Himalayan Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Coos Bay

UPDATE: I wanted to wait a bit before editing my review in order to be fair. I will leave the original review unaltered, but I do need to share our most recent experience.

I have worked enough service jobs - food service included - to know that sometimes you just have a bad night. Short-staffed, kitchen taking forever to get food out, new servers still learning the ropes, sometimes even a new point-of-sale system that the staff are figuring out. It happens, and I'm generally pretty understanding. But when we went, it really felt like everything that could go wrong, did.

Once we were seated, it took forever to get our order put in. Once our order was in, it took forever to get the food out. And when you're waiting 50+ minutes for your food in a restaurant with no free refills, that means your drink is gone by the time your food arrives. There was a group seated near us who arrived after we did and received their food before us (not always avoidable, but definitely annoying when you've been waiting). When our food finally arrived, the naan was doughy and undercooked, and the dishes were hit-and-miss. We got the check to pay, only to find that we're being charged for someone else's table. It took 20 minutes to figure out how to fix it.

Not a good visit from start to finish. I hate saying this, because I've never asked for comp'd anything at any restaurant, but a complementary round of refills and/or something to nibble on in the 50 minutes we waited for our meals would have gone a long way toward smoothing things over. We probably won't be back, but I would suggest to the owner(s) that handing out a couple of freebies when your customers are hangry will benefit you in the long run.

Believe it or not, if you're looking for tasty Indian food in town, American Market is the better bet.

Went out for a belated Mother's Day dinner and decided to finally try this place. Staff was very accommodating of dietary restrictions and we really appreciated that. Our server was great. The food was fine, though perhaps on the pricier side compared to similar restaurants. No refills on soda. There is a short ramp (outside) for wheelchairs, but you might find that it's a bit steep. All in all, we...

Not worth the high prices.

I don't know if we caught them on a bad night but we didn't have a good experience. The pakoras came out quick and were good but after that no one talked to us or cleared our plates for 40 minutes. We saw another couple sit and leave in that time since no one had taken their order. After 40 minutes we finally got our second appetizer but had waited long enough and had other things to do. We had to ask for the food to-go where the owner seemed annoyed we asked. She was overall accommodating but I think a 40 minute wait with dirty plates on our table is a fair situation to be annoyed with especially considering we're spending $18 a plate.

During our time there they talked with a larger party and ignored the other half of the room. The ownership didn't have any front of house staff except a kid who was likely their daughter. If this is the case, close one half of the room! Manage the experience not just for your guests but your own sake. Wait until everyone in the large party is seated before taking the order. One thing at a time, slow down, you'll make your money. Pacing is crucial.

Now we get to the food. We brought it back to the hotel and I was entirely underwhelmed. I asked for "Spicy" for the Lamb Biryani, it was barely mild. There was basically no complexity to the dish, the lamb itself was overcooked. The rice was basically a Chinese fried rice with a long-grain rice. Carrots and peas, parts of the rice were completely unseasoned. It was an afterthought of a disorganized kitchen.

We also ordered the Himalayan Fried noodles which were more like lo mein. There was a lot more flavor in this dish though I found the smokiness a little bit overpowering. The butter garlic naan was fine, hard to mess that up but props where they are due.

Overall, this was a 2 star experience. Maybe we got unlucky with the large party but the food also came out very underwhelming. Owners need to rethink their organizational process and possibly hire someone else for front of house. This was not worth the really...

I've been to the Himalayan many times before and generally always order the same appetizers, bread, and main dish. I was very familiar with their samosas, garlic naan, and lamb curry. As far as local restaurants go, it's a little pricey, but the options are unique and the quality was good so it was a nice treat.

I was very surprised to go recently and find that every dish was prepared differently or with errors. One of the samosas came charred through the side, as if it burst open while cooking and the inside was burnt. The naan bread suffered a similar issue, each piece was charred on the bottom. It also lacked the flavors that we were used to, and tasted more like an overbuttered bread than the garlic naan they served previously.

The lamb curry got the worst of it. With prices recently I expected it might have less meat, but I received a grand total of 4 chunks of lamb in the whole curry. For the cost of the dish, and that it included only the curry and a small portion of rice, it was very meager. The creamy texture of past curries was gone, and this one was both chunky and watery. The lamb didn't taste like it was cooked in the sauces & spices, but like the sauce was poured over it after cooking, so the lamb failed to absorb the flavors of the curry.

Less bothersome but worth a mention, we asked the server what the chutney was called & what it was made of (we'd always called it 'green sauce' before), and he curtly replied "mint" and scurried away from us. This is a small note, but between that and everything else, we were encouraged to look up what exactly they were serving.

It turns out our favorite dishes at the Himalayan are very inexpensive to make with local ingredients, and do not justify the restaurant's cost. Something that we would have never discovered if we didn't have such a poor experience. So, for that, I am leaving 2 stars instead of 1.

P.S. I miss some of the old decorations. Why take down what made the...