Tandoori Taste of India — Restaurant in Town of Rye

We visited this restaurant for the first time last Saturday before going to The Capitol for a concert. Given the reviews we were really looking forward to it. And now, having been, we are completely mystified by them. I've never written a review before, but I'm afraid this experience needs to be shared as a P.S.A. for both potential customers and the owners.

Apart from a pleasant greeting as we walked in the staff were mute at best, and comically surly at worst. Surly as in Monty-Python-sketch level surly. My wife and I spent the next 45 minutes trying to figure out if we'd somehow managed to offend by smiling too much, saying too many thank-yous, or perhaps that we'd ordered the last plate of goat curry in the house that the waiter was saving for himself. But no. I think the waiter (owner?) was just rude. Weird.

And then there was the food... OMG... the food. I've eaten a lot of Indian food, in different countries, in my 47 years on this planet, and this was hands down the worst Indian food I've ever eaten. Actually no... back up... this was probably the worst restaurant food either of us have EVER eaten. Period.

I have a pretty low bar as far as culinary satisfaction goes - late night kebabs are a favorite. NYC street meat is a guilty pleasure. I'll even admit to having eaten road kill once (it was very fresh). But this food was spectacularly bad, even by those limbo-level standards.

It actually started out quite well. We ordered the vegetable and tandoori platters as appetizers and after a few minutes the veggie platter arrived. If you overlooked the bed of limp brown semi-translucent lettuce, the fried veggies were quite nice. We ate them all. Indeed they'd been eaten for quite a while by the time the tandoori platter turned up, which again was pleasant enough if you ignored the fact that you could have played squash ball with the chicken pieces, and they seemed to have forgotten to put salt in anything.

It wasn't until the entrees turned up - slung on the table with a mumble by Mr. Surly - that the full scale of this disaster became apparent. I'd ordered goat curry, which, done well, is a wonderful dish. This was indeed a dish of wonder but only if you were wondering where the meat had gotten to. I understand that much of the point of curry is to make the inedible edible, but seriously a small pile of bones, fat, gristle, cartilage (and... wait... is that tripe in my mouth...?) submerged in a puddle of brown ooze isn't really what you expect in a NY restaurant. I crunched and gagged my way through about a quarter of it before giving up on finding anything resembling meat. I try to find the positives in life but honestly this curry was an insult to the poor creature that had died to provide whatever body parts were floating in it.

It was accompanied by aloo gobi, saag paneer and keema naan. There's not a lot to screw up here as long as you can serve them warm, which sadly they weren't. And so bland. How do you manage to make keema naan bland for Heaven's sake?? It wasn't helped by the naan having been soaked in a bath of ghee. It's usually my favorite item on the menu. I managed to hold down one piece.

My wife's tandoori chicken DID look great when it finally arrived sizzling on a hot plate, a good while after she insisted I start eating. But sadly it too could have been dribbled around the restaurant by a skilled basketball player. And it too was bland apart from a strange aftertaste of... dishwasher fluid? Er...

Upshot was we politely dug around the food on the table for several minutes before we both looked at each other and started giggling. "You can't eat that, can you" said my wife. "That chicken's horrible isn't it" said I. At that point we gave up and asked for the check leaving about 2/3 uneaten. I've worked in too many restaurants to risk complaining. We did leave a 15% tip for the less surly staff.

We never made it to the concert, both deciding we needed to have a bathroom available A.S.A.P. Less than an hour later it proved to have been a wise decision.

We have definitely had...

I recently ordered from this place on Grubhub and overall had a positive experience. I had a few specific requests, so I called to confirm, and the person I spoke with was incredibly sweet, helpful, and patient.

The lamb samosas, however, were a bit of a letdown as they were supposed to be lamb, but it tasted more like ground beef. Unless they ground the lamb themselves. I would rate them a 3/5. On the brighter side, the tandoori chicken was a standout with a solid 5/5 rating. The white basmati rice, unfortunately, fell a bit short with a 2/5, and the garlic naan earned a 3/5. The sauces, on the other hand, were quite good, scoring a 4/5.

While the delivery might have impacted the freshness of the food, I still enjoyed the meal. I'd recommend trying it out, especially considering there are other dishes I'm eager to explore. The menu looks promising, and I'm curious about the possibility of enjoying a meal in the restaurant, perhaps with a drink or two. Looking forward to trying more...

I placed an order on doordash for pickup which I got from the Tandoori website when I arrived I was informed they no longer used doordash I checked my credit card right there and showed how the order went through and was taken out of my account the two young women that were at the door did not want to hear any of it I had to replace the order and wait they told me to call doordash directly and we're very unaccommodating I'm the one who is waiting for an order put out of my way and charge twice after being a patron of Tandoori for many many years think twice before you use an establishment that will double charge you and not help you out for something that I got off of there website what terrible customer service I had I never had an experience like that it's a shame be aware of customer service comes first I'll choose to go to other Indian restaurants in the area where I'm...