The Royal Taste of India — Restaurant in Whistler Resort Municipality

There is a massive epidemic in Whistler! Staff shortage is really bad in town and i feel sorry for these small businesses... Saturday night on a long weekend and there was 1 hostess and 1 server on the floor (and according to them, only 2 in the kitchen). I purposely made an early dinner reso (6pm) due to young kids and we didn’t end of finishing until 8pm... with a majority of that time waiting for the food to come out... and it only took us 10 mins to eat. I felt bad for the server as tables were walking out without ordering and he was in a complete state of panick even though there were only about 5 tables that ended up staying and eating. The hostess was useless, wiping down tables when no one was clearly coming into a restaurant that people were angrily leaving from - no urgency or any remorse from her. I asked her nicely that maybe she should take orders for the table next to us who hadn’t even ordered their drinks for 45mins. I’ve been working in the food industry for over 15 years and the lack of training these staff to multi task and helping each other out was disappointing. All the hostess had to do was apologize and take the customers order to help out the server who was completely overwhelmed. After I told her, she went and told the server to take their orders while he was working up a sweat doing everything himself. He was serving, bartending, and expo’ing all by himself. Where was the owner or manager of the restaurant? Assuming he/she was helping out in the kitchen, it takes a minute to come out and ensure the customer understood the situation - but they were no where in sight. I felt really bad, because staff shortage is out of their control as immigration and housing cost are causing problems for a lot of towns in BC. The food was actually good, but not for the price/quantity and the lack of service. And the most disappointing thing was after thanking the server for his efforts, we noticed he charged us for a side item we ordered but never received. Instead of apologizing and taking it off our bill, he said “really? Are you sure? I swear I brought it out!” Like he was challenging our complaint... sigh... not the right thing to say after we waited an hour and a half for our food and asking multiple times for refills on drinks... Something needs to be done: no staff? Then close throughout the week and ensure all staff are working on the weekend at their busiest. They missed out on at least 5 tables of business in just the 2 hours we were there. Still no staff on the weekend? Then train your staff to multi-task and HUSSLE! Whatever needs to be done, do it. Free round of drinks? Free appy while they wait? Why not. People will wait for great service. Most are on...

The food here was bland. It lacked salt, the medium spice level was very mild, and it overall did nothing for us. The samosas were made with obviously frozen hash browns that they seasoned Indian style and the peas were still a little crunchy. They were served hot on the outside but still cold inside. We also ordered the onion fritters that were very stale. The garlic naan is sprinkled with garlic powder seasoning rather than the greasy garlic with butter and parsley that most places use. I can’t believe it was an extra $1 for that! We also ordered a Moscow mule that was served in a large glass, very light ice and what seemed like 1oz of alcohol with a full bottle of ginger beer. The proportions were way off and the ice was added to the drink after the fact, as the bottom half of the drink was still room temperature.

When we informed the waiter that a the samosas and the fritters were stale and didn’t taste fresh , his response was “we fried them all this morning! they are fresh for today!” When we explained that fried items generally should be served immediately after being fried, he seemed a bit more apologetic. When we received the bill we were still being charged for the items we didn’t eat and his response was “they tasted it in the back just now and they said it was fine”. So they refused to remove the items from our bill.

We got two appetizers, two entrees, rice, naan, two drinks, sass from the waiter, barely edible...

As someone with experience in the Indian food industry, I ordered with high expectations, but unfortunately, the experience fell short of my hopes. While the restaurant had its charms, several flaws in their culinary execution left me with mixed feelings.

One of the main issues I encountered was the excessive use of salt in the Koftas and fish pakoras. The saltiness overpowered the flavors of the dishes, making it difficult to fully enjoy them. Additionally, the butter chicken and kofta curry suffered from an overuse of sugar, resulting in an unnaturally sweet taste that overshadowed the traditional savory profiles these dishes should have had.

Furthermore, I found the portion sizes of meat in the dishes to be quite limited.

The overall taste of the food was, unfortunately, rather average. While it was not terrible, it lacked the depth and complexity that I have come to expect from quality Indian cuisine. The excess salt and sugar only added to the overall

As someone who has owned a restaurant and is familiar with the intricacies of Indian food, I believe there is room...