Royal India

I had been dying for Indian food for a while. There are actually quite a few good restaurants fairly close to where I live. We ended up going to Royal India at 10263 S 1300 E in Sandy, UT.

The Atmosphere 3/5

The restaurant finds itself in a strip mall in a fairly small single unit. Despite that, they've managed to cram twice as many tables as you'd expect into this tiny space. It makes you wonder how big the kitchen could be. They've decorated it nicely and the ambient cultural music is comforting. I would suggest going at an off-peak time. Once it gets busy in here, it's LOUD.

The Service 0/5

And now for the disappointment. :( I've had good experiences here before and I do take authentic Indian cuisine service with a grain of salt, but tonight's performance was unacceptably ridiculous. My wife and I were greeted by four seated employees, who sprang to attention. We were then given a small table for two and menus to look at. It hadn't been three minutes before a server arrived to take our order. She almost seemed annoyed that we weren't ready. We weren't offered drinks or specials. Feeling uncomfortable, we  hurriedly ordered the two most pedestrian items on the menu, Chicken Curry and Lamb Vindaloo. 

It gets worse. A friend of ours pleasantly surprised us and joined us at the table. The staff seemed panicked. I asked if we could be seated at a larger table and we were given a third chair. We requested a plate and silverware. This took them more than 10 minutes to produce AFTER our food had been delivered. There were tons of employees, many of whom came to the table, and yet our friend went unserved for the entire meal. He was given no menu and no chance to order any food for himself. Our water glasses stood empty for the majority of the evening.

The Food 5/5

At the very least, I can say I got what I came for. I don't crave Indian food often, but when I do, Vindaloo hits the spot. Perhaps it's impossible to get it wrong, but I can't remember ever having bad Vindaloo or Curry. We also ordered these lamb pastries, which we served with two sauces: fruity and minty. I really enjoyed these little things, but they were decadent. Had the friend not shown up to help us with them, I doubt I'd have finished.

Conclusion

Royal India is a convenient little Indian food restaurant that can usually seat your whole group without waiting. Lower your expectations on the consistency of the service and enjoy the authentic cuisine. Arguably though, with so many great Indian restaurants in the area, you might consider going elsewhere.