Saffron Patch — Restaurant in Shaker Heights

After approximately 30 years of eating at Saffron Patch, we will not be back. My wife and I worked in the Tower East office building when Sheila opened Saffron Patch. Because we worked there we ate there often and I also would bring my coworkers. When our children were born we brought them up eating from that restaurant and they love Indian food. Sincce then it has changed hands man times. When Saffron Patched moved to the current nearby location and although neither of us works in Shaker Heights anymore, we would continue to eat there. When Covid started, we started getting the food to go. We ate Indian cuisine from many other restaurants in the Cleveland, Akron, and Canton area, but gave Saffron Patch a huge amount of business. We had to be one of their best customers. In the beginning of December (2022), we placed our order and were asked how spicy we wanted our food on a scale of 1 to 5. My wife told the woman on the phone we wanted a level 2 on everything, which I heard her say. My wife said the woman laughed at that for some reason. We drove to Saffron Patch and back home to find the food extremely spicy. I called them up and the man that answered said he apologized and would give us half our bill, a $25 credit toward our next order and he took my name. A couple of days later, we placed another $50 order and told him to make it mild and told him about about the credit and he said when we come in, we could tell the manager. So when I went to pick up the food and said there was a $25 credit for us, he got the manager who asked who I talked to and I said I don't know, but that man took my name and that it was only a couple of days ago (they don't have many employees). The manager told me he could not give me the credit without knowing who I talked to. I said we have spent a lot of money here and if that was the case, I did not want the food and left. So needless to say, I won't be spending any more of my hard-earned money at Saffron Patch, but will give my business to other Indian cuisine...

January 2023: After a fun time playing in the snow and sledding on the hills, the family wanted to get something to eat. We wanted Mexican or authentic Indian cuisines. We found Saffron Patch and decided to give them a try. From the parking lot, patrons are greeted with a fragrant aroma of mixed spices.

Inside, we ordered the assorted platter, masala potato, a coke, 2 mango lassies, 3 garlic Naan, Mumbai mixed grill tandoori, chicken makhani, vegetable biryani, and lamb chops. Everything was simply okay, and I was not overly impressed. The lamb chops were overcooked and tasted somewhat plain (to theri credit, I neglected to put any sauce on it, which may have enhanced the flavor. The Naan was good, but I've had better. The chicken makhani was actually the highlight of the meal and had a nice spicy kick to it.

My eyes overloaded our stomachs and we ended up with a lot of takeaway containers. For everything purchased, the bill came to $134 after taxes

Pros: Restaurant is cozy and appears to be clean. There was soft music playing in the background. It was not overly busy for patrons who dined inside, but there were multiple takeout orders and doordash orders going. My estimate is that over 15 orders came through on takeout within 30 minutes. Friendly, swift staff members who were very attentive to our needs. The food came out relatively quick, like 15 minutes after ordering

Cons: Food was okay, but not quite what I expected based on the aroma outside. Parking was a challenge because the only parking was in the rear of the building with maybe a total of 15 spots available. I asked if biryani came with the entrees, and they said "no," so I ordered some. I was surprised to see 2 large biryani rice bowls show up. I felt like I overordered food due to a misunderstanding of the portions and the meal packages

Summary: I...

Not sure what to make of this place. I will start with the positive. The food itself was good. Cooked well and came out warm. I'm not sure they have a set system for spiciness. The waitress never told us or corrected us when we ordered something at a spice level of, say, three. When it came out they used words like mild and spicy... So we weren't sure who's was who. The food was timely, given the large party we had.

-Location: We could not find the place. They need to increase the signage outside the building. I drive around for five minutes. If I wasn't meeting a party, I would have given up and drove away.

-Service: We had a larger party and while our table was ready and waiting (per reservation) the waitress wasn't. She was chewing gum and wasn't organized in appearance. When she started taking orders, her phone rang and she stepped away to answer it. She stated "it's the manager calling" when she got back, but I'm sorry of your boss is calling your personal cell phone during a dinner rush... I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you waited until you took care of the customers first. It took her forever to actually take our order though. She kept asking about drinks and a second round of drinks... And we looked at her and asked, can we order food? We had to be somewhere after dinner and it was made clear in the beginning. At the end of the meal we couldn't find our waitress to get the checks then once she gave us the checks back, she gave us one pen for 8 checks.

I will not be back to this restaurant. (I took no pictures that evening, as nothing...