Shiva Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in Mount Dora

Drove 15 mi to get there after reading the good reviews. Unfortunately, it is my worst Indian restaurant experience. We went for the weekend buffet. Very limited selection. That is 8 main dishes. There is a salad, some dressings and sauces in the side. There is also a milk based item that is called "desert." Among the main dish choices, there is plain Basmati rice, two chicken dishes, a lamb dish, chicken tandoori, and several vegetarian dishes. I usually prefer the meet based dishes, so that is what I selected first. I had rice, chicken and peppers, lamb curry and a piece of chicken tandoori. The chicken tandoori was awful. I thought that Tandoori involves some type of grilling. This was done in an oven and tasted worst then any oven cooked chicken I have ever had. I usually try to empty my plate; I could not finish the "tandoori" chicken piece. The lamb and chicken and pepper were not flavorful at all. They were also not spicy at all. I went for smaller helpings for the second plate. I tried three vegetarian dishes. They tasted better than any of the non-vegetarian dishes. Since I did not come there to just eat vegetarian, this cannot affect my rating of the restaurant. Let me finish adding that the service was minimum at best. They barely uttered a word, sitting the whole time at one of the tables where one of them was eating something that was not out of the buffet menu. Moreover, when one of the customer asked for a plate to try the desert, she pointed a micro dish to him explaining that it is the dish that was meant to be used for the desert. I am not exaggerating when I say micro dish. The dish is appropriate for sauces and the likes but not for the desert that was there. She then reluctantly walked into the kitchen to walk back out a couple of minutes later with a bowl. When she did not find the customer still waiting at the buffet, she went ahead and returned to bowl to...

This is one of the WORST indian restaurant I had visited in my 13 yrs here...I was very happy to see an indian restaurant at this place with such great google reviews when checked. but all expectation failed very quickly. The worst part was chicken tandoori...all burnt and only rubbery (dont know how many times it has been cooked where all its juicy part was dried and only rubber remaining which served. Veg biryani - its totally just a rice with veg mixed in some curry. completely curry deeped rice served as a vegetarian biryani (I really doubt whether the cook who itself prepared this really knows how the veg biryani should be prepared). Looks like all great reviews are given only by non-indian crowd who do not really have real indian food taste and know of its quality. I would NOT at all recommend this restaurant at all unless you still wanna experience on your own and spending so much money which is not at all worth on such quality of indian food that is being served here. The only garlic nan's that were served was good, rest...

This restaurant is family owned and there is a wow factor when we walked in. The wow factor of the interior design does not reflect the service. Each time the husband,or the wife, or a staff waited on us, were not friendly. It felt like they did not want us there. We observed waiting on white people were warm and courteous. Do not order the tandoori Naan or peshwari Naan. They are both very dry and when we pointed it out we were told that is how they make it. The service is a deal breaker. We thought it would be better the 2nd time but it was not. Try 5th Element in Sanford and order their Dosa and Gobi Manchurian, and Uttapam is like you are in India. The service is like you came to their house. Kohinoor in Altamonte Spring is very good and the service is outstanding! Madras Cafe in Orlando is very good. If you really want to have a good time and have fun and good food go to Bombay Street Kitchen. The staff is amazing!!! Gateway to India had the perfect Dahl tarka and their veggie biryani was very good. Their Naan bread...