Samrat Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in North Island

I've never been more angry with a restaurant in all my life. I've just purchased a home in Waikanae and placed my first order with Samrat, for delivery via DeliverEasy. In summary, the meal was bad, I asked for a replacement and the owner of this restaurant accused me of lying. Avoid this restaurant at all costs.

The order arrived and I plated it up - noticed that the rice was cold, freezing cold. You could literally feel cold on the bottom of the container. I microwaved it and plated up the Chicken Tikka Masala that I'd ordered. The meal looked very odd compared to the other Chicken Tikka Masala meals I've had around the World (including the fantastic Ruchi restaurant in Lower Hutt, from where I've just moved). I took a mouthful and noticed chunks of raw onion and, unfortunately, the rice was still not hot (I only gave it a 30 second blast in the microwave, believing it just needed a slight reheat). I didn't even get to opening up the naan bread at this point.

I called the restaurant and explained the issues. I asked for the order to be replaced and was told to drive to the restaurant 15 minutes later (even though I paid for delivery already). I got there and the owner approached me and asked where the original meal was and what the issues were. I explained the issues and he said I was lying about the rice. He then insisted on seeing the original meal, which I told him was in the bin. He was suggesting that I was lying about the issues to get another meal. I then got told that the raw onion chunks are a feature of the Chicken Tikka Masala - sure, nowhere else in the World. I had my meal replaced, but only after a lot of arguing and further accusations that I was lying in order to get a free meal.

The sad thing is that, without the chunks of raw onion in my replacement meal, it was alright as a dish - not an authentic Tikka Masala by a long shot, but perfectly fine. However, due to the way the owner has behaved, I will not be ordering from here ever again - and I strongly discourage others from doing so.

EDIT following reply: I tracked the DeliverEasy driver - he came straight from your restaurant to my house, a mere 4 minutes away. Also, only the rice was cold...so you can't blame this on the driver. Returning the meal to you, rather than putting it in the bin, would've proved nothing - the rice would definitely have been cold then. Goodness me, talk about nonsense.

Further, you only replaced the meal (just one, not sure what you mean by "all of your meals") with significant protest and suggestions of me lying - so NO, you're not committed to customer...

Will never go back after 20+ times. Placed an order through ordermeal then as I placed the order accidentally clicked pickup through the app at 8:21pm, which was $20 or so more the order meal email says at the bottom if you want to make a change or cancel, call the store. Called straight away at 8:22pm, got hung up on the first time, didn’t listen or speak clearly 2nd time told to call order meal then hung up on me again. then called order meal (which by this time the order had then been confirmed at 8:27pm) said we can’t refund/cancel due to food already being made, go down to the store and the owner was very rude by not listening yelling and throwing an occasional insult in telling us to shut up, and saying ordermeal called at the same time and that’s why they hung up on me. Impossible as I hadn’t even talked to ordermeal yet before calling Samrat, and have the phone records and times to prove it, how would they know I was cancelling. called order meal together who both said they can’t do anything since the foods made at the time which to then my partner and owner hurled insults back and fourth we left without the food and got home and called order meal and showed them we tried to cancel twice before the order was processed we were just being hung up on. Absolutely horrible service on both ordermeal and Samrat’s end after years of being a customer I was no better as an individual but shameful as a business will never go back. avoid talking to them and your order...

Avoid this place at all costs. I took my family there on January 4, 2019 on a hot summer's night. We should have expected they were going to cut corners after noticing the tiny electric fan operating instead of the AC unit. And much like the lack of cool air, the curries we ordered lacked volume and meat. Both the Tikka Masala, Lamb Rajasthani and Chicken Korma were served in petri dishes, and I managed to rake out one piece of finely diced chicken from the minuscule puddles of tasteless gravy. The veggie dish we ordered was also underwhelming, so we filled up on naan, rice and beer.

Instead of offering to reduce the $130 bill, the Manager tried to redeem the situation by serving us a lump of vanilla ice cream, which we left to melt away on our table, much like Samrat's future in Waikanae, it seems.

With Transmission Gully now bypassing their stream of naive 1st-timers, they need to build a loyal local fanbase or Samrat will be closing its doors. And...