I've honestly never found India Palace to be all that incredibly spicey. It's still damn good though. I'm a sucker for their 3.95 Lunch Buffet.

Which is just wrong. Even when it's not hot, Indian food is all about spice.

I know, but it still tastes good...

There's another Indian restaurant in Salem now, and it's a damn sight better than India Palace. It's called Royal India and it's on Commercial St., past Fred Meyer from downtown but before Kubler, on the left hand side, in a strip mall that also has a Baskin Robbins.

And yeah, I was incredibly underwhelmed by the vindaloo spice at India Palace. I'm also pretty underwhelmed by the tummy troubles I have *every time* I go there.

Ooh. Thank you. I did not know that.

I had an Indian client once tell me that He never eats at India Palace because of how awful and unauthentic and greasy their food is. I have yet to try Royal India.

I just recently moved to Seattle after having lived most my life in Salem. I had India Palance and though the food was fantastic until I ate at an indian place up here.

I'm glad India Palace is in Salem. Cause salem needs it. But it's no where near the quality you can obtain elsewhere. I'm guessing Portland would have a good place. I just don't know where. I'll see if my friend indian friend Hindi, who lives in portland, can chime in and give you some advice.

The problem with Indian restaurants, I have found for the most part, is that they tone down and "Americanize" their Indian food, meaning they lay off the spices. I'm not a fan of having something so spicey that I cannot enjoy it's taste, but I'm also not a fan of bland Indian food which sounds like what you had in Salem. Some of favorite places around Portland are places where the restaurant has cheezy decor and not much of an Indian feel to it, but then it's not the real reason you came there is it? It's for the food. So having said that, my favorite place is Mayuri out in Beaverton on the West Side. It's in the same parking lot as Fred Meyer on the corner of 158th and Walker. It is by far the best rendition of authentic Indian food I have had in Portland. However, the place use to be a Skippers seafood restaurant. The red, blue, and yellow colors are still there and tacky. But one good sign of a good Indian restaurant is how cheap they are with other things but how good they are with their food. For instance, the white placements actually sit underneath a piece of glass so that they never throw them away :)

I also like Ganga Indian Restaurant located in Hillsboro downtown area along Hwy 8.

Swagat is a popular chain here. Their food is good, but Americanized. It is tasty, just not spicey. www.swagat.com I think is their URL so you can find their locations.

Finally, Bombay Cricket Club is good Americanized form of Indian. But it's expensive and in my opinion, not really worth it unless you want the ambience.

Honorable Mentions are : India Oven on Hawethorne over in SE PDX and this one by the Hillsboro Airport which I can't seem to remember the name of.

Oops that was me responding....

Thanks for the information. If I ever get brave enough to visit Portland on my own (I'm easily intimidated, a poor driver, and lack any sense of direction so Portland is scaaaaary), I'll be sure to try out some of those places.

I've only discovered Indian (and Thai and a few other more "exotic" cuisines) in the past year due to living in a small Southern city before moving here but they're so delicious that I might be willing to try it.