Delhi Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Paradise

Out the gate, the food was okay, but the service was by far the worst I've ever had in Las Vegas to date. The main thing people pay for when dining out is the service, and let's just say this was a grand slam failure from start to finish. When I started to place my order, I had to repeat everything to the waitress/hostess, as if she had an issue understanding my order. Okay, we'll move pass that, but this is where the 'ick-factor' went through the roof.

I placed an order for the Paneer Tikka Masala entree, butter naan, and a FREE Mango Lassi as part of the Yelp Check-in promotion (free with an entree of $16 or more). When I showed the digital receipt to redeem the offer, the order was placed and I assumed everything was all good.

While waiting for the order to be fulfilled, I noticed other patrons where receiving their complimentary papadum, which I didn't receive until nearly 10 minutes after placing the order. I didn't bother eating it, because I knew the main order would arrive shortly, so what's the point of me snacking on a late appetizer.

The food arrives, but it's only the Paneer Tikka Masala with rice; my naan was...NAAN-EXISTENT! About 5 minutes after, the naan I ordered was delivered to another customer's table. Well, that's obviously not a good look, but furthermore, the BUTTER NAAN had about 5% butter spread on the total serving. The photo shows the bread, so I'm not exaggerating at all. At this point, I'm already underwhelmed by this whole experience, but I start to eat. The upside is that the serving size is adequate for a solo dining excursion, but the spice level I requested (mild - 4) was weak. Perhaps it's one of those situations where spicy is the true 'mild', but okay, I digress.

I completed about 75% of the food and was ready to leave at this point, but I've saved the best part for last.

The hostess arrives to close out my tab, and asks to see my Yelp check-in promo coupon again (WHICH SAID 1 FREE MANGO LASSI OR SODA CLEAR AS DAY). After being confused for a solid 2-3 minutes on how to transact this offer, she figures it out. No paper tab was presented, so I paid the tab by way of the point-of-sale card reader and got a printed receipt from the portable device.

I had to run to the restroom before leaving, to which I assumed my MANGO LASSI THAT I NEVER RECEIVED THE ENTIRE TIME WOULD MAGICALLY APPEAR UPON RETURNING. I get back and there's nothing! At this point, I'm annoyed by the entire experience and decide to leave because I had to be somewhere shortly after.

When I got to the parking lot, I just decided to look at the receipt, and discovered that I WAS CHARGED A 'DISCOUNT' FOR A MANGO LASSI I NEVER RECEIVED, AND WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FREE! Make it make sense please, because how do I get charged for an item that was NEVER on my table, let alone a promotional item at that?

I didn't have time to turn back around and deal with it, but instead I'm taking the time to tell people who make it this far in this novel of a review to stay far away from this abysmal excuse of a business.

It was like being in a bad episode of "Bar Rescue", except Jon Taffer never walked in and said "SHUT THIS PLACE DOWN NOW". The level of incompetence here is not understated, and for me to sit down and write this means that I felt some kind of way to justify putting in this much effort for a review.

The bonus part of this review is before I left, the hostess asked me to give a review on Google...so voila! The audacity when the service was that bad to ask for a 5-star review. If I can give negative stars, I would....

Food is pretty good, service is horrible. Not one server explains what is going on. We were seated for 10 minutes and we were never asked if we wanted to order any drinks. No one came by and explained how the lunch buffet works. We just sat there and assumed we would just start serving ourselves.

We thought it was weird that nobody asked us if we wanted anything to drink as their website explains during 11am- 3pm Saturday/Sunday is a brunch buffet with unlimited soda, lassi, and/or champagne.

So we are eating and finally had to flag down a server to ask about beverages. We asked if champagne came with the meal and we're told no. Okay, we didn't press it. Perhaps they were not doing this any longer, even though it is advertised on their website. We ordered two lassi and one beer. Continue to eat and chat. I finished my beer and was thinking about ordering another, asked how much the beers were costing and I was told $6. Decided $6 a beer is a bit steep, was going to opt for a soda and was told that was going to be an additional charge as well, also we were charged for each lassi additionally.

The women server explains the lunch buffet doesn't include any drinks and there is a separate brunch buffet that includes soda, lassi, or champagne. We explained that is what we thought we were taking part in and when we asked the male server we were told specifically champagne was not included. Very confusing.

So we found out I purchased a beer I didn't necessarily need to purchase and the price difference between the lunch and brunch buffet was $5. The women offered to add the brunch buffet, now that we were at the end of our meal and she made it clear the beer would be paid for separately. She apologized and said she would notify the staff of how the lunch/brunch offerings work.

We then asked for the check and the same male server who seated us, just looked at us and said okay. So we just sat there waiting for our check. Nobody came by with it. So then we deduced that the restaurant expects you to walk up to a cashier on your way out. But you would not know this, no receipt and no direction. No communication at all. So we pay at the cashier and he looks over our table and rings up our bill by looking at what he sees at the table. He doesn't ask us what we did or didn't have. Our bill for three people came out to a little over $77, so right about $20 per person plus drinks. So that makes sense.

Anyhow I did not tip, cause we received no service at all and basically were just paying for the food.

We will not be coming back to this restaurant even though the food is pretty good. With all the great choices we have in Vegas, I can do better at Mint or Mt. Everest. Mint is great btw!!!

If you just want to eat some Indian food, get a glass of water with your meal, and be left the hell alone... This is your place. Otherwise if you want a welcoming experience, any service at all, or for a business to understand and honor the offers they advertise, go any place else. Delhi Indian restaurant is basically just a school cafeteria. Get in line serve yourself, chase down any staff for anything outside what is offered in the buffet serving area, eat, pay on the way out, and leave.

Anyway that...

I feel sad to leave a not so good review. A day before we tried the Mint Indian restaurant for buffet and had a good experience. A day later we tried this one - and it’s a bit on the expensive side $23 for a lunch buffet but the price is all understood if you serve quality food. (The comparison with the other restaurant is only done for quality purposes since both have the same service - lunch buffet with a vast difference in food quality, a person trying both will easily have their opinion on which is the best and which one is the worst - hence the comparison in order to learn from the competition around and work on the negatives)

To start with - the samosas. The moment you see and have them you realize they are different. The outer layer seemed more like the exterior of a pastry.. The inner stuffing - I am not sure. I was confused if it was bad thus the taste or ..- I am struggling to describe it - but yes, it wasn’t the traditional samosa stuffing containing potatoes, peas and spices- I did not go for another one. The tandoori chicken - foodies can quickly tell if food is fresh versus when it’s refrigerated and reheated and served the next day. Most of the food - the tandoori chicken , the vegetable biryani (also confirmed by my foodie friend ) , was stale. One could easily smell the refrigerated - reheated odour that stems from food that is not fresh. Moreover, gulab jamuns from the fridge were dumped into the serving station right in front of me. I picked one and it was dead cold. The shape and size was uneven and they looked like dead and dry. The sugar syrup of the gulab jamun had a diffident color / and texture. All they have to serve is chaachni and replace it when it turns into something else. Fruits - unevenly cut , variable sizes ( while they are fresh but you run a restaurant- you need to check the quality and the precision of such). Same with the utensils and cutlery - the forks and spoons by looking at them you can tell are old. They have lost their shine and you don’t get a good feeling while picking a pair.. Naan - They were dry.

Their plus point is the amount of space and parking they got. Plus the restaurant from inside is huge. But the food. They will have to check...