The Guilt Trip Express — Restaurant in Seattle

Main Concern - 20% Gratuity on the bill for 5 people which includes 3 kids. (Read the last paragraph)

One word which comes to my mind about 'The Guilt Trip' is SPICY. Overall a good place for Indian Food. There was a 20 minute wait for the table. One thing to note, the long table in the middle of the restaurant, which was 70% not occupied, could have been accommodated to us but, the manager said he cannot as there is not enough space to move around. We found that excuse to be weird as there was quite a lot of space around. This immovable long table is not a good option for any restaurant. Please refer to my pictures.

We ordered... Chicken Kathi Roll - was good Paneer Kathi Roll - Paneer was bland but the masala was spicy. Harissa Fried Rice - I had a mixed feeling about this rice. James the waiter warned us about the spice in the rice when we ordered. As he warned, the rice was really spicy. It did have a good flavour but was not unique. The Soya (nutri) in the rice was a great idea. I will surely order this rice again... If you make it a little less spicy. Chicken Seekh Kabab - Would not recommend. It was bland. And I have a feeling, the kebab was microwaved for long time. The insides of the kebab was very hot. This is not a good choice. I suggest you grill kebab before serving. Naan on the other was delicious. Phaharj Chole Battura - Battura was really delicious. It had a Cheese filling... This is my favorite in the food we ordered. Chole was not great though.

Something which I never knew about is 'Gratuity' of 20% added on the bill for 5 people, which includes 3 kids. I did not really notice any information that Gratuity will be added to the bill and the waiter did not warn us about it before ordering. They also expect you to leave an extra tip... Lol. Please refer to the uploaded picture of the bill. Guys 20% Gratuity plus you want TIP... Really?? It's a joke... Make me Tip you for the great food.. that's good business. Charging Gratuity without informing customers is bad practice. Is it mandatory in Seattle to charge Gratuity. I would like to see a reply. I have the Menu downloaded and I read through the Menu and there is no mention of Gratuity.

P.S.: On a good note: James service was great. He is polite and graceful.

Food - 7 Ambience - 5 Service - 9 Experience - 6 (Fix that Gratuity...

ATTENTION: This place may have 4.1, but that was in the past. I am only giving this place 1 star because I cannot give zero. I am shocked how this place even has that rating, it could be because of COVID-19. But my first time here tonight was absolutely terrible. Our reservation was for 7 o’clock. It is currently 8:40 and we just got a t and we are still waiting on our paneer. The quality of the food we had is awful. Portions incredibly small for the same prices. Our stomachs are still rumbling. We’ve paid $100 for these two little plates. When we first got here, we were trying to decide on food, the server (apparently the owner) was basically forcing us to pick menu options, my family was debating over an eggplant dish, we were planning on not getting it, then the server said “You guys should definitely the eggplant it is fantastic”. Other dishes to he was pressuring us to order including that paneer dish we never got. He even pressured us into getting an Oreo Lassi and Masala Soda! It was completely ridiculous, waited an hour and half for our god awful food. Being Indian I have high expectations for Indian food, but any person would agree the food, service, portions, staff were a joke. Our waiter was extremely rude. When we got our Khulfi, ice cream came in a little cup that you put sauces and frozen yogurt toppings. When our check came, we let our waiter know our paneer never came and that it was on our check. He took it off, but only after a little tense discussion about bringing it out. We politely declined the food because we just wanted to go after we wasted 2 hours and we were still starving. We intended to pay the check and leave. When we were paying he would talk down to us like little kids because we struggled paying (he gave us an iPad to pay because he removed the paneer. When we paid he got upset that we did not tip, we tip everywhere we go even if the food was bad. This was the first time where the food and service was bad. They were rude! We wanted to leave and he wanted us to stay and said he deserved an explanation because he owned the restaurant. I could go on and on about the service but point is DO...

It was a lovely food experience @Guilt Trip.

To begin with we faced a lot of difficulty to reach them for making a booking.For like really long hours no one really picked the day before we wanted to go.Finally we could reach someone after 10 am on the day of our lunch and got a advance booking.

As we reached ,we were asked if we have booked and only then were let in with a briefing on very strict Covid protocols (I think by the owner himself) which they are following.We were handed over a packet with disposables to begin with ,which was kept ready as per the number of people on our table.

We soon after had someone to take our order ,so the service was quick.

We tried a few things from small plate like Samosa chaat and Pani poori - Both were ok and won't say out of the world.The samosa chaat with Matra was tasty but should definately have 2 samosas instead of just one small samosa.Pani poori was fine quantity wise but taste was just ok and not great.So the experience with small plates was quite average.

After this we moved to large plates for which I have attatched few pics too ,could not take all.

We are vegetarians and ordered Paneer tikka masala plate which comes with gravy and panner tikka seperately placed and you have to dip them by yourself.It comes with 4 PC's of bread of your choice so basically you can order extra bread and it serves 2 people well.This was with a lil sweet gravy but tasty.

Then we had ordered some Kofta in Palak gravy and that was quite delicious.The portion size of gravy and kofta was quite good here .Again serves around 2 people if you order a extra bread along.

We had also ordered Paneer Burger which was delicious too and comes with a choice b/w salad or fries.We opted for fries as had kids along.

For desserts we had ordered Kulfi and meetha paan ,which were quite nice too.

Overall the taste of food was good.Ambiance was quite basic.Covid protocols followed religiously.

Pricing wise can be called a bit on higher side but what suits...