them. All the reasons mentioned in your response is nothing but a way to mislead people just because you cannot take a negative review. If the cloth is filthy, no one likes to eat food too. Hope you know that!

Original Review: So we actually drove 45mins just to eat here, disappointed. Yes, the food looks delicious though totally adjusted to local taste here. Both dal & paneer were sweet even after mentioning medium spicy. Never seen a sweet taste at a restaurant where you specifically mention it shouldn’t be sweet. Papdi chaat & spring rolls were alright. We ordered regular sweet lassi to a young lady who took our order. The manager/owner at the counter rudely told her “do not take fresh regular lassi orders, use the mango lassi in the fridge first which we clearly hear & she wasn’t aware of this. First signal which told us that young staff isn’t treated well here. Also, never to keep something on the menu if you don’t want to make it. Another instance was that we got mains order on the table right after the starters to which we asked if it was ours as it wasn’t something we ordered. This time it was another one of the manager/owners who made this mistake, when we said it isn’t ours & she very loudly asked that same poor young lady “who took the order here, did you?” The poor lady responded that this isn’t their order, it is for the other table. Clearly the manager/owner made the mistake here so she doesn’t have a right to be rude to her staff. Another sign that they do not treat staff well. One more thing was that they were highly understaffed. If you ask for something, it took them ages to get us that. Never visiting this place ever again or recommending anyone. High ratings didn’t justify the food & staff behaviour at this place. The table cloth was old so instead of replacing it with a new one, they rather decided to put it back upside down & use it this way. Immensely...

Absolutely disgusting service. On the night of Saturday, May 24, 2025, we were treated with such blatant disrespect by the waitress that it honestly shocked us. Her tone, attitude, and body language were downright hostile. Saying things like “Kya chahiye? Aur bhi kuch?” like we were a nuisance — completely unacceptable.

What made it worse? She was perfectly polite to the Aussie customers around us. So what’s the problem, serving South Asian customers not up to your standard? If this is the kind of behavior your staff thinks is okay, then your restaurant has a serious issue.

I was this close to calling her out publicly right then and there, but I’m giving this review as a final chance for the manager to respond. If I don’t hear from you, believe me — I’ll make sure people hear about this experience.

Worst customer service I’ve encountered in Australia. Hands down.

#reply to your comment below: It was around 7 PM yesterday, and we spent about $110 for a meal that included naans, biryanis, and curries for four people. Funny how all four of us walked out feeling the exact same way about the waitress - rude, dismissive, and clearly biased. What a coincidence, right? Or maybe it’s just not that hard to spot awful customer service when it’s right in your face.

Do you honestly think we’re so naive we can’t tell when someone’s being disrespectful? That we’re just making it up? Give us a break. And yes—we were definitely in your restaurant. She spoke to us in Hindi without being asked, and not even everyone in our group is Indian. What does that say about her assumptions?

We know the difference between poor service and flat-out disrespect. This wasn’t a misunderstanding - it was a...

I decided to stop eating from out often if possible as make some food at home seems to time saving , health and tasty. I had been to this shop about a month ago we ordered chicken 65 , tandoori chicken , dal makhani and butter chicken . And it took about an hour of waiting to be served. Tandoori chicken was cold inside so we asked then to heat it up well . Then it was fine , all food tasted well .even though we had to wait we were satisfied . At the end we gave the feed back of waiting too long for the food to be served so the lady at the counter told to pre order or reserve. Today we called them and asked for booking and preordering the meals as we were well aware about the waiting and the waitress told us over the phone that it will be quick. So went there ordered the meals and I told them that we need food a bit fast and the waitress said Yaa Yaa and took the order. We ordered tandoori chicken , pavilion special chicken curry , hot chicken biriani. As before after waiting for 20 min asked about the order then they gave tandoori chicken which was like not warm inside only the outside was warm. We didn’t have time to tell then heat the food and wait further.Then we told the rest of the food to be parcelled. Food was still hot when I had it at home . Neither of the food tasted good , I was so disappointed because I expected good food. If the owner happens to see this please make sure you value for time and making food better so that no one says bad...