Spiceland Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in Bend

Visited Sunday evening of Memorial Day weekend. Table for 2, 20:00hrs. As native of colonial lands, where Indian restaurants are a plenty I was pleased with the quality of the food, fresh, flavorful, quality, piping hot with good portions. The service and ambience really let this establishment down. Upon entry, we weren’t sure if we should seat ourselves or wait to be seated. We eventually made eye contact with Craig (co-owner(?)) at the bar who let us know someone would be with us shortly. It was very warm (stuffy) and noisy. Decor typical of an Indian restaurant, hodge podge of cultural pictures with a fluttering of Chinese references for good measure!? The bar was really the only aspect that made it feel it wanted to fit in with the times. Once seated, staff were inattentive to our needs. It was a process to get what we had visited to pay for - something to wet our whistles and fill our bellies. This is where things went down hill quickly. Water as offered didn’t arrive until much later, beers came from the bar, food when it did arrive, came out in a disorderly fashion suggesting no system in the kitchen and wait staff that need training to ensure food isn’t taken to the floor until all orders have been prepared. We wound up with an extra curry - bonus but really? The Naans we had to ask several different staff for, 3-4 times. We eventually received them toward the end of our meal. Some service staff were hard to determine from Patrons, namely the fellas - casual dress (baggy jeans - tracksuit bottoms. Walking about the floor with mouthful of food). Upon proving feedback to one staff about the timing of food, he sniggered and walked away…

In conclusion, this establishment can cook good Indian food, just don’t expect to eat it together, without being preoccupied with where the rest of your order is while attempting to get the attention of staff. I’d like to think we’d be back for the food but it’s doubtful, given first...

Went tonight and was excited to a new Indian restaurant. Having lived in big cities with large Indian populations, I will say our expectations are high for Indian food.

Unfortunately we were not very impressed. I’d say 50% of the dishes were not flavorful.

Between the 6 of us we ordered an array of dishes (tandoori chicken, vegetable samosa, paratha, garlic naan, cheese naan, keema naan, lamb pasanda, golden chili prawns, paneer butter masala, chicken korma, chicken tikka masala)

The garlic naan was thin and cold. Colder than the water that was only slightly colder than room temp. The chicken tikka masala and the paneer butter masala tasted the same which was concerning and greatly attributed to the lack of spice, we did order mild so maybe next time we need to order medium to get some flavor.

As for the service- The server also did not seem to know what it was we were ordering and had to look at the menu to know how to spell things to input it into the machine. Though he was very kind and helpful it seemed he needed help as well. We had to state we were waiting on mango lassi drinks a few times before we got them. We were only given 2 menus for the 6 of us so had to pass them around. My husbands keema naan didn’t arrive until we all were a quarter of the way through our meals whereas the paratha ordered to be with the masala came 5-10minutes prior to the rest...

I don’t want to go too hard on Spiceland because they only just opened up. Most of my meal there was pretty average, with some items being great, and others not so great. Let’s start with the good. My wife ordered the lamb pasanda and that was very good. Rich, nutty, deep flavor, balanced spice. I am also glad they offer thalis. This is typically my favorite way to order and eat Indian food. However, that leads me to the not so good. All the sides on the thali were kind of just okay at best, including the naan, which was a bit dry. For my main I got aloo mutter, and unfortunately the potatoes were undercooked. I find this to be a bit of a cardinal sin because you can just stick a fork in them and tell they were not cooked through. Beyond that, the flavor of the gravy/curry/sauce was just alright. I am much more partial to places that have fewer options, but just deliver on each of the dishes they serve. Does this menu need an indo/Chinese section?

The restaurant also needs a bit of help in its design. Some sound panels would help massively because there is a bit of a cavernous feeling of sound bouncing off the walls, which makes it difficult to have a proper conversation.

Ultimately, while I would go back, I’m not that eager too. I hope they are able to get some...