DaFoodie

My friend Chris has become completely addicted to Indian food. He’ll deny it, but his Foursquare checkins completely betray him. When he and his wife came into town, he suggested we hit A Passage to India at their Westwood location for lunch, which is just south of Sea World. After being directed through the majority of 200-yard-long “roads” through the Convention Center (thanks, Google Maps), I finally made it to my destination.

I’m a fan of Indian cuisine, do Indian-style bellydance, and also have quite an extensive Bollywood collection. I love Bhangra and am partial to Punjabi dishes, and was interested in seeing how A Passage to India’s fare, well, fared. It was OK, but I wasn’t blown away.

As you can see from the above picture, the decor is quite delicious and rich. Wood divider panels keep the dining areas sectioned off from each other. There was a rather large birthday party happening on the other side of the restaurant, but even with that going on the atmosphere was relaxing and we had a great time talking and catching up.

The wait staff can be likened to vultures circling a body, but I mean that in the nicest possible way. They were overly attentive, bordering on annoying. Even the owner came to our table at least three times. I was surprised that the chefs didn’t head out at some point! Our water-refiller ensured that our glasses didn’t get below the 3/4 mark for the entire 90 minutes we were there.

The menu is very easy to get through, with the traditional name and then a very good description of the item next to it. It’s divided into the following sections:

- Appetizers (padpad, onion bahaji, meat or veggie platter, salad, soup of the day)
- Tandoori Specialties (chicken, shrimp, lamb)
- Vegetarian items (masalas, tikkas, kormas, mahknis, and more)
- Rice Specialties (Basmati rice)
- Chicken
- Lamb
- Seafood
- Sides
- Breads (different types of naan, even chicken naan!)
- Desserts

There is a LOT to choose from. Chris, who has difficulty making food decisions, made our waiter choose for him. Unfortunately, I have no photographic evidence of this, but here’s our Chicken Tikka appetizer ($8.95):

DELICIOUS. The chicken was fantastically moist, and seasoned perfectly. I highly recommend this. Even the onions were unbelievable.

I had the Bombay Aloo, which is potatoes with seasoning and herbs:

Chris’ wife had the Chicken Kadahi:

And Chris had the Chicken Jal Frezi:

Each dish is served in a metal bowl and accompanied by a bowl of rice:

You pile everything onto your plate and can sop it up with some Indian bread:

The rice was essentially flavorless, and I’m not sure why it was even different colors because there seemed to be absolutely nothing added to it. My Bombay Aloo (potato dish) was tasty, but it was $16.95 for about 1.5 medium potatoes cubed into a bowl with what amounted to a half of a very small tomato. Chris and his wife said that their chicken dishes were very good, but agreed with me on the rice. As you can see, the dishes are all about the same size and run from $12.95 to $19.95 on average for lunch.

The beverage selection is small, and includes fountain drinks, tea (including chai, which was BURNING hot and not impressive at all - especially for $3.50 for a small coffee cup-full), juices, and lassi. We didn’t try any desserts.

My overall impression was that it was quite spendy for a lunch that mostly relied on tasteless rice and Indian bread for filler. While the appetizer was outstanding, the other dishes were simply “OK” and worth neither the drive nor the price. The service was courteous, albeit slightly overbearing, but I’d definitely prefer that to a waiter that I simply cannot find.

A Passage to India

6129 Westwood Boulevard
Orlando, FL 32821
407-351-3456

7618 West Irlo Bronson Highway
Kissimmee, FL 34747
407-396-6957