Tandoori Oven

Posted by: DaPurp | 10 October 2005, 6.21pm

Do not waste your money at this restaurant. The food is ordinary and bland, the prices expensive, and the service from the "proprietor" is atrocious. My wife and I dined at Tandoori Oven in September, 2005. We will never go near it again, and advise all to steer clear. We were attracted by the decent decor and what looked to be a professional establishment with several other diners. It just shows you can't judge a book by it's cover. In the case of Tandoori Oven, it is window dressing designed to suck you in. When the dinner plates were laid down, and were dirty, we should have taken it as a warning. However, we asked for replacement plates and proceeded to order. We are both vegetarians, and usually find the most delicious vegetarian food at Indian restaurants. Not so Tandoori Oven. We had: Entree ($8.95): Papadums (5) with 3 sauces: a bland, watery, raita; a standard sweet sauce (also bland); and a teaspoon of tamarind chutney. $8.95! Most Indian restaurants give the papadums for free as an appetiser. When you pay for it, you expect it to be good. But it was beyond ordinary. I couldn't believe we paid $8.95 for it. Entree 2 ($6.00): Vegetable pakoras. OK. Just. Flavourless again, and the sauce being so bland added little. At least they weren't bone dry like some pakoras can be. Main 1 (Large $18.00): Aloo Matter. Potato and pea curry, requested medium hot. Bland, watery sauce. Very mild. Very disappointing. Can't believe I paid $18 for it. Ate about a third and gave up on looking for some flavour. Main 2: (Small serve $12.00): Dhal Makhani. The only dish that was approaching edible. Still bland and watery, but at least it tasted a bit like dhal. Rice: for 2 ($4.00): dry and flavourless. Obviously precooked and reheated. Drinks: 2 lemonade ($5.00); Kingfisher beer ($8.00!!) Total = $62.00 As if the poor quality food was not enough, we then had an experience with terrible service. When we were ready to pay our bill, our waitress (who had been quite good) was in the kitchen drying dishes. But the owner/proprietor was at the bar talking on the telephone - which she had been doing from the moment we arrived until that point - about 1 hour. I tried to get her attention but she ignored me and continued to talk on the phone. Eventually, after about 10 minutes, I managed to get the attention of our waitress in the kitchen. I asked for the bill, and it was immediately brought out from the bar - where the owner/proprietor had obviously been aware that we wanted to pay the bill, and had already prepared it, but could not be bothered putting down the phone to bring the bill to our table. I offered my credit card to the waitress, who took it up to the bar, but it was another 5-10 minutes before the invoice was brought to me to sign. I observed that the owner had remained on the phone for the whole time, and only hung up from the call she was on so that she could run the transaction through the phone line. Not 15 seconds after she ran the bill through, the phone rang and she was off again. At that point, she yelled out to the waitress in the kitchen ".... run this out to table ....". After ignoring my attempts to get her attention, spending all night on the phone, and only hanging up to run our transaction through (and when it suited her), she had the gall to demand that the waitress come out of the kitchen and hand us the receipt instead of bringing it herself. It was the most appalling display of service I have ever experienced in ANY establishment. I am embarassed that this is the level of service being offered to tourists. Cairns is a key location for international tourists, and the fact that this kind of food and service is being dished up is shameful. I actually approached our waitress and apologised that we could not leave a tip for her based on the service of the owner, and empathised with her for having to work there. She gave us a "you can't imagine how bad it is" kind of smile and apologised for our treatment. I advise locals and visitors to Cairns to dine at any of the other Indian resturants in the local area. Tandoori Oven will disappoint. David Melbourne, Australia.

Food:			Visit: Tue 20 September 2005 Mealtime: dinner
Service:
Atmosphere: