Drove down from LA to celebrate a friends birthday at the San Diego Zoo. After a long day, we decided to have dinner in the Gaslamp District. One of my friends recommended the Cafe Sevilla for tapas. Unfortunately, it has closed or moved. It's been a few years since I've been to SD. So we didn't know what we really wanted. Didn't want a loud sports bar. Didn't feel like Hooters. But I could go for some good curry. So we decided on the Royal India restaurant on Market street. It didn't look busy (Sunday night, to be expected.) So we decided to give it try.
The dining room is nicely decorated and the wait staff seems ready to handle customer. I guess looks truly can be deceiving. Our waitress gave us our menu and made some recommendations. She then, disappear. What seems like a very long wait, we motion for the young lady at the register. We told her we were ready to place our order. She said our waitress was tied up with a large (8 people) party and that she would take our order. My friend Suzy gave her order first. She and the birthday boy decided they would order family style (all food is placed in serving dishes on the table). I gave the second order for the Chicken Curry with Pineapple. Follow by the other two in the party. It must have been at least 15 minutes and all we had is water on the table. As waitress pass, we asked if we could have the Nan or some bread. She apologized and blamed it on the large party at the back of the room (which had grown to 10 people).
Finally, the food started to arrived. Everything arrived except the Chicken Curry with Pineapple. I'm waiting and waiting (at this point, I'm thinking the wait crew needs to be retrained). Called for the waitress and told her that I was missing my dinner. She when to check, upon her return, she said the waitress who took the order, neglected to enter it into the computer. She offered to enter the order. Since we had a long drive back to L.A., I decline (no curry for me). Made a small plate from my friends dishes.
I've never written a restaurant review, but this got under my skin and I decided to get it off my chest. At first, we decided we wouldn't leave a tip. But I guess you might say the state of the worlds economy got the best of me. So, we decided to leave 10% on what should have been a 20% tip dinner. So, needless to say, I won't be dining at Royal India again.
(Otherwise Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?)
Rating: Decor = B+, Food = C+, Service = D-.
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