House Of Spice — Restaurant in Saint Paul's Bay

I have travelled to more than 15 European countries but had the worst experience of my life at this restaurant. I won’t say the food was bad (it was ok) but the behavior of the staff was pathetic. This restaurant is run by a Pakistani family, could see two ladies and a guy. Firstly, as soon as we entered and waited for some staff to direct us to a table, this lady with a grumpy face showed us the table and immediately took away the cotton napkins in front of us as we took our seats. Then, the guy came to take our order and when we asked to bring napkins, he gave us the tissue papers. There were two more “European” couples in the restaurant and they were provided the cotton napkins. Secondly, it took more than 45 minutes to get food on our table. Later, when we asked us to pack the remaning food on the table, she handed us the packet and left. Finally, the worst thing, we asked her the reason why we were not given the napkins while everyone else was. She said we don’t give them to “Indians” or “Pakistanis” customers because they do not use fork/spoons and spoil our napkins with their dirty hands. I am Indian and it was so disappointing to experience such racist and stereotypical behavior. Thus, ‘I hated this place’ would be an...

We loved the food so much that we went there twice during our week in St. Pauls. The food is absolutely fantastic with really good use of spices and flavours, portions are perfect for sharing. This is by far the best Indian/Pakistani food that I've tasted in years. To be perfectly honest you need to be prepared for a 'quirky' host who may come across as rude at first but she is really helpful once you engage with her. I've read some reviews on incorrect meal orders so perhaps that's why on both occasions we were there recently she came back to our table with the printed order for the meals to double-check the order before it went to the kitchen and on one occasion one dish was missing - and this was quickly corrected - sounds like they are learning from their past mistakes and you can't ask for more than that. Service can be a bit slow as this is obviously a family run restaurant - if you want fast service without the tasty wholesome food go to one of the American fast food chains which are taking over the world or better still...

I wish there was an option to give zero rating! This restaurant clearly wins the list of restaurants where I had the worst experience! The restaurant owners should understand that good food alone cannot win customers and that service matters to ALL customers. Extending stereotypical notions and racial behavior can only take you few miles before people realize who the are dealing with. I politely raised my issue with the lady at the end when paying the bills and told her that I will leave honest review that we felt discriminated and were disappointed by the service. Her response was 'one bad comment can not do harm to our business, do what you want to do'. I definitely cannot stop anyone from visiting the place and she knew that it was mostly tourists who visit the place and won't care much about one bad review! Please avoid this place just for their own good and make your time worth by visiting any other Indian...