Taste of India506 — Restaurant in San Rafael

I cannot understand 5 star reviews for this place, not based on my experience.

If you are looking for a reason, any reason, to dismiss my review, let me say that I am not Indian, I have not been to India, and I did not grow up in a household which cooked delicious Indian food every day.

That said, I have had amazing Indian food in New York (6th St and all around 4 of the 5 boroughs), I have had great Indian food in London, in Singapore, even in Chicago and a smattering of surprising places.

I have had great Indian food and I have had worse Indian food than Taste of India (ToI) but I cannot imagine why ToI would rate five stars. That it does rate five stars says more about the quality of online reviews than it says about the quality of ToI food.

So, here it is - the unvarnished truth:

Papadum order had one papadum -- only one. Okay, small matter. The owners are cheap and/or don't like customers. Got it.

Onion kulcha was essentially a soggy pita with onions and something akin to caraways on it.

Sweet lassi was good. It came first.

After the lassi, my entire order came at once, appetizer and main course together, including a wrong entree -- no lamb saag but something tan colored. Mistake. They happpen. Get over it.

Dry, undercooked rice. When an Indian restaurant gets rice wrong you know you are in trouble.

Lamb saag finally came. Huge dissappointment. Not cooked/simmered enough. Lamb tough and stringy. Saag had puddles of water in it.

I went from excited to have some Indian food in San José to dissappointed and struggling to even eat it.

Put all that in the context of sitting in a hallway of a shopping mall to eat.

I cannot fathom considering it a five star experience.

Then the bill came -- about 21,000 colones, which seemed a bold move on their part given the ordeal ToI had put me through.

I will be back but only to walk past the place -- you should do the same!

*footnote: I originally posted a two star rating but have since changed that to one star. It should really be zero.

When the owner (in the photo) saw a two star review show up and me the only customer in his sad place, he came and asked me my name. He then started cursing at me repeatedly including yelling for me to "get the f*ck out of here." I wish he had given me that advice before I set foot in the place. Take the owner's advice before you dissappoint yourself and irritate...

Shut this place down. Worst food and service. Requested more curry and less meat… no curry at all. Sent me an email with final order price and when food gets delivered they charge $11 more for delivery. Not a single instruction was followed making curry. Garlic naan was so stubborn, I can’t even make a bite with one hand No side of onion chilli or lemon to eat along with curry and naan.

First pic is advertisement, and second pic is what you get. I request my curry to garnish with cilantro and chopped ginger but nothing. Tons of uncooked mean (pic 3) where I asked for more curry.

Last pic is garlic naan..: they didn’t cut into 4 pieces and that naan is rock hard. Had to do dumbbells before I can break it with one hand.

Do not go to this...

This is the worst Indian restaurant I’ve ever been to. Only full points they score was for decoration, but service and attitude of the owners takes it down.

Go to any other Indian place nearby for real value for your money because as the owner here said, “everything from the kitchen comes at a price” which is why they charged us for our glasses of water when we didn’t want any drinks and charged for food containers for packing the food we couldn’t finish to go because there is a packaging fee- never used in any of the international restaurants we’ve seen.This place is ridiculously overpriced- most Indian restaurants in Costa Rica are cheaper and easily have better service. Don’t go here unless you want a short rude and defensive owner...