Clove & Cardamom Restaurant — Restaurant in Columbia

First and foremost, I would have preferred a five start review outcome. It was supposed to be an amazing and exciting experience. It saddens me to have to do this. I am not a picky person, I am very patient and always try to understand the business owner’s point of view first and know how hard work it takes to build a business. I rather emphasize great experiences than blame bad ones, and never rate negatively, unless I feel injustice or “entitlement” in service towards the customer. I believe in true customer service and a transparent business model with genuine care for clients, so that they come back!

Tonight, the experience went too far not to get annoyed and frustrated by it. It clearly appeared than despite knowing that we were first timers, the manager was worried about making a good number at closing than make the customer experience a positive one.

Rating because of the accumulated poor service and hospitality - and especially for including 20% gratuity in their final bill, allowing them to not provide service accordingly since they were guaranteed gratuity …

Here are the reasons why this restaurant is not worth the experience, and especially your time:

1- In and “forced” out under one hour although we were 6. 2- food came disorganized - brought one entree out of 6, 15 min before the other’s and one side dish veggies came 30 min after we were done. 3- manager asked us to leave before finishing our delayed dish and despite we were also working on our drinks. The dish was still charged even though not enjoyable or consumable since we were asked to “kindly” make room for the lining up customers 5 min after it was served…. cold ! 4- we were checked 3 times for table clean up, to try liberate our table while we were still waiting on the vegetables and working on our drinks. We had been sitting for just over 30min after the first service. 5- for all these reasons, tip needed to reflect the poor sense of hospitality- again, it looked like they had already figure out how to not have to make up for service : 20% tip was included in the bill !

In the end, we were feeling unwelcomed and will never go back or recommend Clove and Cardamon to people we care for. There are other Indian restaurants that know what customer service is truly like.

Positive point: great basmati rice with actual saffron on it. Liked the garlic naan. Thanking the kitchen for their...

I'm a wedding officiant with Shooting Star Wedding Services and ALWAYS on the look out for a restaurant to recommend to couples after an elopement. The decor in this restaurant is extremely minimalist and in the color scheme of primarily white, a little green, & brown. The tables are wooden colored and also minimally decorated with just the water glasses, silverware in linen napkin, and bread/appetizer plate. The tables are fairly close together but there is enough room to walk without feeling cramped. There are also some booths on either side of the restaurant. There is a small bar section in the restaurant with two (2) TVs high on the wall. The bathrooms are single stalls with an option to dry your hands with a dryer or paper towels.

On to the food: it is on the pricier side. I went to lunch with one of employees and we ordered from the lunch/small plates section, had 2 non-alcoholic smoothies and still paid just shy of $60. The food was very good, hot, tasted fresh and had a kick of spicy to it. I ordered the Avocado & Jalapeño poppers $14 & Chili Garlic Shrmp $15. Both were tasty, the poppers were unexpected. They were individual pieces of avocado and jalapeño dipped and fried. I thought they were jalapeños filled with avocado, still good just not what I expected. The garlic shrimp was so spicy and wonderful! The shrimp come with tails on and seasoned beautifully. The chili-garlic shrimp was extremely visually appealing. My employee got the Khow Suey Noodle $10 soup and a tropical fruit smoothie. She said the soup was very good with just a hint of spicy and the smoothie was excellent.

Should people decide to go here to celebrate their elopement I'd suggest making a reservation and getting a booth so there will be more room for food and drinks. Plus everyone willbe a bit more comfortable with more elbow room and a small semblance of privacy.

It's definitely NOT the most kid-friendly restaurant. There are no crayons and coloring sheets or fun table games or kid menu options. I would not recommend this for younger kids or parents who NEED kid options to get through a restaurant meal. As stated before it's a minimalist restaurant...

To be honest, our plan had been to go to the Thai restaurant around the corner, but there was a 45 minute wait at 5:15 PM on a Saturday.

Instead, we went to Clove and Cardamon and it turned out to be a great selection from our first step through its doors and right up until we left.

The hostess was very congenial, talkative and friendly. She took us immediately to a table and our waiter quickly introduced himself and gave us menus.

I know this is a very small thing, but one of my pretty peeves is that restaurants often provide only a single drinks menu to a table and you have to wait for your turn.

Not here.

We ordered drinks and the cocktail was very large and not loaded with ice. As a result, it was stronger than we're usually used to, but was very good. In fact, because there was less ice than usual the drink wasn't finished. I generally only drink beer at Indian restaurants and the waiter poured mine perfectly.

The appetizers were excellent. We especially liked the eggplant and potato chat which had lots of garnishes and was amply sized for two. The Samosas were fluffy. One or both of the appetizers packed some heat, but in a very nice way - not at all overpowering; More of a welcome taste afterthought.

The main menu was an interesting fusion, with some middle eastern elements and even a take on pizza.

We ordered a chicken masala and a shrimp saag. The masala preparation was excellent. The saag dish was good, but did not have very much body and seemed to be low on spinach taste. Still, it paired very well with the fluffy, long grain rice and perfectly with the butter Naan.

Service was excellent.

We also had opportunity to see other dishes being delivered to nearby tables and they all looked really appetizing.

The restaurant filled to capacity by 6:30 PM, but we were not encouraged to rush out, as we enjoyed some more of our drinks.

We would absolutely return and in fact, we were discussing how enjoyable the evening had been over...