Atithi Indian Restaurant Den Haag — Restaurant in The Hague

A heartbroken and therefore, long review, thank you in advance for reading: A Deeply Disappointing Experience — Arrogance, Mediocrity, and Stale Food in Disguise as "Authentic Indian Cuisine

My friends and I visit this restaurant to satisfy one specific craving: Choley Bhature, a South-Asian street food staple that is holds a very sentimental value for millions in the subcontinent. For context, this dish is made of spiced-up chickpeas (choley) accompanied by deep-fried, spongy leavened bread (bhature). It's comfort food par excellence — heavy, bold, and intensely flavored if made well. Alas, that did not happen here. But our disappointment did not start here.

We had also ordered a drinks (two chais and one mango lassi), €19 kebab platter as a starter and three plates of choley bhature. We were immediately given the first red flag when we gave them the order. One of their staff members, who was Hindi speaking, condescendingly told us that choley bhature would "take a while to prepare". Fine — we replied reasonably and offered to wait as long as the dish was well prepared. We understand that it is not as popular as Butter Chicken, or Saag Panner and Naan in the west.

The followed was shocking. The staff member proceeded to insinuate that we were lucky we were even going to be served the choley bhature, as their kitchen was too busy, and the one chef had to multitask between our kebab platter and the main course. The attitude and tone were of disdain, arrogance, and thinly disguised irritation, as if we were requesting a favor rather than paying customers for a meal. It was bizarre that we were compared with other guests who have also the food and there is a queue, as if we were cave people who went to visit a restaurant for the first time. Already a bad taste in our mouth, considering there was absolutely 0 need to speak to us in the way. Speaking of bad taste....

The kebab platter that eventually arrived was nothing less than an affront. The meat was chewy, dry, and suspiciously stale — it literally seemed like leftovers over the weekend had been warmed and disguised as new. All the kebabs (Seekh, prawns, chicken tikka) were rubbery in texture, the spices seemed to have disappeared, and it was missing the smoky char and juiciness you get from freshly grilled kebabs. It was bad enough that I had a slight stomach upset afterward —fortunately, no food poisoning, but definitely not the sort of reaction you'd expect on a €19 appetizer.

Even the chai felt microwaved, spilled as the spillage on the outer surface of the cup was not wiped off, and completely lacking in freshness, dished up as if it were an afterthought.

We had the pleasure of being served average cuisine served with contempt. Furthermore, it is strange that the moment we want to depart from the typical Garlic Naan-Butter Chicken dishes that is setup for non-Indians, and want to explore as eaters who have deep love, sentiment and nostalgia for the food we ate growing up in our home country, and ask for a simple replication in a premium restaurant — we are met with defensiveness, dismissiveness, and even thinly veiled hostility. Indian cuisine holds massive potential to stand tall internationally, but it's not going to happen through eateries like this one — where customer service is tongue-in-cheek, the kitchen appears to be content to reuse old dishes, there is capacity issue on Monday evening, and the spirit of Indian hospitality is absent.

In the end, €100 for microwaved drinks, mediocre and stale food and an experience marred by rudeness and condescending attitudes resulted in a pretty bummed out evening. We arrived full of hopes. We departed...

After reading positive reviews on Google, we decided to head to Atithi, an Indian restaurant. Leaving our hotel, we strolled through the lively and charming passage, De Passage, on our way to the restaurant. Initially, we were unsure about the restaurant’s location, ambiance, and food, but our doubts vanished the moment we stepped inside.

The first impression was simply wow! The ambiance beautifully blended modern aesthetics with traditional Indian elements. Since the restaurant wasn’t crowded, we chose a cozy spot away from others, enjoying the ample space. Shortly after settling in, the welcoming staff greeted us warmly. We learned that one of the employees – Sukesh, an Indian student, was completing his internship there. We also met a friendly lady Ereena, who shared stories about her family in Ukraine. This led to a delightful and engaging conversation about travel, life, and places to explore in The Hague and Amsterdam. Coincidentally, the Indian student also loved traveling and frequently shared his adventures on Instagram, so we exchanged details to stay connected.

For our meal, we ordered classic Indian dishes: plain rice, dal fry, tandoori roti, and vegetable kadai curry. Each dish was freshly prepared and bursting with flavor, making it even more enjoyable since it was our first taste of Indian food in almost a week. Yuven, who hadn’t eaten solid food for a day, devoured his dal rice with delight. To our pleasant surprise, the staff also served us complimentary mango lassi, which was absolutely delicious—a perfect finishing touch to an already satisfying meal.

The entire experience, from the excellent food to the warm hospitality, left a lasting impression on us. We paid 50 euros for the meal, feeling it was worth...

We waited almost an hour for the food to come. When it did arrive, the naan bread was missing. After asking, a small bowl of naan arrived. I clarified how many portions it was and was told 1. So I said we'd ordered 3-please could we have the other 2. After asking 2 more times, the remaining 2 potions of naan bread were brought. By this time we had already finished the curry. They then tried to charge me for 6 portions of bread. When I explained what had happened, rather than apologise, the waiter argued with me and said we had had 6 portions. I understand that mistakes happen but the fact he basically accused me of lying about 3 portions of bread on an almost €200 bill was ridiculous. After the waiter had made quite a scene over this, he did remove 4 of the naan from the bill. To be honest, I think this was the least he should have done. As we were leaving, several members of staff were clearly stood talking about how we had had the bread! Mind-blowing! I couldn't wait to leave.

To add insult to injury, we were a party of 7 and all ordered multiple drinks each including alcohol. We had 2 bottles of mineral water at €5.95 each. When my child asked for a glass of tap water at the end of the meal she was told they don't serve tap water. Only after I repeatedly insisted was a glass of tap water reluctantly given. It would have been pathetic enough to deny a child tap water under any circumstance, but as I've said, we'd already spent a substantial sum of money on drinks.

The food was nice enough-nothing special and I'd have given 3* if it hadn't been for the long wait times and the poor customer service. This experience really ruined my whole evening and needless to say we won't be...