Tandoori Hut — Restaurant in Seattle

BE PREPARED TO BE UNKNOWINGLY OVERCHARGED (FRAUD)

I hate leaving bad reviews, especially for small businesses, but this one is well-deserved. The owners are KNOWINGLY taking money from customers and have been doing so for years (just check previous reviews, and you will see). I've never once described any experience with a business using the words theft or fraud, but both of those definitions fit this situation.

The prices on the menu (physical and online) don't match what they charge in the system. The menu said shahi paneer ($14.95) and chole pindi ($13.95), but they charged $17.95 and $15.95, respectively. These prices are not communicated to the customers at all. They make them up, put them in their system, and operate on "we can charge whatever we want."

On top of quoting different prices, they do not provide an itemized receipt to customers to avoid anyone realizing what has happened. I thought the total was a lot higher than it should be. After paying, I asked for an itemized receipt where I noticed the discrepancy.

I asked the woman at the counter, and she pointed to a tiny sign taped to ONE table in the restaurant that says, "Menu prices are subject to change due to inflation." She said they had to raise prices but were hopeful they would come back down, so they didn't want to reprint menus. She then said that the online menu was correct. I checked online, and it matched the physical menu (incorrect prices). She went back on her word and said it is difficult to update an online menu, so they haven't yet (spoiler, it isn't difficult). She also said the sign was on every table, but it was only on one in the entire restaurant.

I explained to her how it was wrong on so many levels to advertise prices in multiple places but charge people a different one without them knowing. She then brought another employee into the conversation, who again justified it with their minuscule sign. I sat outside and was never shown the sign, nor did the waiter share that info. He apologized and said people are more likely to see it when they sit inside. I pointed out that signs like that indicate that owners have the right to change prices, not that they revised the prices in their head/system and never updated their menus. When you see that sign and are given a menu, the expectation is that the prices have already been adjusted for inflation.

They wanted to avoid paying to print new menus even though you can do it yourself for $100 or less. I suggested even taping a piece of paper over the old prices with the new ones, but he was against that idea because it looked bad. He finally agreed that putting a note that prices are incorrect at the top of each menu was a good idea. I felt highly frustrated but somewhat content since he agreed to update the menus...

That is until I got home and read their Google reviews. This was no accident. The same issues have been happening for years. They have yet to do anything to change it and are taking money from customers without them knowing. This entire experience left a bad taste in my mouth, which was disappointing as I enjoyed their food.

If, for some strange reason, you choose to eat there after reading all these reviews:

Ask what prices they've made up for the day before ordering Ask for an itemized receipt before paying

They have been aware of these issues for years and still choose to do it. They are deceiving customers and charging more without making the customers aware. It is not okay. Instead of spending $100 to reprint menus, they're losing loyal customers who don't...

So we went to this restaurant for lunch as tourists in Seattle and had some elderly with us who only ate Indian food. We were a party of 10 adults and three kids. As soon as we entered, the old lady did not look happy so I checked with her if they could handle our order, she smiled and said, "Yes, of course". So we sat and started to order. Since we were a big party and as expected had different orders and orders that we did not put through all at once. But, we apologized for the inconvenience. The old lady was very rude to my husband, pointed at him with a pen from a distance and said " Hey you, I cannot make your tea right now because all the stove tops are occupied with the orders you guys placed. So your tea will be the last one to come out". I hushed my husband and said that was okay. Then one of our cousins ordered seafood platter or something- after all the order was placed, that is when she grew outrageously rude and shouted at him/all of us for not ordering all at once and that she had to overwork blah blah. At that moment, I suggested that we go to a different restaurant, but before we left one of the elders with us thought that we should let the lady know that she was rude, so he called her and said that she was very rude to us and they should have told us earlier if they did not have capacity to cook for that many people. That is when the young, son with the turban walked into us and literally thrashed us. He was loud and obnoxious in front of our elderly and 3 little 4 year old kids. "no one talks to my mom like that, people who talk to my mom like that cant eat at my restaurant blah blah". Our uncle tried to explain to him what actually happened but the dude was not ready to listen. Instead he got so aggravated that opened the main door and asked us to get out. He still was loud and disrespectful. That is when I lost it. I went to the counter and told him that I wanted to pay for the drinks that had already come out. He refused to take the money and said that he did not want any of our money because we insulted his mother. Our kids started to cry. There was a big scene and we had back and forth for about 15 mins. I was mad because we were with kids who have not seen us talk so disrespectfully with anyone and this guy was doing just that in front of our kids. I told him that we had kids and what he was doing was not right. He did not listen. Finally, his mother was scared by this time and realized what they had done so she accepted $20 bill from us for the drinks. we walked out but man what an experience.

Until today, my kids ask me about that incident. So even if you guys like the food, which I bet is good, because his mom made it herself, chances are you will get shouted at and thrown out of the restaurant for...

Never experienced fraudulent practices at a restaurant like this before; will not return.

I found this place on Yelp, checked out their menu on their website, and came in. There was no A/C so sat outside. They handed out a menu. It matched what I saw online - no surprises. I ordered the food. The chicken in the Chicken Vindaloo was a little tough and grisly, so I ordered the Chicken Tikka Tandoori. I said nothing about not liking the Chicken Vindaloo - I was fine paying for both entrees. Then I asked for the check. Only one catch - everything is 50% higher than what was stated on the menu or online.

Now, I've run into places that increased their prices and didn't re-print their menus. They update their website, put a note on the printed menus, or blot out the prices on the menus so there are no prices. Lots of options to communicate to customers that the printed menus don't have accurate prices. In this case, the printed menus matched the website prices and there was no notice anywhere of the prices being higher - and we're not talking 10% or 20% but 50%!

I asked about the price difference. They acknowledged they didn't update the menus and said they didn't have access to their "old website" anymore and there's a new one now. After I left, I took a closer look and found that both their Google and Yelp business pages pointed to this "old website", so is it really their "old website" or their only website? And are they saying they don't have access to their Google page, Yelp page, or website? I find this difficult to believe. And even if this were true, they need to provide notice somehow that their printed menus aren't accurate.

In the end, the ugliest part of the experience wasn't the 50% increase on the advertised prices - it was their acting like it was perfectly normal to just add 50% to the tab. I think this is why I just paid and left.

NOTE: I have never used the word "fraud" to describe an eating out experience before. Fraud is defined as "wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain" which I felt best described the behavior I...