I think we could have potentially had a nice experience here, had they been able to get it together. There were about 20 waiters in the place though, and as soon as we walked in, one of them looked confused at just the simple task of locating a table for two. She asked another staff member to help her, was told he was too busy, and so she grabbed a bottle of window cleaner and swiped a rag over our table while we waited by the door. Ten minutes later another staff member filled our water glasses and five minutes after that took our order.

By the time we’d been there for 45 minutes, we regretted our decision to give it a try. The huge staff continued to be inefficient and overwhelmed, with about 20 tables to wait on. We ordered a malai kofta curry and the chicken biryani. They arrived about an hour into our dinner and we scarfed them down greedily, using the naan the kitchen comped us for the long wait to soak up the curry sauce. The naan was delicious; piping hot, both chewy and crisp, and coated in garlic and olive oil.

The malai kofta was a tasty dish, but completely unhealthy; soft mashed potato patties, rolled and dumped into the rich, mild coconut milk curry. The dish was most certainly filling. The chicken biryani arrived looking like Chinese fried rice with dark spices. It was fragrant and filling, but not amazing. The quality of the chicken was very good and the spices in the rice were pleasant and complimented the chicken well.

The manager or owner, it was hard to tell which, continually came by our table, complaining about how busy they were and that most patrons had come in without a reservation. We just felt that that’s common practice and a restaurant downtown should be prepared for a rush on Saturday night. The highly disorganized staff and long wait might prevent us from going back, since the food at India House was simply “ok”.