Daal Panchmela
Clay Oven Indian

Clay Oven Indian

1666 Massachusetts Ave, Lexington I-02420-5317, United States

Indian • Brunch • Cheese • Vegetarian


"A year ago, this would have been a 5-star review, but a couple of things have changed recently. This place had been my favorite Indian restaurant in the area and it was a big step above the rest. So it 's sad that I feel like I might have to stop going here. First, I am very intolerant to spicy food due to a digestive disorder. So I always ask for my dishes to be not just mild--but extra mild or as mild as [they] can make it. And for the first few years, they always did a great job, giving me a deliciously creamy and mild dish. But the last two times I was there, despite really emphasizing the need for my food to be mild, it 's been noticeably spicier to the point of causing stomach upset. The second to last time it wasn 't too bad, but enough to bother me a bit. So the last time we were there, I harped even harder on the need for the dish to be mild. But it was even spicier this time, so much so I barely got through the dish and I had horrible heartburn and nausea later on, waking me up through the night. The first time they made it too spicy I could chalk it up to a one off or maybe I hadn 't been clear enough, but the second time, it seems to be a pattern. In fact, since the dish is less creamy now and is lacking other ingredients it used to have, my partner and I suspect they are using more spice to mask or compensate for the lack of other things in the dish. Additionally, my partner and I, who are both vegetarian, always ask them to add a little paneer to the dish we order for extra protein. For years, they did this at no charge, which was really nice of them. But suddenly the second to last time we were there, they not only suddenly charged us, but it was $3 extra--which is just weird to not warn us about first when we ordered after never charging previously. The last time we were there my partner asked about the extra charge before ordering, they couldn 't give us an exact estimate saying something like about $2 but when we got the bill, it was still $3 again. Not to mention the dish usually comes with almonds and cashews and this last time around didn 't have any nuts in it at all, which was disappointing because it 's one of my favorite parts of the dish, and we also got much less rice than usual which was also a different texture). So we 're paying more for smaller portions, less ingredients, and for a meal that is too spicy for me to even eat without it making me sick later on. They also raised their prices, so even without the charge on paneer, we 're paying a good $5 more per dish $8 with the paneer included) than the same exact dish we get down the road that already has paneer in it and larger portions. I get that the pandemic hit restaurants hard and inflation is making food more expensive. But it still seems we 're being way overcharged while being skimped on ingredients and portion size, and while the quality of the food has notably declined."