Bollywood Cafe
3 stars
9648 W Linebaugh Ave., Tampa, 813-926-4000 or bollywoodcafe.us
I struggle to mask my disappointment when I first sit down at Bollywood Cafe, a new Indian-themed restaurant in the sparkling experimental prototype community of tomorrow commonly referred to as Westchase. On first glance, everything was as it should be: the walls decorated in a riot of Bollywood movie scenes featuring some of the biggest movie stars in the world, none of whom I can name; the dining room outfitted in modern molded high-tops and squared-off white leather booths; the music a relentless dub of Indian cinema's frenetic and catchy tunes, accented by widescreens showing correspondingly energetic dance numbers rife with comical double-takes and chaste romanticism. Perfect.
But from the very beginning of Bollywood Cafe's impressive push for Internet recognition, well before the doors even opened for business, I was seduced by the technolicious idea that each table would have it's own touchscreen computer, allowing diners to order electronically, video chat with the staff, watch videos and even — perhaps — surf the Web. Who cares how good the food is when you can do all that from the comfort of your vinyl bench seating, mango lassi in hand?
Almost two months after opening, however, there's no newfangled dining technology to be seen besides a couple of touch screens bolted to the front counter. Thankfully, Bollywood's food is good enough to remind me that this is a restaurant first, and a computerized dining innovator second.
This article appears in Apr 14-20, 2010.