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| - I give this place 3.5 stars. The food was pretty tasty, so it is very difficult for me to take off stars, but the ambiance and the water issue was large enough for me to take off the stars. Let me explain: Upon entering this establishment at lunch time, there was no one there, except for a middle-aged couple (I guess the owners?) who didn't greeted us haphazardly and had us sit whenever we wanted; The ambiance gets about 1.5 stars at most (and this is due to the nice burgundy table cloths, otherwise there will be no stars). The place looked clean enough, but not appealing. The artwork was of posters in super faded colors, and looked as though it was purchased from Saver's. Did not visit the restrooms, but imagine they were just as boring and unassuming.
Once we were seated, we were given laminated green menus that looked very cheap and unattractive. Tables are covered in plastic over the tablecloth, which skims the knees and looked a little dirty. Again, very unappealing. There is a cash register on a very medicinal looking counter and a coca-cola cooler next to the check out counter--very unappealing once again.
We were brought Kroger bottled water upon requesting "water with lemon." My friend did say not to expect lemon, but I did expect nice, refreshing water in an average glass with ice, instead I got Kroger bottle water ($1 each). My friend asked: "Can we please have free water?" at which point the server/owner brought a pitcher and two styrofoam cups for us. Upon taking a swig of water, I almost threw up. It was THAT bad. The water tasted like it came out of the sink of dirty dish water, literally. I think the previous yelper who commented about Shalimar possibly having plumbing issues was onto something. I called the server/owner over and told him that this water was undrinkable, at which point he exclaimed "the water is bad here, I told you it's no good here." Take it how you may...
I am glad that I waited for the food, although I was very close to walk out judged by this water incident and by the decor. The food was good. My eggplant dish was delicious and so was onion naan. My friends' lamb dish tasted a little reheated, but tender at the same time, she liked it, but I didn't really care too much for it. Lamb is best eaten freshly cooked. The rice had a variety of colors and was a little too oily, also tasted reheated, but not bad. Bottled water was as you would expect :) .
Service was very good, as expected since we were the only people there. The owners/servers were very friendly and very helpful with my food allergy concerns and ingredient questions. Especially the female owner. The male owner was a little grouchy at times. We continued on being the only people there for the entire visit. The owners did remark that they are very busy at night, which I had a little hard time believing, but good for them. I love mom/pop places having success in their endeavors.
Prices are good here, especially for vegetarian and vegan dishes. I found out that many vegetarian dishes are, in fact, vegan which is rare in Indian cuisine. As the owner explained, they are Pakistani and use much less dairy than the Indian cuisine. Kudos for that.
Bottom Line: I will go to Shalimar again in the future if I'm craving Pakistani food. I will order vegetable dishes and naan only and drink the $1 bottled water. I will stay away from lamb/meat dishes and rice. I will smile and converse with the owners, but I will not like the decor or the water problems. Too bad I couldn't rate this higher, but this water issue and the decor, plus reheated lamb taste prevented me from doing so.
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