House of India — Restaurant in Pittsfield

It Is a nice ethnic restaurant. I went for the lunch buffet which at $10.95 which is s great price for Massachusetts. The serve fritters, basmati rice, naan bread, spinach curry, chicken curry, tandoori chicken, lentils dal, salad, pickles and rice pudding. It all you can eat. The food was good. But although I asked for half a lime or lemon so I could squeeze the juice over the food and for sliced onions and was told they had no lime or lemon. Remember fresh lime or lemons are a staple for Indian food and most Indians will eat there food with raw sliced onions with fresh lime or lemon juice squeezed over the onions and over the food to add additional flavor. This was a total surprise. This is the first Indian restaurant over hundreds I have visited that had no fresh lime or lemon. Very disappointed. Then I also went for dinner on a Sunday early evening. I ordered chicken tikka masala, 2 rotis and 2 pieces of samosa. The samosa was fried twice as the edges was dark brown and rather hard but the potato, onions and peas stuffing was soft and tasty. I had asked if they can substitute the rice for rotis but was told no that cannot be done. Indian restaurants but learn that all people cannot eat basmati rice and since the rice comes with the chicken tikka masala and is included in the price they should be more modern and current with dietary restrictions on people. Indian restaurants should be more flexible and accommodating to the specific needs of their customers. I also ordered the gulab jamm, a sweet deep fried milk balls which was served hot as requested. The gulab jam was not golden brown but very dark brown but was tender and soft inside. The server never brought me a dinner plate till I ate the rotis with a part of the chicken tikka masala. He was very fazzled when he made a table of 4 and a table of 3 or 4 adults and 2 kids and me. He finally brought the dinner plate. Anyway, to his credit he apologized and comped the samosas, the rice pudding and the rotis which goes to his credit so I do not hold this glitch against him or the place. The food was tasty. The bathroom needs a lot of improvement. They are moving to another location on the same street very soon as the landlord wants to demolish the building and rebuild the property. The server needs more training to be more efficient and should be more welcoming. He needs to smile a lot more and not be so sombre and serious. After all restaurants are in the hospitality business and not an undertaker. I docked them one star each for not having a slice of lime or lemon and for a pitiful restroom. Hope at the new location they improve the lime or lemon issue and...

The food at House of India is "Indian" in inspiration only. The ingredients are sparse, missing key components anyone would expect in Tandoori cuisine, and the resulting flavors are bland and the sauces watery. Instead of traditional ingredients, there are some odd replacements that further push these dishes away from a reasonable definition of what "Indian food" is supposed to be. Unfortunately, many ingredients also seem to be at the poorer quality end of the spectrum at this restaurant. Some details by example....

Chicken Tikka Masala: The chicken, while tender, has none of the signature flavors of the tandoor. The sauce is likewise a departure from tradition -- Where is the yogurt marinade? Where is the cumin? Where are the tumeric and ginger? Where is the garam masala? If these ingredients are present at all, they are well below the level of being able to taste them. The sauce seems 90% water, 9% tomato sauce, and 1% chili. The chicken was certainly tenderized, but it was not cooked in a tandoor oven or even grilled, and has none of expected caramelized/charcoal surface.

Lamb Biryani: Very tough meat in a watery and flavorless "curry" soup, likewise missing all of the key ingredients and flavors one would expect in biryani -- most notably the saffron rice -- and perhaps worst of all of what little was there was just mixed together at the last minute rather than cooked over time into a unified dish. And, for some very odd reason, large chunks of yellow and green pepper were included...which weren't expected, and weren't very complimentary to the food.

Finally, to add a bit of insult to the injury of this unfortunate experience, the prices are extremely high, even though each dish does not include its own portion of rice. The Lamb Biryani, for example, was $19...and really not worth half of that amount. And then, to make things a bit worse, House of India will add an additional 3% if you use a credit card (without always clearly notifying customers ahead of time). And I won't even comment on the service, because there really is none. Any passion for helping and pleasing customers was abandoned by this establishment long ago.

Frankly, House of India really deserves just one star, except for two bright spots: the mango lassi is actually pretty good (they remembered to put some yogurt in that at least), and the palak paneer has some nice flavors in it -- the usual ingredients were included this time. Again, finding these two exceptions might rescue an extremely overpriced meal from being an epic fail...but it will still come...

Service was terrible, worst I have EVER experienced. I walked in from the cold snow outside to have a quick bite for the lunch buffet, and because no server tried to seat me I sat myself and got settled in a booth. Then the server came over to give me a placemat and fork I thanked him and got up for the buffet. I sat down to eat my food, after a few bites I was thirsty (lots of spice I know this and I like the spice but I was thirsty) but I was never provided a water. So I took a sip of water from the water bottle I had with me when I walked in. The waitor came over and said "we dont allow outside water bottles in here" i said "you never provided me with a water and I am thirsty". only after that interaction did I finally get a water. Ridiculous the server tried to yell at me for his neglegence! Wicked poor service and there was a dead fly obviously stuck to the wall in my booth gross!!! I struggled to regain composure and eat. When I got up to pay and mentioned that patrons shouldnt be left without water and then scolded for drinking their own, the man at the register acted like he didnt speak english. Then the server piped up and told me I was being too sensitive. Never setting foot in this place ever again. Rude people and thats a shame cause I like indian food and I just wanted a quick simple peaceful meal, not to be found here. So here you are server im so sensitive that im writing you a bad review adding to all the other bad reviews because this place is gross and treats their...