Annapurna Simply Vegetarian — Restaurant in Schaumburg Township

I have been eagerly awaiting for them to open for a while now. On July 4th long weekend, I called them and they said that they would soft open on 10th or 11th. They opened on 12th, but with a very limited menu (no thali, no sabji's etc). Alright, it's a soft opening. Finally a couple of weeks later, they fully opened. So I went with great expectations. But alas, I was beyond disappointed.

So to begin with, the girl on the register is not rude but looks tired and uninterested (looking at her facial expression, one would feel as if customers were a big burden to her). I gave it a pass thinking it was busy and maybe she was tired. First impression, not great.

I ordered a Kachori, Samosa, Vada Pav, Dosa, Bhel, Malai Kofta, Aloo Gobi and Roti's. The lady said Kachori wasn't available and would take 25 minutes, so we cancelled that. I ordered 4 rotis but she felt I would need 6 (why, no idea - maybe because of 2 sabji's) - I said 4 is fine but she rang up 5 and I didn't notice until I was at my table - not going back for a $1 item but that's not done.

Anyway, now begins the first painful part - the wait. The Dosa took about 10 minutes, the Samosa (which should be ready) took 15 minutes, the Bhel and Wada Pav took about 20 minutes and the Roti-Sabji took 30 minutes or more (Dosa's kept coming to most surrounding tables, so maybe that's more of their specialty).

The 2nd painful part. The Samosa was dripping oil and the filing didn't appear fresh. The Pav for the Vada-Pav was burnt and you could taste the char. The Bhel was cold and for the most part inedible. The Malai Kofta tasted horrible while the Aloo Gobi was decent. The rotis were okay I guess (Guess what, we only ate 3 roti's and had to pack the 2 to go). So, for the price, the taste was simply unacceptable.

The final pain was when we asked for some boxes to pack it. The guys at the counter not only kept ignoring but were pretty rude with my wife.

All in all, $50 down...

I am sorry to leave a bad review but I feel it is valuable information to someone who is considering eating here. It was filthy in the restaurant, with a very loud and noisy refrigeration unit that filled the room with excess noise. The salt shaker on the table was oily and sticky from multiple uses without being wiped down, and there were multiple dirty tables despite being mostly empty. Then our samosas came out cold in the middle so we had to sent it back. The food is obviously frozen- even the mint chutney was frozen because it was so watered down (probably from the thawing process). We ordered the lemon rice and it was just terrible, it was $10 over priced rice and we threw it out because it was so sour it was like they poured a whole bottle of lemon juice on it. We had the aloo goobi and that was the most palatable dish we ate. The bhindi masala (okra) was just okay. and Baingan bharta (egg plant) was not good at all. We suspect many of the dishes are frozen, including the eggplant and samosas. Overall, this place was filthy, we had food come out cold, and the the other dishes we ordered were sub par. We don’t recommend it, and we feel disappointed with the money we spent as times are tough and going out to eat is a nice treat, and something we don’t do often due, so it’s disappointing to have such a terrible...

This place is a hit or miss. The first time we went there when it was newly opened, the food was really really good!! Every single thing that we ordered in thali and apps was perfect. But unfortunately it didn't live upto the expectations. Baingan bhartha was more like aloo baingan sabji on the 2nd visit. and it tasted something like a newbie would cook. I loved their baingan bhartha the 1st time so this was a huge let down. The lady at the counter however offered us a free replacement, but unfortunately every sabji in the thali was a downgrade from 1st time so we passed.

Also, they don't have many sabjis available all the time so its a bit disappointing that 99% of the time things that you would want will not be available.

They are short on cleaning staff so the tables and the space is a bit messy.

3rd visit was the same as 2nd when it came to taste and cleanliness. We decided not to come until it gets better like before.

Please get the original taste (and chef?) back and hire more staff to handle the amount of customers you...