Santa's Kitchen: Authentic Indian& Bangladeshi Restaurant — Restaurant in Budapest

Poor Service and Bad experience

Little story of us -

Me and my wife went to Budapest for 3 days vacation and our hotel was near to Budapest Keleti. We planned to go to Santa's Kitchen. We didn't explore any other options because we were tired and hungry. Because we travelled for 6 hours train journey. We went around 20.00 time and wait for 30 minutes. The staff didn't give us the menu. People sitting at the other table were also waiting for food to come but they were enjoying beers. Three of the WOLT delivery boys were also waiting for food. We thought they might be busy with other orders. That might be a peak time. We finally thought to leave from there and thought, will come the next day. We were a little disappointed by the service given, 30 mins sitting there without giving us a menu.

Next day, around 16.00, We thought to go there. Restaurant owner said, sorry we didn't serve you yesterday. She said, they had some issues. And She promised, they will serve us today. And we were only ones sitting there in the dinning area. After 15 mins, Men came from kitchen and gave us menu. Because we are Vegetraian, we though to go with Classi dishes - Dal Makhani and Panner dish. Her cook said, they cannot serve us Dal Makhni (in menu but not available). They also don't have Panner either. It was out of Stock. And he said delivery is on the way. That will take 20 mins to come. So they, can accept the order. We thought lets wait. We wait for 40 mins and ask again. How much more time it will take. They said, it will take 15 more minutes. We are just preparing your food only.

They gave us drinks - Salt and Mango lassi. That was the worst one we ever had. Salt lassi was full of cumins.

Meanwhile, they delivered three orders to wolt delivery boys.

It was 55 minutes so far, we called on the order desk. Are you there? And a guy comes outside with empty plates. And he said it will take 15 more mins.

We finally decided to leave from there. It was an hour we wait for an order. And we were the only ones sitting there in the hot dining room.

We realised the owner was hearing our conversation. She didn't come outside. She was behind the curtain, hearing everything.

We paid for drinks and said thank you. And go to another place.

We also thought, about why we went there again on the second day. I might think that the first day was might be a peak time. But, an even worst experience on the second day.

Very poor service. We waste 1 hour 30 mins in total.

Overall - Dinning Experience - 0 Customer Service - 0 Atmosphere - 0 Food - Not delivered

we would not recommend visiting this restaurant, there are many other excellent Indian restaurants in the area.

------------- Answer to owner for given reply

Lol.

You have blamed all on us?

Isn't it Restaurant responsibility to welcome customers and asked if you have reserved or not ? You didn't asked even ?

If we came during rush hours ? Isn't it your responsibility to give us the menu in first 30 minutes ? Are you kidding ?

And Isn't it your responsibility to tell customers that, you have rush time. We need to wait for hours ? You think, customers are mad and they will keep waiting.

Being as a customer, we pay or go out for eating to enjoy the dinning experience. Not to get harassed in hot, burning dinning room.

And you deceive that person was about to bring our food, he didn't say anything. When we come to order desk and called 3-4 times ? Hello, Hello are you there ? He came out with empty plates ? And he said it will take 15 more minutes. And he also agreed, he delivered wolt orders first that comes after us. He just said, Sorry to us....

I do not recommend going here. We were looking for a lovely dinner to close out our Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. Unfortunately we picked the only establishment in the area that was more of a shambles than the Ferrari strategy team.

It was really our fault for staying after we had waited over 10 minutes for our orders to be taken, however that wait was nothing compared to what was to come. To indicate the length of the delay for food, by the time drinks had been bought to the table at least 15 minutes after the order was finally taken, I had completely forgotten they had been ordered in the first place. This was because being in a restaurant for over 30 minutes before being served even a drink is a completely new experience for me which I hope will not be repeated.

When food finally did arrive now over an hour since our initial order was taken (an hour we persevered through despite the growing realization that we should have just gone to a takeaway kebab store instead), it was not the food we had ordered. Some of the curries were wrong, and when we pointed this out to the staff, they took it back to the kitchen, sprinkled a teaspoon of coconut on it, then returned to try pretend it was now the correct curry. Now as my ex partner can attest, I am quite familiar with gaslighting, but I never thought I it would be I who was a victim of it, and definitely not when just trying to enjoy a Sunday dinner out.

The curries also did not come with rice, which was especially inconvenient considering the first thing we established before ordering was that rice was indeed included. No worry apparently, "it's waiting out the back". Yet another long wait later when the rice still had not come out, we began to worry there was a miscommunication and in fact we were the ones that would be waiting.

Now at the end of the day, it is the food that matters. So was it good? Not really. The first thing I noticed was how dry the chicken was. This was especially annoying considering the never ending wait for the food to arrive. Perhaps if it had not been cooking for so long they could have solved two problems at once.

I encourage you not to eat at this restaurant, unless you are trying to test the limits of your endurance...

These reviews must be fake, or recently the cook has changed. There is seriously something wrong. After seeing the great reviews we wanted to give a try, but that was a big mistake. Never again!!!

We ordered take away: soup, chicken tikka masal, rice, palak paneer and naan.

The soup was as salty, that after a few spoons I had to give up. I tried but couldnt continue cause I didnt taste anything else that the salt itself. Just as if I was eating seawater. The chicken tika masala and palak paneer were ok, but not really tasty. We finished it cause we were very hungry, but we definitely had much tastier and delicous ones. The naan was not fresh (felt like few days, hardened) and burned, literally almost completely black. To make it eadible i tried to warm it up on low heat, but it made it even worse. The portions of all the food were quite small. We are a big indian cuisine lovers and eat it quite frequently. We are always up to new restaurants to give it a chance and never stick to one place. To this restaurant we definitely wont return.

Update 11 june 2025: Since replying is not possible, I post my respond this way.

Your reaction is such a disgrace, and a good reflection of your level of intelligence and true character! The day I posted my review you immediately called us to apologize for what has happened and invited us back to your restaurant. But right after you write this comment and consider my review as fake? As you mentioned on the phone, you called your accountant and found our phone number. How come? Cause we were fake right?! You know the truth, and playing the poor victim in the eyes of the review readers and potential new customers. Please get educated some customers service skills, and focus yourself more on hospitality and quality instead! And in case it wasn't clear yet, we pass your invitation! Consume it yourself, maybe it will make you realize how poor quality is!

You wanted proof right? On 22 may 2024 we came for take-away. On 3 june I posted the review (this is also the day you called us) All dates are...