Royal Peacock

 

5

8

Gretchen W.

Boulder, CO

Most often, when I go to the Royal Peacock, it's for lunch.  Their buffet includes only a handful of dishes, but each is, in my experience, outstanding (for buffet food).  Compared to other Indian buffet lunches in Boulder (The Taj), the flavors are richer, spicier and hotter.

Usually the buffet contains the following:
rice, usually plain, sometimes biriyani
some sort of pulse (vegetarian, involving lentils, beans or chickpeas)
something vegetarian (sometimes aloo gobi, which is always good)
spinach saag/palak paneer (usually, but not always)
something with chicken, ranging from creamy to spicey
something with beef or lamb, usually spicy
tandoori chicken legs & thighs

Unlike another reviewer, every time I've gone to the Royal Peacock, the naan is served straight out of the tandoori, crisp, hot and ooh sooo gooooood.

For dinner, I often get the Vegetarian Thali Dinner, which is more food than I can eat, so I have leftovers. I find their default spicy to be perfect, tho my native Coloradan friends think it's too hot. The Royal Peacock has the unique distinction of being the only Indian place I've gone to in Boulder (I've tried them all) that has a palak paneer that has some noticeable heat (if mild).  I've ordered it as an entree for dinner before, asked for medium spicy and was impressed with the heat.

Whenever I go there, the food is good, the service is friendly but not looming. Like most Indian restaurants, it's good to go there often enough to be recognized -- the owner is very friendly, and often greets repeat customers personally.  

Also, excellent traditional chai with free refills, and the perhaps the only bar in Boulder with absinthe.  Not real absinthe, in the sense that there's  no wormwood in it (it's still banned in the US for the silliest of reasons), but absente, as they call it these days. If you like the flavor of licorice, absente is a better choice over Sambuca or Ouzo (in my opinion).  It's a very nice follow-up to an Indian dinner -- like a tasty beverage substitute for the sugared fennel seeds.

In sum, The Royal Peacock is my first choice for Indian in Boulder.  It's not knock-your-socks-off amazing, but it's good Indian in a friendly place.

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40

403

Dustin G.

Denver, CO

I've lived near the Royal Peacock for almost 9 months now and have always been meaning to try it, and tonight was its night to shine.

Upon entering I was bombarded by the religious iconography all over the place, from Lakshmi goddess of wealth to a million portraits of Krishna all over the place. What was surprising was that they didn't discriminate: they also had the god Hanuman, dancing Shivas, as well as a portrait of a contemporary Indian cult leader. I suppose most Westerners don't really pay attention to these sorts of things, thinking of them as decorations, but being a Religious Studies grad among other things, it was a bit overpowering for me.

Here, let me put it this way: imagine that you are in India and you go to an American cuisine restaurant (why you would in India do something like this is beyond me). Upon entering, you notice that the walls are splattered with not only crucifixes, but also stars of David, huge iron crosses, pictures of the Pope, Martin Luther, and maybe even a crescent moon above the door. All of this was apparently viewed simply as Western decoration...weird eh? Yeah well this is what this place was like.

That aside, we were walked over to our table in the gloom of the low-lit restaurant. Sitting down, we got a little oil lamp to light up our soon to be meal, which promptly and accidentally got turned off while playing with the valve. Woops.....

Sitting in the gloom, we strained to see our menus and finally decided. One thing I noticed about the place was that they had a wine and beer list (way expensive btw), but no standard beverage menu at all. Water it is. After we ordered we got our little lamp lit again.

The pricing was tiered: the vegetarian meals was a modest $10 while the lamb was $14 and the seafood $16. So, I suppose you could say that this was on the upper end of Indian places I've been to in Boulder.

Anyway we waited while the dude to my right told a story somewhat loudly about one of his acquaintances who was a big loser apparently. The way the seating was somewhat cramped made this sort of eavesdropping impossible to avoid, which was slightly annoying.

The food arrived finally for the people on my left who were here before us and it looked like were here a while....only for the waitress to realize that this was our meal. With much apologies, she moved the food on over to our table while the now food-less guests looked at us with a smirk, telling us to enjoy our meal.

We smile back weakly, look around for silverware and find none. 2x screw-up = -1 star.

But anyway, I feel like I am rambling, so to sum up the rest:

-There is a window into the kitchen so you can see the chefs at work which is sort of cool
-The copper on the walls is sort of interesting
-The chef or owner came out and asked how the food was, which after finally getting silverware to eat with we discovered was good....nicely spiced as Gretchen has noted.

So: spotty service, weird and somewhat overpowering atmosphere, somewhat pricey but with good grub gives this place a 3. Maybe the lunch is a better idea?

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1707

245

Hiker Chicka e.

Boulder, CO

Good food, friendly service, knowledgeable staff.  Overall a nice dining experience.  I wish the food had a little bit more heat (I'm from green chile country afterall) but overall it was flavorful.

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12

71

nick w.

Boulder, CO

Good food in general, though the breads tasted like they had been previously frozen, which is bad for a naan snob.  Really friendly folks in a really bland setting.

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