Shalimar Restaurant — Restaurant in Lyon

This restaurant was recommended as serving excellent Indian cuisine. I'm afraid that our experience didn't back that up. The restaurant itself is clean and looks the part. Our welcome was professional and the table nicely presented. So far so good. Our order was quickly taken - Tikka chicken and a vegetable samosa for our starters, followed by a Chicken Madras and a Balti Chicken main. At no stage were we asked about spiciness levels - which should have been a warning. We then asked about drinks, to be advised that THIS RESTAURANT DOESN'T SERVE ALCOHOL! Ouch! Coming to the food itself, the vegetable samosa and accompanying relishes were good. The Tikka chicken was devoid of any evidence of spices or a tandoori oven. Bland and tasteless. Main meal wise, the Madras was very mild and lacking of flavour depth. The Balti chicken absolutely terrible. Two scraggy pieces of chicken on the bone, lacklustre spicing and a mess visually. We didn't stay to see what desserts were available - we just wanted to get out. If you want a memorable dining experience, don't eat here. You'll be disappointed. P.S. It was interesting to see that during the hour or so that we were in the restaurant, they sent out over a dozen take-away meals. Perhaps their focus is on that side of business as apposed to giving in-house diners a memorable...

Upper tier Indian for Lyon. Anyone living here who needs an Indian spot on their list of go-to's should have this address!

A bit cliché/dated décor and they brought Naan out with our starters/appetizers/entrées so they were cold when our mains/entrées/plats arrived.

We politely asked if they could just heat them up (impossible in a tandoori oven, we just wanted a quick microwave blast, soggy Naan but at least it would be warm).

They brought us completely new ones!

Great price/portion ratio and the mango Lassi was very good. Staples like butter chicken, mutton, curries, clouds of bazmati rice with homemade condiments (spice levels go from western-western spicy - average Indian spicy. I'm sure they'll make it Indian levels of spice if asked but know what that entails before ordering!

Recommended by Indian expats in Lyon and in a nice local part of the Presqu'île between Bellecour and Perrache (5 minute walk from subway station).

It's located on the edge of the block facing the river (not the nice part, it's where the southwest highway connection is). But just head west and you'll have a lovely place for a...

Good food but very bad dining experience! I wanted to highlight on the rude waiter behavior we experienced today while dining at this restaurant. We are an indian couple visiting Lyon and was looking for a good Indian restaurant to have dinner. There were 2 waiters at the restaurant and only 2 tables were occupied when we were there. The young waiter was nice and welcoming however, the other person's behavior towards us was so rude which made our dining experience a disaster. This person was acting super nice to other guests but when it comes to us, the only indian guests in that restaurant, he served with a discriminated attitude. Being an indian we expected some respect especially when we visit an Indian restaurant. In my 10 day tour in france so far this was the only place I experienced such a situation. Considering the place serves really good food I wish the experience can be improved for guests of all origin. Special thanks to the young waiter who was kind and helpful on...