Hari Om Cuisine Of India — Restaurant in Fairbanks

I am Indian. From Queens, NY and currently living in VA. My husband and I have traveled to Alaska for our honeymoon. We have been trying all the restaurants here that have been featured on Guy Fieri's Diners Drive Ins and Dives. Each restaurant in Alaska reviewed by Triple D has been up to the hype and delicious quality local food. EXCEPT Hari Om Cuisine of India. First I will start off with customer service. The man who took our order was highly rude. When I told him that my order doesn't seem like it is based on the prices they posted on their menu online, he said that the prices have changed. It is a HIGHLY overpriced restaurant for the TERRIBLY UNFRESH and low quality of food served. I was astonished to know that 2 pieces of samosas are $9-- NY is one of the most expensive places to eat and yet they wouldn't even charge such hiked prices for simple appetizers.

I ordered 1 Dhaba dal 1 chicken tikka masala 1 veg thali for $54....not worth a penny but robbery is what this restaurant goes for. Guy Fieri TRULY missed the mark on this one, don't believe the Triple D ratings. Read real Indian folks review of the food here!

1st; The Veg Thali is supposed to come with achar and chutney of some sort. They did NOT provide any Achars or chutneys. The rice kheer in it as dessert was like watery milk, 100% watered down, kheer, any kheer in the Indian, Bengali, Pakistani or any South Asian cuisine is supposed to be a THICK, quite thick consistency. This was watered down milk with regular long grained rice thrown into it, which is the rice they serve with curry. The rice is supposed to be short grained or kali zeera rice. I paid for a full thali and did not get ANY condiments with it. The channa curry (chick peas curry) was cold! How? The potato curry had corn in it which tells me that they used frozen mixed vegetables to make the korma veg curry, not from scratch!

2nd: The chicken tikka masala was made with dark chicken meat pieces, thighs...If you go to ANY Indian restaurants in America you will find that ALL tikka masala is made with white meat chicken breast only. The chicken had little flavor inside the meat which tells me it wasn't marinated for long, though it was tender it lacked in flavor. Tikka sauce could use more salt. 3rd: The Dhaba Dal was the only decent take on dhaba style Dal or Dal Tadka or Ma Di Dal.

4th: The naan was 100% frozen and heated from a bag, not Tandoori naan. White rice was fine except in all Indian Restaurants they will put geera in their rice, called geera rice. This was just plain white rice.

To conclude, if you want to try an Indian restaurant in Fairbanks Alaska--don't. Save your $60 and disappointment of low quality Indian food. If you are really craving it, Spice it Up another Indian fast food style restaurant in Fairbanks is your better bet. If you are a person of South Asian descent and KNOW your Indian food, go to NY or Virginia to have AUTHENTIC Indian food.

Even Virginia has great choices, like: Desi Street Food, Lemon Cuisine of India, Tulsi Indian Restaurant, Hydrabadian Biriyani House for TRUE , rich, FRESH Indian food.

The worst thing that left a bad taste in our mouth is the arrogant behavior of the man who took our order who said that "You must have the wrong restaurant if you think the Tikka is 15". I replied, no the Hari Om Cusine of India it said has tikka masala for $15. He then corrected himself and said yes that is the veg tikka masala not chicken tikka masala. The chicken tikka was $21... unbelievable. REAL high quality chicken tikka masala all over America is $17-18 at most! This place will rob you and give you low quality food. Guy was wrong with this one, the owner likely had connections and it wasn't a true review. I am a Foodie, with lots of knowledge, based on learning from Food Network and the Cooking Channel 24/7, Guy had this place wrong. Don't believe the rave, actual Indians have written honest reviews of this place,  please read their reviews....

This is gonna be heavy to post cuz I really liked this place.. food is always on point and the guy who owns it really made an impact on me today.

I had went and bragged about how good this place is to my friend who had never had any type of food from this place and really begged her to come try it one time. Today was that day..

At first everything was doing good, seated ourselves wherever we like and was served by the owner. We had our mango lassi and my friend liked it immediately.

Food came and my friend went nuts on it cuz it was that gooooooood, UNTIL.... I had found a piece of hair in my food. I immediately lost appetite and had waited for someone to talk to cuz at that moment there was a big group that had came and me being me I wasn't gonna make a scene in that restaurant specially in front of the people that just came in.

So instead, I waited... Until I caught the attention of the female server that they have. It was my first time being served by this person. I had shown her the hair and told her if I can just talk to her about it or maybe she needs to let the owner know about it, which she quickly stated that she was gonna go get him.

15 mins passed and nobody came. My friend lost her appetite and didn't finish her food and wanted to leave asap. So we just decided to pay(Ik ik, stupid move) but me being me, I just really don't want no drama.

As I was paying for my check, I had asked the cashier(which was the female server) if the owner was aware of the situation and she answered me with "oh yea, I told them. And they said sorry bout it" when I tell y'all I almost lost my cool and was about to be disrespectful about that statement??? Like really bro? Y'all don't even have the balls to face y'all's customers to apologize???? I really felt disrespected and prolly won't ever recommend and or go to that place no more..

The fact that the owner knows how much I love to go there and already know my usual order and for him to do me like that really broke my heart. 🤷‍♂️

Good food, but really...

RACIST RUDE UNPROFESSIONAL

I am here waiting in the lobby for 45 minutes for my turn to be seated. There is neither reservations nor any waitlist. Everybody waiting in the lobby for their turn is operating by an honour system. You walk in you know who was there before you. Just when it’s my turn to be seated after a good near one hour, the staff member comes in and asks the 3rd one ( only white couple) in line to be seated. Everyone is confused. When asked he bluntly says, the owner told me so..

Wait . WHY??

This decision, confusingly justified by staff as per the owner’s instructions, appeared to have no basis other than racial preference, which is deeply concerning.

Despite the fact that the couple, who were White, graciously acknowledged that it was not their turn and suggested I be seated instead, the staff insisted on seating them first. Only logical conclusion is that a preference given to a white couple in a room full of Indians was a clear case of RACISM.

The owner was quickly involved in this heated discussion and he was rude and dismissive. He doesn’t care, lies and asks us to GET OUT!!!

I appreciate so much all the people who were in the lobby waiting and who witnessed this episode and decided to walk out with me.

It’s disheartening to encounter such blatant discriminations, especially at an Indian restaurant where one would hope to find a sense of community and belonging.

All to say, don’t go here. This is...