The last I heard about Kathmandu Spice is that people had to wait 2 hours before they got served... I myself visited KS with a group of friends previously and it was the same story... The definetly need a booster to move... Is it worth waiting to eat the 5/6 momos after many hours...
The criteria that a resturant is judged by in my lists are:
Cusotmer sevice - KS - stings
Location - parking issue but you will find one eventually not as bad as harvard square if you don't want to pay for Valet
Food - Food has to be fresh and be authentic to the place that is says it is from.
KS - some nepali food, some north indian, south indian cook - probably it's the fusion that it is...
Ambience - when you walk inside the place you need to feel that you are really there in the place where the food comes from... not create a mix up like you see where one uses all authentic decor from one culture and serve food that does not belong to that place. As for KS - it is just a regular place.

Good.......

by the way our country ain't like US or CAnada or Uk but it's our county Nepall... so that's a positive change...........

-rockend

Hello wonderful people! For those of you who did, I hope you had a good turkey/khasi/cauli/etc break. Palate talk again, huh? :) Man, it never ceases, does it? Well, I suppose with the weather so crummy there isn't a whole lot to do but eat and talk about eating - at least that's the way it's been for me :-}

I wrote this up about Kathmandu Spice and other Nepalese restaurants - check it out if you want: - http://www.sajha.com/guild/read.cfm?guildid=165

I agree the service needs improvement, although, I thought they were much better the last time I was there compared to previous times. I hope the owners read this thread because a change like this needs to come from top. You can only put so much blame on the wait staff. No complaints about the food. In fact, the wait staff seemed quite happy at how I scraped the plate clean :D

Overall, I'd say it is a family friendly, ethnic restaurant with a decent menu - both Nepali and non.

Bon Appetit!

bostongirl - you mean chatamari - one of my favorite newari food... I could sell it on the cart at Harvard Square and other places as Nepali Pizza - The last time I had it though was at the Yak and Yeti - Buffet that they made it in front of you and it was terrible... I must say ... So if KS does one - Here is the idea for them ... I would visit one more time for the Chatamari...
And yes - lets talk about the restaurant and not other meaningless stuff...

Captan Haddock - I knew that name sounded familiar - and finally I got it - TIN TIN -
I really differ from you to state that KS is an ethnic restaurant... because it is not - its fusion with the mix of not so nepali food , north indian food and a south indian cook..
Even the momo - is not momo - it is suppose to be mamacha - and it is round...
and again it is you own definition of what ethnic means.. Helmuld is an enthic place to go to ... Hope KS management read this and improve the service and maybe another visit will be planned...

Dimple - we can't wait too long for food to be served and if that is the case then at least fill the water glass, bring some popcorn, or bread to keep us not realizing the time... Serve the wine and so on - things that really don't have to be cooked and keep the customer happy - then customer will come back and not mind the wait..

sgy - I am glad you did the disclaimer and you got prompt service - as for me I don't like waiting at the table to be served once I am at the table... If the restaurant is busy it is a good sign and waiting for the table is a good sign but NOT waiting at the table... Your good friends should know that by now - becasue it can be annoying... The restaurant next block Flora has waits to get to the table and you do have to make reservation but they have NEVER made me wait at the table for the food to be served.. and there are more than 2 waiter! service has been prompt food delicous and the people siming and courteous... so..

Bathroomcoffee - THe momo's are not upto par... Common - you have tasted better momo in your lifetime and the quatity -

If you want to split hairs, restaurantreview, I suppose you have a point but I would normally describe a restaurant like that to be such. How about multi-ethnic then, to get real pedantic? :)

multi ethic is more like it captianji

reviewresturant - Now that you found the genesis of my name, maybe I should promote myself to... let's say, Admiral!

LOL!

Have a good one.

I wish there was one like this around me.. I miss Nepali food .... yummy!!!!

humm.. review about kathmandu spice, eh.

All I have to say is bara. BARA! BARA BARA!!!

THey have some awesome baras... yumm

The captain haddock in sajha is lot more intelligent than the tintin comic one. He needs no TinTin to rescue him.

