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| - Origin India used to be one of my favorite restaurants in Las Vegas, but over time, its rising prices and worsening service have pushed other Indian joints far above it. A visit today was the final nail in the coffin for my girlfriend and I, who both decided we'd probably not be coming back much anymore.
Let me get this out of the way: the food is still good, generally, the atmosphere is upscale-but-comfortable, and the service is professional and courteous. But ...
The menu has been changed recently, forgoing names of dishes for lengthy descriptions that make finding what you want a challenge. It seems like a deliberate effort to Americanize/fancy-up further the menu. As well, the leaning toward the gourmet seems to have pushed up the prices yet again, as the restaurant offers nuanced, fusion fare beyond Indian-spawned dishes. The gastronomical experiments may please foodies. The deviations from the traditional do not please this eater, however.
One of our favorite items at Origin, regardless of anything else, has always been the vegetable samosa, an appetizer staple. But on this recent visit, the restaurant's traditional purse-shaped, doughy treats were replaced with thin, triangular samosas, similar to what Trader Joe's sells frozen, only not as good.
The service was slow (though it always seems to be slow at Indian restaurants for some reason, so that may just be a cultural difference in pacing), but it took extra long to get things like drink refills, despite a relatively calm lunch time, and when we presented a gift card to pay for part of the meal, it took about 10 minutes and two people to figure out how to get it to work.
While, as I said, the food, and slowness aside, the service were both good, the price point has become too high for a casual meal, and the change in samosas? Unforgivable. For us, at least.
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