Tandoor India — Restaurant in Santa Monica

We've been local regulars for years, but had a bad experience during the pandemic and thus stopped going here for a few years. Recently, we decided to try them again. The first time back wasn't very good, but we wanted to give them one last try today. The takeout from today was so poor and bland that my partner and I went from excited to sad, put the food down and couldn't eat it. It was that bad. The ingredients are mostly fresh, but it was so, so bland. All you can taste is the cream, and very little flavor. I wonder if they are cutting costs by using substantially less seasonings? That's all we can figure. We gave them a call and asked if they would refund us, but they turned us down instead offering a discount on one dish next time. Unfortunately, there won't be a next time, so this was not useful to us and we declined. I ordered shai paneer, my partner got butter chicken. It was like cream of rice and water. I would unfortunately avoid this restaurant and pick another one of Santa Monica's spots for food; if you're dead set on Indian, at least try another place instead and save yourself the disappointment. We wasted $50 bucks into the trash can, are still hungry, and sad that the owner couldn't make it right. 0/5 stars. Prior to 2020, this was my go to spot, but that ends today. Sorry my friends.

Edit: I just got a defensive call from the business owner challenging me to name what other Indian restaurants in LA I've eaten at, in preparation for telling me that my opinion was wrong. I do appreciate that the owner of this business was kind enough to give a call and offer for us to come in and eat again free of charge, but I'm not sure I appreciate a phone call telling me that I was mistaken in how I ordered, and needed to order the food specifically with more spices in order to get it correctly made--we ordered the food as-is without modification and expected it to be good. To be clear, we are not complaining about heat/spice but the absolute lack of flavor/spice. My review stands, and once the off-putting nature of that phone call is past us, maybe we will take him up on his offer. Running a restaurant is hard and we have sympathy for our local business friends, but if we can't bring ourselves to eat dishes we know we usually enjoy, something is wrong and the business needs to know. Removing a star from Atmosphere for the tone...

First time I tried to eat here it was super hot and stuffy inside so I left cause I wouldn’t be able to enjoy my meal in that uncomfortable environment (not a single customer in the store). Second time I came I wasn’t greeted by a server or host again, and I seated myself. Cook comes out and doesn’t really say anything so I ask if they are open… he says yes and then a server comes out. He doesn’t really say anything either … so I say, “one menu please” since the server doesn’t even bring a menu or water… He then asks me to move to a different table on the other side of the room - and mind you this is me being in the restaurant at noon with ZERO customers in the restaurant, and you’re going to ask me to move to another table ?? Yeah… really struggling to have enough tables for all your customers so make sure you ask your one and only customer to move 🤣🤣🤣🤣 why would I come back a 3rd time?

I went to a local competitor after this and when I entered I was greeted, there were customers seated, and yet they still let me sit where I wanted to. If I can’t sit where I want have a sign that says, “please wait to be seated”. Otherwise why ask your customer to move when your restaurant is...

The most horrible restaurant in LA. Food tastes horrible they just give the left over food adding few spices and nuts in that. The restaurant manager (actually he is a waiter calls himself the manager) has got attitude he is so rude and short tempered that he can't hear the customer feedback and instead ARGUE and ABUSE them. Totally agree with IBW NEWS reviews this “place will close soon because of the horrible food and horrible staff”!

BIRYANI - The cook and the staff should go and try the 'actual Indian cuisine' and biryani of GREAT INDIAN RESTAURANTS like 'Paradise, Bawarchi, Grand Bawarchi and Nizam'. This restaurant just mixes the leftover chicken tikka curry and rice adding few nuts (raisins) over it and serves customer and than abuses customers if customers give them the feedback! LOL

Gurcharan M. - You should actually hire a new waiter for your restaurant (who knows how to behave properly with customers) so that even if the food is not good customers should not regret of entering...