Madras Indian Grill — Restaurant in Grand Rapids

Update: the manager personally reached out to try to make things right and explained they were short staffed tonight. I appreciate the gesture and will add two stars to the review for a business owner who is obviously passionate about making a good impression on every customer. It does not negate the experience I had but I do appreciate the outreach.

Original post:

I normally don't write restaurant reviews, but I have to share the experience I just had at Madras Indian Grill tonight. We ordered a carry out order via the website at around 6:40 pm. The receipt told us it would be ready by 7, so we arrived at the restaurant a few minutes after 7. We were greeted and at first were given someone else's order. I returned it and showed them my receipt from the online order. They said it would only be about 5 minutes.

About 20 minutes later our food still had not come out. I inquired with one of the many wait staff and was told it would be about 5 more minutes (again). I waited for another 15 minutes and with all of my patience I let them know I needed our order asap, since by this point it had been 40 minutes since we arrived and almost an hour since we had ordered. About 5 minutes later, our order came out. We waited in the lobby a total of 45 minutes.

We got home and found they had forgotten to include our double order of garlic Naan, an $8 value. I'm too exhausted to go back, you can keep the Naan.

The food is standard Indian fare. Certainly not worth waiting over an hour for on a carry out order. Don't take your chances with this new restaurant until they have figured out the customer service side of things. We were not the only irritated customers in the...

My sister and I decided to try a new Indian restaurant instead of our usual place, which is a mistake we will NEVER make again. We should’ve known when upon entering, a man coming out muttered “hope you like waiting”…we brushed it off. We waited about ten minutes before ordering. About 30 minutes after, I was told that they were out of mango lassi. That isn’t a problem as it was a busy Saturday afternoon, and as my sister and I are both servers, we understand how quickly menu items can run out. It would have been nice to know sooner though. Throughout the ONE HOUR we waited for food for two people, tables sat after us (with more people!) received their food. We also noticed that food kept going to the wrong tables which I’m sure was the case with our food. Staff were arguing, and we were never offered refills despite every other table getting their waters refilled. It is VERY clear that the staff is naive and inexperienced. After we got our food, we were not offered an apology nor an explanation for the wait. After being turned off by the staff and environment of the restaurant, we asked for boxes and the check not before waiting ten more minutes. A man who wasn’t our server checked us out so I asked if the mango lassi I had ordered was taken off the bill. He gave me the most stank face and his attitude shifted completely. This would not have happened if we weren’t asked to pay before seeing our check first. I have never had such a terrible dining experience until tonight and honestly, I would go back because despite us ordering our food mild and it coming out inedible because of the spice, our appetizers were great… I just refuse to have to wait an...

Indian food family style. Our continuing mission of finding great food led us to this new to us restaurant that has a South Indian flavor. Being inexperienced in Indian cuisine, we couldn't say if that is true. What is true is the food is delicious! We were not brave enough to try the house made drinks and went for the Coke products. Just a note that refills are not free, although they do run lighter on the ice than other places we have been to. Appetizer was the Chicken '65. Seasoning was on the Medium heat setting and was great. Portion size was perfect for three hungry men, and you can ask for dipping sauces if you like, we choose not to and it was fine. We elected for the Honey Dragon Chicken, I went for the Mango Lamb Curry, and picked Butter Chicken with a side of fried rice, and by side I mean enough for 3-4 people. The portions are geared to family style sharing so we had to get boxes for the plentiful leftovers. the taste and aroma of our meal was fantastic, better than we were expecting. I have to say that the rice was some of the best I have ever been served, so fluffy, so not sticky (unlike what I make at home), and plain so it highlights the flavor of the main dishes. It is not the place for a quick lunch as the buffet is not open and if you order online, prepare for a wait, but be patient as it is worth it. We finished of with Gulab Jamun, a donut hole type of pastry with a special blend of spices and a sweet syrup that threatened to send the three of us into a diabetic coma. We will definitely be back and hopefully will bring friends. Evenings are busy with the buffet open Friday-Sunday making it very busy, but again...