Friday, April 25, 2008

India Mahal Restaurant

Do NOT patronize the Indian Mahal Restaurant!

Indian Mahal Restaurant
823 Pacific Ave.
Tacoma, WA

This morning, I took my children over to Ever After, a gift store located immediately next door to the Indian Mahal Restaurnt. While waiting for Ever After to open, I took note of the restaurant. My husband recently tried Indian food and mentioned liking it. I thought about coming back with the family soon to try it out. After my experience with the owner today, I will never step foot into that restaurant and I hope you won't either. This man should not be in business working with the public nor does he deserve your hard earned money.

Like I said, we went to Ever After this morning. While there, my son told me he needed to throw up. I quickly asked if they had a restroom and was directed to the back door and down the hallway. We made a fast beeline there, leaving my daughter in the store (it felt very safe) with our things. My son ended up throwing up on the floor of the hallway. After cleaning it up, we went to leave and found the door back into Ever After was locked from the other side. Oops! So, I tried the next closest door which ended up leading to India Mahal's dining area. I just thought we could quickly walk through. No big deal. We walked about 10 steps through when my son realized he didn't have his bag so we turned back.

When we got to the hallway door, the restaurant owner came at me (in an aggressive stance) and yelled at me, "What are you doing in my restaurant?" I calmly explained that I was shopping next door and my son got sick and needed to use the restroom but we got locked into the hallway so we tried the closest door to get out. He responded by backing me back into the hallway and yelling at me to get out of his restaurant. I, getting a bit angry at this point, asked him if I should just be locked in the hallway all day. He yelled back, that it wasn't his problem and blocked the doorway so I couldn't leave. I can't remember everything he said (other than to repeated say "It's not my problem.") but I don't back down, even from a 6 foot tall man yelling at me while I'm holding a baby and trying to keep my 6 year old away from him so at this point I asked him why he was being such a ________. He didn't answer. He just screamed at me to stay out of his restaurant and it wasn't his problem. I told him I would be informing everyone I knew and the world, via the Internet, not to visit his precious restaurant. What a jerk!

He continued yelling at me and blocking the door to his restaurant and was between me and the locked door to the store I had come from so I had to find another exit. I ended up having to walk, with my toddler and sick son, around the block to get back to the store where my 8 year old daughter was waiting for us. The employees/owners (I'm not sure which they were) apologized for the door being locked and for my unlucky run in with their neighbor. The male employee explained that this guy is always unpleasant and that he had a major run in with him too. He had been in the bathroom and there was pounding on the door. When he opened the door, the restaurant owner began yelling at him and actually grabbed and shook him. Meanwhile, the female employee/owner had to call the police. They ended up filing assault charges against the guy. I'd say he definitely has a problem!

So, PLEASE, don't patronize this restaurant! If you have a blog and are local, please pick up this story and spread the word.

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3 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! That sounds like a horrible experience! I hate that you and your children had to endure that. I pray he is feeling better soon too.

Chickie said...

It sounds to me like the restaurant owner was afraid you had seen something you shouldn't have seen. Like, either something illegal (which restaurants are often a "front" for), or major health code violations. In either case, I would call the police & tip them off regarding his behavior, and I would call the health department and tell them I think they really need to pay him a surprise visit. (I used to be a manager with a national restaurant chain...so these would be good "first line" defenses.) There's no reason someone who doesn't have something to hide would be so ballistic over the situation you described. Just my .02!

Unknown said...

That is so strange that you had such a negative experience with him! My friends and I have been eating there for awhile, now, and have never had a single negative experience! In fact, the last time we were there he was joking with us over my laptop, and he routinely remembers our regular orders.

That's too bad that your experience with them was not a good one.