Veda - Modern Indian Bistro — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I came here in October with a friend for restaurant week around 6pm. I immediately noticed the ikea-like hipster decor and the young diverse staff.

Our waitress recommended the mango lassi but with rum, which ended up being pretty tasty. When you first sip it, you can taste the mango lassi, in the middle the spiced rum, and at the end/after-taste yogurt.

Starters: Tandoori Lettuce Wraps: Just barely okay, very mediocre and as if we cooked it at home not at a restaurant.

Shrimp Balchao: Great sauce flavor, sweet and yet spicy great blend. I appreciated the quantity of the shrimp, but the texture of the shrimp itself from what I could tell was boiled and was very lackluster. The only good thing about the dish was the sauce, which there were only 2 things on the dish, shrimp and the sauce, and just garnish.

Main Course: Chicken Lababdar: Just ok, not great, felt like I could've cooked it at home or it was ordered from a corner store Indian restaurant. Not by any means impressive or center city restaurant worthy nor does the food justify the price. It's pretty insulting actually. The portions were not good for this.

Khubani Malai Kofta: Just ok, not great, also tasted like it could've been from your corner store Indian restaurant. The dish did not match the price. Also, the portions are disturbingly not fit for the price nor the taste either.

Dessert: Masala Chai Ice Cream: Just OK, not great, not good.

Gulab Jamun with Ice cream: Essentially ritas custard ice cream with a warm doughnut ball.

Food: Mediocre at best, only 1 dishes sauce was good enough to order again + mango lassi, everything else was not memorable and really insulting for the price.

Parking: Street Metered Parking

Staff: Our waitress was pleasant, but definitely oversold the dishes.

Covid: Staff wears masks, but the outside tables are very oily just walking by (with no one sitting there), and the bathroom stalls are very very oily too, doesn't seem washed or wiped down.

Place: Decor was Ikea like setting, with many areas being cheaped out on, including bathroom. Attracts hipster people for sure.

Would I come here again? Absolutely not. We eat out at pretty pricy restaurants just like these 3-4 times a week, with Indian being one of our top cuisines we love. The food does not match the price and it's not worth wasting your money on. And to think I wanted to bring a $26 chicken biryiani home that's only worth less than half that price! Wow, I'm beyond shocked I paid $130 for this meal. $40 pp+ Tip + 1...

The food and drinks were good, and the bread basket is totally worth it, especially if you’re sharing with others. Our server was nice, attentive, and welcoming, and she was the best part of the visit. She gave good recommendations, and checked in on us frequently. The restaurant also played a good selection of music which gave it a nice vibe. I wish they put on their physicaly menus that the meat is halal. They have this stated on their website, but not on the physical menu so some of our party was not aware.

This would have been a 5-star visit had it not been for the seating arrangement and for what happened at the end of the visit. To give some context, we made a reservation in advance for our party, and you would think that for an advance reservation they would take care with the seating. I was not satisfied with where we were seated - our table and seats were cramped, and there was a table right next to us that could accommodate us better. Our table felt really enclosed, practically holed between 3 sides of walls. We thought the table next to us was perhaps booked for another party and that is why they didn’t seat us there. No. We were wrong. For the entire duration, no one was seated at the table next to us, so I don’t understand why we couldn’t sit there. We would have been more comfortable there. Oh well, nice to know for next time.

At the end of our dinner, we had given the server our cards to pay for the check, and while we were waiting for our cards, a guy came over (probably the manager), and basically was ushering us out. Although he was being polite about it, it still soured the taste because of course we will leave after we get our cards back. Shouldn’t he have checked with the server about the status of the table before coming to us and tell us that they need to clean the table for the next group and we need to leave? He said it more diplomatically, but basically using the same words here. It left us a bit shocked because we were ready to leave, just waiting...

I came with three of my friends to Veda on Friday June 10th to celebrate various accomplishments, including celebrating my friend receiving her PhD. We came in around 5:15, ordered appetizers, drinks, then full course meals and even dessert, which took some time. We even ordered more drinks when we ordered dessert. My friend paid the tab and left a very generous tip. The experience had been okay, not great (our server had forgotten we ordered Naan, and later forgot we order tea as well, so some stuff took a while to get to our table) but okay, but by 6:30 it turned lamentable.

Before any of us three could finish our last round of drinks, someone who was not our server (and who did not identify as a manager) came to our table to tell us that we needed to leave asap because he needed the table because they only allow people to stay one hour and max 1hour and a half, and that they had other customers waiting.

We looked around and there were many (and I mean MANY) tables empty. No line at the door and no customers waiting. We had not finished our paid-for drinks yet, as he rushed us out out of the restaurant. Important to say, as well, that there were several tables who had been there as long as we had, who were not kicked out as we were, but of course those patrons were white.

Patrons who are women of color, particularly Black women, often experience this incredibly detestable micro-aggressive treatment, when white patrons in the same situation do not. We did not expect Veda to be one of those spaces. Had we known that Veda's management sanctions these treatment/situations, we wouldn't have chosen to come to Veda. I hope management reconsiders how to properly treat its diverse patrons equally and respectfully. I would suggest diversity training as a place to start so you don't lose the business of...