Jaipur Palace Restaurant — Restaurant in KwaZulu-Natal

I visited the restaurant for the Friday buffet dinner. I've had a few takeaways before but never actually sat down in the restaurant so decided to treat myself to the R295 per person curry buffet.

I don't know why but I imagined the interior decor to be more "Palacy" and less "Canteen".

We walked into a entryway which looked like it was undergoing renovations but my partner, who visited a while back, said that it's always been like this.

We then approached the front desk which had a sign hung on that said "Please wait to be seated". There was no one there, we waited a few minutes and a waiter running plates to the kitchen asked if we needed help? Yes we did.

We were sat at a two-seater table at the corner, in the back. Fine.

The decor inside the seating area was appalling. White tablecloths were adorned with cheap turquoise synthetic satin runners, the lighting was harsh and too bright, the ceiling paint was peeling in places and the mirrored glass walls reflected decades of neglect.

At the buffet, people were jostling for a place in the line, leaning over the uncovered Bain-Marie's, hair and mouths open.

The lack of visible hand sanitiser bothered me as people were not placing the tongs and spoons correctly which resulted in them slipping into the curries.

The starters were mostly fried stuff, chicken pieces and kebab Chutney.

The chicken dishes were excellent, can't fault them there but the other curries were lacking.

I was a glutton but I paid good money to try this out and try it out I did.

The chutneys were good but the kebabs were so dry, you'd have to lather them in Chutney to get down.

The mutton, the supposed star of the show, was cooked well but was let down by the undersalted and overspiced curry base.

Don't even bother with the mild mutton curry, it was like eating soup.

The grilled fish was good and so was the fish roes. I didn't try the trotters but the curries looked like they had the same base so I didn't think I missed anything.

Worth mentioning is that it takes some time trying to fish out a good portion of mutton from the curry, also had an issue with the soya prawns.

Our waiter was excellent, we didn't order additional drinks as the buffet came with two glasses of lukewarm soft drinks either Coke, Coke Zero or Fanta. No ice. I didn't ask for ice as I wasn't confident that it would be 100% clean.

For dessert, we sampled the bland ice cream, okay soji, good trifle and good peppermint tart.

All in all, it certainly was an experience and they definitely have their market but calling this place a Palace is a hell of a stretch. There's fast food restaurants with better ambience and vibes than this joint.

Its good to try once but nothing is calling me back. Especially at that...

Place was highly recommended by our Uber driver. So on our last day in Durbs, we made an early morning stop here before a long drive back to Jhb.

I mean, we were in Durban, the capital city of India and I wanted an Indian food experience that would wipe out all my horrible 'Food Inn India' episodes and banish them to the dungeons of mediocrity. Sadly... It would not be so.

We were their first customers that morning and , understandably (?), some of their dishes hadn't been prepared yet. I wanted a biryani but that wasn't ready yet so I settled for a mutton curry.

The food was served on something similar to a tray used by inmates in a high security penitentiary. The rice and curry were in 2 separate polystyrene 'bowls'. So I asked for a plate and was told that the C-Max metal tray was my 'plate'. Pair that with plastic cutlery and... //sigh//

Anyway... the curry wasn't amazing. I wanted my tastebuds to be shattered but nothing... Nothing at all. It was spicy, and cooked alright but I wanted a ground-breaking curry- not something I could cook myself in...

I went there for Mums 50th Birthday when I called to make reservations the lady was unprofessional and rude and asked me to call back after 3pm she asked questions to another guy that probably was near her while I was still on the call. Never the less thats still where mum wanted to go for her birthday so I booked a table for 15. The area where the Food is layed out is extremely hot and steaming even the ice cream futher down was melted the fish options tasted old and stale, the breyani was good though.. There's so many dishes available but all lack a good taste most of it is very bland. The vegetarian options are far better then the meat options. However the waiters are absolutely excellent and truly are well trained with excellent customer service hence the reason for my 1 star it's only for the waiters. Other then that they also applied a 5% birthday discount to the bill which was a good gesture. Overall I think you should really focus on the quality of the meals provided and...