Tap N Tikka — Restaurant in Gilbert

UPDATED 2/9/23: I spoke with the owner and he offered to remake our meal if we'd give him another chance. We chose to eat at the restaurant this time. We were able to meet the owner, had fantastic service and an overall great meal. I'm glad we gave them another chance and look forward to going back. Thank you for the great meal and service.

UPDATED 2/5/24 The owner called me today and apologized for the person that answered the phone when I called to speak to a manager in Friday and she hung up on me. He also offered to remake our meal to make up for the extremely small portions of chicken. We are happy to try again since he offered and the taste of the food is really good. I will update this review again after we try again in 2 days.

I don't even know where to begin with my total DISAPPOINTMENT & FRUSTRATION with this restaurant. We ordered almost $100 in food and despite loving the flavors and the food we wanted to speak to a manager regarding the portion size we received. I called to speak to the manager to see if this was a typical portion size and was told "we're to busy call back Monday" (this is FRIDAY NIGHT!) then she HUNG UP ON ME! I would have even been fine with a manger calling me back, but the rudeness and lack of interest in customer service was actually shocking! No matter how good the food is this place WILL NOT survive with this kind of service & serving a 2yo size portion in an ADULT ENTREE (if you want to know specifics keep reading). We ordered the Tiki Masala and the Curry Chicken as the main dishes. The Tiki Masala had 7 BITE SIZE PIECES and the Curry only had 8 BITE SIZE PIECES! Our 23lb 2 year old ate the 5 of the 7 pieces and asked for more of Tiki Masala and asked for more, but this IS NOT A KIDS meal IT IS an ADULT meal and a 2yo shouldn't even make a dent in the portion! The entire rest of the container was ONLY SAUCE (enough to cook about 1/2lb more of chicken)! The portion size of the 3 different naan breads are typical and good. The sweet & sour cauliflower was just ok but undercooked with mushy coating. The Samosa order are good sizes and tastes ok. The spices/heat wasn't overpowering so we would have definitely returned and recommended this place to others, BUT now I'm writing this negative review to warn others DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY HERE BECAUSE THEY DON'T CARE IF YOU EVER COME BACK! I will be calling back to speak to a manager when THEY have the time to talk so I will update this review AFTER I speak...

I can not begin to describe how excited I was to try Tap N Tikka. Our family LOVES Indian food and the menu looked so enticing. We visited and were underwhelmed and disappointed. We ordered cocktails, mango lassi, an appetizer (chilli paneer), Indian pickle, naan, raita, AND our entrees. We also tried to order the pineapple raita but was told they didn't have any. The Indian Old Fashioned could have been a unique cocktail but ended up being extremely watered down and lacked flavor. The waters that were poured at the table had small bits floating in them. Service was slow and rarely had a staff member near enough to ask for refills or additional service. The entrees came out before the appetizer. The Veg Thali platter was an utter disappointment. The paneer was salty and I had to mix raita into it in order to eat. The lentils had a very fishy flavor. Aside from the overuse of salt, the dishes lacked flavor. I stopped two different staff to see if they had anything that could add any type of spice of flavor to the dish. (At our favorite Indian restaurant they have vindaloo sauce that can be added to any dish for extra spice.) On both occasions I was told "no" that they couldn't do any thing to add flavor or spice to the dish. When our appetizer finally arrived (towards the end of our meal) it was lukewarm and again, lacked flavor. I paid $109 for a lackluster meal and left with regret. I know they are newly open so hopefully they can refine their recipes and service. We might try again in a few months but I would only order an appetizer to see if they've improved to avoid paying for a full meal that...

We were quite excited about this place however, it let us down quite a bit. The drinks (cocktails) tasted good but weren’t as strong. If you are the one who likes cocktails on the sweeter and tastier side with a low kick, you might love them.

The appetizers were disappointing and are quite expensive for the taste. There is very little uniqueness but one thing to appreciate is that the chef fixed the Chicken Cheese Tikka order for us. We were served Chicken Tikka initially which was then substituted with the cheese tikka without an additional charge. The Achari Tikka was much better but I have had more delicious appetizers in other restaurants in the Phoenix valley.

The main course dishes were extremely oily and lacked flavor. We asked for a spicy butter chicken entree but the spice levels were above the roof. It seemed like the chef added a zillion chillies in one entree. It isn’t the spice level you expect especially for butter chicken. It burned our palletes which ruined everything we tasted after.

After all of this, we did not dare ordering desserts.

In favor of the restaurant and the chef, I understand this is a relatively new place but in the initial days, serving such food is unacceptable. You are already competing with a lot of restaurants in the valley and for such a high price point, customer expectations will be on the extreme side. They can do better if they improve their flavor and the quality of chicken but I don’t think we will visit this place again for a while.

If you want to try a new place, maybe this place might satiate your palate but I will not recommend it...