Indian Palace — Restaurant in Cambridge

Rude staff and bland Kerala south Indian food!!!! I went with family to have dinner in this restaurant. It was a much waited dine out after a long time. We had to travel an hour to reach Cambridge. As we were early we were spending time sight seeing. I booked table promptly for 6 PM. As we entered the restaurant in the lady at the reception who sounded European was nearly yelling at us and showed she was unhappy that we didn’t close the door behind us!!. Already feeling a bit intimidated we ordered the popular kerala starters and mains. Fish fry, konchu porichathu, chilli chicken, Kerala porotta, Fried rice, Kerala Beef curry, Malabar chicken curry and butter chicken. I can say that this chef who is making it don’t have any experience in cooking Kerala food. This food was bland to the core!!. This is definitely not authentic despite it said on the menu and this lady at the reception reassuring us many times. I informed the only lady serving the whole restaurant that the food isn’t right. She had no real expressions and went away from our table. To my surprise she was having a good time soon after as she was sitting with another man who was also a staff in the restaurant. They both sat in another table and was sharing jokes and laughing. If they were decent they would have returned to our table and spoke to us as to what went wrong as we were the only people in the restaurant at the time. I am really sorry but this restaurant is appalling and being a keralite made me cringe as to what they are portraying our food as is not even close!!!. It’s a disgrace to our society and amazing...

Pros: Great food - especially the Keralan dishes. Can't fault the chef. Good selection for vegetarians. Great service - the staff are so friendly and talk about the food and inspiration for the food. Good ambience when they play indian music (not when they play western pop).

Cons: Awful decor. They made no effort to convert the old CO15 hipster/warehouse feel food and coffee joint. Tables are odd sizes - so we bump knees and don't fit under them well, they simply bought some red chairs and red table cloths. Terrible logo - makes the place look like a cheap italian take away.

Suggestions: Sort out the decor and logo. Are they trying to be more traditional indian with the plush red seating and regal feel? Or go more Mumbai street food cafe? It's hard to know...

Make this part Mumbai cafe / bar with late license and sell small bites (pakoras, samosas, bhel puri, those indian buns with panir etc) and then part restaurant. I think they would be onto a winner. The local pubs in Cherry Hinton are overwhelmingly average we are crying out for a decent, and perhaps different, bar to spend an evening in.

TLDR: I would give 3 stars based on this review, but give 4 stars based on food and service alone as I have returned 2 times and will return again no doubt.

(Mainly because Cherry Hinton is a cultural vacuum with not a lot else (besides another very good Indian...

Newly opened, so we thought we'd try it. There were pluses and minuses.

Firstly, the food was delicious, and that counts for a lot! Everything tasted fresh and not at all the gravy + spice mix formula you'd get in some other curry houses. The menu was varied and interesting and not at all generic. There wasn't a single poor dish in our order. I especially liked the rice - plain pilau and egg fried were really nicely cooked.

On the other hand, there were a couple of fails. The dessert menu was sparse - just ice cream or gulab jamun - and they don't do hot drinks at all (didn't the hipsters leave a coffee machine?)

Having just opened, it felt like the decor hadn't quite arrived. Previously it had been a hipster coffee bar which we didn't like, and some of the furniture had unfortunately survived the transition. It could do with a few homely touches to make it a more intimate environment.

The service was a bit patchy. They forgot my youngest kid's Dosa and she had to watch us all eat. When we needed staff (like then) they were hard to find. Ditto getting the bill.

So all in all a mixed experience, but the quality of the food should keep this place going while they get their acts together in...