INDIAN LOVE STORY RESTAURANT AND STREET FOOD — Restaurant in Munich

Red Alert 🚨‼️🚨‼️This Indian Restaurant had an unpleasant Host; radiating lazyness, and casual attitude towards his job of welcoming and seating guests/ communicating with customers that have decided to spend their valuable time and hard earned money at this restaurant. The person I'm highlighting here was the Host on christmas eve 2024 (he has a tattoo on the back of his hand and around wrist for the owner's/management's knowledge) behaved unprofessionally and communicated in an uncouth, improper manner about which table to sit on versus where not to sit. If a guest can be seated at a better table, the host can politely and respectfully redirect them, but not this guy. He really has "bad bouncer" energy, and will end up repelling more guests away from your restaurant - which we felt has been set up by the owners with love and care (just by seeing the playfully designed menu, the choice of colours, brand language etc). He has NO understanding of hospitality, and will ruin the reputation of your otherwise nice looking establishment. We were SO looking forward to having an indian meal and some ginger chai, on a cold christmas eve, but he was like a rude, wet blanket on the whole scene. Felt like a bad shopkeeper haggling experience at Janpath or Sarojni Nagar Delhi (those who know will know). For the rest, please avoid this Host at this restaurant and I urge the owners to assess this situation for the well being of their endeavour.

As for us, we left hungry, and...

We (Indian couple) visited this place on a Thursday night without a reservation. Up on arrival the staff member asked whether we would finish eating in a hour despite having some empty tables. But, he didn't ask the other people (non Indians), who arrived after us that question even though they too didn't have reservations. We faced this question from another Indian restaurant as well. This is really an insult and it clearly shows that they are not all interested in Indian customers and want to impress only the locals by being nice to them.

About the food: Tea: Below average. Not aromatic as expected.

Lassi: Good.

Gunpowder potatoes: Good. Nice Indo-Chinese twist to the classic french fries.

Veg biryani & chicken biryani: Below average. Not sure why they named these "dum style". They sure did pop the bowls covered with dough in the oven for a few minutes to heat up. But it clearly added nothing to the dish. The rice was flavourful but the masala completely missed the mark. It lacked balance, tasted sour, and couldn't bind the dish.

Overall, not a great experience to give it...

I usually don’t set high expectations for restaurants located near tourist-heavy areas (in any city). However, my love for Indian food and the restaurant’s high rating were reason enough to give this new spot a try. To start with the positives, the staff were lovely, and the restaurant attempted to stand out from Munich’s typical Indian establishments. Unfortunately, the decor lacked personality with a generic and indistinct decor, as if it could belong to any restaurant anywhere.

As for the food, the most important aspect, it was decent but far from extraordinary. I was particularly disappointed by the gunpowder potatoes, a dish I’ve only truly enjoyed in London’s Indian food heaven, Brick Lane. The curries, while flavorful, were overly salty, too thin in consistency, and lacked the spiciness I had requested (I specifically asked for Indian spicy, not German spicy). To be fair, I didn’t raise this with the staff, which is on me.

I might consider giving it another try once they’ve had more time to find...