Curry & Spice Bar — Restaurant in Maryland

Every experience from this restaurant had been good up until today. I’m not too sure if I’ll return after the experience I had. I decided to try something different and ordered the curry chicken, outside of my usual tandoori shrimp or chicken. From the picture online, I was looking forward to trying this.

I pick up my food and return home. Once I open the bag, I get a small container of rice and another small container filled with what is supposed to be curry chicken with sauce, but instead more sauce and a few cubes of chicken. It was very underwhelming and disappointing.

For the same price that I typically pay for the tandoori, I was expecting to receive the same portion size. Not only that, but the picture advertised is not the same as what I received.

I call up to the store and inform the gentleman who answered that my meal wasn’t what I expected and asked if I could come back and order something else over the phone so that I wouldn’t have to wait when I got there, to which he consents with instructions to bring back the food. I’m not too far away. Right up the road. So I pack up the food and am on my way.

Once I return to the restaurant, there’s an older lady that I greet and I explained to her the situation. She takes my order and brings it to the back. While I wait up front, I hear a lady in the kitchen say “they ate half it.” Now, I will say, in search for the few pieces of chicken that was provided, very little sauce spilled, but the container was nowhere near halfway gone and I wish I’d taken a picture.

The older lady comes back and is now trying to charge me for my meal replacement. I express my confusion and she then passes me off to the guy I’d spoken with on the phone. He’s walking up with the food I’d just brought back and then says. “So, we can’t take it back because you ate half of it.”

I, again, express my confusion and take it upon myself to open the bag and pull out the container for myself and the lady and gentleman to see that the container was nowhere halfway gone.

I just want to state that I had just ordered the food and called soon after to get a replacement. There was no way for me to consume half of anything in that small amount of time, but I digress. The guy has me wait and takes the food to the back and later comes back and lets me know that they will make my replacement, but I’ll have to wait a few minutes outside.

They have me wait all of ten minutes before the older lady comes outside and I have to ask how much longer, because she didn’t acknowledge me as she was looking for someone else. I didn’t appreciate the fact that she couldn’t look me in the eye as if she couldn’t be bothered with me and told me that I would have to wait an additional 5 to 10 minutes.

I’d been calm through the entire exchange and addressed everyone respectfully, but the customer service was disappointing. As I start making my way to my car to wait, the older lady calls for me and there’s my order ready for me in her hand. I tell her thank you and have a good day and start to my car and on my way home.

I get home and see that I was given old, cold chicken. It says a lot about how this establishment treats their customers when met with adversities. I don’t think it is in anyway morally sound to “get back” at a paying customer for something they didn’t like, nor is it okay to advertise an item as one thing and serve another, especially for the money being...

I’ve driven by here several times, but I hadn’t stopped in. After a recent experience at a different restaurant, that served Indian cuisine, I wanted to try this place out. I came with a friend and we were greeted right away. After viewing their vegan options, and asking a few ?s, we were ready to order. For appetizers we decided on the Mulligatawny Soup 🥣 (medium heat) and Gobi Manchurian (medium heat). For drinks 🍹, Janet (our server) made a custom bourbon 🥃 and we had filtered water 💦. For bread 🍞 we selected Tandoori Roti. Our main dishes 🍽 consisted of medium hot Chole Chana and Malai Kofta. After selecting our dishes, we could choose the level of spice. They offer the following spice/heat levels: kid-friendly😃, mild, mild plus, medium🌶, medium plus🌶 🌶, hot🌶🌶🌶, Indian Hot x1 🌶🔥🔥and Indian Hot x2🔥🔥🔥🔥. Now on to the taste 👅. The flavors in the soup came together with delight and made me consider ordering another. The cauliflower in the Gobi Manchurian were flavored well with a sweet/salt result with a kick. The Chole Chana added to the deliciousness with chickpeas that had the curry flavors infused throughout. My friend also tried it on the roti - she enjoyed it. The Malai Kofta was a great surprise. I wanted to try something new but wasn’t sure if the cashew cream would make the dish too nutty - nope. I was reminded of my godmother’s dumplings with a little more heat. They were succulent, not soft or mushy and the seasoning was on point. We shared and enjoyed each of the dishes. We were too full for dessert but stayed til almost close. I give this place 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and here is why: 1. Staff-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ They were knowledgeable, personable and willing to clarify & explain. Janet was awesome. 2. Menu-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ They have several choices for the palate whether you prefer poultry, seafood, vegetarian or vegan. I also appreciated the clarification of spice 🌶levels. 3.Taste-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The flavors came together in a great way. I will come here again. 4.Atmosphere-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ We were there in the evening and the dim lights gave it a cosy feel. I guess the big tvs could make it fun to watch sports. You could feel comfy with friends or a family meal. 5.Cost💰-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ average main dish is between $17-$25...

Today was our second and probably last experience with this place. When they opened we ordered carry out and wasn't impressed neither with the taste nor with quantity or value. Today we've chose to dine in and here are the ++ and -- of our experience: ++ the taste of the food was much better because it was served right from the kitchen, but nothing was tasting really remarkable. The ambiance was nice and cozy. -- The service was not welcoming, but rather cold, inattentive and inefficient. The wait for food was unbelievably long (considering we were the only table to serve) and when the food arrived surprisingly it was not even hot, just barely warm (except of Momos which gratefully to unattentive waiter was cooling and drying up about 3-5 minutes sitting on the counter in our view, but still were warmer than other food). And the final straw was the pricing and tipping. Prices were outrageously high for what you get and tipping (if you pay through their credit card system) had the minimal tipping at %18 which to me seems really obnoxious. It feels as high tipping is a requirement or another form of taxation, not a gratitude. So the patrons have the only options left to let the business know about their impression are write a review as I'm doing now and stop visiting as I'm sure our plan for a future. And that's how businesses go down and close eventually, which is a pity, because this area really need some good tasting restaurants, but not for this...