VEDA INDIAN CUISINE & BAR — Restaurant in Huntsville

I have visitied this restaurant on two occasions now. The food is great, the ambience is excellent, and the staff is very friendly except for a few that like to bark orders at the staff. It seems like they put way too much on the people working up front but that's not even the shocking and disgusting part. Apparently, a customer left a cash tip for one of the servers but the short guy with the beard, told the server that he could not keep the cash and that he must turn it in to the owner. This raised a red flag because I tipped very generously. Hearing that cash has to be turned in kind of worried me so I asked one of the other staff members if they get to keep the tip. I was told by him that the servers do not keep the tip and that the owner takes it. That clearly is wage theft and you are clearly misleading the customers. I tip for a service, not for the owner to pocket extra money. Our food was pricey enough. If your staff do not receive these tips, you need to put up a sign saying that instead of defrauding your customers out of more money. My wife was so upset that she has filed a complaint with the attorney general. Also, part of great customer service is chatting with the customers. I witnessed another staff member chatting friendly with guests at the table, when the short guy with the beard again (i think his name is Seamon) started yelling at the server saying to stop talking and go do work. That was very rude and unprofessional. The staff is treated very poorly. One of the ladies working there was told to get water for a customer when immediately after, another person yelled for her to take food to a table. Very unorganized and chaotic. Your workers are only one person and you treat them like 10 people wrapped in one. I think another complaint to the labor board is necessary also. Your AC is broken and you have your employees working in extreme heat which could cause heat related illnesses. When I went to the bathroom the thermostats was right there and it was 82 degrees in there. This is insane. If you want to run a restaurant how they do in India, you may wanna try it there. Us Americans dont like to see things as such. We will not be returning to...

Pros: Best naan I've ever had. I got the bullet naan and it was soft and thick and a little spicy. Very nice atmosphere. The lamps, booths, and color pallets are pleasing. Many food and drink options. The menus for both were several pages. Polite manager. We spoke to him briefly and he was quite nice. Reasonably priced. On par with similar restaurants in the area. If you enjoy very mild and buttery Indian food, this might be a great fit for you.

Cons: The food has 3 available spice options: Mild, Medium, and Hot. I ordered hot. I honestly can't even begin to describe how absolutely spiceless the saag paneer I ordered was. I mean truly. I love spice, and for it to not even be a tad spicy was very disappointing. The butter flavor was much stronger than any of the seasonings in my dish. The bullet naan has a slight kick to it. But my "hot" saag paneer? Absolutely nothing. Our waiter was very inattentive. He was not rude or purposefully impolite, but he was new and I believe the restaurant must be understaffed. I had to attempt to get his attention several times to ask him a question, and he never once checked in on us. We had to wait around 15 minutes after obviously being done with our food to get our check. We only finally got our check when I was able to get a random workers attention. They have an AI... mural? On the wall in their entryway. Very sad to see ugly AI slop on the wall instead of an actual artist's work. I'd even prefer a cheap poster to something a computer thoughtlessly spat out.

Conclusion: I think Veda has a lot of potential. Perhaps I will come back when they've been open long enough to sort out their issues. I had high hopes for this place and was excited for it to open, so I am sad I didn't enjoy it more than I did. But nothing about this place (save maybe the naan) is better than The...

Veda opened today, and we may have been the second ones through the door. There is a fancy sitting area in the foyer with beautiful murals on the walls. They greeted us and directed us to the lunch buffet. The ceramic plates and bowls were fancy and custom printed.

The food on the buffet had many items that I hadn't seen on other buffets. There were also some items I'm used to seeing.

Some that I remember are Chili Paneer, Tandoori Chicken, Manchurian Chicken, fried chili paneer, Chicken tikka masala, Naan and garlic naan, Saag with potato, Gulab Jamun, Chicken Biryani, and a number of others. I happen to love spicy food, and the spice of the food isn't held back much for the weaker American palate.

They also provided tamarind sauce and mint chutney. There was another white sauce too that had a fresh flavor.

I loved everything I tried except their Tandoori Chicken. I'm normally a big fan of that, but theirs has a pasty texture and a liver-like taste.

Probably because it was opening day, they gave us a free thick mango orange drink. It was delicious.

They've done extensive remodeling of the old Denny's and have nice new furniture, flooring, bar, and decor in there. New everything. Wood-framed TVs line the walls showing pictures of Indian sites and food. Very classy feeling place.

Probably because it was opening day, we had at least 3 or 4 ask us how things were including the cook. The service in general was good, but I would have appreciated water being offered more. I had to ask the waiter to fill my glass.

I will be going there...