Saffron Valley - Sugar House — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

We spent a night in SLC and when we came across this place online, we were SUPER DUPER EXCITED. From what we read, the website, etc., we just needed some good warm desi food so we drove from our hotel (by the airport) to visit this joint.

Right away, the staff is super friendly and helpful. Honestly, if I owned a casual joint, this would be the staff I'd hire. Spectacular, friendly and genuinely seemed to care.

We ordered 2 things really as while we were hungry, we were not that hungry. Ordered the saffron sampler (FANTASTIC PORTION for what they serve in this). Requested them to separate the fish and chicken pakoras from the vegetarian stuff and they did it happily.

The fish and chicken were cooked to PERFECTION. The fish was super soft and moist as was the chicken. The batter however needed some more flavor.

The samosa that came in this. The exterior casing was superb. It was absolutely the right way. The flavor of the inside however again lacked flavor. Maybe it wasn't as robust of a flavor rather than lack of flavor but it just didn't do it for me.

THe rest of the pakoras were ok. Not bad at all actually.

The main dish we decided to share and it was paneer saag curry with a garlic naan. The paneer pieces in it were heaven in your mouth. You could feel the freshness.

Unfortunately, the paneer was the only thing that was good about the dish. The texture, the flavor was way wrong. I'm not a saag expert by any means but this was really way off. I get it that they call it a 'curry' but yet in the description, it says "Traditional recipe of baby spinach sautéed with tomato, onion, garlic & garam masala." To me, there was nothing traditional about this. The 'saag' was actually a grossly watered down liquid curry. It had zero volume. A normal sag has some depth to it in terms of texture; some more than others but this was the consistency of chicken noodle soup; that's how thin it was. The flavor too was absolutely horrible. There was something about the flavor that was just not right.

The naan was the saving grace for us. It was EXCELLENT. The softness was epic. They did not skimp on the garlic and butter either. It was a true naan.

The last thing that didn't sit well with either of us was the clean up. It was about 20 min to close and we were still eating. The staff came around and started sweeping the place. I get it if we are in a retail store (although there are many many countries that wouldn't do that in any business) but in a restaurant while you have guests still eating, you can't sweep the place. That's stuff going into the air and potentially into their food. I would support either they closing a half hour early or waiting till 9 and till the guests are gone to do that kind of cleanup.

If I was in SLC again, I would like to try their stuff again. I want to believe this was just not a nice night and I believe these folks will take a look at this review with constructive criticism and improve the food as this place has a lot of potential. This part is biased but being a desi, I really want this place to do well. A couple simple things and I think they will do really well. I say this with confidence because the attitudes of the staff was TERRIFIC so I'm confident, with the right direction, they will do...

The kabon dish came out differently than it was pictured on the menu (it looked like it would be a much larger portion and it said it was big enough to split so we were splitting it) and they menu said it came with some sides but when we asked for them, they said that it didn't and that was the way the kitchen was serving it. So we asked if they could make an exception since the menu was misleading and we'd like what it said it came with, they said no. There were no suggestions or alternatives offered, they just said no, that was the dish. So we sent the dish back and ordered a different dish, which sucked because everyone else at the table already had their food and were eating. So after watching everyone else finish their food, ours finally came out and everyone just had to sit and wait for us to eat, so not a fun dining experience. But then when we get the check to go, they charged us for the original dish that we sent back and did not eat one bite of! We had to make a big ordeal to get that dish taken off our bill and they acted like they were doing us a favor. This is food service 101 kids: if I don't get a dish, I'm not paying for it. And the shift manager was the one I spoke to about the charges and he was terrible at customer service. He literally didn't apologize once, told me not all the dishes are the same as pictured so I told them to fix their menu but in the mean time, I had to insist they remove the charge. They finally did it but I don't like having to go through that kind of ordeal. It ruined the mood of the rest of the night, so I'm writing this review. Also, our second dish we ordered it medium spicy and it came out mild. But we were starving so we didn't bother complaining. Won't be coming back, really really sad to have the worst restaurant experience I've had in years at...

Our daughter is not vaccinated so we were not comfortable sitting in the main area as all tables were placed very close to each other and full except one.

We requested to be seated in a different area but it was a table for 6 and we were only 3. Another table was for 4. So no. The server (with the beard) said if you don't want to sit with everyone else then.. (you can leave).

Another table opened up meanwhile in the main area and we requested to be seated there. We were told rudely, it would take 20 min at least to clean the table. We were surprised that it would take them 20 min. We were told that was their standard time to clean a table. And he said again, if you don't want to sit with everyone else then...

We left and are never going back again. So rude and inconsiderate of our daughter who is not able to get vaccinated.

We have had food a couple times there when we were in sugarhouse area. Outside of Sugarhouse area, there are many fantastic Indian restaurants with authentic food which do not cater to western palate and also kind, courteous - that's what you expect from the...