Shalimar India — Restaurant in Portsmouth

I never write negative reviews till the time I feel all the rules were violated and it happened first time . We went this place on Mother’s Day because we were in Portsmouth Downtown and saw the ambience of the restaurant , which was very elegant , love all the decor , lighting and everything . We expected food also to be of same quality but it was very disappointing. First of all we need to wait for almost 4o minutes for our main course . I understand it was a busy night so we were ok but then the food was just horrible. No taste , no flavor and no fragnance Of fresh spices. Out of three curry , kadai chicken , mughaliye and lamb Korma , only one was edible which was lamb korma and it was really really good . All the three people just ate their main course in that one curry only . I called the staff and told them about the food , so the person who was taking our order was always in hurry . He does not have time to listen to what customer is asking for . He called I guess the owner of the restaurant . She came to our table she spoke to us . She was patient , she listened to our concerns but she did not accept as we told her that they did not give enough time to cook the spices in those two dishes , it is just raw. She would have accepted the mistakes done by Chef . Everyone can do the mistakes especially on busy night. Instead she started telling us that she never went out of Portsmouth so this is the way they cook Punjabi food and this is their best version of food . I was just wow this is insane. She did offer us that if we would like to replace the dish , I was ready to do that but my family was bit reluctant they told her no and mention that we all can manage in one curry only , we just would like to give you honest feedback. Those two dishes were just simply sitting on our table because they were not edible. At the end during our billing she did give us gift card and I was like why we need gift card . If you don’t treat your customer in a best way and don’t listen their feedback properly then do you Expect them to come back to your restaurant again?. I just thought to return the gift card back to them but my family is like very kind they told that no it will be rude to return their gift card . So we just took it and but def we are not going to come back to this restaurant again and will never suggest anyone also. I feel instead of all this she would have taken off those two dishes from our bill that is the way you value your customer time and trust , not just manipulating them. Again it is not about money . I would have paid extra for those dishes also but it...

Never visit this place again, really a worst experience i had. You guys definitely lost good customers and you will loose some more. I am sharing all the details here so that everyone should know how this staff treat their customers. I have also seen one bad review from one of the customer named Cheri. Totally agree with her, since i had similar bad experience. I visited restaurant with my family and left without even eating anything, so can imagine how bad their service is.

I entered in restaurant and waited at entrance counter for 8-10 min, expecting someone will attend us, but no one came. Many tables were empty. Meanwhile i noticed two waitresses already seen us but ignored. We were so tired that we seen a empty table beside the door, so we occupied. I asked one waitress if it is ok to sit there since i waited for long time, she said yes and left from there, after 5 min she just served water and again left and never came back to take order. After 20min we realised that she was taking order of one customer who came after us. After 5 min again same thing happened. Finally after waiting for long time I told waitress that i am leaving and it was really bad experience. I left the restaurant without eating anything. Whats the use of a restaurant where you are leaving even without eating.

If you guys were having any concerns you should have told us before and not let us wait for long time for food. I have already asked waitress if there is any issue. I dont know who are those 2 waitresses in the restaurant but restaurant need a change in management. You guys need some counciling more than training. Thank you Shalimar India for such a pathetic service.

One good suggestion for management, please share your concerns with customer if you really think something has not happened the way you want, because sometime customer dont have any idea about your concerns, but never let them wait for food and ignore them, that seems very rude.

There are many things to share here but dont want to waste more time, i am writing this only for review readers, so that they can get...

Lost 2 very loyal customers! Will never go back after the way we were treated. Use to live in Kittery & have been a patron of Shalimar for 2 years . Recently moved to North Berwick but still made the drive from North Berwick to Portsmouth only to walk in the door after a long drive to be completely ignored. After being ignored the 1 waitress came over & told us she had to clear some tables & we needed to wait. The restaurant was an absolute sea of open & clean set tables! Everywhere you looked there were available tables. It was absurd she left us to wait longer. After leaving us we were basically forgotten for a long time. The waitress should have just told us to leave & they don't want customers because that was certainly how it felt. Didn't feel welcomed at all. Finally a waiter came & grunted at us to go to the table right next to the door. Restaurant was pretty empty but we were given the worst table in restaurant. He doesn't even seat us properly, doesn't give us menus! Just leaves us to wait for a 3rd time. We felt at this point we should just get up & walk out. Drove all that way to be treated so poorly. After eating we asked for the bill & our food to be packed twice & no one ever helped us. We had to go & get the containers & do it ourselves. All this while the 1 waitress stood & chit chatted for a very long time with a patron. She didn't care others were waiting & dissatisfied. Restaurant must be under new management or something has changed as the vibe is basically we don't care if you come to our restaurant or not. You lost 2 very loyal customers. You won't get our money ever again & we will tell all our...