The worst restaurant experience

Buckle up, things are about to get ridiculous…

So up until about a year ago, there was a nice little Indian restaurant in our small southern town. Me and my boyfriend both love Indian cuisine and the closest other than this one was about an hour away. We used to eat at this place all the time (several times a week) until what I refer to as ‘the incident’ occurred.

We arrived at about 2:00 pm on a weekday, because I used to work as a manager at a fast-food chain and would work weird hours. Now granted, they did close at 3:00 and reopen at 5:00, as most Indian restaurants do. But we went anyway because we had plenty of time to finish our meal before they closed.

When we got there, we stepped inside and waited at the host desk to be seated. We waited for about 10 minutes before we saw anyone. They didn't have a bell up front, but the door rang when someone opened it, so I figured someone heard us. Just as we were about to leave, a server came up and pointed to a table we could sit at, and quickly got our drinks.

Now for lunch, they have a buffet open. But I have never really trusted buffets, and I prefer to order from the menu because you get exactly what you want. The server didn't come back for another 20 minutes. So, at this time it was about 2:30 and they started closing, mopping floors, etc.

Our server came back and asked if we needed refills. We told him we would like to order. He literally rolled his eyes at us and left to get something to write on. We put in our orders, and it took about 10 minutes to get out to us (which is about standard for them). As I took a bite of my food, I realized it was ice cold. Literally freezing like they had turned the warmer off and put it in an ice bath. It also tasted off, but I couldn't tell if it was because it was cold. He also didn't give us any rice, or the naan we ordered. My boyfriend was also given the wrong type of curry.

I wasn't going to say anything, but my boyfriend insisted I send it back. I was just going to ask the server to bring me whatever he had that was hot, and I'll take that. I wasn't picky, just hungry.

However, the server was nowhere to be seen. We could clearly see the kitchen from where we were sitting, and at one point he walked out of the back, and we looked up, smiled, and waved slightly to get his attention. Now I do not normally do this, but we wanted to get his attention because I knew they were about to close. He promptly turned around and went right back in the kitchen. We were baffled. He had clearly completely ignored us.

We waited until 3:00 and he still didn't come out of the back. We thought he had forgotten about us. My boyfriend never touched his curry either, or at a certain point we figured the guy wasn't coming back out. We didn't have any cash on us, and so we didn't know what else to do other than leave.

Skip ahead about a week, and my boyfriend gets a call at work. It's the manager from this restaurant, demanding he pay for the food we ordered a week ago. He said if we don't pay, he will call the cops and press charges. My boyfriend tried to calmly explain what happened, but the manager kept threatening to call the police. Finally, my boyfriend agreed to pay for the meal, because he didn't know what else to do.

After this incident, we ripped this restaurant apart on Yelp. Within a month they closed. They were never that busy to begin with, and they lost their best customers that day. I was sad to see them go downhill, and I really do miss having a curry restaurant near me. But you can't treat your customers like that.