Satish Palace

    I was about 8 years old, when I discovered Indian food. When my father told me that we would be eating Indian food I cried and spat in rebellion! I carried on as most any 8 year old would that wasn't being offered chicken nuggets and fries for dinner. I finally agreed to go inside "Taj Palace" (formerly located across the street from Whole Foods). Regardless of this being my certain death I ordered Lamb Pasanda (which still to this day remains to be one of my favorite dishes.) Lamb Pasanda consists of tender cubed lamb meat marinated in a yogurt/cream, spice sauce w/chopped almonds. On this night I experienced the pleasure of eating Naan Bread. Any bread is fattening, but if anyone told me I had a week to live this is probably one of the foods I’d put on my binge list.

    When Taj Palace closed down I had to search for my love of Indian cuisine all over again. My quest first resulted in “Natraj Palace” (which was lovely until they moved to Bloomfield.) Since I am not a vegetarian,“Udupi Village” wouldn’t cut it for me either.

     For the past few years I have been eating at Satish Palace (since it was the only good authentic Indian Place around.) Now Montclair is home to “Brick Lane” and “Aroma Palace.” Shortly after I began eating at Satish Palace I it was clear they were ripping me off.

     Not only is the restaurant severely over priced, but they also give small mediocre portions. I ordered/ picked up food from there maybe 5 times until I discovered their Wednesday night dinner buffet. This was a compromise I could accept.

    As I mentioned before my favorite dish is “Lamb Pasanda.” One order of Lamb Pasanda at Satish Palace is $14, and has probably about 10 bite size pieces of lamb. The buffet on the other hand comes to a total of $13.95. It offers various meats, vegetables, rice, soups, appetizers, and of course desert! This is surely the best way to use your money. The buffet works for both carnivores and vegetarians (which enabled me to take my mother.)

A few months ago I went to the buffet with my father; when they brought us water I noticed pink lipstick stains all over the glass. I proceeded to inform the waiter of this issue, he then gave me a clean glass, and although I was thoroughly grossed out I tried to be apprehending of things like this occurring in restaurants.

    The Wednesday before Father’s Day, my father and I paid a visit to the buffet for dinner. When the waiter brought us our glasses of water I realized this was round 2 of the pink lipstick affliction. I asked the waiter to please bring me another glass and pointed out the stains. He placed another on the table and I realized we were not on the same page; this glass too had eager-eater greasy lipstick marks on it. Instead of being a rowdy customer I simply placed the cup at the end of the table and pulled my water bottle out of my purse. It appeared I caused a disturbance because the waiter was appalled that I wouldn’t drink from either glass. Our waiter, accompanied by another waiter came over to our table with a 3^rd glass. He offered it to me, and before I accepted the glass I could see clearly in his hand this glass too had the perfect mouth shaped outline of lipstick print on the rim. They say the 3^rd times the charm but not in this case!

    If you ever do decide to dine at Satish Palace I’m sure you’ll enjoy the food, but bring your own Poland Spring. Hopefully their cleanliness is enforced more practically in other areas.