Namaste India — Restaurant in Winter Park

Appel à tous les bons vivants. Si vous êtes français ou indien, vous allez adorer cet endroit. I reluctantly post this review because selfishly I don't want too many people to learn about this gem in a strip mall and ruin it, but I promised my newest friend Chef Ricky I'd post my honest review. First, Chef Ricky and his partner are both Indians who have worked in the international five star hospitality business. My French isn't good enough, but I believe that under my incredulous questioning, Chef Ricky politely told me that he worked his way from apprentice to sous-chef at La Table de Franck Putelat in Carcassonne (Provence France) (2-Michelin stars for nearly ten years and chef Franck Putelat is a big deal). The sign says "French Indian restaurant" which is crazy, but I had a fusion meal I will not forget soon. We ordered fondue savoyarde (cheese fondue), Bhindi Masala, Aloo-Matar Paneer and garlic naan. While our dishes were being prepared, amazing amuse-bouche after amuse-bouche were delivered to the table. Five amuse-bouches, each different, each surprising, each raising my expectation that something special and unexpected was about to happen at our table. I took pictures of each amuse-bouche and each dish as it came, and texted them one by one. I was texting about the food from the table, that isn't something I generally do. Actually, never have done that before. First the fondue came. The four aged cheeses used to make the fondue were so flavorful and strong that I found myself thinking about the tingle in my mouth and nose that one gets from aged hard cheeses. I've never experience better and I known this dish. Think elevated French mac and cheese. What could follow such strong flavors???......Indian cuisine! I'm still surprised. Each dish was perfect. The naan was perfect and flavorful. The flavors of our two indian dishes were both strong and nuanced. At the end of the meal, I apologized to Chef Ricky that we were not appropriately dressed. We came in like everyone else in our grubby ski attire. When so much love and care is put into each dish, each flavor, each moment, one must show appropriate respect for the effort and the artistry. I listened and looked around at the other diners and did not see the oohs and awes coming from their tables. Maybe they were discreet, non-effusive types or maybe the food was too elevated for them to appreciate without the context of an expensive and fancy environment. Like a Van Gogh hanging in a diner. I've heard stories of virtuoso musicians as an experiment bringing their Stradivarius instruments to subway stations to play for tips and attracting a crowd...ordinary commuters just knew something special was happening and hung around instead of getting to work on time. Something special is happening in Winter Park. If you can appreciate the effort these men are making, please patronize this understated gem. Everyone else, there are great pizza and burger joints nearby. The owners deserve the success of their efforts, but I will be back with friends and I don't want to wait...

I DETER ANYONE WHO IS NOT CAUCASIAN OR INDIAN FROM DINING OR ORDERING FROM HERE. DO NOT GIVE THIS ESTABLISHMENT YOUR MONEY!!! I rarely EVER do reviews. This is my first for a dining establishment, but it needs to be said. We were very excited about finding an Indian restaurant with mostly great reviews. We came in, and immediately noted the very bland and unwelcoming atmosphere. It’s empty and cold. 7:06: The first man came up to us and without even saying welcome or hello, he asked if we had a reservation. We did not. He said there was reservations and he couldn’t seat us. At this time, there were four tables open. I figured maybe we needed a reservation to dine here, even though that wasn’t stated ANYWHERE. I got online and luckily there was reservation slots for 7:30pm and 8:00pm. We opted for the 7:30pm, since there were several tables open. We walked around a bit outside to check out the shopping center and came back in at 7:30pm. He still wouldn’t sit us. He gave us an excuse that there were too many reservations, yet no one came— the tables remained empty. At this time, and additional table was being cleared off making a total of 5 open tables. 8:03: we were finally seated followed by a Caucasian couple who walked in and had NO reservation and were immediately seated. That was the surety to my thoughts about why all the Caucasian patrons dining, were receiving good service and hospitality. Flat out racist. We didn’t get the same service and hospitality as anyone else in the restaurant, as a matter of fact, the man who refused to seat us originally stared down my boyfriend the entire time. When we asked our server who was in charge that we could speak to regarding our experience, he replied that no one was, there was no manager or no one in charge. He dismissed what we shared with him, asking, “but how was the food” a couple times. I began looking through the negative reviews and found two from recently, who also complained about racism, and not getting even the slightest quality hospitality and service. Coming from an area where we do not experience discrimination, it was incredibly obvious what we were experiencing. It is not a good feeling and we hope that no one has to feel this way ever...

Party of 8+ Didn’t get a chance to eat. We were not allowed to dine in (only takeout) because the kitchen “closed” even though we got there at 8:10 PM, a restaurant that closes at 9:30 PM. I’m not from here so not sure if that’s normal. But be aware of this stupidity. The person handled us was being rude for no reason as well. Also, if it’s just takeout only Why not allow us to dine in when there were people already dining in? Clearly, you had more than an hour to close. So, what’s the difference between us dining in or order takeout?

Edit: Response to your reply - I must say, this only reinforces the impression we were left with that evening, one of condescension and defensiveness, rather than accountability. We felt unwelcome and disrespected. Your reply, instead of de-escalating, doubled down with unnecessary condescension.

Your remarks about local dining “protocols” feel more like justification than explanation. Moreover, the restaurant we ended up going to that night (without reservation in Winter Park) had similar hours and crowd levels, yet treated us with warmth and professionalism, qualities notably absent at your establishment.

Our problem was your tone and attitude towards us. Better communication, something as simple as, “We don’t have the bandwidth to serve large parties right now; we apologize for the inconvenience”, could’ve gone a long way. Instead, we got “no dining in” “kitchen is closed” 5 mins later, “chef is preparing food for tomorrow” “we can only do takeout” “no paneer” all in a rude tone with judgy looks, while we were still processing why we can’t dine in.

Speaking of "exceptional demand," "peak hours, and "house capacity" that's actually quite interesting considering your restaurant was completely empty with the exception of 2 tables taken. We would also like to address your passive use of "language barrier" which is also quite interesting as we were the only Indians in the restaurant who were refused service.

Instead of jabs at your guests, a more gracious response might have acknowledged the situation and shown a desire to do better. I hope you...