India Palace - Saint Louis - TravBuddy

On the 11th floor of the Howard Johnson Hotel, is the Indian resturant India Palace. Exiting from the ricketty, cramped elevator I found myself surprised as I exited. Instead of a busy, noisy lobby I found myself in a quiet, bamboo walled, tropical (but not whorey tropical) waiting room with a pond and fountain in front and the scent of inscense filling my nose. The whole place had a cross between an Indian and Pacific Island feel to it (every wall covered in bamboo, plants all over the place, paintings from India, dimmly lit...). My friends and I were taken by our Sihk host to a bay window table overlooking the lights of the airport and planes landing and taking off into the night sky. It was really a pleasent sight to view while dinning.

As with many Indian resturants they have lunch buffets around 9 bucks, but since this was around 8:00 at night we were on the dinner menu. And dinner at Indian resturants is super expensive! Most items are around $12 each, drinks around $4, and appetizers from $4 - $9. As a appetizer we ordered pappadams, a large cracker that was light and airy. It had a wonderful texture, and when dipped it in the accompanying mango and mint chutney it was a nice opener.

After we were all served our meals there was barely any white of the table cloth showing! Everyone ordered pretty much something different, and they were served in a plethora of small stainless steel oval bowls; curries, rice, meats, fish, and baskets of garlic naan and roti. It was quite the spead. First I enjoyed a golden dal soup, which was good but I have had better. The flavor was a little bland (if you can say bland about any Indian food!). I also had a glass of lassi which is a thick yogurt drink. Following my soup I was served my main meal, known as "Vegetable Dinner" on the menu (around $20 including your choice of bread and dessert). This consisted of navratan korma (vegetables and paneer in a creamy orange-tinted sauce), dal makhani (lenils in a creamy brown-tinted sauce), and saag paneer (my favorite Indian dish no matter where I go). This was all eaten with some basmati rice and a side of raita, and it was DELICIOUS! For dessert i finished off some mango kulfi (soft mango flavored ice cream).

I know I said it's expensive, but I guarentee you will have leftovers! This kind of food fills you up quick! You could even bypass the rice and the breads and you would fill up just as fast.

Enjoying pleasent conversation with friends, eating good food, and having a beautiful view leads me to give India Palace 4 stars. The only odd thing about it was the service (since it was Sunday we think we got a new waiter because he didn't seem to know what they were doing at first, but he eventually found his groove). The service was friendly and I never had my water glass empty. I'm sure a couple more days and the waiter would have it down pat.