Preet Palace — Restaurant in Virginia

Just One WORD = "DISGUSTING" = NO NO!! NEVER EVER AGAIN~NOT EVEN IF I AM PAID TO EAT HERE.

I am new to Virginia area and insisted my wife (virginia native) to try this place over Jaipur or Bollywood Bistro (BOTH THE RESTAURANTS ARE GREAT) for Buffet so we can bring our family and business clients for meetings/reunions. OMG....Lets go over it by doing step by step analysis:-

Deserted Place - The place was like a graveyard (NOT GRAVY~YARD...lol). It was empty like planet pluto with any trace of human life yet to be discovered. The below points will make more sense why no one is there during busy lunch hour. Anyway, Just to mention, I had called before to check what they have for buffet and a guy with very thick accent said " THE CHEF IS NOT HERE.....NOBODY KNOWS WHAT WE HAVE FOR BUFFET TODAY"

Appetizer -Tikki and Aloo samosa -the shell of samosa and tikki had gotten so hard...by heating it over and over again that it felt like we eating raw alligator meat. Seems like they never throw anything away and just recycle appetizers over and over again. Took a bite and just put it on side.

Bread / NAAN - OMG-How hard is to make good tasting naan....Naan was Cold And the edges were not cooked. I think it was old from last night. Dry. no butter "DISGUSTING"

Gravy -Kadi Pakoda, Chickpeas, Mattar Paneer (Cottage Cheese And peas) . EVERYTHING TASTES GROSS, SALTY AND IS EXACTLY THE SAME.

THEY NEVER THROW THE FOOD AWAY~ After this experience we shared the views with our family only to find out that INDEED we were right about the fact that they never throw the food away. PROOF -My Wife's cousin worked there when he was in college for 1 year and confirmed the fact that they recycle whatever is left. He shared the following facts:-

a. All the sauces GREENmint and REDtamarind -They are never thrown even from buffett. When people order appetizer and if they do not finish the sauce they pick out the pieces of peas and potato (if customers dipped their appetizer in the sauce) and mix it with the big container of sauce to recycle.

b. If people can't finish the bread from dinner or buffet~ they use this bread in the buffet next day.

They gravies are never thrown away. If it gets old....they recycle it while cooking with the new one.

He also mentioned that they don't have wine prices on the menu because they charge according to the type of customers they get. Charge caucasians more since they don't mind paying more....OMG THIS IS HILARIOUS!!

5.Jalebi (RED CIRCLES) for dessert ~ is really old and dry...never thrown away either.

He mentioned that its a family owned business and they used to run a Truck Stop food joint somewhere is India and have no idea on how to treat customers. And TAKE TIPS AWAY FROM WAITERS. So don't leave any tip because WAITERS DON'T GET ANYTHING, If At All you happen to go there.

Revenue Source -Also, he claimed that they don't care about the restaurant customers because a majority of their revenue comes from catering for temples or family functions / Party Hall rentals and by selling Indian sweets. So your business don't mean jack to them.

After this I am never ever stepping back to this place again. Worst...

I haven't been to the place, but was looking for something that delivered in my area and found them and though, Awesome! Indian delivery. My first problem was that I had to sign up for some 3rd party service to put in my order, but it wouldn't let me complete my registration so after setting up my order and fighting with it for a few minutes I ended up having to call them with my order anyway.

The call was fine, and there weren't any problems there, the food came in the promised time. (a very reasonable 40 minutes) However, that is where it stopped being fun. We had Vegetable Samosas, Aloo Gobi, Curry Pakora, Aloo Parantha, and Gajar Halwa. Everything was coated in grease and was almost too salty to eat. After eating about 1/2 of it my wife and I were sick to our stomachs for the rest of the night and even for part of the next morning. I won't be ordering from them again, and so my dreams of Indian delivered to my home are once again dashed. I should also say that I know good Indian food. I eat it and cook it often. This just wasn't it. Best of luck to them in the future and hopefully for everyone else that goes there we just were unlucky or caught them on an off day. I hate to leave negative reviews, but when food makes me feel ill I don't feel there is...

We went for the lunch buffet and asked about items made with flour. We got a really lack luster response from the staff who wouldn't even walk over to the buffet with us. I hadn't been here in several years because of a previous experience where we couldn't get service because we were not Indian while tables seated after us did have their orders taken. I only gave them another chance because I met an Indian man in a doctor's waiting room who knew the owners and was shocked that they would treat customers that way. My 14 year old son kept trying to tell the waiter/host how good everything tasted. It's great seeing him enthusiastic about food he's never had before and the host didn't respond. I was at a hole in the wall Indian buffet in MD a few months ago where the food was similar but so diverse in flavor and the staff cared and were welcoming. It made me really sad to see what Preet's could be with a little care.

Foodwise it's solid Indian food. Nothing brilliant but tasty. The buffet is primarily vegetarian. Everything was a bit spicy for our tastes (which is really mild) even the vegetable biryani. Except for the butter chicken it tasted like they used the exact same seasoning in every dish. So while it was tasty it was not...