Spice Bazaar — Restaurant in Engelberg

My wife and I really wanted to like this place, but unfortunately, despite having an Indian craving at the time, we did not enjoy our meal.

Firstly, the atmosphere - for an Indian restaurant, we were expecting an Indian experience. Instead, we were met with backstreet boys and other non Indian artists playing in the background. Not a big issue, but it’s very easy to put some Bollywood music on to create an ambiance.

Secondly, the service - not once during our meal did our waiters smile or express any interest in the food, the restaurant or us. We were met with silence from entry, to delivery of food and even when paying. We even witnessed customers (including ourselves) walk into the restaurant and have to gesture to staff who were hiding in the backroom in order to be seated.

Lastly, and most importantly the food - let’s start with the price. I was expecting expensive in Switzerland, but this was beyond expensive. For the amount we paid, we could have ordered 4 x fondue from the restaurant down the road and have been fed for four nights in a row. We thought, okay, the food is expensive, but let’s give it a chance, maybe its tastes exceptional. Unfortunately, the butter chicken was very bland. I’ve had better butter chicken from shopping centres, and the naan was overly greasy and not authentic. Chicken tikka was okay, but the meal as a whole was basic and not worth the price we paid.

Disappointing experience and unfortunately I’m not able to recommend...

I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone, especially not a tourist looking for a good time and good food. Our experience was absolutely terrible. I don’t understand how this restaurant is open and I question the credibility of some of these reviews. First, the service was terrible. The person who served us was both the waiter and the manager and he was incredibly rude. The service was also very slow. There was only one other family having dinner at the restaurant besides us (I guess that should have been our first red flag; why was no one else there?) yet our food took over an hour to come and it was not hot nor did it taste fresh. If food is going to take that long to come when the restaurant is nearly empty, I’d expect the food to be amazing, so that was very disappointing. We ordered both appetizers and entrees and most of what we ordered was inedible. When we shared with the waiter/manager that we did not like one of the items we ordered, he said that was not his problem and I found that response to be very appalling. If the food served at your restaurant is inedible, that is very much your problem! This was a very disappointing dining experience and the bad service almost ruined our last night in town. I’ve never encountered such rude service at a restaurant before. I wish I would have taken the other bad reviews more seriously and then I would not have wasted my last evening in town at this restaurant. Save yourself the time and money and eat...

In my two decades of living in Switzerland, I have never encountered such appalling and utterly disgraceful customer service. My 2-year-old child cried for a mere 1-2 minutes, and the waitress had the audacity to approach our table and demand—quite bluntly and without any shred of professionalism—that we immediately remove our child from the restaurant till she stops crying .We were left completely stunned by this brazen display of disregard for basic hospitality. As a result, we promptly decided to leave without even eating at the restaurant .

The family seated actually next to us also expressed their shock to us at the waitress’s appalling behavior towards a child. Despite our decision to leave, the waitress showed no remorse or understanding whatsoever. Her attitude was cold, dismissive, and wholly uncalled for.

It is incomprehensible that such a hotel establishment has not trained their staff to be family- and customer-friendly, especially considering the type of clientele they claim to serve. It is especially outrageous that this type of behavior is tolerated at a restaurant in a ski resort that is supposed to cater to families with children.

We have been loyal visitors to Engelberg for our ski holidays for years, but after this horrendous experience, we will NEVER set foot in Hotel Central or Restaurant Spice Bazar again. The level of incompetence and rudeness we endured as a family is simply...