Ate lunch today at The Peacock, a new Indian restaurant near 27th and Pine Lake Road. I don’t think the restaurant has been open very long since I’ve been driving by a lot lately, waiting for it to open.

They served lunch from the buffet only today. I think their plan is to have a lunch buffet every day and then allow people to order from the menu in the evening.

The menu has a lot of options, not unlike The Oven. Lots of vegetarian choices, which is nice. The restaurant was very clean and open and the service was very good. The owners are anxious to do a good job and made sure everyone had plenty to eat and drink.

On the lunch buffet today they had chicken curry and a fried potato (don’t remember the name of the dish). They also had naan and a soft rice cake with two chutneys: coconut and mint. Another crisp, cracker-like dish was offered, as were some vegetable options. I didn’t take notes, so my explanation of the buffet is poor. I apologize for that. Saffron rice and rice with lentils were offered with the meal.

The food tasted great. Excellent flavor.

However, the chicken had bones in it. This is a big problem that they will have to address because I was picking bones out of every bite. By the end of lunch I just ate the saffron rice with the juice from the chicken curry and didn’t even bother with the meat.

A man sitting behind us asked about the bones and they said that’s just the way they prepare it. Like most people, I’m not used to eating bones or picking them out of my food, so that is a food preparation process the owners will need to change.

After we had gone through the line they informed us that they had added a chili beef dish (medallions or kabobs) to the buffet. They were anxious for people to eat it, so I went back and got some. It looked like it might be a tandoori beef with a chili glaze basted on. It was flavorful, but like the chicken, the quality of the meat was inferior.

The lunch buffet was $10.99. For those prices, in that location, the quality will have to improve if they want to succeed.

I love the idea of a locally owned Indian restaurant in that location. I hope they can make some minor changes to improve their food. Overall, I was a little disappointed, based on the price, but I think they can easily overcome those issues.