What about Snowy?

On behalf of Kathmandu Spice, I would like to take a moment to sincerely apologize our customers who have not been satisfied with your experience at our establishment. I take full responsibility for our shortcomings and assure you that our goal is to give our customers the best of what we have to offer.

In an attempt to address these concerns, I checked the delivery statistics on every single ticket and did not find a single ticket that took 2 hours. During our daily reviews, we have taken the feedback from our customers and continue to make ongoing changes. Despite the fact that our customers are 99% non-Nepali, we always reflect on one of our initial goals of this project and that was to provide our fellow Nepalis a venue where they can feel at home - and for that short time be able to detach from the hectic life in the US. To that end, we have made several changes to accomodate our Nepali customers. We had bada two weekends ago and we had two Nepali customers. We get about 10-15 Nepali customers per week. As a business, it is impossible to sustain these changes without your support.

We have not claimed to be an all authentic Nepali restaurant. It is a restaurant like any other catering to wide variety of customers. We have devoted 1/4 of our menu to Nepali dishes and we have two Nepali cooks with extensive experience both in Nepal and the US who work along with our chef.

We have a professional staff, most of whom are Nepali and I am very proud of them. We have made a point to hire Nepali staff if at all possible. Everyday, I read many hand written notes from customers who validate my belief that we have something to offer to our customers.

It would really help us to improve if your concerns are identified when it happens and we will make sure we learn from it and take corrective measure. I am more than willing to personally sit down with you and listen to your concerns as well as your suggestions. We certainly cannot satisfy 100% of our customers but we will do whatever we can to get there.

Best.
Binay Manandhar

Binay -

Thanks for the response. You didn't need to get back to anonymous users on Sajha, yet you chose to. That speaks volumes about you as an entrepreneur and a manager. It also gives someone like me an insight into the values you bring to your business and I am happy to see your business run on strong and convincing principles.

I wish you the best - I know you guys will do well. I feel the passion and I hope it helps you work through any remaining issues and get the restaurant on a firm footing.

As always, I remain, a hungry customer, looking for good food, good wine and decent service.

Good luck!

:)

LOL @ Shirish!

But you know something, I always thought Haddock was smarter than what Herge made him out to be. Come to think of it, I sometimes wonder if Herge made everyone else look a little silly to bolster the image of Tintin? Calculus, Thompson and Thomson, Bianca Castofiore and even Snowy - every one of them had their quirky sides exposed except for Tintin. At least much more than Tintin.

Btw, thanks for your email about Nabin Bhattarai's concert. Too bad I couldn't attend but I hope you had fun.

Regards,

(Recently promoted to) Admiral Haddock

(You can guess where that ship is headed - straight into an abyss - LOL)

;)

Ummmm...its nice to hear people getting friendly and taking few detours but the thread always always always ends up as something else...

Yes, the name is CHATAMARI..thank you so much reviewrestaurant!! I would love to have some of that in Kathmandu Spice. You know..something very ethnic. If you do open a chatamari stand in harvard square, please post a big thread saying 'chatamari stand open in harvard square' lol so that I will be one of your first customers :-) As I said, I dont really mind waiting as long as its not unreasonable. I do agree that there is a difference in waiting for the table and waiting at the table. As long as they have yummy appetizer and good selection of wine...I am a happy customer.

Its really nice to hear the manager himself come and respond to this thread. Are you serious that 99% of your customers are non-nepali?? I wonder why as there are plenty of Nepalis in Boston area. The last two times I was there, I saw at least half Nepalis (I could hear them talking in Nepali..so they were not look-alike-indians). Great job with your dedication in hiring Nepali staff, although a bit shy (not much eye contact). But a little training can change that, i suppose.

Keep up the good work!

"Ummmm...its nice to hear people getting friendly and taking few detours but the thread always always always ends up as something else... "

Welcome to Sajha! How smart of you to notice. Unmoderated forum - duh, whadat?

