Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Comment from EastWestAshe, left on my post here about Chai Pani closing Monday and today to get its act together:
Yes, it was slammed. I was there. And for those who were not, count your blessings, Here’s how it went down. When our party of four walked in, there was no greeter or clear method of service. We asked an employee what to do and she seemed just as confused as we were. We were told to take a menu, compile our orders, pay at the cashier and take a number. As the place was full our next question was “who will seat us?” The reply from the hipster employee in the typical Asheville laissez fair (or I could care less) attitude, was “just hang around until a seat opens up.” All the while there were at least three other groups waiting. So we did. We stood around continuously being bumped and jostled in the small area we portioned out as our waiting area. About twenty minutes later, a small table opened up. Never mind the fact that, just before us, two women took a booth versus the open two top.
Minutes later, someone came over to wipe down the table, hooray! This is when the real fun began. Within ten minutes, one of three appetizers arrived. Ten minutes later, two entrees, then another appetizer, a third entree. So while three of us were eating our fourth entree arrived after we were done.
Now for the food. Let me say that I have never been to India however, I imagine that the street food there is far superior. Everything was cold, bland and at least one thing, which could not be identified, was down-right disgusting. The most tasteful item on my plate was the half teaspoon of relish. I wish I had had a whole ramequin of it to spread around the “food.”
And as if this whole experience could not get any worse, by the end of the meal, we were expected to bus our own table and leave a tip.
My last words…Dear owners of Chai Pani, this may be Asheville and we may let a lot slide but, your concept of food service is wholly unacceptable, your “food” is terrible and your “service” is non-existent. If you ever expect our, or any other party of four to come in again, drop the crap. Seat people, take their order and serve some decent food!
Thanks for finally writing about > Ashvegas reader: Dear Chai Pani,
get your act together < Liked it!
"""I wish them all the best. """
yeh, i bet you do. you sound proper.
since you have decided to review the person reviewing the other people, i will now review you – in an effort to demonstrate the inseparable and all-pervasive chain of awesomeness that keeps us here together, chatting
you said "I think you are reinforcing the fact they can’t seem to stand on their own." but thats not a fact – its an opinion, illustrated by the word you used about right after it… "seems"… as in "appears".
or perhaps you would rather not look into the difference between appearances and reality? indeed, it may not be appropriate or proper enough – especially for a weak person
so good luck
JG said: So all in all If you are not the type of person who likes to share and if you can’t pick up after yourselves or if you’re the kind of person who would bully a new establishment (basically if you learned nothing in kindergarten) this might not be the place for you… But as for me, I’ll be back!!!
So, instead of reviewing the restaurant JG is reviewing/bullying the customers who have chosen to post on this site. This is clearly a sorry attempt of someone personally invested in the restaurant/owners and I don’t think you are doing your friends any service, in fact I think you are reinforcing the fact they can’t seem to stand on their own. The other comment I would like to share is the owner who posted should have used their name, they are asking us to ask to feel comfortable, but ask for ‘owner’? Also, including a contact number would be appropriate.
The restaurant business is one of the quickest to abandon the weak. I wish them all the best.
Chai Pani definitely needs to establish the kind of service model that’s taken for granted at the burrito places or 12 Bones, but that might require booths and benches and disposable plates (or, less wastefully, using thali trays for more than just thalis) to send the right signals instead of the current fine-dining style crockery. The people who’ve transplanted chaat and dosas and uttapams to the US, esp. Gujurati places like Chaat Patti in Atlanta, tend to do that.
(They also need other chaat-stand things, like panipuri and bhelpuri, but I can wait for those. The food’s pretty decent as it stands.)
I have eaten at chai pani about five times, which is the same number of times I have been to India, and have thoroughly enjoyed each visit. Whereas Mela and India Garden serve up the kind of Indian food that tourists usually eat in India, Chai Pani delivers the goods that the locals eat….fresher, more flavorful, and far cheaper. Mela and India Garden do their thing well, no doubt. Chai Pani is dealing with a different kind of food–and totally rocks it. The street food in India is hot, fresh, and exploding with flavors and textures. Chai Pani does this perfectly. The only marked difference is that Chai Pani uses a lot less (and far cleaner) grease.
For those that complain, you must understand the differences between the fares these restaurants serve. Chai Pani does not cater to the enormous gullet of most American diners, who prefer buffet to fresh food. The reason that so many people feel that they leave Mela in a food coma is because they eat too much! At Chai Pani the portions have been reasonable, and filling. Also, Chai Pani’s bread (chapathi) is not naan, and is not meant to be. In India, chapathis are cooked on a griddle, not in a tandoori oven. The chapathi I got in my thali at Chai Pani was perfectly done. The food quantity and presentation has not always been consistent at Chai Pani, but that’s okay with me for now, because it has been consistently delicious. I can handle the month or two it might take to work the kinks out.
As for the service, it gets better each time I go in. I know they are working on their system, and I can handle that. I understand now that the food comes out tapas style, and that is fine with me. I also am fine with finding my own table and cleaning up after myself. When I want (and can afford) fine dining, I’ll go to Mela. But when I want something fast, delicious, authentic, cheap, and fun, I’ll go back to Chai Pani.
We (a group of 4) went on Saturday night, Oct 3. I would say that it is worse than the postings above. Our wait was about an hour, the apps came after the entrees. The service is horrible. I didn’t really eat my meal, moved it around the plate, it was bland and just NOT GOOD. The ‘farmers cheese’ on the top of my dish was about a thimble full, crumbled and barely visible. The app, Samosas, were ok, not very good. No one in our group would go back. One in our party had been to Inda and the other Indian restaurants in town. We would all highly recommend Melas and Indian Garden. Chai Pani is cheap, but not worth the money
Well, last night I dinned at Chai Pani for the first time and had a great experience! Normally I would reserve judgment for any new establishment until they had settled into themselves but since so many people are willing to cast judgment so early, I have felt the need to defend Chai Pani.
