Silver Coin Indian Grill — Restaurant in Hoover

I am confused when I write this review, as to why there are any positive reviews here at all. Being of Indian Origin and from a cosmopolitan city like Mumbai, I am aware of what the different regional cuisines should taste like. Also, being a food aficionado and an enthusiastic cook myself, I think I can judge this pretty well. I and a bunch of friends decided to check out this place on a whim. The slim range of dishes on the menu should have been a sign enough that this place was going to be disappointing. Our order consisted of the following: Vada pav: a hardcore Mumbai snack, which I personally think am a connoisseur of, having had as huge a variety of this in as many places in India.

Uttapam: to go south, we tried Uttapam. 3 kinds, Onion; Onion and tomato; and Onion Chilies and Tomato.

Bhindi fry and Tadka Dal: To try the north Indian side of their cuisine.

The Verdict: The Vada pav was the worst of its kind I have ever eaten in my life. As if being served with the most inappropriate sauce wasn't bad enough, the bread was hard. The Vada is supposed to be a preparation of Potato wrapped in a think skin of gram flour. The Vada at Silver coin was all skin and minimal stuffing.

The Uttapam: The batter had not been fermented enough; the Uttapam itself was under cooked. The 3 variants tasted the same with hardly any traces of onion. The sambar which goes along with the Uttapam was too thick and too bland. Eating it was like having my tongue pasted with plaster.

The Bhindi fry and the Tadka Dal: The Bhindi fry is basically a preparation of Okra. The Okra was undercooked and hard, too bland (this could be because the food had been anglicized), too tangy (no excuses for this) and lacked any of the strong (not hot) spices which usually go in bhindi masala. The tadka dal gave one the impression of being served dal made a week back and just reheated to give the impression of freshness. The jeera rice which we ordered with the tadka dal was super oily (I am not even sure I know how it is possible to do that??)

Common peeves: The food lacked salt in general; anybody who knows Indian food will tell you that, you can't add salt once the food is cooked. It does not taste the same.

The food is too oily. The jeera rice was soaked in oil, as was the bhindi masala. In fact, I can't think of one item I ordered which couldn't have been made with less oil.

The menu offers a slim choice. For instance, it offers Masala dosa, but not its yummier variant the Mysore masala dosa. Also, the food for its quality is freakishly expensive.

Though the Menu mentions in bold, that they offer vegan variants of all food, they don't know what vegan means. I being a vegan confirmed if everything on my order was in fact devoid of any dairy products. Despite this, my Rotis came soaked in butter. When I complained, all I got was a look of shock and disbelief, which was followed by a hasty correction of my order. Also, the Biryani which I had ordered as take home was a botched up variant of rice cooked in Shaan's Biryani masala and reeked and tasted of dairy. So much for serving Vegan food.

I am not sure if this reflects the food, but when I went to the rest room, there was vomit in the basin! Mind you, I was the last person to leave the restaurant which probably means it had been there for a while.

Conclusion: This is just another run of the mill; small town, super anglicized Indian Restaurant. If you are wimp who can't take spices or wants to have an American flavor in their Indian food, this may work for you. If you are a real foodie who likes authentic cuisines, this is not a place for you. I am never going here again.

Update: After posting this, I got a call from the owner in which he berated me. This call was complete with personal attacks and expletives directed at me, my family and my culture and menacing threats about his knowledge of where my residence was in India, and what he could do etc. A complaint has been made with the BBB regarding unprofessional and delinquent behavior on part of...

The food I ordered was gross. I’m extremely disappointed as I put in an order hoping to have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. If I’d been eating in the restaurant I think I would’ve returned my plates to the kitchen and left, something I’ve never done before. The only redeeming quality about my meal was the rice and naan. I ordered the Gobi Manchurian appetizer and it had little to no spice, sauce, or flavor. The batter used was not like anything I’d had at an Indian restaurant before (like a cheap Chinese food batter) and the cauliflower was not cooked well. All I could taste of it was the cooking oil (which tasted burnt). I also ordered Malai Kofta as an entree which was wholly unappealing. First, it tasted like curry powder, which I’ve never tasted in Malai Kofta before. Perhaps this just a regional thing but I even checked online recipes and have made this at home and never have used/tasted curry powder in Malai Kofta. Onions, tomatoes, garlic, cashews? None to be found, all drowned out by curry powder. Additionally, there seemed to be no creaminess at all to the dish and the paneer was not well incorporated to the kofta. Potentially other dishes here are worth $18-$20 a piece but I have had better Indian food meals at half the price elsewhere. Absolutely do...

I grew up near Little India in SoCal so I'm used to my Indian food tasting a certain way. We ordered the mixed tandoori platter, chicken tikka masala, karahai chicken and a side if naan.

I've had karahai in Cali and absolutely loved it, I haven't found an Indian restaurant in the South that serves it, so I was exited to see that they have it here!

We ordered 3 big entrees and it all came with rice, so we asked if we can exchange two servings if rice for naan. He said we can't substitute it for anything else, that's fine we ordered a side if naan.

We requested to get all of our food out at the same time, which it did. Tandoori platter was plentiful, but some pieces were a tad dry and bland. Our two curries were good, but there was a lot of taste and a hair over salted. The rice we got looked enough for one entree. He said each entree gets one scoop of rice, which would be a palm size for each serving. That wouldn't of been enough for any curry or meat dish. We had some curry left over and asked for some rice to go so we can eat with our left over curry.

My Bf and I LOVE spicy food and ordered medium spicy, what we got was barely mild. We don't like when places assume that since we're not Indian, that we can't handle their spices. Overall service was...