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| - My husband (Mike "Vegas Aussie" P.) wanted to give Shalimar 2.5 stars and was nice enough to bump it to three. I'll even things out and take Yelp's "Meh. I've experienced better." definition of the two star rating to heart and leave them with the pair.
Mike covered most of the important points in his review, but I can add a little from the usual vegetarian and Somewhat Fussy Wife(tm) angles.
The vegetarian menu (I uploaded a blurry photo) does have several items, although I think other Indian restaurants in town offer as many dishes with perhaps more variety. I may just feel this way because the paneer dishes were palak, masala, and muttar. That's spinach, tomato, and more tomato, so no indulgent buttery option like a shahi paneer or a paneer makhani, what I usually go for when having Indian food somewhere other than a buffet.
In addition to Mike's chicken tikka masala, we ordered both the paneer muttar and the paneer masala - one for me and one to share - thinking that at the very reasonable prices Shalimar offers, we ought to go full-on into feasting mode. Alas, only the masala was brought out. We were glad by then, though. We were the only people inside on this Saturday night, on display as the otherwise friendly gentleman playing host and server often watched us from the other side of the room. The notions of lingering and savouring had evaporated before the last crunch of papad. (As Mike noted, these tasted the same as the ones we get at Rani's and nuke up for snacks.)
Also, again as Mike said, we were nursing our semi-cold bottles of Kroger water, probably purchased from Food for Less next door, and another dish would've meant ordering another two dollars' worth of tepid H20. I don't object to paying for bottled water, but c'mon, Crystal Geyser is the same price and has a prettier label! I kid a little, but I love refreshing cold water with my Indian, and the barely cold plastic bottles were at odds with this preference, if not with the burgundy tablecloths. (Then again, our tablecloth was dirty, so maybe the sight of plastic empties was meant to be an thematic juxtaposition.) I also raise an eyebrow at a restaurant not offering tap water: are you being unattractively chintzy, Shalimar, or is there a plumbing issue I don't want to know about?
Suggestion: serve the water bottles in an ice bucket and sell bucket refills at half price. (You already made the money back on a 24-pack from next door after you sold the first two bottles, right?) Or keep them the same price, just at least keep them cold and keep them coming.
The naan was not of the soft sort that I usually go gaga over, but we both enjoyed it. I found it pleasantly chewy without that chewiness going on and on and on beyond reason.
Rice does not come with the dishes - you choose what you want separately. We shared Shalimar Chawal for $2.50. Mike liked it, but I thought it tasted like plain rice and had no smell, not even that basic (and heavenly) Basmati fragrance. You do get a pile of it, though.
After we ordered, I realized that we weren't asked how we would like with the dishes - mild, medium, or hot. The paneer masala was medium heat, which luckily is how I like it, but the sauce lacked subtlety. I felt like the chilis were a little harsh against the other spices, so instead of layers of tastes it was just a general sense of tomatoes + unspecified spice + heat. For the price, maybe that's okay. Then again, it still seemed a little below the par of buffet sauces.
The paneer itself was nice. To keep riding the quibble horse, I think they should make the pieces a little smaller. Sure, you can just chop them with your fork, but then you don't have all of those nice cooked edges and the taste can get a little dry. (And then you have to do fancy math to figure out if it's okay to ration a sip of Kroger water.)
My husband's review mentions that the condiments served with the papad came in squeeze bottles. (I've also uploaded a photo of this.) He couldn't identify the white-ish one, but I think it was watered-down raita. There was definitely a whiff of cucumber to it. Too bad my shirt is in the washer at the moment or I'd go give it another sniff. Yes, both it and the brown-ish stuff in the other bottle (probably tamarind?) were very watery. I gave up trying to make a little well on my plate and tried squeezing it onto the papad like I was dressing a hot dog. And now you know why I'm doing laundry on Saturday night. D'oh!
Pros: Slightly cheaper prices than other places, nice people.
Cons: Largely unremarkable food, slightly sad (and slightly smelly) atmosphere, warmish water woes.
To-go boxes are available, but we decided not to leave our leftovers, even the naan. Perhaps Shalimar has some stand-out dish that sets them apart, but since we have those two dollars that we didn't spend on a second round of water, I think next time we'll pay a little more for a better experience elsewhere.
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