Khaati Peeti Restaurant & Bar (formerly Sankalp Fremont) — Restaurant in Fremont

Sankalp - The Taste of India is a fairly new Indian restaurant that offers a promising culinary experience but has noticeable room for improvement quality of service. Here's a breakdown of our visit:

Food:

We sampled a variety of dishes, including Chicken 65, Chicken Boneless Biriyani, 4ft Dosa, Masala Tea, Lassi, Butter Chicken, Butter Naan, and Bhel Puri. Every item was flavorful, well-prepared, and thoroughly enjoyable. The dishes showcased excellent taste and authentic Indian flavors, making the food the highlight of the visit. The 4ft Dosa, while visually impressive, was not very crispy. It’s more of a one-time item for fun and photo ops. I wouldn’t order it again and hope the small Dosas are much better than this.

Ambiance:

The restaurant boasts attractive interior decorations, with well-thought-out wall décor and lighting that create a pleasant visual appeal. However, the overall ambiance has a few drawbacks:

Acoustics: Average

Seating: The space is crowded, with tables arranged too closely, leaving little open floor area. This layout compromises comfort and movement.

Table Setup: The table and booth sizes are a significant issue. While seating for six or seven is offered, the tables lack the width needed for larger dishes like the 4ft Dosa. This leads to clutter and discomfort during meals. The attached photograph shows that our plates were all projecting out of the table, further highlighting the lack of space.

Service:

The service experience was a mixed bag:

Positives: The waiter attending us was courteous, communicative, and efficient in taking orders. Staff uniforms were professional, though a few non-uniformed staff members created confusion about roles.

Negatives: The timing of dish delivery was poorly managed. Appetizers and the 4ft Dosa were served simultaneously, leaving no space on the table. The waiter’s reluctance to assist in arranging space added to the frustration. Plates and cutlery were unclean—we found leftover chocolate on a spoon, and chai glasses weren’t properly washed. Cutlery and plates falling to the floor went unnoticed by staff, despite there being ample waitstaff available. This chaos seems to stem from a lack of proper organization and planning.

Reservation and Billing:

The reservation and billing process left much to be desired:

Reservation: A $50 advance was required, which was inconveniently handled through Zelle to a personal account. Despite this, our reservation was not honored upon arrival, though we were quickly accommodated. Had we arrived later, we might have lost our table.

Billing: The $50 advance was not automatically deducted from the final bill, requiring manual correction. Mobile POS was available, but the cramped seating made the process uncomfortable.

Overall Experience:

While Sankalp delivers exceptional food, its operational inefficiencies significantly detract from the dining experience. Cleanliness, space management, and service planning need immediate attention. This restaurant has great potential because of its ambiance, location, and food quality. I will definitely try it again for lunch and dinner. First impressions are the best impressions, and with better management and attention to detail, Sankalp could become a standout destination for Indian cuisine enthusiasts. Wish them all...

This place is a disaster, stay away. We went on diwali weekend and it was 1 hour waiting, no complaints about it as it's a busy day. We waited for one hour, got a corner table tucked near the entrance, and it was still good. Real disaster starts from here. They had 7 to 8 pages of printed menu so I asked the server, can you please suggest what's good here? He started staring at the menu blankly, obviously had no idea, still I pointed, anything good Chinese, he said most of the items were not available. Fine no worries, we went with normal Butter chicken and roti.

We realized after 5 min that it may take time to come so lets order Frankie which hopefully will come quicker. So we placed an order with another server. After 10 min a lady comes asking has your order taken, we said yes and did you add frankie. She said another person informed me to confirm it with you again. We were like what's there to confirm? Please order it. She said curry will take 30 to 35 min to arrive, i will get your frankie in 5-10 min running order. Do you want amul cheese on it! We had lost all trust in them till then. Still we waited patiently for the food.

Frankie came after 30 min, COLD. When we told them, they reheated it and presented it as the same, it was obviously gone chewy! We returned it, they said oh it's on us, i am like no thanks, we are not paying for it anyways, so no need of any favors saying IT'S ON US!

My 9 year old had started getting hungry and tired, my mistake for not carrying a snack while going to SANKALP to eat!

Curry arrives with roti, its ok, nothing extraordinary. Roti had so much butter in it that it would have been enough for 5 toasts.

We ordered biriyani then realized the mistake that it may take time. It was stressful for us that we could not enjoy the food. After some time we asked can we cancel biriyani because we just wanted too get out of the place asap. After 5 min they said biriyani will take time so we cancelled it and ordered sizzling brownie. My kid held on patiently for the sake of the brownie so we had to order it.

They took 15 min to get it, with 2 dessert spoons and one serving spoon :) we asked for a smaller spoon, and the server handed over a DIRTY spoon to my kid which my kid pointed out after 5 min. REALLY?

We started complaining and the owner's mom was standing right next to us, started folding hands and saying sorry, we were so embarrassed. She was giving excuses for serving dirty spoons.

They had so much staff but it was highly unorganized. I understand the place is new but so...

A Birthday Dinner Nightmare: Our Disastrous Experience Our recent visit to for my wife's birthday dinner, with a large group of 30 people of all ages, turned into an absolute nightmare. From the moment we made the reservation to the final, shocking bill, the experience was a complete disaster. First, the $300 deposit required during booking was unusual, as we frequently dine out with large groups and have never encountered such a demand. We overlooked it, hoping for a smooth celebration. However, upon arrival, we were scattered across multiple outdoor tables, with kids, teens, and adults all seated separately. If a restaurant can't accommodate a large party together, they should inform guests during the reservation process. This was the first major red flag.

Then came the food, which was truly the "scary part." We ordered several different vegetarian curries, with multiple orders for each table. One curry was inedibly salty. We asked for the dishes to be made "a little extra spicy," but instead, they arrived with an overwhelming amount of uncooked, pungent masala that completely overpowered any flavor. You could both smell and taste the raw spices, making them extremely unpleasant. The most horrifying discovery, however, was in the Daal Makhani. My friend had a whole screw in his bite! This was incredibly frightening, especially with small children at our tables who were also eating the same dish. We immediately lost our appetites and pushed away all the food.

When we complained to the owner, explaining the issues and even asking him to taste the food, his response was appalling. He casually stated he "would not charge for one Daal Makhani." This was an insult, considering nearly all the dishes were left untouched due to the terrible taste and, more critically, the dangerous screw. To add insult to injury, he still charged us for everything else, plus a 15-18% gratuity, leading to a total bill of almost $1000 for what was essentially an uneaten and unsafe meal. We will never return to this restaurant and strongly advise others to avoid it. The combination of poor accommodation, terrible food quality, and a shocking lack of concern for customer safety made this birthday dinner a truly unforgettable and...