Kaali Restaurant - Restaurant in Hastings st, Noosa — Restaurant in Noosa Heads

We visited Kaali on Christmas Day, grateful to find it open when many places were closed. My wife was the only one hungry, and I accompanied her for company. However, we were shocked to learn of their "rule" that each seat must order a meal due to the holiday. We only wanted to order steamed rice with butter chicken, but the staff insisted we order at least two meals, claiming my seat was a "waste" since I wasn't eating.

This policy felt unreasonable and wasteful, especially for someone just accompanying a diner. We left the restaurant disappointed, as we didn't want to order food unnecessarily, leading to waste.

Kaali may want to reconsider such rigid and customer-unfriendly policies, especially when it disrespects people who come in good faith. Dining out should be about enjoying the experience, not being forced into unwanted purchases.

—- Response to owner

Dear Owner,

Thank you for your response. I understand that running a restaurant, especially on a public holiday, comes with its challenges, including higher operating costs. However, as customers, we were simply seeking a positive dining experience, not charity, as your response seems to imply.

I must clarify that we were not offered a takeaway option during our visit. If this had been presented as an alternative, we might have considered it. Instead, we were met with a rigid policy that left no room for flexibility or understanding of individual circumstances.

While I respect your need to maintain profitability, a more customer-friendly approach could go a long way in fostering goodwill. Dining out is not just about policies; it’s about creating an environment where customers feel valued. Dismissing concerns with a defensive tone, as reflected in your response, does not align with that goal.

I hope you will consider balancing your business needs with customer satisfaction...

The one star is purely for the taste of the food. The rest of the experience was exceptionally ordinary. We didn't have a reservation but were seated fairly quickly, for which I am thankful for as it was Saturday night. From there, it took a long time to be able to order drinks and despite being ready to order food, the waitress wouldn't take our food order at the same time and we couldn't order for another 5+ minutes. I ordered for the table, with onion bhajis and samosas to start. The entrees took a long time to come out, the presentation looked abysmal, and as there were only two samosas on the plate, I honestly thought they'd collected someone's leftovers and gave us those by mistake, that was how haphazardously the food was tossed onto the serving plate. But it was our food, and the two samosas are the serving size, which would have been fine if that was on the menu or the waitress had told me that, when I was obviously ordering for four people. Anyway, we ate them, they were delicious. The papadums were served plain, no chutneys, I've never had that before. The main meals were served a long time after the entrees, and the portion sizes were tiny. Considering the mains were all about $25, the price was extortion for the size. Once again though, the food itself was delicious. Apart from the wait, terrible presentation and small portion sizes; the service was the worst part. No one seemed to know what was going on or how to wait on tables properly, communication was difficult and getting extra drinks and the bill took a long time. It was hard to identify wait staff and no one was wearing a uniform and all were very untidy. I wouldn't recommend this place as all the negatives, unfortunately, outweigh the quality...

Not sure where to start with this review. One of the strangest dining experiences I’ve had in a while.

Booked and arrived with two families and kids. Arrived at 6.15 ish.

As you’d expect with this many people and tired kids it took us a while to work out what to order. We tried to order the kids food first and were very bluntly told due to the rain they wanted to do everything in one order as the staff had to leave as they lived far away. We had to be finished by 8 apparently.

We asked for a few more minutes to decide what to order and the waitress instead stood there and got impatient with us while we were ordering. Totally ruined the experience of picking dishes.

I was shocked at how rude this intro was at the start of the evening. Literally like we were an inconvenience. It completely ruined the mood of the evening. Even ordering was under pressure and rushed.

The food thankfully was decent enough. The naans were slightly burned but the starters and mains including the vegan food was good. If the food wasn’t good they’d be getting an even lower rating I’m that disappointed at the rude service.

They did offer to make dishes without cashew for my son who is allergic which was a bonus for them.

The Chilean server was great and to be honest if we’d had her the whole night I would have been happy.

I own a business and if my staff treated customers like this I’d be furious.

For the expensive prices and poor initial service I will not be returning....