Namaste Nepali and Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Virginia

Terrible experience, with bad and frustratingly clueless customer service. We ordered delivery through Foodler; we’ve used it before and it’s been great. We place our order and it comes an hour later, which is pretty standard. We’re about halfway through eating when we realize we have the wrong order (long story – my husband doesn’t know what Indian dishes should look like.) No big deal except we have multiple chicken dishes and I don’t eat meat (don’t judge), which means I’m screwed out of anything other than samosas and naan. So, I call Foodler which tells me to call the restaurant, since they just pick up the order. When I call the restaurant, I talk with the owner, who assures me he will send over the correct order. Fine. An hour later, a woman shows up with NO FOOD, but who wants us to pack up our original food so she can take it to the people who ordered it. What? So, the restaurant sends someone to pick up food that had been sitting at our house for 90 minutes and had been partially eaten, and yet they were planning to deliver it to another customer. I’m sorry, what (oh, and where is my paneer tikka masala?) The woman was really non-committal and was like, I was just sent to pick up the food. She left and called the owner, and two and a half hours after our original order, I talk with her again. The owner wants to send over just the corrected dish (not the correct order, mind you.) By that time, it was 8:00 and it wouldn’t have arrived for another forty minutes – so more than three hours and fifteen minutes after our original order. I tell them to just issue a refund to our credit card, and they tell me to call Foodler. Foodler tells me that the restaurant has to authorize it, so when I called back, they again told me that they couldn’t do anything (ARGH.) So, I asked them to email me a statement indicating that when I call back again, I should get a free paneer tikka masala. Frankly, after LITERALLY 9 phone calls to try to get food or my money back, I think I deserve a little more. Unfortunately, I won’t ever order from them or eat there again, because I was so frustrated by the whole experience. It was also really expensive for carryout: $38 for two dishes, an order of plain naan, and two samosas (and I didn’t even eat one of the entrees.) FAIL. Also, I have major concerns about their food handling processes given that they wanted to deliver half-eaten food to...

I want to start by apologizing on behalf of the Indian people, Indian cuisine, and genuine Indian restaurants to every patron of this establishment called Namaste. Furthermore, I want to apologize to the money I earned through my labor that was wasted on this so-called 'Indian food'.

Let's start with one of the most important aspects of an Indian restaurant: the tandoori grilled items. On the website it is stated that those meats are grilled in a "clay oven" but I am certain, having worked in Indian restaurants, that the meat was not cooked in a clay oven at all. The flavors, textures, and aromas that come from cooking meats in a clay oven are incomparable. In this case, it was evident that the meats were not cooked in a clay oven. On top of that, within the mixed grill, there was a bland spice-less piece of chicken breast. I did not examine all that was provided to compare to what it says you will be getting on the menu, but I am sure that if I were to take a closer look, I would find myself even more disappointed. I can't remember it saying that a bland piece of chicken breast would be included. To summarize the tandoori failure: no clay oven.

Now to turn to the Chicken Tikka Masala. 3/10. Perhaps their style of tikka masala is different but the first thing that shocks you is that it is yellow. There is not an Indian store you can go to and get the tikka masala spice and find it to be yellow. It is red. The texture of the curry was watery, there's wasn't a tikka masala flavor, no spice, and the chicken was not sautéed - this is the same food we would put together at the restaurant to feed the employees for cheap. Never served to customers. Definitely not a chicken tikka masala by any standard. Big F.

The samosas: what the hell was that? A big round samosa - not fluffy, not crispy, just yucky.

The rice was...

First off, I'm giving a one star due to the fact their customer service is horrendous. If you care to read more about my experience the story is below:

When my delivery arrived it said Ubereats, with the name Melissa, and the incorrect order. I ordered from Grubhub and my name is Marisa.

I called the delivery driver for Grubhub and he told me the restaurant told him that was the correct order even though the driver questioned the wrong delivery company and name.

I then called the restaurant to try and get my actual order, the person on the phone told me that was my name (Melissa) and the correct order. I told him I ordered from Grubhub and not Ubereats and he said I was wrong. He wouldn't even acknowledge they messed up and wouldn't even let me reorder to get my correct food. He told me it was the drivers fault and they weren't going to do anything to fix it.

Needless to say, not sure what food we actually ate because it was from another customer named Melissa. I just hope whomever got my order was satisfied. I was not and will never order from this place again due to the fact that you blame your customers and won't own up to your mistakes--regardless if your food is good or not. Learn some customer service manners and maybe you won't loose a first-timer...