"I saw at least half Nepalis (I could hear them talking in Nepali..so they were not look-alike-indians)"

That can be construed as a pretty racist statement. So if someone looks "Indian" - whatever the hell that's supposed to be - and does not speak Nepali, or does not speak it loudly enough for you to hear, they can be judged not to be Nepalese? I had hoped you were capable of better judgement than that.

" I had hoped you were capable of better judgement than that."

You tell me I am being judgemental, and what about your own statement? Its filled with your own judgement about my judgement. May I ask if 'identifying' a race is being racist? In your opinion? Maybe you have never been told by anyone 'where in india are you from?' or 'you are indian?' without asking where i am from. I guess everyone looks at a person's face and makes up their mind about where they could be from. Does that make you a 'racist'? I have read you other posts and the way you argue, I didnt think you jump into such a harsh conclusion about how a person could be racist if they say this person is from india, this person is from nepal. Is having a national identity bad? You call that raciist?


"That can be construed as a pretty racist statement. So if someone looks "Indian" - whatever the hell that's supposed to be - and does not speak Nepali, or does not speak it loudly enough for you to hear, they can be judged not to be Nepalese?"

I think the minute you started reading my post, you had already started 'judging'. If the owner himself can put a finger at precise number i.e. 99% are non-nepalis...do you think he came up with that number after asking every single customer where they are from? or if they are nepali's or not? Some customers are obviously not nepalis and if ruling them out or in depending on what statistics you want to end up with is being judgemental? Oh please captain haddock!

And yes, if I look/ at someone or hear them talking in a different language I can assume where they could be from...and if have doubt about where they could be from, I leave it there...'doubtful' category. You could indeed call me being judgemental if I had claimed how only Nepalis should have been there...but I saw people from different race too. I didnt say that..did I? I just hope you dont start judging others yourself because you see them identifying soemone without knowing what I think. And this issue came up because I was questioning the percentage the owner kindly pointed out.

I thought I would not respond to your post because I didnt see the need to defend myself and my statement. But then you ended with 'had hoped you were capable of better judgement' and had to point it out that its you whos being judgemental, its you who think that simply saying if someone could be a nepali, indian, or from a different country is being racist. It just seemed like an overstatment from you and harsh accusation, which I choose to disagree with.

I'd be interested to know how the manager or owner Kspice got the 99% figure. I live close to the area and I have been there or happened to walk by the place and I have always seen at least some Nepali customers there.

I've read about other Nepali restaurants downplaying Nepali customers, and I don't understand why Kspice would want to write here and point out that 99% are non nepalis as if Nepali customers don't make any difference in their business.

Bostongirl -

" its you who think that simply saying if someone could be a nepali, indian, or from a different country is being racist."

No, it's how you go about determining it and the context used in buidling up to that conclusion. You cannot claim to be oblivious to the history of racial and ethnic identity in Nepalese society when you make a statement like that.

"You tell me I am being judgemental, and what about your own statement? Its filled with your own judgement about my judgement. "

No, not really. Go back and read what I said. I am merely questioning your judement and not using judgemental as a pejorative term. I haven't asked you to stop judging.

" I guess everyone looks at a person's face and makes up their mind about where they could be from."

That doesn't mean it's right. Isn't that the dictionay definition of prejudice?

"Does that make you a 'racist'? "

No, not you personally , but it makes the statement racist and reflects a shallowness of thought that I find quite appalling.

"It just seemed like an overstatment from you and harsh accusation, which I choose to disagree with"

I am glad you did - I too speak up when I disagree- but I think the harshness was not out of place for the reasons above.

Capt haddock you obviously have something against bostongirl from past interactions as I can gather from your communication with her. Nitpicking on every few word she utters. You sound like an educated person why don't you stop nitpicking and get back to the main topic.

Nothing personal, meroworld. I took issue with a particular statement and think it's fair to bring it up. I havent really interacted much with her on other threads as far as I can remember.

lol
i was readin this thread and i ended up reading their battle lol...yo you guys! chill man...its bout food and not bout colors/race..guys..and i seriously dont think either one of u r wrong but whats the point...