I will start by saying that when I walked in and no one offered to seat me, I walked to the counter at which time I noticed a sign that said, "Order Here" now I may not be the brightest person alive but my logic deduced that this would be the spot to place my order which I did.
Our four top then found a table that suited us fine (were not that picky) and soon items began to find their way to our table.
I didn’t know that they would come in random order but I didn’t really care. I have eaten at Zambra’s and am familiar with this idea, anyway I would rather my dishes not wilt away under a heat lamp so that they can all came at the same time. Also, this allowed my group to share items and this encouraged conversation about each dish. This is something I think is important in our, "mine" society.
The food was all served hot and swiftly. I can’t say I loved each dish I tried but I can say that at least one person in our group was a fan. I was most fond of the items I ordered but that is neither here nor there…
I did see the chef standing in the back watching the crowd and I would have liked to see him make some rounds to the tables explaining the dishes and how you were supposed to eat some of them.
As far as not being waited on, I am a big boy and this IS Asheville. My mom taught me how to clean up after myself and I have eaten at Rosetta’s and not found it to be a problem. I am also able to make the connection that the tip is based on service so instead of tipping my normal 20% I tip around 10%. I didn’t find that to be a tough nut to crack either…
So all in all If you are not the type of person who likes to share and if you can’t pick up after yourselves or if you’re the kind of person who would bully a new establishment (basically if you learned nothing in kindergarten) this might not be the place for you… But as for me, I’ll be back!!!
I agree with Egg that folks looking for a typical dining experience shouldn’t expect to find it in a "street food" joint. If NC’s food service laws allowed something other than hotdogs to be sold via cart, maybe this place could sell from a venue more appropriate to their selected fare.
Yeah, sounds like the complainant just doesn’t get it. EastWestAshe might be a lost cause but Jennifer S. makes a really good point: why not give them feedback personally instead of posting a snarky web review? It’s a personal pet peeve of mine when customers don’t voice their complaints. Employees can’t read your mind. I bet the owners would be more than happy to try to make it up to you, if you are willing to be a little more open minded, that is.
And Woody, I disagree that tables automatically equal table service. What about Mammacitas? 12 Bones? I guess you guys walk in to those restaurants and pout about not getting table side service too?
Geez…i think the complaintant should just go get her/his a** powdered at one of the many high dollar, chi-chi places in asheville and leave chai pani alone! seems s/he is out of her element when the red carpet is not rolled out for her. if s/he has ever worked in a restaraunt before (and i’m kind of doubting it), s/he should know what the chaos of opening up a new place is like. give a place a few weeks to get in their groove before you throw down the gavel! And at $6 entrees that fall in the "street food" category, the emphasis is not on fancy service. personally, i am psyched that there is an option that caters to lower income people, like those of us who work downtown and serve all the wealthy patrons and tourists!
I agree… mostly. I think that once the rush dies down the stand in line cafeteria style of ordering will work better, but why bother? Why not just let people sit and have somebody take your order? Did anybody notice they have a staff of about 10 outside the kitchen, what will all these people do? Even if they are multiple shifts all training for the first week together what do you need more than one person to bring out food?
As for the food, well honestly I was not impressed. I got the Chicken Roti, I paid $7 for it and got a burrito smaller than Taco Bells $0.79 bean & cheese burrito. No side unless you consider the tablespoon of salsa a side. It was flavorful but for $7 I’d like a bit more substance.
The service… what service? There are no servers. Only food delivery people and table wipers. Neither of which really interact much more than saying who got the fries?
I think they have a long way to go, street food or not if you open a place with tables and chairs you need to offer service. They are treating their space as if it were a window in the side of a building.
Jeez. Talk about missing the point. It’s "Indian street food." The focus is *not* on table service. From my point of view, tables are provided as a nice courtesy. If you’re expecting to get extensive service while paying less than six dollars for an entree, you’re being incredibly unrealistic.
A big F. First impressions go a long way. One good customer will tell another. One bad customer will tell ten.
Your gamble, your loss. Clean it up and if you can’t do it right then don’t do it.
As the boy scouts say…Be Prepared!
EastWestAshe, I’ve eaten there twice (and have plans for tomorrow night) and really enjoyed it both times. The service IS pretty footloose, but when they goofed our order up, my party got fabulous free food as a peace offering. In fact we talked about what a perfect example Chai Pani’s behavior was of how to handle it when something goes wrong — be nice, be accountable, make it up.
My food experience was VERY different from yours — a good meal the first time, and pretty great one the second time (try the biryani). The three friends who’ve eaten with me all liked it, too.
The owners are gracious, and while the service is goofy (mostly I just see a busy new restaurant finding its legs and servers still learning the ropes, not the incompetence you describe), I’m already a fan.
Chai Pani has asked Asheville for feedback. Bet if you Tweet or email, you get an apology and some free food. Give them a chance to make it up to you.
It’s a good place. I hope you go back. Once is never enough to know about a restaurant.
I ate there last week as well, and yes, the ordering system was a little disorganized, but that’s fairly typical of a new restaurant. In a month or so, they’ll have it down.
I found the food to be very good (and warm).
I too, "experienced" the place and have to agree with the poster above: I will not go back.
Its called being prepared, Yes I am glad something other than a bar or brewery has opened downtown. But the Customer service of these places downtown needs to improve greatly.
C’mon, cut a new restaurant a break. I ate there last week and had excellent service and delicious food. I know they have some kinks to work out but what new restaurant doesn’t? And how could they know they would be wall-to-wall slammed every day since opening?