Curry Bowl - Cimarron — Restaurant in El Paso

i am writing this review to be honest for anyone thinking of trying this place, and really don’t anticipate the owners of this restaurant to care/respond, given the treatment the staff gave my husband and i. earlier tonight, we went dined-in around 7pm, and left by 830pm. we have dined here at least once every 2 weeks, however, after tonight’s poor experience, we will NEVER be spending a dime here again. upon arrival, there was only 1 table of 3 there, and yet, no one approached us with menus until 20 minutes later. by the time a young man approached our table, he didn’t say anything to us, he just waited for us to respond with our drink/food order. he hardly ever checked in on us, we constantly waited for refills and had to flag someone down - again, the place was nearly empty. and every time we called for him, he never said anything, just came off annoyed and rude. i had to ask him twice to bring us napkins and silverware, as our appetizer had already arrived, and we still didn’t have napkins or silverware. the jalepeño and cheese samosa appetizer was the TINIEST portion for $7. it came with 4 bite size pieces. this was in no way even “shareable” for even 2 people. additionally, our table was really wobbly - too uneven for a new restaurant. my husband asked for additional napkins for a third time so that he could level the table.

because my husband and i would dine in often, we always order the same entrees. when the food arrived, my husband started eating and noticed his chicken was bloody and severely undercooked. he waited 10 minutes trying to find someone to come out and notify of this, and again, the same young man attending our table said NOTHING. my husband showed him the undercooked chicken, and the young man ended up calling another lady to see what the issue was. my husband showed her the undercooked chicken. she offered to switch his plate for something else but he expressed he was grossed out and didn’t really have an appetite anymore. afterwards, she said nothing. no apology, and again the night was filled with just being ignored by the staff, they never responded to anything.

i, too, also noticed my usual go-to here: The Butter Chicken was drenched in sauce and had very little chicken. the amount of chicken was no where worth the $15 they charge for this entree.

my husband went to go pay, and the bill came out to $72, as the staff still charged my husband half of his plate’s worth when he barely could eat any of it because it was INEDIBLE!

please note that when you dine in, they automatically apply a 15% gratuity on the bill- which would be ideal if only the service was any good. it is inexcusable for a night that was nearly empty and slow, to have the worst service. given the inattentive and poor service, the small portions, and the inedible food is nowhere near worth the $72 bill we paid.

we had just finished raving about this place with our large family to celebrate our next family outing here, because we were regular customers. after tonight, we will never be visiting this restaurant again. the service was so bad, we even noticed the other table looking annoyed that no one was attending their table, the man ended up getting up from his seat and serving himself a refill of coke from the soda machine - that is how inattentive...

I am so disappointed to write this review. I worked downtown and loved the downtown location for lunch; the food and service are excellent at the DOWNTOWN location. The Cimmaron location needs immediate improvement. When we came in tonight, it looked like they had just been hit by a rush, and as someone with over a decade of server experience, I can understand. However, we waited for a menu and then a server. At the same time, I noticed all three servers behind the counter quibbling about table assignment, polishing and drying dishes, and expediting food (only to watch it be taken to the wrong table and come back to the window). I asked for a wine and beer menu, and the server rudely said, "We have a Cab and Chardonnay by Poppi." I noticed the bar lined up with other wines and asked about those. She cut me off, explaining that those were from a wine tasting, and included under her breath very sharply that she (the bartender, apparently) had not been invited. All right. Fine. We ordered a glass of wine and our food. Again, I have experience as a waitress and wine steward. I expect to be asked if I'd like a second glass as I had less than a quarter of my drink left when some of our food came out. That didn't happen. Our Malai Kofta came out with only three balls. I waved the server down to ask about the portion, but she never stopped at our table; she just answered while walking away that the portion was correct. Three Malai Kofta balls for what should be a $14.99 shareable portion? The Butter Chicken had a very sharp taste to it, more like Vindaloo than the melt-in-your-mouth flavor of Butter Chicken. The Chicken Vijayawada Biryani was fine, the flavor was great, though there was not a lot of chicken. All three plates had lower-than-expected protein portions- 3 balls, "Butter Chicken," so drowning in the sauce didn't even break the surface and Birayani with hardly any chicken. All this was to discover that the 15% gratuity is automatically included, and the same rude server that never even checked in with us after the meal was delivered pointed out the option to tip again. "Some people tip 20% for good service." I curtly said, "I tip 20% for GOOD Service." I didn't ask to speak to a manager. They were still so busy, even though we saw one indoor table walk out and two tables from the patio come in to remind the servers that they were outside and waiting for menus. The restaurant needs to hire a hostess/busser who should have been managing table assignments, cleaning tables, and preparing silverware. They also need someone to work on expediting, as the three servers often hover behind the counter at the window. We'll not be back and will continue to travel down Mesa to other, more established Indian restaurants that have reasonable portions for similar pricing and significantly...

I’m usually pretty happy to eat out and try new places but Curry Bowl was the worst dining experience I’ve ever had in El Paso or anywhere in this country! My husband and I and our 2 friends waited until it was open over a week to give them a chance to settle in and then went there for an early dinner. The place looked OK for a new place although it had a college union cafeteria look which did not jive with its “nice restaurant” prices. Only one other table was occupied. As we sat waiting for menus and a waitperson I noticed lots of food on the floor under our table and the table was uneven and rocked back and forth. The owner (or manager) brought us menus and explained dishes to us. Finally the waitress came over and told us to sit at another table. As I sat in my chair, the arms fell off. I changed it out with a chair from another table (a new restaurant with old, broken furniture????). We gave our order to the owner/manager and asked for water (he brought 4 plastic cups of warm water. We asked for ice and he said that they didn’t get their ice machine yet (do you have a freezer? You should considering it’s a food establishment). Then a waitress appeared (we had been there for half an hour at this point). She had a severe attitude, like she hated her job and it was OUR fault! I received my food and waited for my 3 companions to get theirs, which was 20 minutes later. Food was decent (not great and entrees were $15 to $20 in a fast food atmosphere). My friend commented to the waitress on the tiny portion of rice (maybe half a cup) and she said, “Finish THAT and I’ll get you more!” That was just the beginning of her rude and disrespectful manner. We never got a check so my husband went to the counter and asked for it; the owner/manager said we couldn’t get a copy of the itemized bill because there was a printer problem. We still left a good tip for the waitress even though she didn’t deserve a penny for her treatment of us (but my late son used to be a waiter and I know most of their income is tips and I felt badly!). It cost us $87 for bad service, bad atmosphere and just OK food — we will never set foot in this place again — for about the same money you’re better off at India Palace on N. Mesa — beautiful, well-run place with atmosphere, cloth tablecloths and napkins, great food and excellent wait staff (for roughly...