Sangam Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Cornelius

Food was excellent and upon arriving the service was fairly nice. The only reason I gave this place 3 stars was because of how they handled taking payment. We went there for lunch and had just finished our first round of 2 or 3 trips to the buffet when a waiter started handing everyone around us the check. I have no issue with this especially because he said no rush at all and to "pay whenever you're ready" which is fairly standard, especially during staff shift changes. The issue is, when the lady showed up as soon after we sat down with our second round plates and asked us to pay. I had a mouthful of samosa and I gestured that my mouth was full hoping she would pick up on that and walk away and come back but she didn't. Once I swallowed I said I thought it wasn't a rush and we could pay when we were ready (because I was a bit annoyed at the whole watching me chew and swallow my previous bite) and her response was "you don't want to pay?" To which I immediately responded by saying its okay ill pay now. I paid and she didn't say thank you or anything.

When she left, the table next to me commented on how they witnessed the whole thing and that that is how they usually go about collecting payment. The gentleman at the table next to us was born and raised in India and said that its a cultural thing (that I was not aware of). He told me that when it comes to collecting money in india they are very aggressive and that in India people will eat and the try to negotiate the bill after the meal is over so servers / restaurant owners from India are sometimes very defensive when it comes to payment. I totally understand different cultures and the impact they can play on our behavior but unfortunately that particular situation left me feeling almost ashamed to enjoy the rest of my meal which was unfortunate because the food was phenomenal and I had been craving Indian food since I moved here from NY about 2 years ago now. I'd like to come back with my parents but I may ask to pay upfront to avoid the awkward money collection technique.

Edit: decided to give this restaurant another chance and I was very disappointed for a couple of reasons. We got there at 1pm on a Saturday (Their lunch goes on until 3pm). There was almost no food left... no samosas, not a single piece of chicken in the Tikka Masala, and every other dish was pretty much the same. I asked the owner if they were gonna be making more and he said yes some of the items are being cooked now and they'll be out soon. 25 minutes later and they started bringing some food out but it was too little too late. Some of the other guests left after seeing the buffet. The owner explained that they had been slow so far in the day so they didn't make much. I understand not wanting to over prepare but if you keep your doors open you should be able to feed people, otherwise just close for the day and cut your losses. Very disappointed. I don't think we will give it...

Incredibly mediocre food with an atrocious take-out experience. Normally I don't write reviews, but in this case, I felt compelled to comment.

My wife and I were staying in the area for a couple days the check out potential homes. After a very long day of touring, we decided to get take-out from Sangam, as we enjoy Indian food. We ordered the Tandoori Assorted Appetizers, Assorted Breads, the Karahi Gosht, the Tandoori Mixed Grill, and the Raita.

Mind you, with the 20% tip in advance, this came about to roughly $70.

What we picked up was comparable to to a lazy employee at a national chain coney island type of preparation.

I honestly didn't know what to expect from the Assorted Appetizers, but what we got was about 6 servings of rice, and a quart-sized container of some lamb chunks, potatoes, and vegetables in a red sauce. I'm not sure if this was a mix-up in orders, but even so, it was vastly underwhelming. We had a few bites of the meat/red sauce, and threw the rest away, along with almost all of the rice.

The Assorted Breads resembled store-bought Naan soaked in oil, and grilled on a flat-top. They were smashed together in a single sheet of tin foil. We ate a few bites, and threw the rest out.

Both the Karahi Gosht and the Tandoori Mixed Grill came in tin foil containers about the size of a soup bowl. It honestly took us a couple minutes to figure out which dish was which. Both had undercooked vegetables, as well as bright red crusted meat. Once we finally figured it out, both of us noticed that there was zero spice on either of the dishes. Major disappointment.

Finally, the Raita was very underwhelming. It tasted like someone went to the local grocery, bought Greek yogurt, cucumbers, and dill, then casually mixed them together.

Overall, extremely disappointing, especially given the previous reviews on Google.

Granted this may have been one off night for a restaurant serving a couple people who will never eat there again, but it's worth noting so that others might have a healthy degree of skepticism before blindly trusting the internet...

I decided to write this review just to respond to few who lack knowledge about Indian food. I had been reading reviews for this restaurant mostly Indian customers talking about food they don't consider as Indian. All these customers who write these reviews have no knowledge about India. India is a vast country known as sub-continent. India has regions/states known for their food which are different in taste flavor presentation and names. If you are from Southern region and belongs to Hyderabad, there are two types of dishes known as Hyderabadi and Mughlai. If you go to Chennai, it's a different food altogether, you don't find Hyderabadi or Mughlai taste in Chennai though there are few Hyderabadi restaurants, similarly this restaurant serves Punjabi North Indian dishes, does not mean that food in Chennai or at Sangam is not Indian. These customers seem flown directly from their village/town in India to US without exploring their own country. Most of the restaurants in US are Punjabi North Indian restaurants, especially in Charlotte and suburbs none of the Indian restaurant are as hygienic and customer service oriented as this restaurant who also happen to serve completely Halal food. My observation every time I visit find some desi customer around my table who have no restaurant manners, they occupy the table by a family and order food that don't cover cost of laundry of the tablecloth and napkins this restaurant provide. At the end no tips which is supposed to be 10-20% as per practice. I am also responding to the reviews talking about discrimination on the basis of skin/religion, I did not notice any discrimination as I had been their customer for 15 years. Most of the family members work in restaurant and the owner help provide part time opportunity to students who are very courteous, friendly...