Indish Exotic Indian Restaurant & bar — Restaurant in Maryland

*Note: reviewing for buffet, Chinese food, and rice pudding (aka dessert soup).

Love the name, and the location is in between where I live in St. Mary's County and DC where the kids and grandkids live.

The restaurant itself is well appointed, and the table we sat at had a lovely chandelier almost directly above it. No booths are apparently available for over 4 people, so we had a table.

When led to said table, the waiter did not go over the buffet rules, etc. And we were left to our own devices as to where to start, etc.

Starting is at the front, at a smallish table to the left of the main buffet. It has the plates and some rather sad-looking salads as well as the two sauces for the samosas and pakora.

I will say the pakoras are really good, so good you can eat without sauce of any kind. But the samosas: very disappointing. Mushy potato centers and a few mushy peas with a crust that was okay, but nothing to write home about. Took one bite and refused to eat more (and I'm from the clean your plate club, like hardcore). The nine vegetable curry (navratan korma) had mostly broccoli and tasted like broccoli and cheese soup (since the gravy was about that watery) plus, the veggies were mushy. No berries or nuts (cashew is common) that I could discern.

I missed the saag paneer, one of my favorites, as it wasn't out when I went through. Too bad as hubby declared it okay, and it would have been a better alternative for the "korma."

The basmati rice was okay, albeit a bit dry.

Something almost universally included in a buffet but not here was our garlic naan, which came out cold. It could have been the kind purchased in the grocery store.

The tandoori chicken was okay. The best thing was the goat curry, which was in a nice brown gravy. Very little bone, either.

Surprisingly, the shrimp fried rice was quite tasty - and is enough for two hungry people. Made with basmati rice, it had very good flavor. It was almost as much as the buffet, though. (But wasn't on the buffet.)

Dessert-wise, the gulab jamun was the bright spot and was its usually overly sweet syrupy self. (An aside: these look like donut holes soaked in syrup, but most are made of milk.) The kulfi (a pistachio ice cream - there was a mango one, too, but I didn't try it) had almost no flavor until it melted quite a bit. It was okay then. No cheer on the buffet and we like to (possibly sacrilegiously) like to put our gulab jamun in it - but this was like soup with little rice and no nuts or rosewater discernable. Mother enjoyed her mango dessert, but she's generally happy with anything mango, so can't give you my opinion on that.

The chai was watered down and barely potable. The strawberry drink was okay, but needed considerable watering down not to be too sweet.

Lastly, since grandson had already eaten before he left home, Dad was just having him try out a bit of his buffet. So, while the child price for going through the buffet is reasonable, this child only had a smidgen of his dad's, so we did not think this warranted us being charged for the entire buffet.

At the table behind us, an Indian family was dining- and definitely not the buffet. Their papadum looked...

A long overdue addition to the area!

My wife & I found out about this place from her folks, who highly recommended it. Since my wife & I are big fans of Indian food, we went to check it out. (Spoiler alert: we've since been here 3 times!)

First important thing to note, is that it [as of the time of this review] still has the sign up for an Italian/Pizza restaurant that used to occupy this space, so it took us awhile to find it. Kinda odd, & a much needed fix, as it lead to a few folks coming in expecting something else. (this is main reason for me docking them a star)

Second thing is that we haven't tried their buffet yet.

Thirdly, we've only eaten vegetarian from them so far (though I look forward to checking out their lamb and chicken dishes soon).

Once you walk in, it is nicely decorated, and there is often contemporary Indian music playing (generally from music videos on one of the screens by the bar), which was interesting & enjoyable to us.

The tables have real tablecloths, which honestly lead to sometimes being seated at a table with stains (another partial reason for docking that one star), but we aren't particularly put off by this, as it had ZERO impact on our ability to eat.

They start you off with a complimentary serving of these things that we can only describe as "chips and chutney" (we don't know what it's actually called, sorry). Try the chutney that has the onions in red sauce, it's great!

For appetizers, we have tried their samosas (really good, though if you don't like spicy, you might not want this), & Kashmiri Pakora (these fried veggie patties--unfamiliar, but good).

For entrees, we have tried Okra Masala (good), Nine Jewels of Vegetables (my wife & her Mom tried it, and liked it), & the Smoked Eggplant Bhartia (MY FAVORITE. LOVE IT). I also tried an Indian-style cheese pizza that they have on the menu, which was a bit different, but was overall, rather tasty; it tasted very much like your normal pizza, but the tomato sauce was just a little different. Overall, we have enjoyed their food greatly.

They have also always given us WONDERFUL service every time (and they make my wife's currently #1-Rated Mango Lassi--we have had them from numerous restaurants here in the DC area, & this one is her favorite). We will...

Imagine working all day on your feet as a busy teacher getting prepped for the kiddos.. and deciding to grab dinner. Ordering (specifically asking for rice and chick peas) and waiting over 30 minutes. Cool, hope it's good. Then you get home, change into your PJs, put your feet up and find your favorite show.. open. Your bag and there is NO RICE with a 4 meat kabob platter! You call and let them know there was no rice and not one apology, only "are you close"? Go back and they hand you rice. Again... no sorry. So I ask for a "desert or something for my troubles" and they say "ice or no ice. Sir.. HUH? With an attitude they say I'll gove you a soda. I say no thanks. Imagine TIPPING $5, getting attitude and no apology for their mistake, and then the beef AND 2 shrimp being DRY and chewy! This place will be closed soon 4 sure. Side note: I am the LEAST picky person you will meet... I eat and enjoy school lunch.. THIS was a horrible experience. *Editing: I took the food back a couple hours later and the main manager was VERY nice, apologized and did hos best to make it right. I told him that the 2 hostesses were great both visits and I understand mistakes. Forgot his name, but THANK YOU to the Indian manager. The other one needs customer service training. I would give them another try, but would check my bag and taste it...