India Hut — Restaurant in El Paso

Saturday, 01OCT2021, was the (Indian) festival of the Chariot, a downtown display of the Hare Krishna sect of Indian Hinduism. Recently, I spent several months exploring that amazing country and was ready to once again enjoy the incredible tastes/sights/sounds/spirits. I’ll admit, the Northern Chihuahua Desert is a pretty far cry from the Subcontinent, but there was good effort…! Instead of enjoying the advertised free meal, my wife & I sought Indian food at a bona fide Indian restaurant on the West side. The marquee is a bit faded, but the even street number [4410 N. Mesa] places it on the Northside of Mesa and close (half-mile/km) West of the junction with Executive Center. This standalone building has a surprisingly large customer capacity/seating/tables on the perimeter of the centralized cooking area. Despite this cursed COVID19/delta variant still ravaging/hospitalizing/killing primarily unvaccinated persons, the Governor proclaimed no more required masking up, but this fine eatery/staff were still observing the common sense practices of masks/social distancing (as much as possible)/hand washing in addition to receiving inoculations. I had called ahead with my order; usually no less than a ~40 minute window is required for the fresh/delicious preparation, and I waited about 40 minutes inside, turning our phone order into a take out meal. It was a bit congested inside this clean establishment; we stayed masked/socially distanced, using the sanitary bathrooms (soap/running water available, but no paper towels for drying hands) and remained cautious. The food is fresh & delicious, the staff friendly/helpful/perhaps a bit overwhelmed as there is a near-continuous flow of transactions, both in-person/on-line/pickup/take away. I certainly give this excellent eatery my coveted “¡Wheel...

Came here to try out the lunch buffet and it was merely OK. The experience was not bad, but it could have also been better. I arrived at 11am, which is the time at which they officially open, but most of their buffet dishes were not out. Thirty minutes passed, and both the rice and naan (two big factors of many Indian dishes) had yet to be served to the public. This isn't really a deal breaker since you can always go later, but if you publicly announce that you open at 11am, you should have most dishes ready by then. Being familiar with authentic Indian food, I was disappointed with the flavor of some dishes. I tried almost everything in the buffet line and I do have to admit that some things are pretty tasty. While the chicken curry and butter chicken tasted well, they definitely lacked the spice found in traditional Indian food. The rice that was served also lacked spice and felt a bit dry. All in all, about half of the buffet options tasted well (to my palate). What probably brings this restaurant down a whole star (maybe more) is the lack of spice that is found in almost all dishes. I understand that Indian dishes have pungent odors/flavors and the owner might not want to scare away people not used to this cuisine, but this was the biggest disappointment in my lunch experience. For example, the Tandoori chicken tasted nothing like the traditional, scrumptious dish that most people love! I'm not exaggerating when I say that the Tandoori chicken could have been just chicken with red food coloring. Add some taste to it!!

Summary of this short story: some things taste well, but almost everything needs to be more seasoned. Perhaps the dishes that aren't in the buffet are...

Walked in and there was no one to help seat us, stood there awkwardly and almost walked out when someone finally came to seat us. The table was dirty. Looked like someone had wiped it down with a filthy rag and then let the dirty water dry down. Lack of cleanliness is not really something you want to see in a restaurant, less so during COVID. Ordered, then we were told the food was going to take 20 min, it was closer to an hour. All of this was still ok and the food was also just ok, even the waitress never coming to check back on us or refill our glasses was still ok. What was not ok was then waiting over 30 min to get our check even after already getting up and searching out the waitress to ask for it. After another 10 min of not getting the check I went back to look for the waitress again who was just lounging near the register with not a care in the world. I again asked her for the check to which she absurdly replies "I'm waiting for the chicken to be done" gesturing toward the kitchen. I told her that it wasn't our chicken as we were done eating and needed to pay so we could leave. From that point on the waitress had an attitude and even over charged us for a green tea that was brown that we had told her we didn't want ealier. Asking her to do even the minimum of her job requirements was apparently a hassle for her and I still don't understand how waiting for another customer's order to be done had anything to do with us. Oh and did I mention, the restaurant was NOT busy for such subpar service. Definitely do not recommend and will not be returning. Zero...