Pesti Chutney — Restaurant in Budapest

Very disappointing experience, and definitely do not understand the 5-star reviews! Food is bland and expensive for what it is (16K HUF for an early dinner for two with just one starter, two mains, two lassies and NO drinks is ridiculously expensive). We ate up as we were super hungry, BUT:

-The single, sad-looking Samosa starter (that we explicitly asked to be spicy) was lukewarm at best, most definitely not freshly prepared, likely frozen and from a low-cost bag, chewy and drenched in some weird dressing. The mango lassi tasted exactly as the pre-made mix you can buy from specialty stores. the Palak Paneer is practically a tasteless cream spinach with a few bits of cold, chewy, equally bland paneer. We asked for spicy,, it was anything but. Chicken Tikka Masala was ok, the sauce a little bit spicy only (asked for very spicy), this is the second star! Otherwise, it would be 1 star. Naan, well... Quite thick and rubbery, and not fresh either.

The restaurant has zero atmosphere, a huge hall with high ceilings, no place mats, no tablecloths, no lighting, nothing. Washroom is dirty. There's some free water on tap but you need to go and self-serve, we did not notice as they did not call attention to it. The staff is weird, the young waiter has clearly no idea what he's doing. We were given two printed menus, one of which had scribblings and drawings all over it, both of which were torn.

Once we were finished instead of clearing the plates, the young waiter kept standing behind the bar looking at his phone to avoid catching our eye, while the other (potentially owner?) was very engaged with attending to a family that came well after us and did not even order yet. So we were sitting there with dirty plates on the table for a good 20 minutes. When finally noticed, they did not ask how the food was, and when asking for the bill, were told to PAY AT THE COUNTER.

Main course portions are quite huge but not well presented at all - this is certainly not anywhere near the dining experience I had in mind!

Never in my life have I had a weirder experience in any of the many Indian restaurants I visited here or abroad - they are usually known for their super attentive, exceptional service, beautiful, appetizing presentation and vibrant food that makes your mouth burst with taste. All of this is completely lacking here, I had a better meal last week...

Overpriced and underwhelming. The food has quite a few shortcomings, the service was bad, and prices for the dishes are the same as in Scandinavia...

Food (2 out of 5) For starters, the veg pakora tasted good and was nicely presented. For the main course, my wife ordered butter chicken. The chicken was dry and over cooked. As I am fond of spicy food, I asked the waiter for his recommendation and he pointed out the slow cooked beef. The meat was nicely cooked and tender but under-seasoned and strangely matched with an overly sweet and mild cashew sauce. Spiciness and hotness was completely missing from the dish, also in comparison to the butter chicken. For sides, the naan bread was okay but the rice was bland.

Service (1 out of 5) When ordering drinks my wife ordered a cola and I ordered a cola zero. The only comment we got was that normally in Hungary, women order drinks without sugar and men with sugar. Even though that would be the case, we couldn't really see the point of making that comment.

After receiving the mildest Indian food I have ever tasted, I asked the waiter if they could add chili or spice to make my dish hotter. He came back with raita - a yogurt with herbs - at that point I gave up and accepted the underwhelming dining experience that we found ourselves in.

Otherwise the service was unenthusiastic and followed the bare minimum requirements.

Price v. Quality (1 out of 5) One starter, two main dishes and three beverages came to approx 22.000 HUF (55 EUR). Budapest offers so much great food at reasonable prices, but Pesti Chutney does not check any of these boxes. Therefore I cannot recommend...

If you need a place to spend a nice evening with your family and friends, as well as experience a high quality service with the most welcome greeting and hosting, that’s the place you’re looking for! And I didn’t mention food yet...😍🙌🏻 I believe there for sure some of you who can’t handle spicy food.😉 Well, no worries here! As we understood, they westernized an Indian cuisine, but you will still have a flavor of India in it!🇮🇳 All food were served very professionally, everything looked appealing and super tasty!😋 Most importantly, it was indeed tasty!👏🏻 We ordered “tasting menu”, so we did try everything from their menu with little portions. They made special exceptions for us due to our requirements, and Chef himself was coming to us to ask about the food and more requirements if it was needed. Thus, we felt ourselves very special!🤗 However, be aware that this “tasting menu” costs 8900 forints, which is the price PER PERSON! Unfortunately, we didn’t ask about it from them, so we had a little shock at the end once we saw the bill. But this is only our own mistake, and we didn’t regret visiting this place. We really felt that this restaurant was worth it, so me and my company left this place very happy and most importantly...