Tasneem R.
Google
I’m genuinely disappointed writing this because Shalimar was a place I grew up loving, but this visit was by far the worst experience I’ve had here.
We came in as a party of four and were seated, but only given two menus. It then took a long time for a server to even acknowledge us and take our order. When our order was finally taken, I asked for water and was told to go help myself, with the server pointing toward the wall. That already set the tone.
After about 25 minutes, our first dish (fried fish) came out - it was good - but then we waited another 15 minutes with nothing else arriving. During that time, multiple tables that came in after us were already eating. When I asked about our food, I was told “10 more minutes.” Suddenly, within five minutes, our food started coming out, which made it very clear we were forgotten.
The biggest letdown was the food itself. Everything was incredibly bland, which is shocking because this is not how I remember Shalimar at all. We ordered chicken seekh kebab, beef seekh kebab, chicken tandoori boti kebab, fried fish, garlic naan, plain naan, and a chicken breast with naan, none of it stood out.
At no point did anyone check on us to ask how the food was or if we needed anything. I tried waving to a waiter at one point, he looked directly at us and walked away. I eventually had to go up to the server/host myself just to ask for raita, which honestly should be offered automatically with kebabs.
Between the poor service, long waits, lack of attention, and bland food, this was a really frustrating experience. I never thought I’d say this, but this visit made me question whether I’d return. I truly hope this isn’t the new standard, because Shalimar used to be so much better than this.
Oh lastly, I asked for takeout boxes since we had food left, same thing point to the wall🤦