Punjabi Rasoi Indian cuisine — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

This was our second time going to the Punjabi Rasoi Restaurant on Kempsville road. I will comment at the beginning of the review: there are TWO Punjabi Rasoi restaurants. The original is on Monarch Way (Norfolk) by ODU and the more recently opened location is at 1830 Kempsville road. According to the staff at the Kempsville location they are sister restaurants.

We have never been to the Monarch Way location. This review is for the Kempsville location only.

We love the food here. We love the staff here.

I gave the Food 5 Stars. I gave the Service 3 Stars. I gave the Atmosphere 3 Stars.

It should be known that my wife and I get the same thing when we go to the restaurant. She gets the Goat Biryani and I get the Bhindi Masala (okra). Both are delicious. Of all of the Indian restaurants in the area I have only found one other that has Bhindi Masala on the menu - but I have not been to that restaurant.

The kitchen makes the Bhindi properly and it is full of flavor. I order this dish as hot as they make it (level 5). I have ordered this dish in other parts of the country. By comparison, this preparation presents very well! It is a vegan dish (no I am not vegan).

Be aware that typically the goat biryani is served with multi colored rice and pieces of goat meat with the 'bone in'. This may be a “no go” for some people, especially if unaware of this when ordered, BUT the dish is delicious and is typically a large serving.

We experimented with an appetizer of Dahi Balle. I liked this a lot - not so much for my wife. The preparation was done properly. The Dalle (two per serving) are fluffy lentil fritters topped with yogurt and chutney(s). The version served here is excellent. The fritters are fried but the dish is not a hot dish. I will order this again.

My only criticism is the front of the house with regard to the service side. First, the dining staff (and kitchen staff - they came out to the table) is very kind however the dining staff is lacking in training (per our limited experience) and understanding of proper table service.

At all points throughout the dinner the dishes were left on the table after being used. It was cumbersome when the dinners came out following the appetizers (there were four of us at the table - a booth table for four). We literally had to pick up the dirty dishes and hold them in order to make room for the main course service. It is just common sense to clear the table to make room for the dishes that need to be served. They seemed oblivious to this. This was also true after the dinner was finished. All the plates and bowls remained on the table. I had to ask that they be removed. The main courses were served without dinner plates. The dinner plates came a little later - after the bowls of food were placed on the table. In this way the dinner was unorganized and amateurish.

The main thing is that the food is well prepared! The chef can cook and is able to manage all the details of the food preparation. The dining service is much easier to fix than trying to fix a cook that cannot cook. There are a lot of restaurants with people in the kitchen that cannot cook - this is not one of them.

This is now our "go to” place for local...

I was really looking forward to eating here. I love indian food and this plebe was close by and had great reviews. Sadly, my experience was not great. It took a while for anyone to greet me when I entered, despite only 2 tables being occupied. It took more time for me to be given a menu. 10 minutes later, there was some confusion as to who was my waiter and someone new took my order and removed extra cups/silverware from my table. I was hoping there was a lunch buffet (I thought another review mentioned one), but there was not. There also was not a lunch menu. My matar paneer was quite good, as was the rice. The garlic Naan was much more doughy than I've had in the past, almost tasting not quite cooked. The waiter dropped off the basket of Naan, then came back and took it away because he had mistakenly given me 2 Naan instead of just 1. I hope he didn't plan on serving the basket with 2 Naan to someone else, but either way I found it rude. They made the mistake, just leave it. You can't serve it to someone else once it's been on someone's table. They also brought me my food and then realized they'd never brought me a plate. When it came time to pay, they handed me a device that I was supposed to use. It was a new style of device and no instructions were given. I mashed some buttons, thinking I'd paid and given a tip. The screen said that the tip I had given was "change owed." However, when I asked for confirmation, they said I hadn't given a tip yet (after 3 people conferred since no one quite seemed to know how to use the device). So, I left another tip in cash. It hasn't posted to my account, yet, so I can't be sure what happened.

Overall, the food was good, but not "$20 for a vegetarian lunch with water to drink" good, the service was not good.

I don't think...

This restaurant is one of the worst Indian restaurants in the country. Would recommend everyone not to visit and spend their money on a better experience instead.

The chicken appetizers and entrees were not cooked. You could see the pink in the meat and water dripping from the meat when you slice it. Awful. The okra was undercooked as well and had random pieces of green beans in it posing as okra. The sauces in their curries were poorly prepared as well and tasted ordinary. The owner/manager was a woman who needs some therapy to fix the toxicity ingrained in her mind. Here are the stunts she tried to pull - She wanted us to make the payment first and only then would she give us the itemized bill showing the prices of each item we ordered plus taxes and any other fees that they might have charged. When we politely requested her to first let us see the bill, she proceeded to make a pathetic attempt to gaslight us into believing that that's not how it works. Instead one is supposed to pay and only then does one see the bill. Laughable. Next when we persuaded her into bringing the bill first, she walked away and made a racist comment out loud about us. Finally, when we called her out for her comment, she tells us that she is like our mom and hence she can make racist comments about us and it's okay.

Needless to say we have never ever had such an interesting experience at a restaurant and would never...