Dinner
Messed with the wrong food blogger at Shalimar Cuisine of India
I am a coupon cutter. I look for deals in newspaper ads. I also see if there are any daily specials - with lunch menus, happy hours, and two-for-ones. But it goes beyond finding deals on food. I also love to hunt for bargains at my local thrift store, craigslist, and the random yard sale.
I am that kind of person.
So when the LA Area Entertainment guides were being sold, I bought one for myself. And so far, it’s been fairly good to me. The $5 off coupons for Ralphs and Bristol Farms make it well worth the investment.
I’ve even found a couple of restaurant keepers from the book. Granted, you have to sift through the McDonald’s and Pizza Hut coupons to find the gems in there… and even then, you sometimes don’t really know what you’ll get - as MS and I found out the hard way.
I had my coupon for one complimentary dinner entree when another dinner entree was purchased, up to $12 at Shalimar Cuisine of India in Culver City. Sound like too good of a deal to you? It was.
I ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala that came on a large plate separated from the daily vegetable and dal with the basmati rice - horrible presentation, and I upgraded the naan to garlic naan for a little extra $. MS ordered the Chicken Chef’s dinner with vegetables - again with the same haphazardly plated dish. Both dinners were $12.95. The ala carte options were slightly less expensive.
We gladly offered our coupon upon ordering. And well, since we were saving $12 with our meal (or so I thought), I also ordered a glass of their Mango Lassi - super saccharine, thick, and unimpressive.
So you can imagine my sticker shock when we got our dinner bill for almost $30. All I could think, say, feel was: WTF?!
We asked our server about the bill, who then brought over someone who may have been a manager of sorts to our table to explain our bill.
Apparently, the deal was for an A LA CARTE dish and not the dinner special - which was no special at all. I could have done without the extra vegetable dishes. I left them on my plate because they were both pretty unappetizing. So in reality, I would have PREFERRED the a la carte dishes.
MS and I were livid that they couldn’t have the decency to tell us the coupon caveat at the beginning of our meal. And I was more upset over the fact that the woman helping us was no help at all. She merely mentioned that they were nice enough to honor our second dinner special at 50% off.
Ridiculous.
And as for the food, it was nothing special or great.
I’d much rather pay the extra dollars for better food and much better service, than to drive here to what was more of a Sham than anything else. The food was uneventful, unimpressive, and the service ruined the entire experience.
A definite NO in my books.
I told MS at the end of the meal that they messed with the wrong food blogger!
(This post has been added here, in addition to my BoLA and Yelp sites!)
Shalimar Cuisine of India
street: 10708 Jefferson Blvd | Culver City, CA 90230
tel: 1-310-839-2841
By Kristy (see more of her posts). A native of the city, kristy loves to discover new sites, new eateries, new things to do in her online journal of finding the best of la.
Discussion
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I’ve heard sketchy things about this place too. A co-worker of mine got food poisoning after eating there. Not a great recommendation. Also, a very good friend once ordered an entree off there menu, only to see the server go to the buffet, spoon said dish onto a plate and serve it to her. Very, very sketchy.
I’ve lived in the area for many years, and that place gets uniformly horrid reviews. Whenever I go by there (Joyce’s sub sandwiches next door is pretty good as sub sandwiches go…always people there, while Quizno’s a few doors down is usually empty, and for good reason), Shalimar is either empty or has less than a handful of patrons inside.
Avoid at all costs!!
I’m with you on that same thing man. I got the entertainment book and had that same issue with another Indian restaurant (maybe they’re in on it together). We did luck out that we didn’t order more and so it wasn’t that much of a hassle but still sucky. In the entertainment book I can at least recommend Anarkali on Melrose and India’s Tandoori on Pico. Both excellent and both have good coupons for the sweet hookup price. Something to notice is that I think it had happened at India’s Tandoori more than enough times with the ala carte versus dinner special section that they make special note to show in big bold letter the section that coupons do not apply to. Sorry to hear about the loss though Jonah.
Thumbs down on this joint. way down. Almost everyone even on Yelp did not like this place as well. I thought the Food was not very tasty there at all…i wasnt impressed.
All in all i can live with their borderline mediocre food as long as it doesn’t make me sick… but shaddyness is a big NO-NO.
avoid.
I have to say, I am really surprised Shalimar would treat you so unfairly. It’s been a while, but when I lived in Culver City, I used to eat there all the time. Granted, I went for the buffet lunch because that was cheap, but the service was always at the bare minimum civil. Most of the time, service was good. Do you know if there’s been a change in management? If so, I won’t be going back there ever again. If not, then maybe this was a one time huge mistake on their part?
Similar experience at that exact Shalimar. Went at lunch with some coworkers and didn’t feel like the lunch buffet so we ordered entrees off the regular menu for something like $14. When the bill was brought to us, the waiter casually mentions “Next time you should try the lunch specials if you don’t want the buffet .. It’s the same thing you got but it’s only $6″. Turns out there is a separate lunch special menu that we needed to ask for specifically. Tasty food but the customer service there is too sketchy ..
Their latest grade from the Health Dept is 87, a B, with risk of contamination as one of their many problems. Coupons or not, I wouldn’t eat there if they were GIVING away the food. Yuck…
This post says a lot more about you than the restaurant.
To All: MS and I have learned our lesson to do without our game of Restaurant Roulette with the Entertainment Book and stick with our usual faves. (And checking out reviews BEFORE heading out the door.)
I’m not sure if the ownership has changed since I’ve never been before, but was really disappointed with the food and service.
I’ve also never had food poisoning before so I have nothing to compare how I felt the next day with… throwing up, upset stomach, lack of energy, and a bad headache. BLEH!
Felt MUCH better the day after.
And I’m not sure what to make of that last comment except to feel a little taken back… I do love a good bargain, but I’m not *always* a penny pincher. ;)
Food is horrible - left that place and ate at Joyce’s Pizza. Lasagna was great.
I love Shalimar. Great food, although a bit expensive.
I had the same problem with the entertainment book. You should all report them to the health department or the better business bureau. I hope this place gets shut down