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Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby
I finally tried Amarit Palace a couple of weeks ago. I was not very happy about it. I asked for what I always get - chicken curry, medium-hot spice, with buttered naan and basmati rice. While I waited, I noticed no one brought me any papadum or tamarind sauce, so I asked about it. They brought me a little thing of mango chutney, and after I was halfway through with my entree they finally brought the papadum, which was brown (almost burned) and SALTED. Horrible.
The curry was so bland I had to actually ask them to spice it up. When they did, it was only marginally tastier. The naan was good, and the meal came with soup, and I selected the lentil soup which was actually delicious and the best part of the meal. The rice was plain - no peas, no cumin seeds, not a hint of saffron, which was disappointing.
I was so underwhelmed that I put most of it in a take-out container, thinking maybe I'd get through the rest of it for dinner. I ordered gulab jamun for dessert, and they were hard, too dense in the middle, and the sauce was just plain simple syrup, no rosewater, no pistachios, no nuttin.
Bombay Bistro was definitely better, and had better service (and obviously MUCH closer to home - I can park my golf cart at Walmart and walk across 441 at the light if I wanted to).
But of the three I've tried so far in the area, Shiva in Mt. Dora remains my favorite.
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I’m sorry you had a bad experience at Amrit Palace. I’ve eaten there perhaps a dozen times, and it has always been wonderful. Their Samosa Chaat appetizer is delicious and a meal in itself. I took an Indian friend from The Villages there for dinner, and she loved it and thought it was the real thing. Well—most of the customers seem to be Indians. Their new menu, alas, no longer has Bhindi (okra stir fried in spices), as I always ordered that. I guess they were having a hard time sourcing fresh okra of the right small size. Their prices have also gone up. Dinner for two with tip is always over $100 for me.
I’ve never considered complimentary poppadums to be part of dining in an Indian restaurant. It’s sort of like going to non-touristy Italian restaurants in Italy and expecting to receive fresh bread and olive oil with spices in it for dunking, then discovering that’s an American thing, not an Italian thing.
Not speaking to YOU about this, but I’ve noticed that I need to be careful about restaurant reviews—especially the number of stars. I only want reviews from those who actually know that sort of food well and are fit to judge it. I’ve seen high Yelp ratings for pizza I know is mediocre because I’ve tried it, or giving Taco Bell a five star rating for its Mexican food or Panda Express a high rating for its Chinese food or McDonald’s a high rating for its burgers—or its shakes.