Sizzling Spices — Restaurant in Gainesville

We were very disappointed. The reviews really pumped up this new Indian spot but when we quickly learned majority of their clientele (the staff told us) had never had Indian cuisine before, that explained the rest of our experience.

The menu is numbered. So when you order basic Vegetable Samosas, they repeat “#1”- made it feel very generic and unauthentic.

I had to immediately request new silverware- mine was sticky. No apology. Just handed a new set.

No Indian restaurant staples like chutneys, papadum, shish kebabs, etc…

The naan options were very limited.

We orders chicken tikka samosas- they were very peculiar.

Our main was chicken tikka masala, dal tadka, basmati rice and garlic naan. When the food came out too quickly we knew we were going to be unhappy. The tikka masala was very watery, generic, bland and I swear was not authentic. It tasted like a product you’d purchase premade from Publix or Costco. The chicken was powdery and all perfectly the same shape, as if cut in a processing plant. For $22.95- I’d expect the savory aromas expelling from the dish, this was not happening.

We eat a lot of Indian food and by far this is the worst, most expensive experience we’ve ever had. I hate to say it and really hope it was an off night, but I do wonder if they aren’t capitalizing off of having no competition and a lot of new first time Indian cuisine consumers.

I’d like to add- 18% auto gratuity for large party? There were just 2 of us?

Plus the...

I’ve been looking for a good Indian food location ever since I moved to this part of Georgia so I was very excited to see Sizzling Spices open up. The menu has a lot of different dishes, but I went with my favourite, Chicken Vindaloo. When I got it home and unpackaged it I was a little disappointed by the amount of meat in the dish. The flavour to me was pretty good, and the spice level was right where I wanted it to be, I just wish there was a little less sauce and a little more of the other ingredients. One thing I found off putting is the menu pricing, $22.95 for just the entree is not what I would call value for money, one of our group got a to-go soft drink for $3 which came in one of the smallest cups I’ve ever seen! The building looks good inside and out, with everything being clean and well maintained. The person that greeted me when I collected the order was friendly and helpful although wasn’t sure if the order I placed was for me as they didn’t print any phone number or name on the receipt. We did set a couple of instructions for our to-go order, mainly for one item to be package separately. The instruction was displayed clearly on the receipt when I picked up the order but everything came in one giant bag and had to split up. I’d go back again, but not while the prices are as high as they...

This was the soft open, so my opinion may change as the restaurant evolves.

The appetizers were delicious but miniscule, a single samosa and five small bites of pakora for $9-12 each. They need to be shareable, maybe twice as much would be fine.

Palak paneer, my favorite dish on earth, was lacking something. The texture/color and spiciness were fine. The base flavor just fell flat, like it needed a bit more masala and salt. It just had a vegetal flavor and not much else.

The tandoori chicken had a bizarre flavor like it was reheated or overcooked.

A good biryani should still have firm grains of rice that aren't clumped together. This biryani was very mushy as if they just boiled western short-grain rice and stirred in a sauce.

There was no Indian music playing, just easy listening covers of popular old songs, and the TV was showing stock footage of Italy for some reason. Indian music videos or Bollywood movies would be much cooler.

I'd give three stars, but the fact that the restaurant is brand new and the amazing, friendly owner Raju coming over to chat with us for a long time gets it an extra star.

Don't worry, we'll be back. This hasn't turned us off, since the place is so new. Hopefully in a year I can leave five stars once they figure out how to...