Punjab Arlington — Restaurant in Arlington

This restaurant was a severe disappointment at all levels. Let me preface this by saying Punjab was by far the best Indian restaurant in the area a few years ago. That is now not the case. Royal India in Lexington, and more so Nirvana in Cambridge are far superior. I am sorry to say, but I would have rather had Trader Joe's Indian tonight, it would have been better and much cheaper. We had a poor experience here about six months ago and decided to give it another try tonight. They failed again and we will never return. The main thing is the food. The quality is no longer there. $20 for tikka masala is a bit high, but fine if it is superior. I am not joking when I say Trader Joe's is better now. Same with the paneer tikka masala. Our waitress was inattentive, brought an order of naan ten minutes before our food appeared. She poured me a Cloud Candy IPA which was not. If it was, their lines need a good cleaning. I know what that beer tastes like and this was not Cloud Candy. I ordered a Taj Mahal, she brought a Flying Horse. Fine, I didn't say anything. My wife asked for mild on her paneer tikka masala and it was spiced high medium. I asked for medium and could barely taste the food. I am sure she put it in wrong--she was just not present. She never said thank you. What has happened to Punjab? Even with the terrible experience, I tipped 17 percent. $100 for a night out that we really regret. Never again. Please try Nirvana. We have always had amazing service and the food is much superior. This kind of wrecked Saturday night for us. I have not eaten out inside a restaurant since before Christmas, and absolutely, positively, and done with Punjab. For twelve dollars, do yourself a favor and pick up Trader Joe's. Really bad,...

Mediocre food. I've had better at a buffet... you know, where it's 'all you can eat' The Tandoori Chicken was served in a large bed of onions and lettuce. Cheap. The fish was dried fish (perhaps that is common) We ordered three dishes and only two came. When we discussed with the waiter he said you only ordered two things. Untrue. Nevertheless, we felt blessed to get less, pay less. This is an Indian Restaurant with one person from India: the owner, you will see the very obese person sitting near the the front door. Everyone else is from Nepal (according to the employees we spoke to) We will NOT visit again. Not disgusting. Just not worth the money. It could be fixed but likely will not be. Nice ambiance. Note the address. There is a place across the street with a similar name. I have NOT ever eaten there.

Below, a guy named Razim said,

"I was there once with my family. The total bill was $59 and i left $6tip. And a week later i was my visa. They charged me $83 . Doesnt any one know why ?"

Razim: It is called THEFT. Certain families allow for it. Perhaps someone in his family thought that you should have left a larger tip.

I'm going to call my credit card company as soon as I post this...

Can you image a MERCHANT stealing from a customer!!!??? Can't say what happened with you Razim... but it seems that some types of people simply will steal if they think that they can get...

The food here was fresh and delicious! But the service was a bit off. We noticed that the in house menu had less to offer than the online menu and when we asked about it the server told us that she had ripped a page out of our menu because they were out of a dessert but that we could order the other things off the online menu. My husband ordered methi chicken and when she asked us how it was, he told her that it tasted good but it was a bit dry. She responded by agreeing that it wasn't good and saying she didn't like it either and that's why she didn't recommend it to us. She then walked away without even offering to have them fix it. She had a better time hanging out with the guys in the kitchen than checking on us to see if we needed anything like more water or the check after we had asked for a to go box. I had asked if they had tea available which they didn't so we ordered water. She then came back to the table and said, "so, you are or are not ordering alcahol!?" It was 3 in the afternoon. Clearly very concerned about the dollar amount of our check. We were one of three tables in the entire place. Everything else here was awesome, clean, great atmosphere and delicious food. I wish our server had been a little bit more professional so that I could leave a 5...