Lovash Indian Cuisine

12/05/10

Lovash is awful in every way!

by Adrienne T at Citysearch

Do not patronize Lovash! I had one of the worst dining experience of my life there last night. As someone who waited tables in Philly throughout college, I tend to be a very understanding and a relatively "easy" customer at restaurants- if I see that the staff is trying, I give them the benefit of the doubt... I understand that servers get busy and make mistakes like anybody else. That is not what happened here! The servers and management were not only rude, but actually confrontational- they tried to strong-arm our party of 4 into ordering food three times before our other two guests arrived, even though we repeatedly told them we would prefer to wait for our entire group to arrive before ordering. (This was only about a ten minute period of time). The place was empty except for our table so it was not as if they needed the space. When our other guests arrived we quickly ordered our entrees and a couple appetizers for the table, but the server still seemed confrontational and attempted to up-sale us on more items. Indian food is one of my favorites- so i was incredibly disappointed when our food arrived and tasted too salty at best and bizarrely awful at worst. My Chana Masala tasted like chick peas in pizza sauce with cilantro sprinkled on top. None of the other dishes were up to par either. Despite the awful experience my party had, we still left a 16% tip- though I felt it was far too generous for the service provided. Upon leaving, we said "Goodnight" to the manager who did not respond. As the last guest in our party was walking out the door, of the restaurant, he overheard the manager and server loudly saying, "They only left 100$!". Again, this was a 16% tip and I had a very difficult time not reentering and telling them that it was far too generous of a tip for what we received. There are quite a few great Indian restaurants in Philly- Ekta being my all time favorite, but Tiffin, Palace at the Ben, and even Sitar are all leaps and bounds above this place. There is a reason I think that no local Philly residents frequent the restaurants of South Street- it is all catering to tourists, and because of that does not to try to maintain a repeat customer base- Lovash certainly doesn't seem to. Do yourself a favor- skip Lovash and go to one of our city's good Indian restaurants!

12/07/08

Inedible Indian Food

by leah319 at Citysearch

This restaurant was incredibly disappointing. If you enjoy Indian food because of the unique spices and flavors, do not bother going to Lovash. I ordered my favorite dish, Palak Paneer (similar to Saag Paneer), and spent the next 45 minutes happily waiting for the delivery person. Imagine my disappointment when I dug in to my food only to taste a bland, salty, texture-less puree of spinach with a few cheese cubes and no real spices. My boyfriend was even more unlucky--he ordered Tandoori Chicken and received completely flavorless roasted chicken. Nothing about the dish resembled Tandoori Chicken---or even well-flavored chicken. The naan we ordered was equally tasteless. For thirty dollars, I expected much better. I have eaten in countless Indian restaurants in Philadelphia, and this restaurant was so subpar in comparison to the others that I do not understand how it is still in business!

• Pros: Delivery service, nice for cold and lazy Sunday nights
• Cons: Food has NO flavor!

01/05/08

worst Indian take-out I've ever had

by fillyphilly at Citysearch

We ate dinner at Lovash a few months ago, and it was decent--not great, but not horrible. Recently we ordered in from their take-out menu. First of all, they increased their prices by about 25%, from $11.95 to $14.95 for a lamb biryani dish, which we ordered. They should have called it "Rice Biryani," because that's about all there was--maybe about 6 pieces of lamb. The pouri was soaked in oil--my fingers were completely greasy when I tore off a piece. The vegetable pakora were dry and hard as rocks. It was about $25 for the worst Indian food I've ever eaten--and I've had quite a bit. I'll never eat here again--sadly, as Philadelphia is really in need of a good Indian restaurant.

• Cons: hardly any lamb in lamb biryani for $14.95! grease-soaked pouri, hard, tasteless pakora

02/20/06

Go for the buffet

by luminate3 at Citysearch

$13 dollars for kofta curry is a bit pricey but very delicious. Everything there is great but to get the best deal go for the daily buffet. Fresh nan is delivered to your table. I wish they labeled their steam trays so we knew what was in each.

• Pros: delicious food
• Cons: bit pricey

08/16/04

No ambiance, great food

by sockii at Citysearch

My favorite stop for Indian food in Philadelphia. Sure the space is completely lacking in ambiance and the service somewhat spotty, but the food is outstanding and it's a great bargain, too. A Tandori Tofu dish makes for a wonderful vegetarian meal. They make great Samosas and all your standard Indian dishes, all tasting extremely fresh and not skimpy on the spices!

If you're in the area and looking for a cheap meal, it's hard to go wrong at Lovash.

• Pros: good food, cheap, no attitude