HAVELI INDIAN CUISINE — Restaurant in Coralville

I am not one to write reviews but I VERY disappointed with the service last night. Went out with some guests coming from out of town who wanted to have good Indian food but was extremely disappointed with the service. Food was really good but the server was extremely rude. To begin with, she did not serve us waters until we asked for it. While we were just getting settled she kept asking if we were ready to order even after requesting for sometime to read the menu. We ordered aloo tikki thinking it will be served with yogurt and chutneys and upon asking she turned over the page of the menu pointing at the item "we wanted" and what "we ordered" instead of politely saying what was the mistake.

Again, all the food that was served was really good so no complaints there but while we were talking and enjoyed our dinner the server kept on coming if we were ready for boxes towards the end of our meal even after saying that we are still eating. This is only at 7:00 pm so I do not understand the rush here. The restaurant wasn't particularly full either.

Finally we ordered 2 to-go lassis that we forgot to pick up and headed out. Upon realizing we went back in to pick up and knowing that we had forgotten to pick our to-go order instead of being prompt and bringing us our order she waited for us to tell her to get the order which we had ALREADY PAID FOR. Overall, terribly terribly embarrassed since my guests had to witness this. I am just going to order takeouts from here on out if I have to go through such...

My family and I used to be regulars here, but after our recent terrible experience, we will never be coming back and we will never recommend this place to anyone again. The lady who served us (who I believe is also the owner) was so incredibly rude. I ordered a diet coke and she was visibly annoyed that I asked for a refill. She came back with a half-filled cup and slammed it on the table before storming off! The young man who worked for her was nice and proceeded to refill our drinks after that. However, when my guest and I went to pay, she rang us up and the bill was inordinately high for only 2 individuals eating lunch. I inquired as to why the price was so high and she said she charged us $1.75 for every refill and thus charged us for a total of 8 diet cokes!!!!!! Charging us $14 for what amounted to probably 4 cans of diet coke is ridiculous! Given that she never informed us that there is a charge for refills and then proceeded to only fill the glass half full knowing she was going to charge us is just WRONG! On a side note, she also forced the young man working for her to give her a massage/back rub in front of the restaurant in view of all of the customers, which was just odd and extremely awkward! It's too bad this lady ruined this restaurant for us because we liked the food, which is why we were regulars, but the behavior and lack of customer service exhibited by her (who, again, I think is the owner) has resulted in us never...

The service was fantastic—our waiter was incredibly nice and accommodating—but the food was a huge disappointment. I’m not usually one to throw food away, no matter how bad it tastes, but I couldn’t eat the lamb biryani I ordered here.

For me, the experience of eating begins with the aroma, and no matter how good a dish looks, if it smells off, it becomes inedible. Unfortunately, this was the case with the lamb biryani. It had a strange, unpleasant odor that was so bad I couldn’t bring myself to take a single bite. Even the water cup had an off-putting smell, like dishes that haven’t been properly cleaned with soap. The samosas were the only thing I enjoyed.

The chai tea was overly sweet, though I appreciated the waiter’s effort to replace it with a less sugary version, but even that was too sweet for my taste.

I can overlook some issues, but the lamb biryani was the worst. The strange smell seemed to come from the meat, but I can’t be sure. I’ve ordered lamb biryani from here before, back in 2020, and it didn’t have this particular smell.

While the service deserves a 5/5, I would give the food a...