KARIKAALA - indian & tamil cuisine — Restaurant in Lohmar

Me and my partner wanted to have a good Valentine's dinner together, and decided to try this place

The restaurant itself is gorgeous, love how the lights aren't too bright unlike many restaurants. Not too bright nor too dark, just beautifully lit. There are two floors, the ground floor and a first floor, we sat on the first floor.

The place was very busy! The top floor had mostly one waiter running around and trying to keep up with all the orders. Hats off for this guy, who worked under such pressure and still smiled the whole time! It was seriously very busy and he didn't stop not even once, he kept moving, now, that's determination and passion to secure the customer's satisfaction. Thank you for the AMAZING service Can!

Now comes the less good part of this review.

The food wasn't that good, there were some good things, but the bad outweighs the good most of the time. Most of the dishes were overly seasoned. The first and second round were fine because we kept trying different things, but after that it felt like the food just kept getting worse once we tried having the same again.

Another thing was the wait, it took 1 - 1,5 hours to get past the 2nd round! This place was lacking people in the kitchen and waiters. Next time make sure to add some extra help when a place gets fully packed like tonight.

And not to forget the pricing... Way too expensive for what it is. You're mostly paying for the ambience, or so it seems. The €50 per person including all dishes and drinks isn't at all worth it. The drinks aren't many that are included in this fee. The worst beers, okay(ish) wines, sodas and water, that's it! Other all you can eat restaurants often do this and with way more choices in the drinks menu and for way cheaper.

We want to give this place another shot, but not in the next few months, after this amount of seasoning, we need to take a break.

I'd recommend this place if you're into overly seasoned food, you might get lucky and get some good dishes in between. But don't make the same mistake we made and go for the €30 all you can eat option, the €20 extra per person...

Could have been really better as there is potential ! We went after seeing a good review but the actual experience unfortunately was disappointing. The price paid is not worth the food experience. We ordered A la carte.

Points that could be improved- ●The servers are not aware what they are serving. No personal friendliness. We got the worst seat even after booking ahead, despite other tables being empty, in front of the door which kept opening every few minutes and cold wind kept coming in. ●Food did not arrive even after an hour and when we reminded , the food arrived. It was already cold. Even the masla dosa was cold. ●The Paneer tikka had only 2 single, tiny pieces of paneer , the Chemmeen curry had 3 shrimps ( absolutely dry and crumbly). Biriyani rice was dry.

Points we loved - great ambience, varied options and all dishes we ordered had good balance of spices and were aromatic, Panipuri was good, Tandoori Naan were fluffy( although not made in Tandoor as mentioned in the menu).

Two of our friends will never visit again, others decided they will give it another try before giving up completely. 3 stars are for the potential that the restaurant has. Only they need to work on improving the food...

The restaurant is far from the main cities. There are two types of Menu. One is normal type like other restaurants and the other one is “All You Can Eat" . For the second one, they will provide you a tab and you need to order for every 15 min : 8 items. I can recommend "All You Can Eat" rather the normal menu. But, I felt that it is best suited for Non-vegetarians. As a vegetarian, I felt that there are no more options as they are for Non-vegetarians. The taste is good but few items are authentic. The desserts are not so authentic and they are okay. Water or drinks are not included in the "All You Can Eat" menu. The advantage with "All You Can Eat" menu is you can taste many items in a menu and in small portions. The disadvantages with "All You Can Eat" are: more suited for Non- Vegetarians and few dishes are not available in the "All You Can Eat". I have also asked them but the ladies serving told that they are unavailable for that day. But my friend also had the same experience of unavailability of few dishes. I do not think this menu's purpose is served, when few dishes (that they knew they will be absolutely ordered). But finally, I can say that the dishes tastes good but not...