New Maharaja Indian Cuisine & Bar — Restaurant in Chippewa Falls

Oh Dear!..the growing pains of a popular new eatery! We waited almost a month to try New Maharaja. We were excited as we love good Indian cuisine and there just isn’t any near Eau Claire. We went on a Tuesday night to celebrate our anniversary…having called ahead last week to make reservations. We walked in the door to an empty hostess stand. As we stood there wondering where to go Francis appeared. He grunted something at us and we explained we had a reservation. He grunted again and motioned for us to follow him. He pointed to a table (no attempt to seat us or offer a menu), grunted and walked away. It was 5:35 PM. We sat…and we sat….and we sat. Finally at 6:00 a young man threw two menus on the table. He made no attempt to see if we wanted anything to drink…..and we sat….and sat…and sat. At 6:15, forty-five minutes after we walked through the door, Francis came over with a notepad and took our order. Another 25 minutes passed and a young man dropped a bowl of rice and 2 dishes of Indian food on our table, neither of which were what we had ordered, but we were so hungry we just thanked him and started eating. About 5 minutes later Francis came to the table with the chicken curry my husband had ordered and said…”you have the wrong food.” He sat it down and took the shrimp dish and walked away. My husband tried to tell him that I was given the wrong dish as well, but he was gone. We ate what was a lackluster Indian meal. We travel internationally and both lived in Southeast Asia, so we enjoy a good curry. This was not it. It may be the best you can do in The Chippewa Valley, but it is not anything we would try again. The poor service, and mixed up orders were compounded when we practically had to tackle a server to the floor to get our check. We were in the restaurant almost 2 hours, of which we had food on our table about 15 minutes. I don’t know how anyone could call Francis hospitable, sociable, or entertaining. He didn’t give us the time of day and if he is the owner, I fear this place will fail within 6 months after the “hype” wears off. Just so you know I am a credible food critic, as my husband is a culinary-trained chef, who owned one of the top-rated fine dining venues on the Philadelphia mainline and I was the general manager/front of house manager for his restaurant. We did not appreciate the inattentive service, the long waits, and the sub-standard food, much of which we would have overlooked with a little attention or apology from the owner. Every restaurant can have a bad night, maybe a server called out sick, or other challenges, but you deal with that by offering some explanations and apologies. You lost what might have been steady customers tonight....

Overall was disappointed with food and order accuracy.

I eat Indian weekly, I travel the country and most of western Europe. Although I have not had Indian in India yet, I must say of the ~75 Indian restaurants I have eaten at globally, this was the first that really disappointed me.

I had ordered both food to dine in, as well as food to go right away. I wish I had waited, as what I ordered to go was the same as I received dining in.

I had ordered Chicken Vindaloo with spice level Hot. The Vindaloo I received was good in taste; however had zero spice, as if it were ordered less than mild. I asked the owner and he had told me they always make it Mild, and next time to order it Hot. I did order it Hot sadly, I believe it was rung in wrong.

Next I asked if they had Aloo Paratha... he said yes and it was added to my order. What I received was Aloo Naan. For those who do not know, Naan is a leavened bread traditionally cooked in a Tandoor.. Paratha, which my Indian colleagues cooked for me each day when working on year long trips together is non-leavened bread, with a potato filling flattened very thin (careful not to break!) and cooked in a pan with Ghee (clarified butter)... again I was disappointed to receive Naan when I asked if they had Paratha.

I had asked if they had some Jeera rice to go with my Vindaloo. I was expecting just a small cup of rice with Jeera in it (Cumin).. what received was the standard cup of Basmati rice but also a giant plate of Jeera Pulao.. which was tasty! but not what I had expected or ordered... way too much rice for just one person.. and now I have a 2nd order of it to go as well.

Lastly, I did not receive a refill of water until I was getting up to pay the bill.

Overall, Krista and the owner Francis were kind, warm and welcoming. I can tell he has a kind heart and wishes to share his place as if it were a home for all.

But $75 later, a disappointing dinner, and a lot of leftovers I do not wish to eat. I am truly saddened. It wouldn't have been right, but I would have even paid for a 3rd order to be made, but correctly at the spice level Hot as originally requested just to see what it could have been, but I don't think I will go back sadly.

This was my experience, and I am sure others who like more mild food will enjoy the restaurant much more than I did. Don't shy away from my review alone, try it for yourself, you absolutely will be...

First of all, 6/5 stars for the food. The meal was fantastic; however…

We were met at the entry by our host, Francis. He was incredibly friendly, even to the point of holding my son’s hand as he led us to our table. From there, we were given a breakdown of their menu and a very heavy push for the naan platter as a starter. We also ended up getting two extra appetizers to start off.

Our table had four children total. Francis strongly and insistently recommended we buy a mango lassi for the children. If you know anything about kids, then you know it was an impossible situation to say “no.” That would have been ok with us, had the lassi been complimentary for the kids to try, as it was implied. It was not.

Next, our table ordered our food. We ate our appetizers and waited. When the food arrived, things got confusing. An order of goat vindaloo was… off. It was definitely goat, but it lacked heat. And on top of that, another order of curry was missing from our order. We informed Francis that the order was missing.

We continued to eat while we waited for the missing order when, to our surprise, Francis got on their stage to tell everyone how much we were appreciated. The speech went on for several minutes, reiterating several times how important it is that we return.

Dinner ended and the missing meal never arrived. We asked Francis if the order could be made to go, but he insisted we had received it. We informed him we hadn’t. He argued we had. This went on for a long time. Too long. Francis was becoming angry.

Eventually the chef was brought out. He inspected the empty dishes (because everyone assumed we were lying) and sheepishly explained that part of the confusion was in that the vindaloo was substituted for rogan josh with us knowing, hoping that we wouldn’t notice. Even knowing that, the missing meal still wasn’t there.

All in all, I left with a sense that their friendly attitude is a facade. We were upsold, had a meal substituted without our knowledge, never given a missing order, and argued with. And to top it off, we were given a speech about how important we were as the customers and how important it was for us...