Prayin for some Hima Lamin

We were greatly anticipating a new ethnic restaurant in our coastal Maine town. When we saw that it was Himalayan, we thought that was interesting, what will they focus on. Once they put the sign up, we knew exactly what kind of place it was going to be. It's just like all the Asian restaurants that get a pepsi sign and their generic name. This one had a large a sushi roll held by chopsticks and another food dish. The sign reads: Himalayan Restaurant. Sushi, Asian, Indian, Tibet.

I understand the Himalayan regions covers several cuisines and according to wikipedia, "The Himalayas span five countries: India, Nepal, Bhutan, China (Tibet), and Pakistan, with the first three countries having sovereignty over most of the range.[2]

Sushi at this point would not fit the profile. Japanese food is an artform, a complete craft that cannot be fucked with. And Tibet is a noun, not an adjective describing food like the other words. Get it together people. We know for a fact when people try to do too much, they aren't doing enough of a one good thing. They should just focus on one cuisine, like Indian. We have sushi in this small town, we have the shitty Asian and Thai. We need a solid Indian food restaurant. Now these people are going to come in here and try to do the whole eastern world in food? Stretching yourself thin like that never works out. Focus on one cuisine and nail it.

I can already tell from the sign that they have no idea what they're doing. We find out that they're from NYC, but ethnically are from the said region. We wait hopefully, wanting so bad to be wrong about our first impression. We wanted to be proved wrong, be called negative, and be ostracized for our pessimistic ideas. We would have LOVED that.

Purely by accident, i was driving by their very visible restaurant and saw that a hand written chalkboard said open soon. Great! When? What times? Days? NOTHING.

Another day driving by, I see, Open tomorrow.

Great! When? What times? Days? NOTHING. I scour the internet in search for any information, a website, facebook, yet I get nothing. Isn't it bizarre that a new business is opening up without even a FREE facebook page to advertise?

Nevermind all of that, we wanted to taste the food. Of course we're there on opening day because the curiosity is killing us. We enter the establishment and we are reminded of the previous owners immediately because nothing has changed.

my facebook review 

Went there today and i was really looking forward to it. Being from NYC and having experienced many different cuisines, I was excited to see what Himalayan had to offer. What I got was a huge disappointment. The Tibetan momo (dumplings) were served on a bed of undressed bad lettuce and on the side was cucumber and tomato messily thrown on the plate, also undressed. The dipping sauce tasted like diluted soy sauce. And 1 out of the 6 had cream cheese in it. Authentic? Next, we had Indian shrimp curry. I specifically said no meat and yet it came with pieces of crappy little chicken throughout the soupy mess. In no way was this an Indian curry, or any curry at all. I lived in curry hill in nyc, so i know the smell and taste well. The shrimp in it was coated with something i couldn't identify. It had little bits of green and red pepper and no flavor at all. We had to send it back and I never do that. Finally, we had the Tibetan cho mein with shrimp. It may have well been bad, greasy Chinese takeout in the middle of nowhere. The shrimp in this dish were tiny and broken apart. It was so oily and again, flavorless. The decor still had remnants of big fish and roselyn. Also, we could hear the cooks and waitress yelling back and forth to each other. That was better than the hammering going on right outside the window by my head... the WHOLE time we were there. Not cool. The server was very nice and they give you complementary tea. Didn't try the sushi, but that is Not Himalayan at all, Japan is not part of that region. The quality of this restaurant is poor and I felt cheated, like they don't even care. Why would you open a restaurant with so many cuisines and have it all taste like bad Chinese food?

So, I wrote a review on the midcoast food forum about this and it got deleted. In place was this by the Dictactor of the forum:  

 Just a reminder to everyone, let's practice review etiquette 101 here. No bad reviews so soon after opening, and after only one solitary visit.

http://www.eater.com/.../amanda-cohen-dirt-candy-review...

Amanda Cohen Asks: How Soon Is Too Soon to Review?

After relocating her hit New York City restaurant, Amanda Cohen dives deep into the conundrum of increasingly early restaurant reviews for her latest Dispatches from Dirt Candy column.

eater.com|By Amanda Cohen

So i respond, 

I really think i did practice review etiquette 101. I could have said bad things, instead i just spoke an objective truth. Kinks are one thing, bad food is another. I have opened many restaurants and I know the difference between "working out the kinks" and just not having it. I'm so sorry to offend people by my opinion or "reviewing too soon", but I work very hard to earn my money and don't want to feel ripped off by a place. That is my first impression and in my experience it is usually correct. Please go and let me know what you think. Maybe my 25 years in restaurant experience is wrong.

And he immedicately deleted it and said:

Nope.

I emailed him. 

R: Are you the censorship of the forum? Why do you keep deleting what I write? This is a food forum, right? I'm just writing my opinion. Should i just compliment everything when it's not good? What's the point of a forum if not to discuss???

Dickbag:

You more than anyone should understand the issue here.

R: I really don't, what is the issue?

because i work at a new restaurant?

Dickbag:

You said a lot of bad things about the place, one day after opening.

R: The food is fantastic and would welcome any criticisms

BECAUSE IT WAS really bad

why shouldn't people know the truth?

Dickbag:

Opening day Reena.

I'm sorry but I won't have it. It's absolute bush league to do such a scathing review on opening day.

R: SO WHAT??? no excuses to what happened. First day is not a cover up to be a professional, good, restaurant

So what if i did the review 2 weeks in?

would that be ok?

Dickbag:

This ain't a democracy.

What do YOU think?

R: So you the dictator?

Dickbag:

Did you read the article I posted it not?

only good comments?

Read the article.

R: I READ the article

and i know restaurants

why don't you go try?

Dickbag:

Congratulations!

R: and let me know what you think

Dickbag:

Oh I will don't worry. But if I had a bad experience I'm not going to be public about after ONE visit and on opening day.

No way.

Listen Reena, I could have easily given a scathing review on Comida on day 3 after the relocation. It takes time to work out the kinks.

I understand that. If you don't like that I deleted the comments, write them somewhere else.

R: you should have. What was so scathing about it?

a restaurant should know to get better

Dickbag:

Not debating it anymore.

R: You're such a better person than me, I guess I don't have the kind of censorship you do. don't worry i won't bother your board anymore.

Dickbag:

Thanks.

This guy is one of the biggest douchbags I have encountered in a long time. He is a pompous, presumptuous, coincided fuck that hides behinds a stupid piece of wonderbread. And I bet he won't even like the restaurant.