SN THE SPICE HUT — Restaurant in Fujikawaguchiko

I have mixed feelings when writing this review due to my respect for the restaurant, which serves halal food for Muslims, and I don’t want them to go out of business. However, this is one of those moments where I felt disrespected and discriminated against, and I don’t want anyone else to have the same experience as I did.

We came to the restaurant planning to order take-away for our family members at the hotel. We told the waiter we wanted to order take-away. While waiting, my wife and I decided to order dine-in for ourselves first while waiting for our family to decide what they wanted for take-away. We called the waiter over, gave him our dine-in order, and told him that we were still waiting for our family to decide on the take-away. At this point, he told us we had to order the take-away food right away because they were busy. However, the restaurant was relatively empty, with many vacant tables. We explained that we were still waiting for our family’s decision. The waiter appeared displeased and walked away.

Afterward, we called our family to quickly make a decision, and after about 5-10 minutes, we called the same waiter to give him our take-away order. At that point, he rejected us, saying we had to wait because they were busy with other orders. He said this loudly and in a rude tone, emphasizing that it was our fault for not ordering the take-away sooner. I felt so disrespected and angry. Later, I checked the Google reviews and found that this issue with the rude staff had happened before. I don’t understand why he had to behave this way when he could have just asked us to wait in a normal manner (not even politely, just normally).

When the waiter saw that we were upset, he softened his attitude a bit, especially when he noticed I was looking at the Google review on my phone. However, I was still unhappy with how he treated me.

In the end, this wasn’t the only problem. When we got home and unpacked our take-away, we found that they had missed one item from our order. Sigh How could they be so unprofessional both in attitude and service?

We decided not to go back to ask for the missing item because we didn’t want to encounter the same rude waiter again and feared he would treat us poorly once more.

The one positive thing is that the food was fine and the location is good, but the rude service completely overshadowed these positives.

I sincerely hope that you are able to be better and continue your businees in the future. I dont want to ruin your business but at the same time, i dont want other people to feel the same humiliation that we...

For various reasons we all had wanted to eat Indian food again. Since the dinner situation is difficult in this town, we didn't have much choice and skipped checking the reviews and took the only Indian place that was available at this time. The menu was a bit unusual, since some of the regular vegetarian Indian restaurant items (like Matter Paneer or Alu Ghobi) were missing on the menu and also declined by the waiter. The guy, who brought us the water before we had ordered, managed to cause a medium flooding of the table. But so far no problem, stuff happens and we're all human.

But then came the food... That the garlic naan was partly burnt, was just the beginning. That the dishes had all the same color and tasted quite similar (a vegetable mix vs. a Dal) was also not the worst. But the rice was apparently cooked in tap water, because it had a very prominent taste of chlorine like the tap water we had been served in the beginning before we had ordered our beers and lassis. None of the dishes tasted particularly good, but at least they were able to cover up the chlorine smack. The garlic naan was also way too sweet for our taste. While the waiters weren't really friendly to begin with, our spontaneously surprised face when we heard the total amount at the register, turned into open unfriendliness.

One reviewer wrote, this place would be cheap. I am sorry, but any local Hoto Fouto place in the area serves more food with better quality for a significantly smaller price.

And be prepared: you have to pay cash, since they don't take any cards at all!

Our teenage kids voted this their worst Indian restaurant experience ever.

In all fairness: it is not that the food is inedible (except for the pure saffron rice. That is hard to swallow due to the strong chlorine aftertaste). But usually Indian restaurants are a pleasant experience everywhere (including our precious experience in Seoul) - tastewise and servicewise. But here we encountered the exception...

If you ever find yourself tempted by the warm, inviting name The Spice Hut, let me offer a gentle warning: turn around. Unless, of course, you’re in the mood for culinary heartbreak served with a side of regret.

Let’s start with the ambiance—or rather, the complete absence of it. Dim lighting not in a moody, intimate way, but more in a “we forgot to pay the electric bill” kind of way. The decor looked like it was salvaged from a garage sale gone wrong, with plastic tablecloths clinging to sticky tables like they feared abandonment.

The bar, if you can call it that, was a lonely counter with a few dusty bottles lined up like they were being punished. I asked for a mango lassi and was met with a blank stare, followed by a concoction that tasted like someone had dropped a mango into bathwater and hoped for the best. Even the ice was confused about why it was there.

And the food—oh, the food. The menu promised a “flavourful journey through Pakistan,” but what I got was a crash landing. The biryani was a tragic pile of overcooked rice dyed in artificial orange with the charisma of cardboard. The chicken karahi tasted like regret and ketchup had a baby. As for the naan, calling it rubber would be generous—it could’ve doubled as shoe leather.

Service? Think of a relay race where nobody shows up to take the baton. We sat in a limbo of neglect, eventually flagging down a server who looked like they, too, had given up on life.

Final verdict: The Spice Hut is less a restaurant, more a social experiment to test the limits of customer patience. If you’re into overpriced disappointment, by all means, visit. Otherwise, do your taste buds a favor and...