Bollywood Masala — Restaurant in Maryland

First of all, I'm a waiter, and I really do not like having to do these kinds of things, but there are a lot of issues I had with this experience. The bad experience first began when we started to ask questions about the menu. The waiter, Pablo, surprised us by confessing his unfamiliarity with the menu, and how the spicy levels worked. Three of the party members then went ahead and ordered Chicken Tikka Masala, and the other a Chicken Makhani-Madras. When the food came out, it seemed initially as if they mixed up the order, with three Chicken Makhani-Madras, and one Chicken Tikka Masala. I went ahead and went to the waiter, and let him know that the orders came out incorrectly. His response was that the restaurant does Chicken Tikka Masala differently from every other Indian restaurant. The waiter confessed that he should've mentioned this to us. Ultimately, this was OK, as he confessed it was his mistake, and then promptly went to fix the situation by having the kitchen recook the food correctly. Wen the food came out, the big problems began coming out. Biggest issue was that all the spice levels were inconsistent. When we spoke the Pablo, he got into an argument with one the party members, who mentioned the issue at hand. Pablo then went on to argue with us about the issue, he even went and had one of our members try a dish the the didn't want to, TWICE. After a long rant, the waiter said "Well why don't you try it agian". Eventually, the issue at hand was resolved when the kitchen recooked the same menu items in a different sauce. Not related, but I'm fairly certain that taking menu items that have already been delivered to the table, and touched by the client, to be recooked in the kitchen is a serious health hazard. After finishing up, we requested to speak to a manager, being that the price didn't reflective our level of satisfaction with the experience. The "manager" came out with the waiter, and then proceeded to listen to three of the party members voice their concerns in a respective manner, finishing the night off with "well what is it that you want us to do exactly?"

First of all, talking back to customers is never something a service employee should do to guests. This happened TWICE. The waiter then spoke for the manager and offered to compensate us for the naan bread we ordered. We voiced that we wouldn't have needed to order two orders of naan if the orders had come in correctly the first time, as the first order was treated as an appetizer. One of the party members then voiced that the compensation was $1.24 off the bill, which doesn't really mean anything to us. The party then decided to halt the conversation abruptly, and respectfully. When the checks came out, the management (bartender) then told us, "Do not tip the waiter, since the issue was service related only, and the food was great". I then requested that I still wanted to tip the waiter, as mistakes happened, and his living shouldn't be affected by this. She then insisted that WAITERS DO NOT GET TIPS.

I can confidently say that I will never come to this restaurant, and that I regret wasting the little time I had in my visit to Maryland at this place. Had the bartender/manager admitted to the mistake, offered to comp something more than $4 of naan, we'd have happily offered to pay, and came here to leave a...

DO NOT EAT HERE: Overview- Server doesn’t keep tips, owner is a penny pincher, rat infestation and overall a gross place, food not what it used to be.

Employees (even servers) aren't allowed to keep any tips; they all go directly to the owner. The owner tries to hide this fact, but don’t be fooled, they all make minimum wage, and no one gets a raise regardless of how well they work.

If you have any issues regarding the food or service, it’s because the owner will cut ANY possible corner to save his money. The food is overpriced, and it’s likely to send you to the toilet later. He cut back on the portions of the food, for example, the sizes of the mango lassi and chutney sauces. He even changed the carry out boxes to cheaper ones and they won’t shut all the way and end up spilling. Raj refuses to put people on shift to save money, causing a serious staffing shortage. They only have ONE server, regardless of whether or not it’s a full house or not. (Sometimes the owner will help but he’ll do the bare minimum). A lot of the time, the server is expected to handle the roles of the hostess and busser simultaneously, and if mistakes are made they get punished. Employees have also been threatened with paycheck deductions for there mistakes.

The cleanliness of the place is questionable. There has been a rat infestation. They pulled 5 dead rats from the to-go area, including 2 of them from the paper shredder. And let’s be honest, the place is disgusting and in serious need of renovations. I talked to the health inspector when he was there, and apparently they just barely pass every time .

I know I don’t want to eat at a place that has stuff floating in the water, dirty plates, reused table clothes, etc. The food quality has gone down tremendously, and is is both bland and salty.

No disrespect to this place, it’s just a shame to see an amazing place that’s been around forever, turn into some second-rate restaurant because of one person. Anyways, you’ll probably go here once and never return to. Save yourself the trip and dine...

My wife and I love Indian food and for the last 14 years have lived in the US and experienced a wide range. Having both grown up in the UK, where, arguably, you can find the best Indian, Pakistani and Bengali food outside of those actual home countries, the bar has been set high. Bollywood Masala, on the night my wife and I went there, was THE BEST Indian food we have experienced in the entire USA. The only place I have experienced, outside of the UK or India that was on a par, was a very pricey restaurant in Abu Dhabi. This place is tucked inside a strip mall, amongst the plethora of stores in Lexington Park. But what a gem. They also have a small range of Indian wines and the Reserve Shiraz was the most expensive, but at $30 a bottle was an absolute steal. You can of course take home what is left in the bottle and get a doggie bag. Our appetizers were chicken pakora and veggie pakora. These can be either over battered and/or soggy. Ours were perfect. Fresh, juicy, tasty and the spice was just right. My wife is gluten-free and everything on the menu was acceptable. I had shrimp Hyderabadi and she had chicken Jalfrezi. Both had fresh herbs and spices. You can absolutely tell when you have eaten as much Indian food as we have when this stuff is fresh. The Hyderabadi had a beautiful coconut flavor and we also had a gluten-free chickpea-based bread. My wife makes these at home and she is an excellent cook. This was even better.

If you want a cheap meal, this can run to $15-18 per main, but the wine is not at all expensive compared to the scandalous mark ups I have seen pretty much everywhere else. To get high quality Indian authentic beer and Indian wine is highly unusual.

I cannot emphasize what a gem this place is. Anyone who lives in the Lexington Park area has no idea how high a quality this place this is on a GLOBAL scale and believe me, we absolutely know about...