Bawarchi Indian Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Florida

My significant other, my son, and I had gone to this restaurant when they had first opened and ate there pretty regularly. The food was good. Not the best Indian cuisine we've had (we still lament the loss of Taste of India), but it was good. We overlooked the "free rice" (um, rice should be included in the meals as one doesn't eat a curry dish without it - so you're not offering something special here) and the "free premium water" (tap water refilled into their glass jugs) and the fact that the owner/manager who waited on us was never very friendly (despite the restaurant being fairly empty) because we love Indian food and there weren't many options in the Brandon area at the time. However, several months ago, we went in on a Friday night and were only 1 of 3 customers eating inside and had such a bad experience, we will never go back. First, we waited extremely long time to have our order taken and then to get our food and then to get our check. We were abandoned and ignored so that they could respond to their apparently booming takeout/delivery orders. It was obvious we were not a priority. When we did order, we specifically asked our server (who is the manager) if what we were ordering was a meal sized portion and came with rice, etc because the person ordering it was my significant other who is a tall/big man who eats large portions. We were concerned we would accidentally order an appetizer so we asked about it in detail. The menu makes it difficult to tell which is an appetizer versus a meal (the prices are very high on all of them) - so we asked to be sure we were getting a dinner sized meal. The manager reassured us that we were and that it was a meal. The food came, it was a few little pieces of chicken - NOT a meal - certainly not worth $20+! When we asked the manager about it, he brought another man with him from the kitchen (not sure who he was or why he was brought over) and the manager told us we were wrong and he told us it was an appetizer. No, he didn't. He told us the opposite. Maybe he was too distracted by his takeout orders to properly listen to us, but we were very clear about what we were asking him and he reassured us it was a meal. He was wrong and then wouldn't take ownership of his mistake. My boyfriend was starving at this point. We asked if we could please have more chicken - a meal size. He begrudgingly told us he could offer us some free rice. I kid you not. During this whole exchange, the man from the kitchen kept shaking his head and looking at us like we were idiots. I guess he was just there for moral support? In any case, kitchen guy went back to the kitchen to make my son and my food which had not been served yet. My dish, which I had ordered as mild, came out spiced up - hot (definitely not mild) and I did not miss that kitchen guy came out to watch me eat it. Fortunately, I actually like hot food and had only ordered mild this time to give my stomach a break. :) I ate the food without complaint. They brought the "free rice" which my boyfriend did not eat at that point. He just wanted to get out of there and go somewhere else to get some actual food (a little bowl of rice wasn't going to cut it). My son and I ate, and we paid our check and left and went to get food elsewhere for my boyfriend. We have never been back, nor will we be. This is terrible service and a horrible way to treat your customers, let alone repeat ones. How you treat people matters. Maybe the staff here will figure that...

UPDATED REVIEW (JULY 2024): Sadly, whatever magician chef used to cook back in the good ol' COVID days has long since disappeared, leaving in his wake a menu that looks exactly the same, but tastes NOTHING like it used too. Breaks my heart!! The food is now a runny, tasteless mess, with one dish nearly indistinguishable from another.

The goat curry that was a once a thick, rich tapestry of colors and flavors has devolved into a brown greasy mush of blandness. The Gunter Chicken that was once a challenging and delicate fireworks of spices, is now a orange glob of chicken chunks resembling curry McNuggets.

What a shame. Never going back.

**And if anybody knows who that chef was and which restaurant he's gone to, PLEASE let me know!! ORIGINAL REVIEW: Whenever I had a craving for Indian food (which was pretty rare honestly), my go-to place was the other Indian restaurant in Brandon-- the one on Brandon Blvd, and I always regretted it. It's not that the place was bad, it was just like, "Yup, there it is. I'm eating Indian food. Mehhh... Box checked." But there was no thought or love behind the food.

So, I had a craving for Indian again and jumped on DoorDash, and this place came up in my search. I figured I didn't have much to lose and I was 100% ready to be underwhelmed.

I could NOT have been more wrong.

I don't know who the hell is back there cooking in the kitchen-- but that person has real TALENT. There's a clear love and understanding of spices and flavor profiles and they're employed so thoughtfully and creatively and they build a rich and aromatic blend of tastes that just fill your senses. I'm sure it's even better AT the restaurant, because even after 20 minutes in a steamy box, the Chicken Tikka Masala and the Tandoori Mix Grill and the garlic naan was still poppin!

So, a big THANK YOU to the cooks at Bawarchi Indian Grill. There are people out here who recognize what you guys are doing...and we truly...

I was promptly greeted and my food questions were answered.

FYI - when you pay 💵 you get a discount. I mean hey great way to say it when gas stations “charge” us for using our card. (I get it astronomical fees)

I ordered the Shrimp Korma- Mild and Mango Lassi. After my research and dining in Orlando. I wanted to try at another place.

SPICE FACTOR- I think I can move up to medium to have some spice/heat. Mild has no heat, so if you can’t do spicy choose mild. It was a safe choice.

I like the creamy thick sauces and this one wasn’t as thick as I like it. A tad thicker than soup. There were about 6 large shrimp 🍤 almost over cooked. (Didn’t reheat too bad)

The rice doesn’t have much flavor. I was actually looking forward to some flavor on the rice. I can tell my serving sat for awhile. It was a little dried out, not too bad.

Mango Lassi- Definitely taste the yogurt tartness in this one. It wasn’t too thick. I would have liked the yogurt taste to not be so dominant.

I didn’t know they had a buffet until I sat down. After I sat down I asked the waitress about it. They have it through the week under $20. She informed me the one on the weekends is larger and has a larger variety of dishes and includes drinks just over $20. Pricing wasn’t bad for real food. I’m going to try it.

I did get my food but no silverware and had to ask multiple people for some. Hey, he even cleaned it before he gave it to me.👍🏾

The music wasn’t blasting and sounded like good music, it made the atmosphere pleasant. It was pretty slow when I got there just before lunch on a weekday. Oh my did the crowd come in just as I was finishing. “THE COMPANY” all went to lunch at the same place. They seemed like regulars.

I would go again to try...