South Indian kitchen — Restaurant in Albufeira

Getting an Indian restaurant in outside of India is not a big deal these days . But getting the taste of India is rare..

Recently we visited this restaurant named South Indian Kitchen in Albufeira - Portugal.. We did not really go with a lot of expectations as it’s a small town in one of the districts in Portugal. It was three hours journey from the place where we live currently in Lisbon. We were tired, and we just wanted to have some snacks.

When we entered the restaurant, the kind of welcome, we received from the owner/ manager was homecoming . We literally felt like we are in India and we got that typical ‘अतिथी देवो भवः’ treatment. To begin with the food, as it was a South Indian restaurant, we ordered Idli and to my surprise, They were so soft and spongy( usually you never get it in here) so we ordered a Dosa and it was also up to the mark, later on a chef suggested us to order a Thali, it is their speciality, so we thought of trying one.. the shape of the thali is map of our Bharat 🥹🥹.. and the dishes in it were delicious.. Each dish tested different. Usually, when we order a Thali, most of the curries in thali taste very similar, but here every vegetable tasted so different and unique. I called it Unique because one of the Portuguese vegetables made in Indian style, which tasted delicious.. Rest all the items in the thali was so good and gave unforgettable taste forever.. It’s must visit restaurant in the town.

Welcome 10/10 Food 10/10 Service 10/10 Quantity ...

Very poor customer service. When we arrived we sat on a table of 4 but there were two of us. menus were given by left on the side of the table where we were not sitting. We were given free poppadoms, when they were bought to the table the waitress had her hand all over one. Waitress did not present herself well. Uniform was dirty, she was in the kitchen helping out preparing our food order with her mobile phone in her hand and no hair net like the others in the kitchen. They did not have everything on the big menu they had. Starters arrived without giving us plates. I asked for plates and was only given to me not my husband. Food quality for both starters and mains were edible. No flavour and very bland. No one asked if we were ok and needed anything apart from the waitress rushing us to order main whilst eating starter. We asked for the bill. Was an expensive bill for what we had ordered. We left the money on the table and tried to call the waiter but felt ignored as he was too busy talking to a couple from India. Decor is very back dated, poor customer service and poor food quality. Considering the good reviews read we thought we would give it a try but was very disappointed and would not...

The food was NO way South Indian; and DEFINITELY NOT Andhra style at all. We as South Indians, who know our food really well, did NOT like the food at this restaurant to any standard. Despite us requesting for hot & spicy, they gave us sweet (bit too much tomato and probably tamarind too) - anyways it was hardly spicy or hot. The waiting staff confirmed that the cook was not even Indian, let alone South Indian).

Despite the food NOT being up to the actual South Indian standard, I did not want to write a critical review; HOWEVER, the ONLY reason I write this review is because, WITHOUT INFORMING US they charged us for hot water - (in my entire dining experience in UK, Europe, USA and in India, nobody had charged us). None of the restaurants we visited in Albufeira charged us for hot water.

Just so you know, an extra three euros for hot water wouldn't be an issue, for we have spending enough on bottled water which lasted until we cleared security at Faro airport; because they charged for the hot water without informing us, I had to write this review...