Spice Lounge — Restaurant in Albufeira

TERRIBLE STAFF AND TREATMENT

I had one of the worst experiences at this restaurant ever. My wife and I decided to go to the Spice lounge for dinner along with another Indian couple who were holidaying with us. The moment we entered the restaurant we were accosted yes accosted by the waiter who asked us to step out of the restaurant and told us that seating is by reservation only.

I respect the choice a restaurant makes when asking to reserve in advance but here are a few points that didn't add up to what the waiter was saying

1. It was 10:00 pm in the night and we counted a minimum of 15 empty seats. The place was due to shut at 2:30am as the Internet mentions and the waiter said that they were going to shut at 11:30 last night. Which still gives us an hour!!!

2. No signage near the restaurant mentions that seating was with reservations only

It gets worse... Harrowed we walked across to another Indian restaurant where another couple (white) sitting beside us heard our horrid experience. They offered to cross check for us and they'd called the spice lounge and when they did the waiter said No reservations were needed and seating was on a first come first serve basis.

Additionally we mentioned this to one of the waiters in the restaurant we were in and hedd mentioned that the spice lounge is notorious for this tactic towards Indian travellers They avoid Indian people sitting in the restaurant as the restaurant won't look "attractive" (word quoted verbatim)

It's sad that a place which we reviewed to have good food and a great rating has resorted to racist tactics. Terrible place terrible staff definitely not going...

Booked a table here for 5 people on New Years Eve 2024. Actually booked at Jaipur but was persuaded by waiter Mandy via text to come to the Spice Lounge instead. BIG MISTAKE. €25 per head for food only, drinks not included. Service was slow, short staffed. When the main meal came it was cold. I asked the waiter, Mandy to heat it. He took it behind the bar area, where there were no kitchen appliances and brought it back within seconds and if he had heated it. Needless to say it had not been heated as the kitchen was upstairs and my food was even colder. The menu stipulates naan and rice but when in the restaurant we were told one or the other. No hot drinks ie tea or coffee after the meal. This is New Year’s Eve, it is cold outside, yet no hot after dinner drinks. It turns out that the waiter that ‘heated’ my food was the manager!!! He was in fact the most useless of all the waiters there. On top of that he could not make any decisions when we complained saying his manager was in fact in the UK. What is the point of having a useless manager appointed if he cannot or is quite clearly incapable of making any decisions? There are plenty of other restaurants in Albufeira, do yourselves a favour and eat/book anywhere else than the Spice Lounge. We are residents in the Algarve and run accommodations with many visitors every year, will be making sure they know not to go to this venue. Appalling service and food, extremely poor customer service and even less care or concern for your feedback. Absolutely not worthy of any stars. Should...

We reserved a table for 5 people at Jaipur Indian in Albufeira for New Year’s Eve (2024-2025), and were convinced instead last minute to change to Spice Lounge. We did not have much choice. The management is the same. There was a set menu for €25 that we got sent beforehand. The menu said we would get rice AND naan, but the waiter informed us this was wrong and it was in fact rice OR naan bread. It was 15 minutes before anyone even came to our table, and then 35 mins total before we were served any food. The starter was the same for everyone, so not sure why it took that long. Another 20 minutes after that for our mains, which were small portions and arrived cold. There were also things missing, so we had to wait an additional 10 mins for the rest so we could all start eating at the same time. At the end of our meal my mum wanted a hot drink (tea or coffee), neither of which they had. The service, atmosphere and food were not worth €25 each AT ALL. This is quite a lot to ask in comparison to other genuinely good quality places in the Algarve, so as locals, we were expecting a lot more. We asked to speak to the manager as we were not happy, to which we got the response ‘my manager is in the UK and not available, we will do better next time’. Obviously there will not be a next time ….. DO...