Awful Experience at Saravanaa Bhavan in Plano, TX!! Please don't go there!! We spent $200 for this!! Never to visit again!!

From my niece:
I just want to let y’all know that I created a yelp account just to explain how awful my experience was at this restaurant.

It started the moment I walked through the door. I went into this INDIAN restaurant with my uncle and put my name down for my INDIAN party of 12. We were there for about two minutes before 4 WHITE individuals walked in to put their name down for a party of 9. The server at the front asked me where the rest of my party was and I said that they were pulling into the complex, but my uncle and I can sit at the table as we were ready to order. They said no, they can’t do that, and immediately gave our table to the 4 white people who were in the exact same situation. This blatant racism is unacceptable. It is not okay for anybody to be racist, but it is really not okay for Indian people to show preference for white people out of fear of their influence. The joke is on them, my family has an influential role in a large South Indian community in the area, and I can assure you that my anger will be relayed to the thousands of family I have connections to.

I was upset, but as my hungry family was from out of town and were already heading to the restaurant, we decided to stay. They came in quickly and we were seated within 5 minutes, which isn’t the worst. However, there were no cups or utensils set out, and the water was not readily refilled.

We started ordering our meals. My meal was the first order taken. Since I personally am not a huge fan of South Indian food, I asked for the paneer butter masala with garlic naan. The waitress said that it came with buttered naan, but I can get garlic naan after. I said that’s fine, get me the garlic naan as well. The rest of the table ordered, and food began to come out.

Everyone’s food came out within a half hour, except for mine. The waitress had said it would take a few extra minutes, so I patiently waited. After another half hour had passed, I started asking where the meal was. I asked at least 5 times, to which she responded “just a few more minutes” each time. We paid the bill and I told her to just box up the food, and proceeded to wait another half hour. I was upset and my family was disappointed as well.

The meal finally came out, about 1.5 hours after I had ordered it, and I had them pack it up immediately. I asked the waitress if the naan was garlic naan, and she responded “I told you, you had to finish the butter naan before ordering garlic naan”. It’s not her place to tell me what to eat, and this is simply unacceptable. She told me she could get me garlic naan for an additional cost if I was willing to wait even longer.

I called the manager over and told him everything that had happened. He laughed off giving the table to the white family and said it was because my party wasn’t there. I pointed out that their party wasn’t fully there either and he just brushed it off, still pointing the blame at me.

I told him that I waited an hour extra for the paneer, and he started talking about his own problems. He mentioned how hard it is to make paneer from scratch and I told him that while I understand this, the waitress should have told me it would take an extra hour rather than lie to me and tell me it would be out within a few minutes. He retorted saying that it’s a South Indian restaurant and North Indian food was difficult to make, so I asked him why it was even on the menu. Anything on the menu is fair game to order, but he said it would be taken off soon. I also mentioned how it’s not her place to tell me what kind of naan I can order, and he just started talking about how the poor waitress has been standing all day. I understand being a server is difficult, but if she is overworked, it’s his responsibility to give her a break, and quite frankly, as a paying customer, it’s not my problem.

What bothered me about all of this is he didn’t really apologize or even offer to take off the cost of the meal that I didn’t get to eat with my family. He simply said that an hour is unreasonable to wait and justified not telling me the wait time as he didn’t know how long each meal would take to prepare. But more than that, the blatant racism evident in the way he seated the white family first is unacceptable.

I’m very disappointed that my family from out of town had to witness such horrendous customer service, and I strongly urge everyone to stop coming here due to this awful staff. If these people are truly willing to show preference and treat a paying customer as myself with such disrespect, they don’t deserve to be given as much business as they are receiving.
Small portions · Disappointing food · Slow service