Mela is an upscale Indian restaurant. The lunch buffet is good and the choices range from Chicken Masala to various types of Naan. Across the street is Veda, a "healthy" [franchised] take out option provides an alternative with pita-tasting Naan. Do we pay a bit more for satisfying food or do we get what we pay for (as one of our friends said to us after indicating that the Veda meal was quite unsatisfying).
Let's explain further. At Mela, the Tandoori Chicken's yogurt and spices marinate was both light and exacting in taste. The Butter Chicken tasted freshly made and the tough of honey and ginger made it quite delish. At Veda, the butter chicken tasted a bit too creamy and the spinach basmati rice seemed like yesterday's plain basmati rice that was recooked. The Naans at Mela range from plain, to garlic, rosemary, roti and lacha paratha. At Veda, it was plain or well, plainer. The foil wrapped naan tasted definitely from a non-descript food court and not expected from the beautiful patio laden location they are in.
Unfortunately Veda needs to either upgrade their food, upgrade their marketing to get a different expectation, upgrade something to align with their food options. We do like the Tiffin Combo’s easy 4-step ordering process which zips people through the line (if they were there). They do know they are across for a more upscale Indian restaurant so they have to make sure that they don't get the comparison that we just did that we could not help but do because they had no indicator of anything otherwise.
Veda gets an Upgrade Something, Not World Class rating. Mela gets a World Class rating.
Customer service on both locations are actually excellent so kudos to that. We know Veda is new so maybe a couple more months and it will have an identity of its own. We'll see and maybe even review it again here.
