Restaurant ODAAN (Nepalese & Indian ) — Restaurant in Lisbon

Just finished dinner here and have no idea how it has a 4.9 rating. There were five of us dining.

Appearance: I like a good hole-in-the-wall but we missed the alleyway entry because of all the trash sitting there. Broken furniture and other random junk. The outdoor courtyard is nice enough but there was a small party in an adjacent room doing karaoke that was just annoying. They could have closed the door to reduce the noise for the other diners.

Service: The staff was friendly. While we got our starters in about 12-15 minutes, it took an hour to get the rest of our food but only after asking if they forgot about us. When they served the food, they didn't provide any serving spoons, so we had to make do with the individual spoons from our silverware. We wound up mixing spoons between the different dishes. But that didn't matter because...

Food: All the curries tasted exactly the same. The lamb karahi, chicken curry, mattar paneer, and aloo gobi tasted identical. Thankfully the veg biryani and white rice didn't taste the same. However, neither the menu nor the staff mention that each curry comes with plenty of rice and if we had known, we wouldn't have ordered the biryani.

For our starters, the panipuri was fine but the chili chicken sauce tasted like ketchup. We asked for naan but never got it.

We had a little bit left over but didn't feel it was worth taking the food to go. We won't be rushing back...

Maybe we just ordered entirely the wrong things, but we had a horrible experience and it's a mystery how this place is so highly rated.

There were some communication issues that led us to believe the roti would be vegan (my friend clearly said that she was vegan and ordered a vegan main course), but they arrived being clearly topped with ghee. Luckily, they agreed to take them off the check, and let us order rice instead.

The food itself was unfortunately terrible. My friend had a tofu chili dish, which tasted like it was tofu and bell pepper drenched in ketchup, utterly sweet. I had the Chicken Tikka Masala. I asked beforehand if this was sweet, as this is sometimes an issue (for me) with this dish. I was told it wasn't very sweet, and I also asked to make it spicy, which the server said they could do. Well - it was the sweetest CTM I've ever had, and not even a tiny bit spicy. Even though the naan was decent (I had the butter and the garlic naan, both can be recommended), this might be my most regretted Indian food experience.

The service was friendly but slow. The one explanation I have for those ratings is that their Nepalese food is spectacular, but the Indian food certainly cannot be...

Restaurant ODAAN provided a generally positive dining experience. The service was friendly and accommodating, setting a pleasant tone for the meal. The standout item was undoubtedly the fried momos, a must-try. The butter chicken and chicken tikka masala dishes, while a bit on the sweet side, were still quite enjoyable. The garlic naan was superb, enhancing the overall meal.

In terms of value, particularly for drinks, ODAAN proved to be a great choice. The outdoor dining experience was nice, although the indoor area felt a bit dated.

On the downside, the sweetness in some of the dishes might have benefited from a bit more depth in flavor. Additionally, service was somewhat slow, but this was understandable given the restaurant's busyness.

In summary, Restaurant ODAAN offers a positive dining experience with standout items like the fried momos and garlic naan. While the dishes leaned towards the sweet side and service could be slow during busy times, it still represents good value for a...