Himalayan Kitchen — Restaurant in Honolulu

TL:DR summary - Wrong phone number listed Google Restaurant was understaffed Poor/slow service Wrong food order

I had so many problems with this place starting from when I called to make reservations. I used Google to search for the phone number, and when I called, I got sent to a voicemail (which did not identify Himalayan Kitchen). After a few hours of no return call to confirm my reservation, I looked the place up on Yelp. As it turns out, Yelp has a different phone number listed. This time I got an answer, so I made reservations for the following night. (Apparently the phone number on the Google search is wrong, or maybe they just don't answer it?)

When we arrived at the restaurant (party of 4 on a Sunday night), the host told us he would go clear a table for us. After awkwardly waiting in a high foot traffic area between the host stand and the bathroom for almost 10 minutes, we went to ask the host if our table was ready. He said it was ready and pointed us to a table outside. He didn't seat us or give us menus. I had to go ask for menus for our table.

The server (who was also the host?) took our order. Then we waited. For over an hour. He never came back to refill our drinks or offer an explanation or apology. Had I known it was going to take over an hour to get our food, I would have ordered an appetizer. I also would have been much more accepting of the situation if our server had stopped by to apologize or refill our drinks. My husband went to find a pitcher of water to refill our drinks. When the food finally did arrive, 3 people got their food and 1 person had to wait 10 more minutes. So the rest of us were awkwardly waiting to eat. And then he shorted us one order of naan. At the end of the night, I never saw one manager or owner, only two servers (who were also hosts) and kitchen staff.

This was one of the most disappointing restaurant experiences I've ever had. The only reason I gave them two starts is because to food was...

This is my absolute favorite place for Indian and Nepalese food in Hawai’i. I’ll tell you why…

The food is always delicious, with so many choices that I still haven’t tried it all and I’ve been coming here at least 10+ years now. The portions are generous and the price is so affordable.

The atmosphere in the Kaimuki location is laid back, and I love to eat outside and enjoy the cool breezes at night on their patio listening to music and eating and chatting with friends. We never feel pressured to leave so the next party can have our table bc there’s room for everyone.

The service is always so friendly and accommodating. Whenever we have a birthday party or gathering there, the staff goes above and beyond to make us feel special and enjoy the experience. Any substitutions or requests are usually able to be made and there’s never bad vibes about it.

This location is HUGE so there’s never a wait for a table, unlike some of the other places in town where it can take an hour or more to get a seat. This is something I highly appreciate because let’s face it: O’ahu is overpopulated and restaurants get hyped up and then you wait forever. And those places raise the prices and quality goes down bc they’re overwhelmed by popularity.

They’re BYOB so it makes having some nice wine with dinner that much more affordable plus you can have whatever you want to drink, you’re not limited to the restaurant’s menu.

There’s parking galore which is a challenge at other Indian restaurants (if they even offer parking) so that also adds to the enjoyment of eating here.

Any time I bring friends here we ALWAYS enjoy, have a great meal, have fun and never break...

Uninspired cuisine and poor service. I have been here a couple of times to give this place a fair chance, because I don't like to make snap judgments about an establishment.

This last visit will be the last time that I'll go there. Upon arriving at the restaurant I saw the bus boy walking towards me. I said hello, and he glared at me and said nothing but proceeded to stare me down as as he practically walked right through me. I had to jump out of the way otherwise we would have collided. He was obviously dissatisfied and frustrated with his job, so I don't personalize that stuff--still it was a bizarre and off-putting experience.

The rest of the staff seemed nice, and usually are, but were very disorganized when picking up my order. They kept having to go back to the kitchen to get parts of my order, so it ended up taking substantially longer than it should have to just pick up food.

Upon taking my order home, I was very disappointed with the poor quality of the food. The tikka masala was bland and oily. They clearly use too much ghee in their cooking and not enough fresh spices. I found this to be the case the previous times that i have eaten there. Honestly, you could not pay me to eat there again, which says a lot. I highly suggest you consider going to Cafe Maharani instead--at least their curries...