Tabla Indian Restaurant Oviedo — Restaurant in Oviedo

Either we arrived here on a bad day or selected the wrong items to order, but the food we ordered was utterly disappointing, despite seeing the 4.7 overall cumulative Google reviews of this place. We arrived here at lunch time on Friday, but there were only a few tables of customers during lunch.

After reading about the lunch buffet on Tabla's Website, we inquired with our waiter about the buffet and he showed us the menu from which we would order our "1 meal plate" from the menu. When we inquired about the salads for the buffet, the waiter directed us to a table where there were about 3-4 appetizer items, an 8" bowl of mixed green lettuce that was mostly wilted. There was also a small 6" plate of cut carrots that were dry to the point that they were white on the surface. The small bowl of battered cooked chicken in the appetizer area was dry and cold. Advertising a lunch buffet on your Website is very misleading. This is not the conventional lunch buffet definition.

FOOD: 1/5 Chicken Vindaloo: The chicken in this dish did not soak any of the sauce flavoring, as though these were unseasoned chicken pieces that were quickly sauteed in the sauce. The tomato sauce and tomato flavor was dominant and I couldn't taste any distinctive spices of a Vindaloo dish.

Chicken Pad Thai: The noodles were overcooked and mushy. Chicken pieces were very sparse in this dish, but there were lots of zucchini and bell peppers, which should not be in Pad Thai. There were no bean sprouts and no eggs, key in traditional Pad Thai. The sauce was overwhelmingly sweet. This dish was served in a tapered-mouth metal bowl, the wrong choice for serving Pad Thai. Growing up eating Pad Thai from street vendors to 5 star restaurants in Thailand, I've only seen Pad Thai served on plates or wide-mouthed bowls. This is the first time I've seen this dish so wrongly cooked and so wrongly served. The tapered-mouth bowl traps in heat and moisture and continues to cook the noodles, making the noodles more mushy and clump together (it looks like a brown ball of dough clumped together) as it's being transferred from the kitchen to the table.

Bhindi Masala: There were more bell peppers than bhindi in this dish. The tomato sauce was the dominant taste in this dish. We couldn't taste any masala. At $22 for this vegetable only dish, it's grossly overpriced for mostly bell peppers, onions, and tomato sauce. There's hardly enough bhindi and we couldn't taste masala.

Naan: From appearance, the naan looks good, but the texture lacks elasticity which is indicative that the flour lacks the level of protein needed to provide the elasticity. Good naan should have some level of elasticity when pulling it apart, not just easily break apart. The naan also lacks any smell of tandoor. The wide metal wired tray lined by paper is only good for appearance in serving the naan, but is impractical because the thin naan cools quickly as it's left wide open on a wired tray.

Salad and "appetizers" from the "buffet table": the mixed green lettuce in the 8" plate on the "buffet" table was wilted. The cut carrots were so dry that they turned to a white color on the surface. The chicken in fried batter was dry and cold.

White Basmati Rice: The only food item that was good was the white Basmati rice.

SERVICE: 2/5 There was only one person waiting and busing the tables during lunch. He looked tired. It's possible he was just overworked.

ATMOSPHERE: 4/5 Clean contemporary decor with patio seating looking out the the...

This was a tough one to rate because the experience has been different each time. I’ve been 4 times now and waited to post this review. Twice I had professional and solid service by the manager. Twice I had service that was mostly timely, but missing the polish an establishment should have offering $25-30 dishes, white modern China, stemmed water glasses, and cloth napkins. I saw our waiter greet each table last night, including us, within 2 minutes of seating and ask if they were ready to order. One table didn’t even have enough menus for each party to consult yet, and another quickly interrupted they would like to be served drinks and appetizers first. If you are offering full table service, there’s a series of service events, an opportunity to answer questions about the menu, and make suggestions if necessary that should occur before showing up to ask what the food order is. Our server also asked for my order prior to my mother sitting with me at the table last night. That’s a nit-picky point maybe not everyone knows or is old-fashioned, but elders should be respected to order first. I noticed the same at other tables, but the same server started with orders from the gentleman at one table.

The food was good. It’s almost always good, and that’s why we return. My mom usually loves the dishes at Tabla but didn’t love her dish last night and felt it was bland, however to be fair, we weren’t sure what to expect with that dish before ordering, and she said she felt rushed to make a decision and didn’t feel our server was confident to describe the dishes to her. Again, service representation.

We did order a dessert last night that had a cake component that tasted like it’s been sitting out in the freezer and absorbed all the freezer smells. The ice cream portion was ok. That was an unfortunate end to an otherwise good dinner. Like dinner, the server never checked on us during dessert to give the opportunity to make the complaint.

This is also the third time a check was dropped at the table either while someone was still finishing their dish or before inquiring if anyone desired anything further. In addition, the clearance of dishes was so intrusive, especially while someone still had a fork in the hand. When a server is reaching over someone still eating to grab side plates, etc, and continually asking if they are “done with that”, interrupting conversation at the table multiple times, that is not following the old adage of “good service is felt and not heard”. Nobody showed up to ask while we were eating how our entrees were, or if there was anything we needed. This time we were just fine, but it had happened that way once before and we were in need of something.

I’ll close by saying the food is lovely, the service staff is very kind and friendly, but some overall etiquette and education on how to properly service tables in their beautiful establishment is necessary. Oviedo lacks a host of amazing choices, and this could be a fantastic one. The prices are high, so the service level needs to match. They already have the location and atmosphere. I’ve eaten at other Tabla locations and never had underwhelming service before...

This place is a must try. I was very shocked to see it not totally packed on a Wednesday night.

I was out with my wife and we randomly wandered into Tabla in Oviedo. My wife has celiac so eating out is a little more complicated for us than most. We were impressed by the knowledge of the staff and the variety of dinner options that she could eat. If you're Gluten Free due to allergy, this place is a great choice!

We ordered simple straightforward Indian dishes, Butter Chicken and Vegetable Curry. These are the kind of dishes that any good Indian restaurantur knows they better get right, and Tabla did a fantastic job with them!

The food was very obviously fresh and made with care. Flavors were clean and deeply seasoned and as a good curry should be. The butter chicken was tender and nicely sliced and the vegetables were toothsome and generously portioned. I'm a carnivore at heart, but if ever there was a dish that could convert me to vegetarianism, it would be delicious vegetable curries :)

The service was exemplary of a fine restaurant with a proud and dutiful staff. To be fair it wasn't super busy tonight, so they had a lot of idle time. Nonetheless, I was impressed how the staff turned their extra time towards the customers and didn't just loaf about aimlessly.

In closing, there have been lots of almost comically ridiculous comments about Anthony. He was our server tonight and he was great. He was gracious, pleasant, and attentive, truly a good character and great host. I don't know who keeps trying to damage his character in the reviews, but its nonsense.

Load this place up Oviedo! They are...